2 Mini Book Reviews (not super-mini but I tried!)

These days, I’m more into short reviews of books (might be the after-effect of lingering too much on Goodreads).

 

To cut the long story short, here are two mini and quirky reviews of two books I finished off recently.

 

Book: The Haunting of Hill House

image credi: Goodreads

Author : Shirley Jackson

Genre(s): Horror, Gothic, Classic, Fiction

Year Of Publishing: 1959

An excerpt of Goodreads Summary:

It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting;’ Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

 

Review:

As I’m writing a short review and I won’t go into the details— there are plenty of them on the internet.

Would point out what I felt after reading the book:

• In case you are looking for chills and sleepless nights, then this is not the horror book you want. This is veering more towards creepy, psychological dread.

 

•  To get the creepiness under your skin, read it slowly. Let the sense of doom sink in just like the house descended upon its invaders by taking its time.

 

• Did the house start to possess the main protagonist Eleanor or it was another way around? Was it really a paranormal phenomenon? Or the spooky things that happened in the house had scientific explanations? Thank you,Shirley Jackson, for making things ambiguous for us.

 

• Given it was released in the 50s, it was phenomenal of the author to add a lesbian touch in Theodora- Elanor camaraderie.

 

• How credible was Eleanor as a narrator? Given her fragile, on-the-verge-of-insanity mental state, did all the paranormal events really happen or some of them were her figments of imagination?

 

• I liked reading the book but upon finishing, forgot about it. It was strange given its cult status among goth-horror fans. Or I might be the odd-one-out.

 

• In short, the book didn’t linger in my mind unlike” The Lottery” –legendary short story by Shirley Jackson.

 

• In case you want to experience the real chill, do give ‘The Lottery” a go. You can read it here for free- link.  Thank Me Later.

 

My rating: 3/5

 

Book: The Rosie Project

image credit: Goodreads

Author: Graeme Simsion

Year Of Publishing: 2013

Genre(s): Romance, Humor, Fiction

An excerpt of Goodreads Summary:

 

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date….whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband…….he embarks upon The Wife Project…

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms…

Review:

“I am socially awkward genius blah blah …. good looking and have wads of cash….blah blah …dated and rejected few women based on my weird parameter blah blah …met “not-my-type- but- sexy-nonetheless” Rosie…blah blah ..we both want to get into each other’s pants but would wait till the DNA-quest for Rosie’s MIA biological father is over..blah blah”

And then it all gone down the rabbit hole of epic blahness.

My rating: 1.5/5

 

After-thought:

Friends don’t recommend friends “The Rosie Project“.

Friends suggest friends “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” to devour sad-quirky-realistic- a tug-at-your-heart journey of a socially awkward genius.

 

Have you read any “blah” book recently? Be a good Samaritan and forewarn me about it.

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