I did not realise it is a collection of poems when i started reading it. i read it as i would short stories. being not really a literary person, i was surprised to realise that they were a collection of poems. it is something new to me and i enjoyed reading it.
at first, i read the ‘stories’ or poems, on its own until i realised when read together, or weaved in the chapters, it could be a whole story of two individuals, i mean, it is! it has to be. i like surprises like this!
it challenges the reader to imagine as an inanimate, observing as a third ‘person’ of two lives. it is refreshing. it is intimate. i am not a fan of reading (having, sadly, found out along the way) about betrayal or extra marital affairs, i guess it tries to humanise the emotions involved. but i am sure if the chapters are read on its own, it could give glimpses of different meanings and experiences.
it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it certainly is not for me (storyline-wise) but i appreciate the refreshing notion of reading poems as though they were short stories and the surprise that if you put a mindset of reading the chapters together, it almost draws you in to read about the two individuals into one whole story, like a novel on its own. and with a vague ending, as all short stories are.
My first assumption was i might got bored reading this. i thought it would be something similar to Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop, which although i found it intriguing at first, i just skimmed through the rest of the chapters and only got interested again towards the end.
Somehow How To Find Love in a Bookshop made me read through and i finished it in 3 days! It was an easy read, endearing characters, although certain plot you kind of expected it how to end and of course, it has an all happy ending feel to it. the characters aren’t pretentious, a bit too many characters to fit in, and at 200+ pages, it feels too short, i guess they were all nicely put in and weaved in through how they were connected, and have their own ‘air time’ without being too “touch and go” or just for the sake of it.
it was a nice coincidence that i finished reading it two days before christmas, i didn’t know it would end happily on a christmas day.
i hope a producer picks it up and make it into those christmas-sy films or series. i want to see the characters alive!
When I picked it up, I didn’t really checked on what it was about and was taken by surprise that instead of a local story, it’s characters are actually Japanese! I couldn’t stop thinking about Haruki Murakami whilst reading it though.
That silent slow build up mystery, ‘normal’ but weird characters in their own way and that every chapter starts with a title, made it seem one is reading short stories. It feels like reading a ‘soft’ mystery thriller. not gory but sad and emotional. there’s that need to find out who the murderer is (there was no answer to who anyway) but at the same time, invested to know how the main character deal with the loss. left with more questions than answers but glad that there’s some form of closure.
i really don’t mind if there’s a sequence to Rainbirds. or a prequel even. I feel like stalking the characters.
sigh…this is going to leave me ‘lost’ after reading a good book. Going to be hard to pick up the next and stay intrigued!
if you’re into japanese authors or storylines, i think Clarissa did fantastic. you might like this book if you’re into haruki or kazuo. mysterious and thriller-ish enough to keep you wondering who-did-it, but always have that feel japanese authors usually have, normal- eccentric characters, enough emotions to understand what the characters are going through and that heartwrenching search for self identity and/or the truth.
I am so proud for having read this! An Asian writer to be applaud and be proud of! The moment it started with “If this will hurt you, please don’t read my book,” in the author’s note…i’m hooked. I mean, i have not read any book with its author stating that don’t read my book if its going hurt you. Risky and….caring..at the same time?!
A story that managed to grip and grab my attention with just being frustrated of the protagonist, i mean i am really frustrated with her and wished i could say “Girl! Snap out of it already!” but at the same time, wished that we could just, “come on, help her already!!”
This book has so many things going on without feeling overwhelmed or ‘messy’. It’s about friendship in hard times, regardless of your differences. It’s about a daughter and mother’s love and frantic search for one another in dangerous times. It’s about history and there’s snippets of violence delicately described so as not to put off readers like me (i don’t really read anything related to war, terrorism, strikes, bloodshed, etc) but realistically enough that i could pretty much have a picture of the events in my mind.
Most importantly, it’s about one’s struggling with a mental disability, tastefully shadowed as ‘exorcism’, as per our ‘culture.’
I can feel her exhaustion and frustration. that deep struggle to be okay when it’s easier said than done because it was not something she can control, no matter how much she wanted to control them. that need. sigh….my mind almost feel as tired as her while reading this.
I definitely loved the climax of when she finally found her mother, my heart dropped too! i was like, finally!!! like we could finally breathe now, like all this while, our mother is alive!! all those worries and fears!! and we could let our guards drop for a short while because our mother is here in front of us. just here.(see how i use ‘we’ and ‘our’ here, coz i’m so immersed with her).
I think this book should be read by all Malaysian students, even as part of their literature (language or historical) subject.
I read this as an ebook borrowed from the NLB app and really, I didn’t expect to be blown away by it. It was also my first full fledged ebook reading. i must say it was a good start. the storyline caught my attention so much that i ‘open’ it up every time i was on the bus to find out how the story goes.
I can say I enjoy e-book reading now. but need to be very selective on what ebooks i borrowed. it had to be something i can enjoy… am so glad of this NLB- ebook borrowing…why didn’t i find this joy much earlier??!!
so anyway, this is a good read for something ‘light’ and quick. the storyline is no way that light. what i meant by light is, it isn’t a thick epic fantasy book.
should any child or teen read this? a definite yes. so many learning points that you can find. sigh…i can almost imagine the flood of discussion you can have if you are a literature or history teacher.
friendship, hardship, love, parent-child relationship, loss, death, racism, interfaith, harmony, violence, right and wrong, truth, politics, mental health, confidence, self-esteem, self-identity, religion, national pride, national identity, patriotism….the list can go on and on.
I shudder to think of these times The Age of Miracles described. The end of days seem inevitable and all the possible wrongs that could happen to earth as we know it. The book could possibly stretch out the ten years between when the slowing starts and the abrupt ending of suddenly finding the protagonist at 23 years old. I think i would appreciate how the slowing aged Julia and the people around her, marking some paradox of life milestones had it been ‘normal,’ instead of focusing on only the early years. Wished it had been somewhat a happy ending for her and Seth. A companionship in hard times.
Read it in one setting. I loved the short stories! it’s a book i will pick up now and then just to get out of a reading slum. deep in emotions and feelings. especially loved Goddess and Banana Boy & Bonsai Girl because of the depiction of true love and waiting in, i assumed, agony. the stories created images of my own in my mind, trying to find a time when i felt the same way. despite the fantasy characters, it is deeply relatable. the illustrations are fantastic too.
i wanted to like it but i couldn’t. i appreciated the issues touched in this story, but i felt there were too many characters for me to remember, their thoughts, their flashbacks and it doesn’t help that the storyline moves backwards. it’s like i already reached the peak of the story (at the start) and then i had to be thrown back through the memories of the day. it’s a bit hard for me to follow.
throughout the hours backwards, felt like wren was lost somewhere, hugh’s lines seems repetitious, and the rest became a blur, beth’s seemed like a sideline and doesn’t seem to be on the same ‘hours’.
i probably could understand the flow of the story and would have feel the characters’ emotions and fear better if it had follow the normal sequence of the day instead of ‘turning back’ time. it really felt like the longest day that doesn’t seem to end while reading it.
it was quite disappointing because i had been looking forward to Picoult’s new novel since Small Great Things, which i had enjoyed and couldn’t seem to stop reading.
I wanted to love this book. I think i pretty much enjoyed the first few pages and having the same eagerness of finding life in campus. but then i find it a bit too tedious to carry on. and what make it worst…i turned to the last page…and the last paragraph really hit me.
“….They had let me down. I hadn’t learned what I had wanted to about how language worked. I hadn’t learned anything at all.”
and with that, i see no point in continuing…at the moment.. perhaps i will take it up again and indulge in it.
I was quite skeptical at first but the moment i read from the first page, it took me in. i find myself curious to learn of who this eleanor oliphant is, her routine, her life, her history, and what awaits her. she is such a unique character, straightforward, has true common sense, independent but at the same time vulnerable and would appreciate a friendship and human contact because it’s not a luxury for her.
when she met raymond, i was curious to know how the friendship will unfold and what other experiences she had along the way. at the same time, she was having a crush to a local musician, i wanted to know what happened then, will she meet her love of her life?
there’s enough humour, wit, emotions to play about and although the ending was a bit unexpected, i find it completely made sense. if it’s soon to be a major picture, I’m looking forward to it!
it’s about being simply human, being alone or lonely, of having a pain or sadness you could not let go and having to live with it…thus how it shaped your life and perception towards others. it’s about independence and the human nature to interact. about asking for help and not endure any pain alone. about having true friendship and allowing yourself to be a social creature, even when you think you don’t need it.
it’s a book anyone could relate to, even if you are not eleanor oliphant. but everyone could have a bit of eleanor in us.
i love the essays, the flow of writing, the thoughts provoking readers to wonder and reflect. the snippets of experiences, although short but speak volumes of the feelings and meaningful interactions the writer has during her travels. if i could write, i want to write like Agnes. and i feel like everyone should read this refreshing collection of short stories. i would buy copies and give them out as gifts to friends who love to read.
i don’t mind rereading it to delve deeper into the meanings behind her stories.
living seri 