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Hazel (1853 KP) rated On the Origin of Findo Gask in Books
Dec 14, 2018
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>
“Sick, twisted, blasphemous, wrong and very, very funny.” That is how this book, <i>On the Origin of Findo Gask</i> by David McCreight, is described on the back cover. But how accurate is it? “Blasphemous”? Most definitely. “Very, very funny”? Not so much. Although it is obvious that there is an attempt a humour, it is too “sick” and “twisted” for it to be anywhere near hilarious.
Findo Gask is a rather unattractive sixteen-year-old living in the Scottish Highlands. The narrative, recounted from his point of view, alternates between present day and an account of past events. Findo was once a child prodigy until he began questioning religion openly in church. In order to get back at the Christians, who thought he was possessed by demons, he establishes the Darwin Terrorist Organisation along with Cousin Dan. This, however, eventually gets rather out of hand. Now Findo is living with his Gran and his Mum is in hospital with a mysterious illness. He also believes he has sold the universe.
The fact that Findo is a stereotypical, Scottish, working class teenager makes the amount of bad language almost acceptable; although, to tell the complete truth, it did border on excessive.
At first there did not seem to be much of a plot, but once the past and present join up it is possible to connect all the events included in the story, which results in a considerably explosive ending.
As everyone’s take on humour is different there will undoubtedly be people who love this book. It would not be fair to deliberately put people off from reading <i>On the Origin of Findo Gask</i>, yet at the same time it is not recommended for the easily offended readers, particularly those with strict religious principles and a dislike for foul language.
“Sick, twisted, blasphemous, wrong and very, very funny.” That is how this book, <i>On the Origin of Findo Gask</i> by David McCreight, is described on the back cover. But how accurate is it? “Blasphemous”? Most definitely. “Very, very funny”? Not so much. Although it is obvious that there is an attempt a humour, it is too “sick” and “twisted” for it to be anywhere near hilarious.
Findo Gask is a rather unattractive sixteen-year-old living in the Scottish Highlands. The narrative, recounted from his point of view, alternates between present day and an account of past events. Findo was once a child prodigy until he began questioning religion openly in church. In order to get back at the Christians, who thought he was possessed by demons, he establishes the Darwin Terrorist Organisation along with Cousin Dan. This, however, eventually gets rather out of hand. Now Findo is living with his Gran and his Mum is in hospital with a mysterious illness. He also believes he has sold the universe.
The fact that Findo is a stereotypical, Scottish, working class teenager makes the amount of bad language almost acceptable; although, to tell the complete truth, it did border on excessive.
At first there did not seem to be much of a plot, but once the past and present join up it is possible to connect all the events included in the story, which results in a considerably explosive ending.
As everyone’s take on humour is different there will undoubtedly be people who love this book. It would not be fair to deliberately put people off from reading <i>On the Origin of Findo Gask</i>, yet at the same time it is not recommended for the easily offended readers, particularly those with strict religious principles and a dislike for foul language.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Havana Sleeping in Books
Dec 17, 2018
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>
<i>Havana Sleeping</i> is a historical mystery novel by British author Martin Davies, which is based on real events that occurred in Cuba during the 1850s. Although the Slave Trade had been abolished in England, there were still people in America and Cuba who would be happy for slavery to remain legal. George Backhouse was posted to Havana, Cuba as a British Judge to take a stand against the illegal slave trading.
Backhouse ends up getting involved in a lot of complicated situations that could potentially spark a devastating war. His path also becomes tied up with the other main character, Leandra Leigh. Whilst most of the characters are real historical figures, Leandra appears to be fictional. A dear friend of hers, a watchman, was murdered during a supposed robbery and although the matter has been closed for a couple of years Leandra is determined to find out the truth – something of limited value in Havana. To begin with Backhouse and Leandra’s investigations seem unrelated, but a connection begins to build up as the story goes on.
In all honesty, the novel was very difficult to get into. There is nothing wrong with the actual writing as such, it is in fact written well and grammatically correct, however there was a lack of excitement in the narrative. It was also difficult to keep track of the characters – admittedly that may have been the point in the case of a couple of people, but as a result it was impossible to connect story. There were a few attempts of showing emotion, mostly surrounding Leandra’s character, yet this failed to arouse much interest.
From a historical point of view, those interested in Cuban and British history of this time period may be interested in reading <i>Havana Sleeping</i> and the author also includes some factual notes at the end of the book, but anyone hoping to get a story of some kind is bound to be disappointed.
<i>Havana Sleeping</i> is a historical mystery novel by British author Martin Davies, which is based on real events that occurred in Cuba during the 1850s. Although the Slave Trade had been abolished in England, there were still people in America and Cuba who would be happy for slavery to remain legal. George Backhouse was posted to Havana, Cuba as a British Judge to take a stand against the illegal slave trading.
Backhouse ends up getting involved in a lot of complicated situations that could potentially spark a devastating war. His path also becomes tied up with the other main character, Leandra Leigh. Whilst most of the characters are real historical figures, Leandra appears to be fictional. A dear friend of hers, a watchman, was murdered during a supposed robbery and although the matter has been closed for a couple of years Leandra is determined to find out the truth – something of limited value in Havana. To begin with Backhouse and Leandra’s investigations seem unrelated, but a connection begins to build up as the story goes on.
In all honesty, the novel was very difficult to get into. There is nothing wrong with the actual writing as such, it is in fact written well and grammatically correct, however there was a lack of excitement in the narrative. It was also difficult to keep track of the characters – admittedly that may have been the point in the case of a couple of people, but as a result it was impossible to connect story. There were a few attempts of showing emotion, mostly surrounding Leandra’s character, yet this failed to arouse much interest.
From a historical point of view, those interested in Cuban and British history of this time period may be interested in reading <i>Havana Sleeping</i> and the author also includes some factual notes at the end of the book, but anyone hoping to get a story of some kind is bound to be disappointed.
Shadow is a beautifully written tale of people looking for happiness. The books opens with a small boy waiting for his mother to come and get him from a shed where he is waiting. He has been waiting so long the batteries have worn out on the cassette player he has which reads him his story book. Eventually the boy is found and it appears his mother has abandoned him at an amusement park. The story then shifts to the family of a renowned author as they find out about the death of their old maid.
Dont be fooled by this opening as I was, there are many twists and turns within this book which take the tale in directions I was not expecting. I always worry when reading a book that has been translated from its original langue, that some of the more subtle meanings may be lost. However with this book I do not feel that I lost and depth or beauty. And whilst there was nothing that stood out in the way of errors or typos the only part I feel that let it down was the ending. Personally it just felt like everything had got really going and then it was done. On the plus side it also meant nothing felt dragged out or overly fluffed.
I would definitely recommend this book and it may be liked by those who enjoyed books such as [b:Spilt Milk|18692830|Spilt Milk|Amanda Hodgkinson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386845140s/18692830.jpg|26541040]or [b:Purge|11163458|Purge|Sofi Oksanen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881261s/11163458.jpg|3426310]. I want to give it more than 3 stars but I personally need to feel more, and I always use the guidance phase and whilst I liked it I didnt really like it. This is in basic terms, a simple story of life and its issues with unexpected twists which test the characters in ways many people hope never to be tested by.
Dont be fooled by this opening as I was, there are many twists and turns within this book which take the tale in directions I was not expecting. I always worry when reading a book that has been translated from its original langue, that some of the more subtle meanings may be lost. However with this book I do not feel that I lost and depth or beauty. And whilst there was nothing that stood out in the way of errors or typos the only part I feel that let it down was the ending. Personally it just felt like everything had got really going and then it was done. On the plus side it also meant nothing felt dragged out or overly fluffed.
I would definitely recommend this book and it may be liked by those who enjoyed books such as [b:Spilt Milk|18692830|Spilt Milk|Amanda Hodgkinson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386845140s/18692830.jpg|26541040]or [b:Purge|11163458|Purge|Sofi Oksanen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881261s/11163458.jpg|3426310]. I want to give it more than 3 stars but I personally need to feel more, and I always use the guidance phase and whilst I liked it I didnt really like it. This is in basic terms, a simple story of life and its issues with unexpected twists which test the characters in ways many people hope never to be tested by.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Long Earth in Books
Nov 20, 2019
Step Day. A day that changed the world. A day when the designs for a strange device went viral. Relatively simple to make with a few electronic components and a potato, this small device allowed most people to move sideways into a parallel dimension... and from there they could keep going exploring multiple copies of Earth, each different and all of them untouched and available for colonisation by the population of the overcrowded, overdeveloped and worn out original.
Joshua Valiente is an orphan who discovers that he doesn't actually need a box to move dimensions - to Step - he is a natural, like a few others before him that have already discovered what becomes known as the Long Earth and have kept it to themselves. Big business isn't slow to take advantage, particularly the huge, powerful and shadowy Black Corporation, whose distributed super computer Lobsang claims to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan mechanic. Together Joshua and Lobsang will discover a few of the secrets of the Long Earth, as well as witnessing the worst it brings out in humanity.
With this central idea, Pratchett and Baxter tell the tales of various people affected by the events of Step Day in very different ways. As with the rest of humanity, the narrative is restless, keen to both rush out and see how far along the Long Earth it can travel and to watch how it turns the Earth we all know on its head. This is a book of wonders, a little like Gulliver's Travels in finding interesting variations to explore.
Those expecting the usual slew of jokes, gags, footnotes and humorous characters that typify his Discworld novels will be disappointed. There are light touches to the situations and characters that betray his hand but this is straight science fiction by two great authors who between them manage to convey the huge scale of thousands - millions - of Earths while still being able to tell the story from a human perspective.
Joshua Valiente is an orphan who discovers that he doesn't actually need a box to move dimensions - to Step - he is a natural, like a few others before him that have already discovered what becomes known as the Long Earth and have kept it to themselves. Big business isn't slow to take advantage, particularly the huge, powerful and shadowy Black Corporation, whose distributed super computer Lobsang claims to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan mechanic. Together Joshua and Lobsang will discover a few of the secrets of the Long Earth, as well as witnessing the worst it brings out in humanity.
With this central idea, Pratchett and Baxter tell the tales of various people affected by the events of Step Day in very different ways. As with the rest of humanity, the narrative is restless, keen to both rush out and see how far along the Long Earth it can travel and to watch how it turns the Earth we all know on its head. This is a book of wonders, a little like Gulliver's Travels in finding interesting variations to explore.
Those expecting the usual slew of jokes, gags, footnotes and humorous characters that typify his Discworld novels will be disappointed. There are light touches to the situations and characters that betray his hand but this is straight science fiction by two great authors who between them manage to convey the huge scale of thousands - millions - of Earths while still being able to tell the story from a human perspective.
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