[91] Bonjour Tristesse

This novel is the tale of one seventeen year old girl's wishes, moods, desires and wants as she tries to destroy the happening of a marriage between her father and his fiance, Anne, of whom is portrayed as a rather quiet, calm woman, whereas her father and herself are party animals.

I find that the most interesting part of this novel is that at the time of publication the author was eighteen years old. Therefore, the words she writes come across as the kind of things that a teenager would think and feel, where irrational thoughts and spur of the moment decisions far outweigh logic and reason.

This novel was particularly easy to read for me, not because it's only 130 pages long, but also because I am at the age where her character is still a familiar one. I'm 20, and so I haven't been alienated by teenage desires and such yet. I'm still in that frame of mind where I can be frivolous and not have to worry about mortgages and whether or not my son has done his homework.

I can image, though, how Cecile's frame of mind as she narrates the story could be annoying to older readers who find her to be an annoying whiny bitch, because in all honesty that's exactly what she is.

While it was written in 1955, it does draw heavily on sexual relationships, particularly that between Cecile and her lover, Cyril (I've always found Cyril an odd name, but that's not related). While it doesn't go into any real detail, it is fairly evident that the sex is rather blissful. I'm not at all sure when sex began appearing as frequently in books as it does in the movies now. By in books I mean in actual good books not Mills & Boon type books. I'm scared to research this, but it would be interesting to find out. I'm imagining it was earlier than film, but then there was assorted book burnings by parents who thought books like 'The Scarlett Letter' were evil, so it's hard to tell.

Now I'm just rambling nonsense so I'll leave it there. I recommend this book as a quick read if you're pushing for numbers, and I also recommend it if you're young and can still remember all the words to your graduation song.

[90] Enduring Love

Enduring Love, simply put, is about a religious man named Jed Parry who 'falls in love' with another man named Joe Rose. Sounds fine, until we realise the awkward that entails when this other man is in a wonderful relationship with a woman named Clarissa, and doesn't particularly want to change that.

Jed Parry is exactly the kind of guy you never want to have to deal with in your life. He takes on various stalker elements throughout the book, standing outside Joe's apartment building for hours on end, sending 3-4 letters a week, and generally freaking Joe out.

If you start this book, you will not get anything out of it if you put it down. Put simply, this book is like the TV series Lost. You have to read the whole thing or you will miss out on learning and understanding. Ian McEwan brilliantly uncovers the parts we are reading so desperately to learn about. He withholds a lot of information to keep the reader guessing.

I'm not going to give too much away, so I'm just going to end this by saying that Jed Parry is one hell of a creepy guy. Also, if you liked Atonement, you'll probably enjoy this.

----

In other news, I've made it to 90! Bazinga!

So...

Last time I was here this blog sat on a measly 45 books, with the last one being American Psycho. Wow, I read that one a while ago, and Atonement as well. Atonement was read at the start of last year! Good book though...

Well, since then I've made it to the 89th book, which was The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. I won't have reviews for all those, because I'm afraid that will just take a little too much time and I need that time for reading.

Not entirely sure what to read next, we'll see where the library takes me.