Helen’s Comments (group member since Apr 16, 2020)
Helen’s
comments
from the Our Little Group SSSH group.
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I'm so enjoying reading again! I'm never without a book now . I know I have some to catch up with on the list, just started Underground Railroad (thanks Sue), which is not on the list. Can I suggest another title for in a little while? Slaughterhouse - Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Read it a couple of years ago so it's on my shelf. Would love to revisit it and see what you all think.
I read this in two sittings. It has broken my heart. Review to follow.
Hello everyone. My son has posted me a book that he thinks I'll love. It's called Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, published in 1966. If anyone else fancies reading it we could put it on the list!
Sorry to hear that Sarah, I loved it so much!
I absolutely loved this book. Shirley's review is so good that I don't feel I can add much to it. This is a book that I will reread many times. The writing is beautiful throughout, the characterisation is perfect. I loved that I was able to like Werner and Jutta as much as I liked Marie-Laure, her father and Etienne. I am so sad that Marie Laure never found out what happened to her father, but that was the reality for so many thousands of people at the end of the war. I think that Werner returned to the grotto, retrieved the little house and discovered it's mechanisms and the sea of flames and returned it to the sea as per Marie Laure's wishes. He then put the grotto key back in the little house. Why he went back and did that, I don't know. It seems to be a common ploy that the ending of a novel is left open to the reader's interpretation. I'm not a big fan of that, I've followed the story from the beginning, give me an ending!
Hi all, sorry I've been rubbish! Still need to do my reviews of the Minituarist and All the light. I have The Five People so will start on that when I've finished my current book. I'll order the other 2 today.
I wrote a review of this a few nights ago. It's not here so I must have pressed the wrong button!
He tried to say:Hello everyone. Just worked out how to navigate the site! I'm going to leave my thoughts on 'Munich' shortly. Currently reading Ollie the Elephant!
Just checking site was working as Paul's having trouble posting.
..
That was quick Sarah!
Still reading The Minituarist
Happy to put Munich up for discussion. Sarah, my suggestion would be All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr. I have this on my book shelf and haven't got round to reading it.
I love Eleanor Oliphant, in my opinion she is a completely fine person. This book is written in the first person, which works really well for me with Eleanor's story. There is so much to love about this book, it's an empathetic close up on loneliness overall, but why is she so alone? Is it because of childhood trauma and not having had the chance to learn how to 'fit in' or would she have been this wonderful anyway? Raymond; what a character, a friend anyone would want and I'm hoping for a happy ending for these two. I didn't like the Eleanor/therapist interactions. I understand why they were vital to the plot but they just didn't ring true in my opinion. Similarly, the mummy twist, I would have found it so much more satisfying had she been alive and Eleanor had cut her off. There is some beautiful writing in this book but it's inconsistent, sometimes I thought the author was bored and just filling up the page. That said, she has created a wonderful character and I hope she writes a sequel as I need to know that Eleanor Oliphant is still completely fine.
I'm going to start it now. It will be like taking a warm bath after reading the last one!
I can't agree. If you are basically a decent human being then it would be impossible to act as these people did. I'm not talking about the average German soldier, but these monsters that ran or guarded the camps. Has anyone read a narrative that described a humane guard in the camps? I haven't but hope to be proved wrong.
How do you edit? Should have read kapos not lapis. Anyway, were these normal people that became sadists/murderers etc under the circumstances or did the third Reich employ people to cover these roles that were already known to be violent, sociopaths?
The second question concerns the camp commandant, guards, lapis etc. Were these people living normal lives and their sadism only came out given the unique circumstances or
I have a couple of questions that I'd welcome your opinions on. Firstly, what did you make of the situation in the cattle car transporting Lale and the others to Auschwitz? The conditions were horrendous, no question but were you shocked at how quickly society/humanity broke down?
