ankitagrawal

I am confused between 2 Stars and 3 Stars. For time being I will let it be 3 Stars as this was my first dystopian or fantasy book so I might not have the best of knowledge about these kind of books but I would still say I didn't like it. All one paced and predictable and most importantly no reasoning for all the things happening, just written from one man's perspective as if rest is all irrelevant.

Star Values1 Star - Hated It2 Stars - Didn't Like It3 Stars - It was okay4 Stars - Liked it5 Stars - Loved it, it was amazingREVIEWThis was my first John Grisham book.Sometime in the middle of the book I read somewhere that John Grisham wrote this book keeping the movie in mind and that he wrote the character of Darby Shaw keeping Julia Roberts. I seldom watch English Movies and I haven't seen the movie of this book and I am not sure whether what I have mentioned above is true or not as I just read it somewhere but it seems to be true because I really this book could have been a lot better than what it actually was. The plot was excellent though a bit too stretched. And I always have a feeling for books that if the plot is good the book is at least good or better depending on how its written.The book started off very well. I didn't except such a blazing start, it took me off the hook a bit. As it moved it kept me interesting all the time, I never though there was a dull moment at least till halfway through. The second half was pretty predictable and slow paced though especially when the mystery was found out then it was just a case of whether Darby would survive or not and we all knew she would as there would have been no other way to end the book. Not that I mean she shouldn't have survived but Grisham didn't add any other dimension to the story and that was quite disappointing as I had heard very good things about John Grisham. Thats one point where I feel the movie point might be true because unlike in a novel you don't add separate dimensions in one single movie. The end of the book as a result was very stale and fragile.Talking about the characters I didn't like the characterization or the character development of the lead Darby Shaw. She never seemed like a lawyer or a law student to me but more like a glamorous female or a model. Although she did some brilliant things in trying to survive she didn't appeal to me. I didn't sort of got involved with it. All I think is the character could have been more properly related with the role and could have had a better feel to it. Again with this the movie points seem to be true as in a movie you want the female to be a bit glamorous. Rest assured all characters were very good. Gray Grantham did look like a real reporter and worked out very well. Voyles was I think the pick of them all. Being the FBI Director he had to sustain pressures from President every time and still had to do a respectable job of solving crimes. And I really sort of liked it they way he hated Coal and wanted to kick his ass off in the end. He managed everything well and helped Darby survive. Had there been one more dimension to the book, the second half being as good as the first if not better and the character of Darby Shaw been more portrayed to be suited to the role of a law student, a bit of more feel to it then this would have been a great book. Despite these loopholes I would say John Grisham has done a brilliant in this book to keep me interested all the while and definitely given me more than enough a reason to read his other books.

Star Values1 Star - Hated It2 Stars - Didn't Like It3 Stars - It was okay4 Stars - Liked it5 Stars - Loved it, it was amazingReview:Very good writing but a bit predictable. And quite a short book for a mystery or crime fiction

Before I read this book I didn't used to understand why people hate Dan Brown so much? Why they call him the most over rated writer? After reading this book I have the answer.Dan just doesn't want to keep it straight forward and simple. He wants to go extreme with everything. The plot is extreme - A NASA discovery about a meteorite suggesting extraterrestrial life.The characters are extreme - The Senator who is a candidate for Presidency and his daughter Rachel Sexton, Michael Tolland – an oceanographer and television celebrity-scientist, Corky Marlinson – A world renowned astrophysist, William Pickering – Director of the NRO, Lawrence Erkstorm- Administrator of NASA, Marjorie Tench- Senior Adviser to the President etc... and most importantly The President himself is a important part of the story.The science is extreme. Dan Brown introduces you with equipments, tools, vehicles, planes, ships you have never even heard of.And this extremeness goes on and on in everything he writes in the book.The thing I hated the most in the book was the science. I can take the plot into consideration once, the characters could be taken into consideration as well but speaking honestly I didn't understood a single science in this book and I am pretty sure that anybody who is not a part of NASA won't be able to understand this. I even doubt that some science he has mentioned in the book even exists, that might also be a fiction along with the story. Wherever there was science mentioned I just went through the parts of the book without getting anything into my head.I don't know what to write, I just hated this book. I have not liked any of the two Dan Brown book's ever since I read [b:Digital Fortress|11125|Digital Fortress|Dan Brown|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360095966s/11125.jpg|40195]. And this book surely has to bring an end to my Dan Brown reading. I loath myself for having buying this book.All I would suggest to Dan is just keep it simple. Big Mystery + High Official Characters + Code to Solve + OMG TRAITOR WITH TWISTED MOTIVES doesn't necessarily make a book successful. The basics remain the same, people should understand what you are writing.

Much better than Hedda Gabler

How much more boring it can get.....?I read 100 pages into this book and all I know is that the narrator was killed by a neighbourhood person and that the police have found nothing in their investigation but a elbow.I turned a few pages without understanding whats happening if ever something was happening. I slept through this book before I finally abandoned it. Normally I read this length book on a weekend but this time I feel it was a complete waste of a weekend.

I don't know what to say about this Triology or not a triology but an incompleted series. I have loved this all in all but at the same time I have regretted reading it as well. It has kept me awake at nights but at the same time bored me. It has left me wanting to read more but at the same time left a bad taste in my mouth. There are so many contradicting emotions this series has left me with.This has to be the most weird series or the most weird set of books anyone can read. Its so filled up with flaws that at the start you can't understand what the hype is about but the more you read the more you can't resist giving it 5 stars as well. The Hype and IntroductionThe hype that surrounds these books is probably understandable. Especially in Sweden where these things (abusing women) really happen. Swedish people can feel all the concept brought around in these books.Let me tell you that this is a series and it would be totally wrong for anybody to rate each book differently or to make a certain good or bad opinion just after reading 1 book. Every book is incomplete at the end and continues into its next part.The 1st book is just a start. It by no means a great sensation. It just leads into the introduction of characters through a sub-plot of the actual series. The plot is irrelevant of the whole series but it is very interesting mystery and a good development of the characters for the rest of the series to follow. Many might say just after reading this book that it is over-hyped, I also had the same feeling when I read further into the series the opinions started to change and I realized that this is actually a proper series and not individual threads.The second book is where this series actually starts. The story gradually morphs into a tale of sexual prejudice, abuse of power, and governmental conspiracy. This book starts to thrill, get into your nerves, forces you to stay awake at night. The same thing continues into the third with much more excitement and thrill. The third book is also incomplete as Larsson had planned a 10 book series and could only finish 3.Why you love it?The character development is the essence of this book and is the most striking thing about these books. Larsson make you dwell so much deep into the characters that you can feel each and every character's each and every emotion and activity. You can have sympathy for Lisbeth, like Blomkvist's friendly and smart behavior, hate Sapo's secret force and so on with every character not matter how small or big roles they played. I have never seen a better character development and feel for the characters in any other book.Besides Character Development there are many other lovable things as well.The Thrill - It takes some time in every book to get into. The first 100-200 can be very boring. But once you get into it there's no stopping. You will be forced to stay awake at nights, turn page after page until you complete it. The more you read the more you will like it. The Plot - Larsson has done an exceptional work in this department. Not only is the plot very believable but he mixes up so many characters and so many things into a single plot that it becomes impossible to keep a proper track of things. Lisbeth the heroine, Blomkvist the hero, Erika the supporter, Different levels of police, millennium staff, murder, mystery, thrill, suspense etc... etc... so many thing involved. That makes it a must read.I am utmost sure that Larsson has created memorable characters and plot which I even if I try my hardest would not be able to forget.Why you regret it? What went wrong? What messed it up all?As I mentioned above the book is most weird one could ever read. It had a great, great characters, overall a mesmerizing series. Then what it was that messed it all up that some people talk about it being over-hyped and what it was that made you feel regret reading it. I guess there are two separate answers to these questions and both are equally important. Firstly I want to talk about what went wrong or what messed it up all. I have never seen a 5 Star book with so many flaws and I am pretty sure that I won't see any 5 start with more flaws than this. This all goes down to 1 reason and that is COMMERCIALISM. The publishers and the marketers are the sole ones to ruined these books. Just to make some good, quick money they have damaged this heavily.TRANSLATION - They say that poor translation can ruin a good story. This book is a perfect example of it. It was originally written in Swedish and then converted into English worldwide. Now let me tell you that Reg Keeland is no mug of a translator. He has done translation for years and most of the books english versions have been quite successful. So the reason for bad translation are again the marketers and publishers. If you search the internet you would find it that Reg Keeland whenever he's used this pseudonym has been because he's not satisfied with the time he's been given for the editing by the publishers/marketers (he's original name is Steve Murray and he uses that as well when he has his terms clear with the publishers but when its not he uses a pseudonym). The same thing has happened in this case. EDITING The commercials people have done a great in messing up this as well. Editing if it has been done at all has been really really poor. If it hasn't been done then its even more to feel sorry for Larsson. There are parts in the series where you feel the story just goes on passively without any interest. Those parts feel a little bit stretch and take the original excitement of the book to some extent. All this is down to editing. Larsson was a journalist not a writer so these books needed a very good editor but the marketers have again not allowed this to happen.Bit parts and pieces in the series are rather quite awkward. Not fatally so, but a few sharp-eyed beta readers could have done wonders for ironing out these books. (The style improves steadily through the trilogy, but not without hiccups.) And that's a shame, because there's a really good story here, and some terrific characters. Again a editorial mistake not allowed to rectify by the marketersThere were many other reasons which have messed it up all, I won't go into much details about that since all is down to Commercialism. They have done a perfect to fuck this more than a 5 star worth book down to a lot less degree. So the people who complain about the hype are not totally wrong.TITLE The original titles of these books were different. For the first book it was "Men Who Hate Women" and I think the original Swedish titles would have suited all the books rather much better even though it would not have been that catchy. The stories are rather surrounded around the Swedish titles than the English ones. This thing was discussed when Larsson was alive and despite serious protests he wasn't allowed The Swedish Titles.Why do you regret reading itOne reason you regret these books is it was actually planned out to be a 10 book series and Larsson had wanted it to write in that way. But since he died midway he could only finish 3 of them. Because of just 3 books planned out of 10 the triology doesn't fit well into parts. After reading the end of every book it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Each book got better than the previous one. The first was good, the second was lovable and the third set a different level for crime books and the 4th never came. You could just wonder how good all would have been had all 10 books been published. Also another thing happened since only 3 books were published is that many things were left unsaid or incomplete, that upsets a to quite an extent. The main reason for the regret is if you feel so sorry for Larsson after reading it. I have never ever seen any book in which one can get so realistically involved. As you read you would probably come to know that Larsson was on his way to change the world, atleast Sweden or Europe if not the whole world & also go on to become one of the greatest writers of all time but unfortunately he couldn't do it. I felt so sorry for Larsson at the end that I was almost brought to tears. And adding salt to injury the marketers fucked it off even more. I wish Larsson had completed all 10, I am not content with 3 moreover I feel regret that I read this because I was so deeply involved in this that I couldn't read 7 more sensations This was clearly not how Larsson had planned to end the series. The ending left so much scope for other stories to come after it.ConclusionsThese are not just normal books, they are thought provoking , burning your chest, making you feel raged. These books are violent. The treatment of women is ghastly to the point of misogynistic. I'd be tempted to call Larsson on it, but is the world so different from the horrors he portrays? No, it's not. Terrible things happen to women all the time, but here the author makes you look at them and understand that justice is not about what's right or wrong but who holds the power and common man like me & most of you just cannot do anything about no matter how much we feel like doing so. By the end of the last book I wished that these characters actually existed. The world is in dire need of more Blomkvist and Salander's. Some things must be put to right.The memorable characters Larsson created will forever be etched into the mind of us readers. I am sure that I will never forget you as long as I live. I don't have words to describe how good the writing was, all i can do is bow down to Mr. Larsson. I am also pretty sure that after reading this I won't be able to give any other crime fiction book 5 stars because then this book would also fall into the same category as the others. This series has set a different category, a different bar for everything else to come. It's first Millennium, then 5 stars, then 4 and so on.THE MARKETERS, PUBLISHERS AND ALL OTHERS INVOLVED IN COMMERCIALISM OF THIS SERIES COMPLETELY FUCK OFF. I wish I could grab hold of them kill them badly if I was allowed to do that.To be updated.......

After reading the 1st book I said that I couldn't understand the hype behind this series. Well I can understand it now. This book was outstanding and surprisingly enough its a 5 star book with countless flaws. I won't go into the details of the flaws because that might contain spoilers as well and also make this review too long which I don't want. All I want to say not just this book but the whole series could have been a lot better had Larsson been alive at the time of its publication. The Translator, The Editing Team and all the others involved in the commercialism part of this book have messed it up again but Larsson's writing was so good that the book still deserved 4-5 stars. Many people said me that if I had not like the 1st book then I shouldn't read the second because both are quite similar. I would have listened to them and not read this but fortunately enough I had bought the whole series together so I had to read this one. After reading this book what I found is that only the main theme is same but the 2 books are totally different. But yes you got to read the 1st book before reading this because the first 200 pages or so are continued from the 1st part with some extra details. And that is understandable because we know that we are reading a series.Unlike the 1st book the second half of this book was much better. The plot in the 1st book was easily the best I have ever read in any crime/mystery book. But sadly that book fell a victim to some good 'fucking' commercialism. As I mentioned above this book also has been a victim of commercialism and could have been a lot better than it is originally. But Larsson was a couple of steps ahead in this book than in the previous one. His writing skills in this book can only be matched by very few authors alive. He explains everything in detail and involves many things and many characters in just one book. The more you read the more your head buzzes off. You just can't keep a whole track of things, he makes it that much confusing but at the same moment interesting as well.The book continuing mostly from the 1st book with some extra details. Some might say that the extra details weren't necessary but I would say that they were necessary because this is not a individual book but a part of a series. What I think is that when one is reading a series it should take the whole series into consideration while rating or reviewing it rather than taking each book separately. It was a slow beginning for this book describing the effects of the Wennerstrom affair and its effects in whole of Sweden and how big a celebrity Blomkvist became because. The characters were defined more briefly especially Salander's past was exposed really well. And then finally the most important thing was the atmosphere surrounding Millennium.A new freelancer was applied to Millennium and he brought in a whole new issue-sex trade which Blomkvist thought would create another sensation for Millennium. Blomkvist and the whole of Millennium gave their full heart to this new project and that was where a new plot began. That was where this book catched up. That was the point from where you couldn't stop yourself reading, it was a serious page turner.The more you read the more characters developed, the wider the story expanded, it was just enthralling. I wish I could write in detail about it but that would disturb the plot who have just read the 1st book.The plot was very much believable. Sex Trade. Being an Indian it was not much harder for me to grasp it because Sex Trafficking or Human Trafficking as it is called in India happens a lot. Girls are bought from the under-developed eastern states and are soled to much developed northern and western India. There are crime shows which run at night time and mostly their subject is about Human Trafficking. And Larsson has described it brilliantly. The circle is so big that you don't know where is the starting and where is the ending point. It seems like a big chain never ending almost. The whole story of the book revolved around it although there were many more things the writer brought out such as a couple of murders, mystery behind the murderer, false accusation for the murderer and the most outstanding thing was character development. The character development was so good that that was the essence of this book. Another thing which made this book much more interesting that it always had a thrill. It always kept you turning pages and resisting to put it down. You feel as if you were moving along with the characters, the plot was so good. Everything that the characters do you feel like you are doing it yourself and that was why it was even more believable. I won't say that everything was flawless, instead there were many flaws but all of those flaws were in the editing and translation, not in the writing. Remember that this was originally a Swedish book and Larsson wasn't a writer, he was a journalist who had a jist for writing crime.I don't know what more to write in this review, I am totally confused at the moment probably in a few days I would update it further. All I want to say to the ones who have read the 1st book and have not read further is that please read it, don't miss it. And to the ones you haven't yet started with this series I would like to say that read the triology on a go. Don't hesitate in grabbing all the 3 books and most importantly don't put a gap in your reading, read each book at a go if possible. The 2 books which have read in the series uptil now were jaw dropping, had these books been edited better and not be a victim of commercialism than it would certainly have been the best crime books ever. Please guys read this seriously and in the end I would sayHATS OFF, MR. LARSSON. FUCK OFF THE EDITOR, THE TRANSLATOR AND ALL THE OTHERS INVOLVED IN THE COMMERCIALISM.

I can't move on and read this book more. Its not my type. Its about religion and I don't like to read about any religion or its past.An extreme sorry to the writer [a:Philip Bulman|5186247|Philip Bulman|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1325077128p2/5186247.jpg] as he had sent me this book for free when I got selected in the giveaway, participating in it thinking it would be my type

After re-reading it I have decided to change my rating from 3 to 4. The utter innocence has caught me.

I got this book in a free giveaway on GR. Thanks to the writer [a:Pamela Sinha Mathur|6524845|Pamela Sinha Mathur|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1347703257p2/6524845.jpg] for that.Sweet and melodramatic typical Indian story. It was good but again not my type so I don't want to rate it as it might be misleading.

I got this book from the Free giveaways section on GR. I thank the writer very much for delivering the book on time.ABOUT THE BOOK:This was my first attempt at any book which is made up of a collection of short stories. Like most people I would say that its a bit unfair and difficult to rate these books because you feel that every story should be rated differently as you find some good and some bad. The same was with me, I found a couple of stories worth giving 5 Stars and a few others just 1 Star. I particularly like The Practioner of Austerity But at the end of the day I would say that short stories are not the type I liked. Usually I would prefer a bit long fiction stories as my choice and not short fictions. I don't have much against the writer because it is understandable that in short stories the ending can be a bit absurd and unpleasant as was the case with this book. The endings were sudden, like a train is running at good speed and then suddenly comes to an instant stop. This was the thing I didn't like mostly about this book.

I got this book from Free Giveaways Section on this site. I thank Mr. Srini Chandra for delivering the book properly and on time.ABOUT THE BOOK:Even though Philosophy is not my thing I would still say that if it is written in an entertaining fictional manner it can be one of my favourite genres. Unfortunately I found this book like most of the Philosophy books. Just like most of the Philosophical Books I found this book too boring and a lot more demanding and appealing rather than provoking and inspiring. And the reason for boreness is usually the same. The first reason is that it is too much filled of quotes and less about story or fiction. Messages are tried to deliver through quotes and not through the story, story is not centralized properly. If I just take out the quotes from this book than it would make a short 'Book of Quotes' itself. You can have so many quotes but then the stories have to be longer as well. The stories in this book were way too short, should have been elaborated. The book was just 148 Pages and each page just had 15-20 lines on an average. There was one Philosophy book Jennie Gerhardt which I read, which was filled with a nice number of quotes as well but it was fictional philosophy and the story was lengthy enough for the message to be delivered more through the story rather than the quotes. I not only liked that book pretty much but also gasped in the message.If the story or stories in this book would have been lengthy enough than I would have certainly loved it and rated it 5 stars because the message delivered was really beautiful. The lives of all the 3 persons on whom this book is surrounded should have been elaborated a lot more. The stories were way too short.The writing style of this book was a bit different though for which I would like to praise the author. The writing style was a bit like the popular book The Alchemist which I didn't like much as well. People those who liked the Alchemist would certainly like this book as well.Another reason why I didn't rate it higher was because I don't agree with quite a few concepts or theories mentioned by the writer in this. Although the main message is clear that Happiness shouldn't be found but rather happiness is around us and we should just give it enough space to find us there were many other theories which the writer has left us confused with. I won't mention all of those concept/theories in this review because then it would be very lengthy but I would surely welcome those who want to share it and I would share it with the writer as well if he doesn't mind it.Finally I would say that this was not a book of my type. I firmly believe that Philosophical to deliver a message and to be provoking and inspiring have got to have more of a fiction in them and the stories have got to be long enough to be entertained or atleast not get bored. Philosophy books which deliver message mostly through quotes can not only be boring but demanding as well.

3.5 StarsThe book keeps you ticking all the time. At the start you don't seem to like the character of Sherlock Holmes. He seems to be too pretentious and so proud in his own abilities that he considers everyone around him as fools. But as the story moves forward and molds you start liking all the characters and simply can't stop yourself from getting into the groove. The first half is brilliantly written and it is at your mind always. The second half is rather dull and moves out of mystery totally.

The book I read had 309 Pages in PaperbackFor the first about 100 pages I thought this book was fully hilarious and I had 5 stars in my mind. But it got a little boring after halfway through as the same jokes were being repeated and I thought there was a lack of creativity from the writer. So for the next 150 pages from 5 stars I had come down to 3 stars for this book. But thanks to the last few pages of the book that I was caught with some good creativeness and the book went to a different level. The hilarious book almost made you cry. And hence I decided it to rate 4 stars.Talking about the book:I usually borrow books from the library rather than buying it because I don't have much savings. But since this book was not available in the library I had to buy it. I wouldn't say that I regretted buying this book but at the same time I didn't cherish it either. NEGATIVES:-1) The book began with total hilarity but then due to the same jokes and stories being repeated again and again it made me boredom.2) Very few dialogues were used in the book. I think a few more good memorable dialogues would have made this book even more brilliant, albeit it is already brilliant.POSITIVES:-1) Had a mixture of both simple and vulgar jokes. And every jokes and stories were believable. I myself have spent 2 years in hostel life away from home so I can understand what goes around with boys there.2) The secret to success to some extent of a book are its Characters. All the characters in this book(apart from Pike) were enjoyable no matter how good or bad roles they played. Wombat was the best of them all though. I also pretty much liked some of the other characters like MadDog, Gecko, Spud & The Guv.3) There is atleast a smile if not laughter throughout the whole book.Whether I would like to read next part of the series?A: Yes, I would definitely but I had like to get it from the library rather than buying it. This book is not as bad as not reading the next part of it and at the same time its not as good as saving some money and specially buying it. Every young boy should read it atleast once but you also got to make sure that if you don't have much money to buy books than there are better books than this available in the market.

This book is one of its kind. Something unique. Its not extra ordinary but it always keeps you interested. Credit should go to the writer. There were some ordinary scenes in the book which she suddenly converted into something mysterious. The spontaneity of the writing caught me. There was not a single moment in the book where you felt bored. The plot was good, believable. It tells a story of a young boy who commits crime and what its effects are on his family. The thing which I like the most about the books were the characters. Every character was enjoyable and nice in its role and they want out that way throughout.Just loved this bookThere actually isn't the kind of constant shadow of threat in this book that there is in most of Fremlin's other books. It isn't an edge-of-your-seat spine-tingler. Killings are revealed, but they take place on the periphery of the more daily world of the boarding house where the protagonist finds herself after her divorce.The boarding house is almost unlikely in its lack of amenities. On the one hand, it seems hard to believe that a woman coming from a comfortable, middle-class marriage would settle in squalid digs with no heat, a leaky roof, and a clutter of other people's stored belongings. And yet on the other hand, the reader can see an all-embracing, likeable woman - like the protagonist, like the reader herself/himself - doing just that. It becomes easy to identify with Alice as she ventures into her new life.Fremlin wrote this book toward the end of her career in 1990. Still, that's over twenty years ago. However, to the extent that the murders do play a role, their means and motive might have been drawn out of today's headlines.As with all of Fremlin's work though, the real attraction is the writing. Fremlin has a knack for making all of her characters believable individuals, each one speaking in a distinct voice. Here she does an especially good job capturing the pleasure a 13-year-old-boy takes in roustabout physical challenge. She enabled me to feel for the first time what it must be like to be one of the lads, launching off into bruising, ebullient competitions - his "lungs filled with a glittering ecstasy of wind and winning."But Cyril can also be reflective and insightful about the ways of the world. After he and his chums are reprimanded for making so much noise clattering their bikes down an outdoor flight of stairs, Cyril considers how it's always infirmity that is given the right of way. He inwardly regrets how "being ill and miserable is (considered) a much more worthy and important state than being happy and well, and must therefore be ministered to assiduously at all times; whereas happiness doesn't matter at all, and can be tramped down and trodden into the ground with impunity."Fremlin writes a lot of such wisdom beautifully into her domestic suspense stories. This is another of her books that I'll be sure to keep always within easy reach on my library shelves.