Category: classics

BOOK REVIEW: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Posted December 2, 2014 by @amanhimself in 5 Stars, Books, classics, Reviews / 0 Comments

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey My rating: 5 of 5 stars “One flew east One flew west One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.” When does a novel becomes a classic? When it’s digested by critics and teachers bit-by-bit. Not when it is adapted to a movie. However, I don’t fully agree with the existing theory of a novel being called a classic. And no, I am not discussing my theory of classic, at least today. Before reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I had never really thought about insanity, how it is dealt with, and how it relates to ideas such as freedom and morality. In this classic novel, Ken Kesey with a thought-provoking narrative […]

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BOOK REVIEW: The Last Man by Mary Shelley

Posted October 24, 2014 by @amanhimself in Books, classics, Reviews / 0 Comments

The Last Man by Mary Shelley My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars Critics consider The Last Man is Mary Shelley‘s most important novel after Frankenstein. Since I read Frankenstein, a few months back, my obsession with the author’s writing style grew and I wanted to gradually examine Shelley’s writing by reading her other works.Thus, I picked this 500 pages long novel that explores similar thematic concerns as in Frankenstein, though from a vastly different perspective. The nightmarish story envisions the end of humanity from a ruthless and inescapable plague. Full of heart-wrenching loss, The Last Man tests the resilience of humanity, as well as its capacity for sorrow and grief. The storytelling starts at the constant node following the timeline […]

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BOOK REVIEW: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Posted July 20, 2014 by @amanhimself in Books, classics, Essay, Goth, Reviews / 0 Comments

For several years, I avoided reading FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelly because the name had been caught up in endless clichés and had been inextricably linked with the horror genre, which I consider a bad form of fiction. However, being obsessed on reading more Gothic Fiction and the author herself I decided to give it a read and I confess that I am sorry I have waited for this long. The story behind the writing this great piece of Gothic Fiction is as animate as the book itself. In 1816, at Lord Byron’s villa on shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron himself and his guests Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John Polidori. Byron, inspired by some fireside readings of supernatural tales, suggested that each member of the party should write […]

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BOOK OF THE WEEK: FATHERS AND SONS

Posted October 12, 2013 by @amanhimself in Books, classics, Fiction, Reviews / 0 Comments

FATHERS AND SONS BY IVAN SERGEYEVICH TURGENEV Set in Nineteenth Century Russia, Fathers and Sons by I. S. Turgenev takes us the estates and agricultural fields – among the rural gentry and their peasants. It portrays two different sons and fathers deal with the changes happening around them. The book starts when Arkady returns home from school with his friend Bazarov, who is a nihilist, to the home of his father, Nicholas. His uncle Pavel also lives there. Nicholas is trying to stay with the times and has set his serfs free, but his estate has fallen into disrepair. He also has been having a relationship with a former servant, Fenichka, and has fathered a child. My experience in Russian Literature is quite […]

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FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD: A REVIEW

Posted October 3, 2013 by @amanhimself in Books, classics / 0 Comments

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD by THOMAS HARDY The more I read, the more I realize that a book should be wrought with a special physiognomy but also it should be astonishing. Far From the Madding Crowd is one example of the aforesaid. This was my first book of the author Thomas Hardy, his poetic way and his way of portraying a scene gives a reader the feeling repletion. Many a times, the reader would be astonished by the way of illustrations Thomas Hardy provides in this particular title. The way he pulled images, I was bewitched by his art. Far from the Madding Crowd is basically the story of Bathsheba Everdene and how her three suitors affect her life. Looking at the protagonist Bathsheba Everdene, considering her […]

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THE DEVIL’S DISCIPLE: A REVIEW

Posted June 16, 2013 by @amanhimself in classics, Fiction, Reviews / 0 Comments

The Devil’s Disciple was written in 1896-97 by G. Bernard Shaw. The play occurs in the town of Websterbridge, New Hampshire, in 1777 during the American Revolution. The play is written in a way in which each act ends in a cliff-hanging affair. The hero acts out of unselfish idealism. Otherwise all other characters are significant and make the play a melodrama with a difference. The court-martial scene is one of the funniest scene of its kind in dramatic literature. It revolves around a General whose witty sarcasm is classy and sophisticatedly pleasing. Shaw never losses an opportunity to attack the needless destruction of war and to make of military pomp and circumstance. As I said earlier, it is a […]

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REVIEW FOR THE JAZZ: THE GREAT GATSBY

Posted June 3, 2013 by @amanhimself in classics, Fiction, Reviews / 0 Comments

Review by Aman Mittal THE GREAT GATSBY by F.Scott Fitzgerald I read the book over the last weekend and spent quite a time as it length would not suggest. Some would say its a tragic love story with crime and corrupted minds. But I say its a very close resemblance to Fitzgerald’s own life, especially his struggle for his own love. That is the main theme. The story starts with Nick Carraway’s narration when he visits his cousin, Daisy. Nick, is an exceptionally mild person to the point of being dull. But through this narration framed in the thoughts of an exceedingly dull person Fitzgerald creates characters and lays out scenes that are vivid and bright and engaging. By coincidence […]

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APRIL BOOK OF MONTH-THE METAMORPHOSIS

Posted April 26, 2013 by @amanhimself in classics, Fiction, Reviews / 5 Comments

The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a monstrous vermin. Although Kafka wrote many stories on animals but this book is the only one where an animal is an insect.It is a tragedy but it is not an ordinary tragedy. The style and plot are simple and nothing is complex accept the fact that the a human has transformed itself to a bug. Character of Gregor Samsa is a very […]