Author: Elaine

The Adventures of Augie March is just another rendition of the sub-genre: “1950s American literature following the irresponsible and purposeless wandering of a young man.” Also in this sub-genre is On the Road. The internet tells me I’m referring to the “postwar American drifter” archetype. Although I wanted to like Augie, and I did, I’m… Read more

I had high hopes for this book, and I was disappointed. I’ll be honest, when I read this, I would have guessed this was written by a lady who’d never touched a horse in her life. Well, I was mistaken, because I looked up Geraldine Brooks and learned that she started riding in her fifties… Read more

If Freedom hadn’t been the next book available from the library after Blood Meridian, I may not have finished it, because it was not enjoyable and it consistently made me feel sad or icky or both. But, it was infinitely easier to read than Blood Meridian, and I would hate to quit on two books… Read more

I really tried to give Blood Meridian a good chance. Taking a very basic and general view, it seemed like the type of novel that I would like: set in the mid 1800s and involving journeying out West on horseback. Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to endure more than a few chapters, as it… Read more

This is another truly terrible book. There is really nothing to commend about it, and I simply do not understand why this would make the list for top contenders of the Great American Novel. It’s written poorly, and in an uninteresting way, as it purports to be the diary of the most horrendously selfish, shallow,… Read more

This was an entertaining book with plenty of interesting-enough characters, some moving parts, and drama. However, as far as a contender for the Great American Novel goes, I don’t think this should be up there on the list, mostly because I think the American Dream should be portrayed in a more favorable light. Poor James… Read more

Wow. This was the least-enjoyable book I’ve read in a long while. It reads like a horror-dystopian film with a green-black tint over every scene, and characters with hideous stage makeup that creates the fantastical and nightmarish aesthetic. I only like horror novels with a redeeming lead character, which McTeague lacked. Speaking broadly, it seems… Read more

The Red Badge of Courage started very poorly and got a little better over time, but not much. When I write reviews, especially less-than-favorable ones, my tendency is to qualify everything with statements such as “my opinion” and “I think.” Now, surely that’s obvious, that this is my opinion and what I think and I… Read more