Half A Year Later… (+ a reading update)

 Well, to terribly understate a fact - things have changed. 

1, I’m finally writing another blog post! Yay!

2, I am, officially, a college student. It’s insane. And also wonderful. I get to do music all day long in a delightfully music-filled city (and no math… *cue rejoicing*)

I’m going to be rather busy, but I do hope I can do some more regular blogging! I’ve been doing a lot of reading, so perhaps it will take form as book reviews.

And speaking of which - 

I can’t remember what I’ve read since I last posted (although I do know there weren’t as many books as I should have liked) but most recently has been Anna Karenina and Theo of Golden. 

my edition - a beautiful translation!

I LOVED ANNA K. It was brilliant. A work of art. Superb. 100% would read again. The characters are soo well-developed, prose (even in translation because I fear I do not know Russian, alas) is beautiful, everything is perfect. A page-turner for sure (couldn’t stop reading even when I needed to practice… oops). 

I might do a full review of this one later, complete with quotes and what-not! I certainly hope to do so.

As for Theo of Golden…

Perhaps it was a mistake to read it right after Anna K. Perhaps I am not understanding the book as I ought. Perhaps I am wrong. (I really don’t think so.) But I couldn’t finish it. 

lovely cover, though

It was just… really long. Not like a Les Mis long, either. More like… a Space Odyssey long. Lots of filler. Lots of cardboard cut-outs and stereotypes. Lots of stilted dialogue. 

I wanted so so desperately to love this book. The concept was beautiful. A man changing peoples’ lives through art? Yes please.

Unfortunately, the execution was… not what I’d hoped. Much as I wanted to, I couldn’t force myself to finish it. Maybe I will someday, but as Aragorn would say, today is not that day. The whole thing felt forced and a little contrived. Dialogue felt unrealistic and rather adjective-heavy. There were many parts that sounded (although I doubt they actually were) like AI. Each of the characters struck me as a little bit stereotyped: the kindly old man whom everyone likes (and who knows everything about EVERYTHING), the abrupt war veteran with a Traumatic Past, the typical small-town-dwellers who all love this guy they barely know (after, of course, being suspicious of him and having a sudden change of heart after talking to him once.)

And maybe it’s just me, but the title-first-name (“Mr. Theo”, for instance) REALLY bothered me. Now, people don’t know Theo’s last name, so that I guess could be justified, but EVERYONE does it. “Ms. Katherine, Mr. James”, and so on and so forth. Ladies and gentlemen, this TRIED me, it really did. If you want to show respect to someone, address them by their proper title (Mr. Ponder, etc.). If you know someone well, call them by their first name. The other way, the intermediate way, that means absolutely nothing.

Please.

Don’t get me wrong, though, there were some beautiful things about the book. The way art was discussed, for example. I love it when books treat art as something to be cherished and valued wholeheartedly. That is what attracted me to the book in the first place, and it’s the only reason I would have wanted to keep reading. Art, whether it’s painting or music or anything else, is not just a universal hobby, it’s a language, a blessing, a career, a story waiting to be told. Creation, or rather sub-creation, is one of the most beautiful things man can do (and one of the ways we can best glorify God.) That part of this book I loved and appreciated. (Thank you, Mr. Levi - or should I say “Mr. Allen”? - for doing at least one thing right.)

I also loved the faith content. It wasn’t explicitly Christian, but God was brought in a lot (a little heavy-handedly) but also in some very beautiful ways. 

“For anything to be good, truly good, there must be some love in it. Whether the art is sculpture, farming, teaching, lawmaking, medicine, music, or raising a child—nothing is what it’s supposed to be if love is not at the core.” - Theo of Golden

If over-long, heavy-handed, super-nice books are your thing, by all means, read this book. You might love it. I, alas, did not. (You are also very welcome to disagree with me. (Nicely.) I can take it.)

Anywho—

You can expect more frequent posts from me (I hope!!) from now on. Also, I am fully aware that I have been nominated for a Biography Tag an embarrassingly long time ago (thank you Lizzie and I apologise for my aforementioned embarrassing delay… hi again) but I will do my best to get to that soon! (It’s been like 3 months, what’s another week?)

Till next time then! It’s good to be back :)

- Hannah