No entendí este libro hasta que lo terminaba leer. El título lo dice todo. Es la historia de dos niños en el colegio militar. El clase de primer año se llama “perros.” Se exploran sus vidas por recuerdos mientras crecen entre otros estudiantes militares. Ellos se convierten hombres jovenes, aliadas y finalmente enemigos después de una muerte trágica. Sus diferentes vidas civiles enfocan en una nińa que crece una mujer joven como lo ven a través sus ojos. Muy confuso para una lectora española principiante como yo. Sin embargo el autora insinúa la diferencia pero pensé que … no sé … estaba confundido.

Este libro es una obra de ficción literaria. Las dos historias se les dice magistralmente: los descripciones de las escenas de colegio y ciudad, diálogos, pensamientos, sentimientos y lucha son excelentes y muy interesantes. Sin embargo nunca cerrarás el diccionario de inglés y español. El vocabulario es enorme.

El autora se mezcla varias temas suavemente: la vida en Perú durante un periodo preocupante; el contraste entre ricos y pobres; adolescencia; crimen y castigo; disciplina y camaradería; violencia y calmada. La lectora se queda con un final agridulce: algunas cosas cambian pero no mucho.

La lectora no se deja colgada: el último capítulo explica y diferencia los dos vidas. Me reí de mi ignorancia. Lo leería de nuevo … cuando mi español sea mucho mejor.

This was quite a different presentation of philosophy than Bertrand Russell’s historical approach. The wide field of Western philosophy is covered by topic, with references to many philosophical systems and their relevance to each topic. Thus, philosophy is presented as a series of problems that fall between science and religion. No answers are given, but the reader is led to the cusp of the philosophical envelope in a very interesting style.

The overall scholarly writing style is interspersed with literary humor (some of these serious ideas are indeed bizarre). The sentences are too long (again), but well constructed.

The book is almost 500 pages, but most sections are the length of encyclopedia entries. In fact, he is structured very much like an encyclopedia. I plan to keep it on the shelf because you can’t do an internet search if you don’t know where to start.

This is the author’s first novel. I read it because I enjoyed In Cold Blood, but it wasn’t fiction. I wanted to see how he wrote in my genre. This is obviously a first novel. It is both overwritten and underwritten; I will address these bold statements in this review.

First, the grammar and punctuation are excellent, and the writing style is easy to read and quite clear.

The author must have used every metaphor and simile available in English. He was apparently trying to write his “great American novel” so he packed in colorful, often nonsensical, metaphors. Some entire paragraphs are allegory. He must have read Ulysses. However, this is not a literary masterpiece; for one thing it is too short …

Underwritten, what do I mean by that? While written in the style of a nineteenth century English novel (e.g. Pride and Prejudice) this book is incomplete. As written it is 186 pages, much too short for such a writing style, and there’s a reason: the author didn’t have the stamina to complete it. Several interesting threads arose and were built up but, when they occurred, they were either wrapped up in a few sentences, or dropped like a hot potato. As with most novels I’ve reviewed, at about the halfway point, the author lost interest. They started using metaphors with no obvious connection, shutting down side subplots, and (seemingly) just trying to wrap it up.

This is a painful story told from the perspective of an optimistic boy of twelve (or so), although not in the first person. That was one of the disconnects I found in the use of metaphors: many of them were beyond the experience of the protagonist. Perhaps if Capote had gotten closer to his main character, he would have completed the book.

This is the last book by Truman Capote I’ll be reading …

Este libro fue escrito por jovenes. El carácter central tiene quince años y tiene que tratar con la muerte de su hermana mayor. Ella está deprimida y comparte sus pensamientos pero la historia es repetitiva. Entiendo que es muy triste perder una hermana pero ellas no estaban cerca. Julia descubre un secreto sobre su hermana que no puede contar a sus padres. El grande momento de su dolor no es descrito pero solo mencionado más tarde.

Este libro es bueno para lectoras españolas intermedias porque tiene vocabulario simple. Trama sencilla. Personajes simples. Es creíble pero yo no estaba convencido que Julia haría lo que ella hace. La autora nos muestra los pensamientos más oscura de Julia pero ellos no indicaron problemas emocionales tan serios. Sin embargo tal vez así es la depresión. Bueno.

This is a true story written in a masterful dramatic style. It is told by an impersonal narrator but, because so much information was available to the author, the characters carry the story. I didn’t know the details of the grisly murder of the Clutter family in 1959, so reading this book was a surprise; I found it a real page turner, especially the scenes describing the murderers’ actions after the fact.

This could easily have been a fictional crime drama. Apparently the perpetrators were willing to share their experience, probably because they knew how it would end. Maybe their fifteen minutes of fame.

The writing is excellent; in fact, I just ordered the author’s first novel to see how he writes fiction, being constrained as he was by the facts in this book.

One last note, I didn’t notice any writer fatigue at the halfway point; the author never lost focus, and it shows in the final product.

I recommend this book both as a true crime novel and as simply a good read …

The title of this science fiction novel is a bit off-putting, but you can’t judge a book by its cover. This book was written in Japanese, so the English translation has a little of Alfred Birnbaum (the translator) in it as well. Between them they created a very good story. There are some loose ends and irrelevant additions, but I’ve seen those errata in every book I’ve read. And, as with other novels, there is some deterioration after the half-way point, but nothing distracting.

The style is interesting. The first-person narrator alternates between present and past tense in a deliberate manner, a clue to what’s really happening. The book is filled with clues that got my attention but which I was unable to connect. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because, on face value, it’s a story about parallel worlds and a man caught between them. The story reminded me of The Matrix (1999) and Inception (2010), but the truth is that those films were probably inspired by this book, which was published in 1991.

With dozens of clues presented to the reader, Murakami leaves the most important question unanswered, allowing the reader to add their own ending. I have my story and I’m sticking to it.

I recommend this book because it is readable and fun. And when you finish it, you have gained insight into …

This is a story about a wealthy woman’s assisted suicide, but she had her death announced several days early because she wants to see what people say about her. I was expecting a lot of drama and disappointment. However, I was disappointed rather than the main character. The big surprises are presented early and discussed repetitively throughout the rest of the book. There is a lot of repetition as her adult life is presented in a series of flashbacks, which often occur without warning.

The author sticks to multiple point-of-view narration for most of the book but, confusingly, the narrator begins hopping between perspectives, even within a paragraph. That’s called “head hopping” and it is very confusing to read. No matter whose POV is used, the narration reads like a technical report. That’s too bad because the story is weak and needs some good writing to prop it up.

The characters are mostly undifferentiated, with a few exceptions. Thus, the dialogue is confusing because there aren’t enough “dialogue tags” to keep up. I had to reread a lot of the dialogue.

The central character likes music, so the author uses a nice trick of having songs from different periods of her life appear to represent her dying memories. I don’t think it was done well because I found myself annoyed at not knowing if real and fictional songs and artists were mixed up; you see, the story takes place in 2044. Usually, I would have checked out some of them, but it wasn’t worth the effort. Of course, I recognized Pink Floyd and a few others from more recent decades.

The reader is supposed to have mixed feelings about Dava Shastri, but I just couldn’t get involved with the story enough to care. To ruin an already poorly written book, the epilogue explains what happens to Dava’s children (all adults) over the next months to years.

Talk about beating a dead horse …