AUTHOR: John Knowles
PUBLISHED: 1959
CATEGORY: Young Adult (sort of)
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PREMISE: A man remembers his time in school during WWII.
MY THOUGHTS: Sigh. This is yet another book in what I'm beginning to think is a sub-genre: Old (usually white and straight) guy thinks back on one memorable thing from his childhood. I've stumbled across so many literature books that do this and...honestly dudes? I'm sorry, but your childhood is not as interesting as you think it is. This one had all the problems that books that do this idea have: mainly...it's dull.
I get what the author was doing with it. War is hell, it effects us all, even those not in the war, etc. etc. Probably also some metaphors for losing your innocence as well. This is not a difficult novel to grasp or even to read. Which is probably why it winds up on reading lists for schools all the time. But personally, I suspect this is better read as an adult. I have no doubt that teenage me would have hated this. Adult me....didn't enjoy it, but appreciates what the author was trying to do.
I just, for the life of me, couldn't get into this one. Yet another classic that is just not for me.
WHO SHOULD READ: literature fans, those that don't mind slow-paced books
No comments:
Post a Comment