BOOK REVIEW | Lord of the Flies by William Goulding

What a pity that so many adults had a bad experience with this novel in  high school that they never want to pick it up again. 

At first glance, this novel seems innocent enough: a group of English school boys find themselves stranded on a remote island and must learn survival skills to stay alive.  However, the direction that the author took this seemingly harmless premise could make anyone fall into an existential crisis. 

Truly, the mastery that went into "Lord of the Flies" is astounding.  There is so much allegory just leaking off the pages that sometimes I think people can get too caught up in the intellectual aspect of the novel.  And there truly is a lot to be discussed.  The island follows the same fate as the Garden of Eden.  As the boys fall more and more into their darker selves, the island itself becomes a character taking on an evil turn.  

In fact, this book has been banned and challenged relentlessly due to the fact that, in the end, Goulding's message is that all of humanity is evil at its core. 

This novel focuses on the murder of reason, the death of goodness and the dark truth of what it means to be human.  So much is condensed into this roughly 200 paged book that it's hard not to find yourself in a deep conversation about the human condition.   However, even though it is a well of conversation starters, as an adult I found myself more and more affected by the boys' deaths and descent into madness.  When reading this as a high school student, I was encouraged to focus only on the academic aspect of the novel.  But when reading it as an adult, I couldn't help but focus on the emotional side of it, too.

There were times when I read this that my blood ran cold.  Other times I felt myself in such shock that my body went numb.  I didn't have any of these experiences when I was a teenager.   I didn't have a connection like this with the book before.

I can't recommend that adults re-read (or read for the first time!) this novel enough.  And I hope in doing so, they'll find more meaning and more emotion than they experienced before. 

BOOK REVIEW | The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins

To summarize this book in one sentence: The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman's descent into the harrowing grasp of Post Partum Depression while her husband and sister-in-law ignore her growing issues out of ignorance, blind righteousness and fear.

This story starts out seemingly harmless enough. A woman and her husband move to the countryside so that she can recover from a mysterious ailment. Her husband seems to be careful, even overprotective - "He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction."- but with good intentions. The narrator wants to stay in the downstairs bedroom, but her husband insists on her staying in the ex-nursey with the horrendous yellow wallpaper.

As the story progresses, she becomes more and more fascinated, and frightened, by the wallpaper: "There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will." As she continues her narration, the reader quickly discovers that there is something, very, very wrong. However, it is only the reader who notices this. All those around her seem to casually overlook her issues and they continue to grow and consume her.

Being trapped inside the head of a woman who is spiraling out of control is a terrifying experience. Her obsession with the wallpaper grows, she begins to see in it a woman who "wanted to get out", she becomes an insomniac, falls into paranoia and yet nobody does anything about it. The frustration I felt towards everyone around her, everyone who was seeing the effects of her PPD firsthand was something unlike I've ever felt while reading.

 Towards the end, she conflates herself with the woman she sees in the wallpaper, signaling her final break:  

"I've got out at least," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"

 I was honestly surprised by how chilling this was. I knew, going into it, that it was about PPD and I knew that it was a disturbing read, but I didn't expect it to affect me as strongly as it did. The honest truth is that PPD is still a very ignored problem among new and older mothers. We still live in a world where a woman suffering from PPD is forced to have more and more children and never get any help - which ultimately leads to her being jailed for trying to drown them, but her husband getting off with a simple slap on the wrist for ignoring her mental issues. The Yellow Wallpaper while written over a hundred years ago, holds a message that is still very relevant and important today.

Highly recommended. 82 accessible pages and maybe an hour of your time that will be well spent.

What Kind of Reader are You?

I've been noticing a lot of reader shame in the book world lately, and I predict there will be many posts to come about book/reader pretentiousness and what not.  But for now, I want to help you establish what kind of a reader you are.

In the broadest sense, I believe there are two types of readers: The Thinker and The Feeler.

You may be a Thinker reader if you:

• Are constantly analyzing books.
• Need a logical occurrence of events to satisfy you.
• Cannot suspend your disbelief.
• Are a fan of deconstruction.
• Prefer to read for the enlightenment of it rather than the enjoyment of it.
• Do no relate to fiction characters/don't need to relate to the characters.
• Base a book on its writing style and organization.

(Image credit here.)

You may be a Feeler reader if you:

• Read books solely for the enjoyment of it.
• Prefer to be entertained than educated.
• Find yourself getting way too involved in a character's life.
• Need to actually like the protagonist to enjoy the novel.
• Prefer plot and character over good writing.

In general, Thinker readers read more: classical literature, literary fiction, and sci-fi.

In general, Feeler readers read more: YA, fantasy, romance and children's/middle school lit.

Here's a point I want to make: both types of readers are equally valid and equally important.  They both add something new and different to the reading community and how boring would it be if we were all Thinkers/Feelers?

I am getting quite sick of Thinker readers looking down on Feelers for being too "vapid" or for "not reading proper books."  I'm also quite sick of Feeler readers looking down on Thinker readers and finding them to be too "pretentious" or that they "think too much."  Just because you only read classics does not make you better than the person who only reads YA.

In my opinion, only reading any one type of book is dangerous.  I don't care if you've read every single YA or classic novel ever written, but have you ever read a book by a hispanic woman, or a gay man, or a book by an African about his experiences? Have you read any romance?  Have you branched out to epic fantasy?  Have you read any Slave Narratives? (Because I've been reading a lot lately, and they are well worth the read.) What about literary fiction?  Magical realism?  Why are you limiting yourself to one thing?   If you only read the same type of novel, you will only think the same type of thoughts and there will be no room to grow.

That being said, I do think it's important that we start respecting each other's reading decisions.  While I don't think all books are created equal, I do believe that each type of reader should have the freedom to choose what they want to read without fear of being judged for it.

Personally, I think I'm a Thinker reader with very high Feeler tendencies.  But what about you?

What kind of reader are you?

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Leafmarks
Booklikes | Tumblr | Pinterest