Jessica Kianne Kianne থেকে Lower Cross, Coleford, Gloucestershire GL16, UK
Love, adultery, interpersonal relationships, jealousy, self-deception. What more could you ask for? Complex, tightly drawn characters populate this novel. Martin has a wife and a mistress - how will he manage, and who is deceiving whom?
Although a little slow at the beginning, Beloved Infidel, the autobiography of Sheilah Graham, picks up the pace to tell the story of an orphan girl who manages to have a brief theatrical career before becoming an entertainment journalist during the 1930s. Graham's story is interesting, but her claim to fame is her four-year on and off affair with F. Scott Fitzgerald at the end of his life. In many respects, this book is about Graham's romances, from her sham marriage to John Graham to her various suitors and, eventually, Fitzgerald himself. Overall, Graham shows a pluckiness and will that make this a story about overcoming one's childhood to achieve success, nevermind the fact that Graham changed her name and fabricated her identity. Fitzgerald does not have much dimension in this biography, despite Graham's intimacy with the subject. He comes across as a charmer and romantic who is unable to maintain sobriety and cope with the decline of his fame. Still, the book yields just enough facts and dialogue to remain intriguing for those curious about Hollywood in the late 1930s and Fitzgerald's life story.
** spoiler alert ** My rating is as honest as it could be. I just didn't like this book. I usually love classics and the plot of this book was intriguing and exciting to me. In fact, rereading the summary, I really wish that I could have enjoyed it. Doesn't it sound so awesome? Mostly, it was boring. I felt like everything is excruciatingly drawn out. The dialogue was weird. I realize this book was set in a different time and place with different customs. That wasn't the problem though. I just can't believe there was ever a time or place in which people talked to each other like they do in this book. It's just awkward. I didn't like how the main character's thoughts were written. This may seem trivial, and maybe it is, but his thoughts are in quotations. In the middle of conversations. Here's an example that I'm making up so you can get a feel for way the main characters thoughts read: "Hey! It's been so long since we last spoke. Have you gotten my letters?" she asked. "Yes, I've received your letters and thrown all of them out because I can't stand you and I wish you leave me alone!" I thought. "Oh, no, I must have had a mail issue. I haven't received any of your letters. How have you been?" I replied. Do you see the problem? I would read out the entire sentence and think he's talking out loud to the person and then realize he was just thinking it. It was aggravating, especially because the main character really struggled with confessing his crime and would think it quite often mid conversation, so I kept thinking, Oh he's going to tell this person he is the murderer! and then I would have to readjust and realize it was just a passing thought. It was extremely tedious. My final issue with this book, another trivial matter, is the names. Now, I can read and thoroughly enjoy things like the Iliad. Greek dramas have insane names and relationships and somehow I'm able to file it all in my head and keep track of everyone quite easily, even if they have similar names or they are referred to in a few different ways. For some reason, I couldn't do this as easily with Crime and Punishment. I still don't get why people are referred to a bunch of different ways, but I'd have to stop myself confirm that the paragraph was still referring to the same person I thought, but for some reason addressing that person differently. Again, another tedious thing. All of these things really stopped me from enjoying this novel. But after reading it, as agonizing that was for me, I didn't enjoy the story at all. I didn't like any of the characters, I didn't like the plot at all. I didn't like the ramblings of the main character. It just seemed pointless. I wish I could have enjoyed this book as much as I wanted to. Maybe my expectations were too high. http://meganm922.blogspot.com/2012/01...
I'm reading these stories for an in-person book discussion group here in St. Paul, Minnesota.