A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Marian, a 15-year-old illegitimate daughter, lives with her mother in a shabby hut in the mountains. Her biggest wish is to watch a movie with her father for her birthday. Unexpectedly, her mother committed suicide, and she was forced to marry a 40-year-old. widower shoe dealer.
Twenty years later, Laila, a well-educated 15-year-old girl from a middle-class family, lost all her relatives in the war. To survive, she had to choose to marry Marianne's surly husband.
Although Marian and Laila are 19 years apart and have very different concepts of love and family, their fates are intertwined because of war and bereavement.
After experiencing the abuse of their husbands together, they not only sympathized with sisters, but were even more interdependent as mothers and daughters, and finally reversed their own life paths.
With moving force, the author depicts how Afghan women desperately endured suffering and struggled with fate under fire, starvation, tyranny, and fear, and how they bravely sacrificed themselves by their love for their families, In the end, it is also love, or rather, the memory of love, which supports the survivors to live bravely.
It's a haunting, heartbreaking tale of a brutal age, an impossible friendship, and a love that will never be destroyed.
And although life is full of pain and bitterness, there is a faint glimmer of hope in every tragic story. Thought-provoking and deeply moving, A Thousand Splendid Suns dissects love, sacrifice, and the deepest meaning of being alive.
On every page of "A Thousand Splendid Suns", there are hidden feelings alive: feelings that cannot be tolerated in the local society but are beautiful, great, and enduring.
Hosseini carefully lays out the life quality of the characters in the classic modern book and uses superb skills to depict the ever-changing human emotions, vividly showing the anger of the abused women. These are what make the content of this book unforgettable and unforgettable.
American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman
That a book about the American gods was written by an Englishman is a profound thing in itself.
I agree with the view that gods become gods because some people believe in them and worship them, and when people stop believing in them, their divinity will dissipate, and they need to rely on some ancient occupations to support themselves, such as prostitutes, grave diggers People, liars, wizards, etc.
I think Shadow is a hidden god, a god who didn't know he was a god but didn't expect him to be the son of a god -- on second thought, it was almost inevitable.
However, as far as a novel is concerned, more than 400 pages are long enough. America is a land fit for human habitation, but not for gods.
And we have always been materialistic, gods stop killing gods, and Buddhas stop killing Buddhas. Few people probably remember the legends in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas".
It is popular now that comrades who don't believe in constellations are not good. The gods behind the constellations?! Sorry, those are not important, you just tell me your weekly fortune.
What attracts me most about "American Gods" is "truth" and "richness." In fact, Neil Gaiman is not talking about gods, but people, and human nature. Lots of subtle details strike my heart suddenly while reading. A few excerpts:
"If all your friends jumped off a cliff to commit suicide, would you jump with them?"
. "Maybe after living in one place for a while, this becomes your home; maybe, home It's a place you'll find eventually, if you go long enough, wait long enough, wait long enough."
"People are just like that, they can't live without faith, but they don't take responsibility for their faith... They fill the darkness they can't grasp with ghosts, gods, electrons, and legends. They imagine something and then believe it exists, and that's faith, the most naked faith. That's how it all started.
Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn
Let me get my thoughts together first. This classic modern book is insanely compelling.
I saw myself everywhere, to be honest. I saw myself in Amy and I saw myself in Nick. I saw myself in their constant lies and fantasies about their illusion of fake and ideal selves.
I saw myself in their irresistible desire to present the best personality to satisfy the thirst to win. I saw myself in their endless struggle to avenge just to get back at those who go against their wishes.
The main catch (also the selling point) of this book I suppose is done you really know and how much you think you know that person you go to bed with every day. Imagine one day when you wake up and find your spouse gone, all you're left with is just evidence accusing you of killing your missing spouse. How horrifying would that be!
All the time you think you know or even understand that person by your side. And then boom, it's over. As Amy said, it takes time and discipline to plan this. But besides this, it also takes unthinkable insanity to frame a murderer, which is by the way almost perfect.
Reading this book would definitely remind you of your previous relationships, especially the failed ones. It all started really well, with each of you trying to deliver the best possible versions of yourselves.
And how it all changed and faded somehow, with someone “ stopped trying” or “getting tired”. But no matter what happened, it all hurt. Yes, like catastrophically painful. That's what our ideal love costs us, I'd assume.
While I was going through this novel, interestingly, I had two connections in my mind with Gone Girl. One is about the judicial system of the United States. Just like many fictional cases in Gone Girl or the real ones, such as Simpson, it hardly matters whether or not the accused committed the crime.
What matters is whether the jury thinks he/she did it or not. The truth here is ironically irrelevant. What's more, in our digital age, it's impossible to get an unbiased jury without being affected by the media in one way or another.
Another connection is about a quote from Alicia when she tried to explain why she decided to separate from her husband to her daughter. I remember explicitly she said, “Adults have complicated feelings .”
I've been pondering this ever since from time to time. It's interesting to discover how amazingly fit it is to describe how Amy and Nick felt. Yes, adults do have complicated feelings.
But is it justifiable to use this as an excuse to cheat or even murder?
Cheating seems to become kind of an indispensable part of every relationship now. In every movie I see, and every book I read, there seems to be a cheater. So are people really incapable of sustaining a faithful relationship or is monogamy simply wrong?
9. The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This classic modern book is not a grand structure, but it is so vivid that the history of Afghanistan from the time of the king to the Soviet invasion of the Taliban regime is vividly represented.
The whole book is full of true feelings, Amir's cowardly guilt for redemption is full of development in the storyline, and several episodes are particularly wonderful: Hassan's sodomy, Baba's death, the confrontation between Amir and Assef, and Sohrab's wrist cut.
The downside is that some chapters are slightly dragged, which spoils the rhythm of the story. I haven't read a few modern novels, and by my standards, this is a memorable one - one that will leave you with a lot to think about and sigh.
The origin of the story lies in Kabul, Afghanistan. The protagonist Amir is a rich young master. At the age of 12, Amir and his servant's son Hassan participated in the traditional Afghan kite fighting competition.
Amir defeated all of his opponents, but to win the final victory, he had to chase down the kite that he finally cut. Hassan was the best kite runner in the area. He chased Amir and promised that Amir would catch up.
However, when the kite catches up, Hassan suffers a tragedy. Amir witnessed everything, but with a weak personality, he chose to stand by and again made the wrong choice to force Hassan to leave the house.
Then, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Amir and his father fled to the United States and started their new life.
However, many years later, a phone call from Pakistan pulled Amir out of his seemingly peaceful life in a foreign country.
The truth, responsibility, and redemption brought Amir back to Afghanistan, which had been devastated and devastated for many years, to find Hassan's child. Mir chose his own unique way of atonement...
10. Into the Wild
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
When I got this classic modern book, what puzzled me the most was how the experience of a young homeless man allowed many reporters to follow his trail and spend a year or two solving the mystery.
More importantly, the book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years, touching the hearts of millions of Americans. After all, Chris is just an unfortunate outcast.
"There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people," and that's because readers have added their own understanding of life.
Chris miraculously received so many people's love, concern, praise, and criticism, can it be said that they all have a Chris in their hearts?
Some readers may argue that who would go to a place with no water and no electricity to eat and sleep, it is a paradise for mosquitoes, beasts, and lunatics.
However, who can say that he has never been young, never had a sensitive, rebellious, and longing for a wandering heart? There are "hippies" and "beat generation" in the United States, and once dreamed of wandering with an acoustic guitar.
However, most of us learn to be prudent and rational in our growth and even blame those unrealistic homeless people in turn. Because of this, human society reproduces and develops endlessly.
However, a small group of marginalized people who are regarded as alternatives, physical or spiritual nomads, can't let go of their aesthetic stubbornness, in the shadow of neon lights, on the edge of the soul, and insist on that romantic mess, but a noble and moving dream.
Crowded people do not necessarily mean abundance and contentment. Don't people often feel empty and confused in office buildings, banquets, and 24-hour brightly-lit metropolises?
It's just that people think that they don't have enough and are lost because of poverty, so they are more eager to find more fillings, rather than a desolate place with nothing.
Some people say that we are insufferable. Most people have never compared with this society once, but choose to silently accept the society, ideas, rules, and even the views of their neighbors created by others.
We weighed ourselves and decided to keep our heads down silently, and seasoned with a lot of spiritual food and love beliefs to make it easier to swallow.
People who become legends do not accept this way of living. They say that even if I can't live, I have to live by myself.
Perhaps the reason so many people lashed out at Chris was that Chris reminded them of their former selves. Once young, sensitive, rebellious, extreme self. Surprised. Inexplicably lost.
11. Never Let Me Go
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Personally, I love this classic modern book. What I'm not comfortable with is the description given in the rating. Instead of judgemental phrases like 'recommended', I prefer something more personal like 'like it or 'love it.
Now comes the book. I have to admit, at first, I got totally confused by the way the novel was written. It was like you got suddenly thrown into another world, and couldn't understand or do anything except watch everybody else in it carrying on their everyday life.
All the myths and bigger pictures only got slowly revealed, and you got dragged and pushed by the same current that separated and reconnected childhood friends in that world.
I finished this book at 2 am in the morning. By the time I closed the book, my face was literally washed with tears. Life is such a fragile existence, it could easily get twisted, shattered, and taken away from you and your loved ones.
We cherish our lives because there are dreams, and there are all kinds of possibilities and happiness waiting for us to pursue, at least that is what we believe all the time. What if all these do not exist in the first place?
As said by Ms. Emily, yes, it is just a myth, a dream, with not a single trace of truth in it. The fate was set for Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, and the likes of them, on the date of their coming into existence in that world.
What disturbed me the most, is not how tragic and heartbreaking the ending was, but their quiet acceptance of their fate.
Except for Tommy who went wonky again at the end, and was jokingly teased by Kathy as 'you crazy kid', the rest, including Kathy, never even shout or scream out their fear of what waits for them all the time, the frustration of their life never being the way they could have been.
What they did, in silent agreement that was always there deep down in their hearts, was hold on to one another, never let go, till the very end of their lives.
12. Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad: A Novel by Colson Whitehead
I often don't know where to start when it comes to my favorite works. A book is like the universe of a person's mind. After reading the first chapter of The Underground Railroad, I felt my heart was hit.
After reading this classic modern book, each chapter has a thrilling story, and each person has his own thoughts.
"Slavery is not only the shackles of black slaves but also the shackles of masters." When people disrespect other people's lives and wantonly trample on their dignity, part of their own soul dies, and they fall into a whirlpool of violence and anger that has nowhere to vent. , and eventually engulfed himself.
Cora has a small list in his heart, and this list contains the names of those who helped him and the victims of slavery.
There are black people on it, white people who helped her.
The moment that touched me the most was when she killed the teenager who was forced to defend herself. She didn't even know his name, it was just an x.
The boy's name was solitary and he didn't know where to classify it. She has traveled a lot and seen a lot of misfortune. She put his name in the victim and prayed in silence for him.
There is so much brutality and bloodshed in the book and the evil of human nature. This seemingly useless little act has brought a glimmer of light to the dark world.
Sometimes human beings are ignorant and numbly evil. In a world where violence against black slaves is popular, and even a culture of slave abuse, farmers eat picnics on sunny days and admire the captured fugitive slaves hanging alive on elaborately carved torture racks. This kind of numb evil is more shocking than the evil produced by hatred.
A good book, a thrilling read. However, some people will turn around and write short biographies of some of the characters who have been left in front of them, hitting people's hearts.
This is a great book. Read with a strong heart. Experience the emotion and pain that hit the heart.
13. Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
The words of a family, because I read too much incomprehension about "Danwuwu" or "The Shape of a Bird" or something else, it is too much contrast with the love of this "Norwegian Forest". This situation may be caused by "No" unintentionally.
It seems that too many people started contacting Murakami because of the "Norwegian Forest". However, "No" is just an anomaly in Murakami's works, it is an exploration of the realistic style of Murakami.
After this exploration, he never tried a similar way of writing again. From this, it can be roughly guessed that for him personally, <No> was somewhat wrong.
However, as the most special, approachable, and popular among Murakami's works, "Noh" is easier to accept in a wider range than other works. Sometimes when it comes to Haruki Murakami, it must be "Norway".
"No" is indeed very good, and Murakami has gained more recognition through this work. If it wasn't for "No" paving the way ahead, he probably wouldn't have reached the point where he is almost a household name today. Because after all, the audience of his mainstream works is actually not that many.
If you come into contact with Murakami's other works because you like "Nor", especially because of those pure and beautiful loves, and hope to see more similar things, then it is a pity, and most likely you will be disappointed.
Indeed, many voices of disappointment begin with "No" and linger next to works that should have received higher ratings.
Are you reading, often confused and anxious because you don’t know where the plot will lead you; and after watching the whole work, you haven’t gained more than some fantastic experience and interesting wording and sentence making?
It's not the problem of the work, but the introduction is wrong. Murakami is not your cup of tea.
Why can't I destroy the acquired heart, read it in sequence quietly and casually, and then read it in depth again and again, until the hidden tentacles in the classic modern book finally reach the depths of the heart slowly and clearly?
However, if what you like is the clean and alienated language, the tireless details, the desolation that permeates life, the confusion that seeks but ultimately finds nothing, and the overwhelming unspeakable loneliness, maybe you should try it Take a look, it may be an unexpected surprise.
Not to mention the additional hallucinations, such as the various life experiences that can be regarded as a silent wind like the passage of time, or a heavy, surly, and incomplete life to explore and think about.
From a certain point of view, it is precisely this "Norwegian Forest" that has become a small barrier for most of Murakami's novels and is slightly misleading to the well-known Murakami.
14. We Need to Talk About Kevin
We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel by Lionel Shriver
Even the most elegant lie cannot be compared to one ten-thousandth of the ugliest truth.
Both children are victims of Eva's false marriage. Eva, who has a successful career, is vain and snobbish and digs deeper. She is actually weak and afraid of loneliness.
Perhaps the trauma of losing her father and the effects of her mother's mental illness, Eva once believed that it was better to have a man by her side than a man. Even if the man doesn't actually know anything about himself. Unfortunately, Eva chose the wrong person.
Forgive my prejudice against Franklin, I have had close contact with several such people in my life, and their political correctness is like a layer of armor that isolates reality.
A cowardly soul hides in armor uses fantasy as nourishment, and vainly fights with reality. As long as they live as they imagined, if their loved ones are hurt by reality, after all, they are kind, after all, they are such good people.
With such a life partner, you either go numb or go to war. Eva chooses to go to war, in a clumsy and cowardly way. Kevin became a bargaining chip in the war.
Eva wanted her husband to realize that Kevin was wrong as if Franklin could justify some kind of correctness in her marriage by simply realizing that the child he longed for was wrong.
Franklin, for similar reasons, had no problem proving Kevin. As for Kevin himself, this gifted child silently stood by his mother, at least Eva could see the real him.
On the surface, he was standing with Franklin again, it was just his lurking. In fact, Franklin couldn't see the child's real existence and smug look at all and be even crueler to Kevin.
That is a crueler form of indifference and exploitation. I don't care what you look like, I just want to see you in my fantasy. Kevin endured Franklin's stupidity to fight Eva. And patience always bursts out.
As for Celia, she had already felt the turbulent crisis at home, and she prayed, unlike Kevin, who chose confrontation. An enjoyable book! Tribute to the author!
15. Educated: A Memoir
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
An invaluable personal history. Not only related to education but also a world I was completely unfamiliar with, constructed by fundamentalist religion, right-wing positions, violence, and the swamp of the original family.
During the reading process, I felt physical discomfort no less than ten times, but because of this, when I saw the results of the last few chapters that the author reluctantly made a distinction with the original family and worked hard to educate herself, I was even more impressed by her extraordinary courage.
From the perspective of a person who has come out of the traditional education system, what I have not learned and will never learn is how to get along with my parents and 6 brothers and sisters, how to tolerate pain, and how to resist attack. Ability, ability to withstand high-intensity physical labor, perseverance, and perseverance.
But the price of this family education is so heavy. Being mentally and physically abused by my brother, my parents' blind favor, my father's extreme political views, my mother's inaction, mental illness, countless accidents, car accidents, and escapes... Its bloody, violent, shocking, sadistic hearts are often People can't bear to look directly, fidget, and sometimes get angry.
Tara chose to walk out of the mountains against all odds and obtained "higher education" in the traditional sense, but this education is no longer another education.
Tara's first education (Family of Origin and Dashan) shaped all her experiences in her secondary education (BYU and Oxford). "Doctor" Tara Westover does not exist independently of Roofer Tara Westover.
Although the past has passed, the ravines in our hearts are sometimes quiet and sometimes noisily there, waiting to be blown by the wind, hit by the rain, beautified, and corrupted.
Tara's autobiography has become a phenomenal existence since it was published in February 2018, and it has naturally caused a lot of heated discussions.
On Amazon, Tyler, Tara's best and respected brother since childhood, wrote a 5-star classic modern book review. Said that although he disagreed with some of Tara's views and memories - he felt that the situation in their home was not as exaggerated as Tara had described - he did not deny that what Tara had described was what she thought was reality.
Another report on the Internet is a statement issued by Tara's parents' family lawyer, denying the fact that Tara's parents stood idly by her brother's abuse of her, and at the same time certifying the prestige of Tara's parents in the community (after all, Tara's mother's herbal therapy business has become the largest local business. Employer), and expressed by robber logic: 3 of the 7 siblings in Tara's family have obtained doctorate degrees. This probability can only show that her family's education is the best.