DNF Review- Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup

Goodreads Summary:

This unforgettable memoir was the basis for the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave. This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and two kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the deep south. These are the true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave - many believe this memoir is even more graphic and disturbing than the film. His extraordinary journey proves the resiliency of hope and the human spirit despite the most grueling and formidable of circumstances.

REVIEW:

*NOTE: We (The Readdicts) received a copy of Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup from Pirates in exchange for an honest review. We thank the publishing house for the book! 

When we first received an email about Twelve Years A Slave, I was extremely intrigued by the book since at that time, I was reading Edward Said's Orientalism for my literature class and studying the theory as well. So this book seemed like the perfect way to apply the theory to a literary work that isn't fiction. For some reason or the other- and the reason being studies mostly- I kept putting the book aside although ideally, I would have loved to read it while doing orientalism. When I finally picked up the book to read, it was too late, I guess. 

When I went to Quebec for an exchange programme, the in-flight services provided by our airlines had the movie Twelve Years A Slave and I decided to watch it after having watched actors from the film go receive their Oscars for the same. I didn't like the movie much but I did find it interesting. It was sad and devastating, and I wouldn't really know how much of the book was taken to the big screen. I had the book with me at that time as well, but I already said, I never got to it since I had other stuff to do. 

ANYWAY. I guess I've gone off topic enough and it's time I finally get to the review instead of just blabbering about random stuff that no one even cares about. 

So, the book. Well, first off, I did not like the pace of it. It was way too slow for my liking without much happening. I understand why there was a lack of dialogue and a heavy dose of description, but for me, it was too boring. I admit that the binary opposition of master/ slave has been the most interesting relationship since it's nothing but a human thinking another human as savage and using him for his own benefit. But all that aside, the problem I have is not with the story. I don't want to talk about it since I'm not really sure I am capable of doing it. 

I was under the impression that I was reading Twelve Years A Slave when I received an email from Goodreads asking me to update my progress on the book and telling me that it's been 50 days since I started reading it. 50 days. Can you imagine that? 50 days is almost a month and a half. And I read only 90 pages of the book. And in that time, I didn't even read any other paperback since I knew I was reading Twelve Years A Slave and it's better to finish one book before getting on to the next. Honestly, it's not the book's fault. It is mine. I did not read it on time and when I was in the mood for it. So if anyone is to be blamed, it's me. I would have liked to just sit down one day and finish off the book, but somewhere, I know it's not going to happen and I don't want to waste time reading something that I won't exactly prefer to read otherwise. What should be noted is that whatever I read, I found alright. It was profound and I learnt a lot of stuff here and there. But it's taking too long and I've lost interest, honestly.  

I know there are people who will love this book, and I would have as well, but no. It's too time consuming (as if my current pile of books doesn't haunt me enough) and I must close one door to open the next. Sorry, book. 

RATING: 

DNF Reviews- Delhi Mostly Harmless by Elizabeth Chatterjee, Final Cut by Uday Gupt and Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

DELHI MOSTLY HARMLESS: ONE WOMANS VISION OF THE CITY BY ELIZABETH CHATTERJEE

Goodreads Summary: 

... Nobody who lives there, nobody at all, has much good to say about Delhi. Along with Milton Keynes, Detroit and Purgatory, Delhi is one of the worlds great unloved destinations.

So when Elizabeth Chatterjee makes her way from the cool hum of Oxford to the demented June heat of heat of Delhi to research her PhD, she find herself both baffled and curious about the je ne sais quoi of this city of graveyards and tombstones.

As flanur and sagacious resident, Liz takes us through the serpentine power structures, the idyll, the bullshit peeling layer after layer of the citys skin to reveal its aspirations, its insecurity, its charm and finally its urban dissonance.

Uncannily perceptive, predictive and hysterical, Delhi Mostly Harmless puts a firm finger on the electric pulse of Delhi

REVIEW: 

I Could/ Did Not Finish the book. 

As crisp as the writing is and as interesting as it is to read about your own country from another person's point of view and as much as I would have liked to pick this book up and finish it off once and for all, I simply do not wish to continue with Delhi Mostly Harmless : One Womans Vision of the City. I've been reading it since more than a month now and even the most patient person's patience has a limit. I'm more than hundred percent sure that many people will really like the book but unfortunately, I'm not one of them. 

I'd like to thank Random House India for a providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. 

RATING:  

FINAL CUT BY UDAY GUPT 

Goodreads Summary: 

Six fast-paced, gripping short stories and a short novella, each with a Final Cut -- a surprising, unexpected and intriguing twist in the last paragraphs. In Hodsons Gold, a quest for the legacy of one of the most colourful characters of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 leads, via a poem in code and a coded poem, straight to a thoroughly startling address in Delhi. Two boys grow up, together after a fashion, in the 1990s and 2000s in Bishnupur, West Bengal and Kolkata, in Friends and their growing up years trigger an international sensation when revealed. Shooting for an improbable 4th Pulitzer Prize, a three-time winner arrives in Kolkatas Red Light district to discover, even more improbably, that It Happens Only in India. After setting up a roaringly successful business and after thirty-seven years, Will Reena? -- readers are asked, in the only short novella in the collection. It turns out, in The Last Supper, that the human models for a painting done over two hundred years ago in Kolkata were keepers of wholly unexpected secrets. On a Buddha Purnima day 2,000 years ago, the holiest day in the Buddhist calendar, a miracle occurs in Sarnath near Varanasi that should, by rights, have been recorded long ago in an immensely better book than this. And finally, in the story that lends its name to this book, magic, religion and celebrities combine in the Kolkata of 2011, to lead to a very different Final Cut.

REVIEW: 

This was actually my first DNF of the year. I read the first short story in the book and it couldn't hold my attention. I really wish I could give it a chance but I don't have the patience and a huge list of books to be read is making it difficult. 
I'd like to thank the publishing house for the book and my apologies for not finishing what I started especially since I asked for it myself.

RATING:  

MAYBE SOMEDAY BY COLLEEN HOOVER

Goodreads Summary: 

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance—and the enchanting music that inspires one young woman to put her life back together.

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers Slammed, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, This Girl, and Losing Hope, Maybe Someday is destined to become another bestseller and long-lasting fan favorite.

Includes a free original soundtrack by musician Griffin Peterson.

REVIEW: 

I. CANNOT. BELIEVE. THIS. 

I love Colleen Hoover. I love her books, her characters and her stories. But for some reason, the few emotions I felt towards this book were pity, irritation and annoyance and the worst part is, I don't even know why. It's unusual for me to give up on a book after crossing the 50% mark but I couldn't take this anymore. 
Too long chapters. Too little happening. I mean, come one. Get together and get it over with. Arg. I hate this. I really hate this and I feel so sad that one of my most favourite NA contemporary romance writers has disappointed me so much. Or maybe I've been expecting too much. Either way, I don't care. The protagonists can do what they want, it's none of my business anymore. 

Sorry, Colleen. 

RATING: