Book Review

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A marvelous masterpiece! It is indeed an exciting spy novel full of intrigues, quite well-developed dialogues among characters, their description; hidden feelings, and unexpected behaviors. The whole plot leads easily the reader into the ambiance of espionage and counterespionage during the 60´s decade, the core of the Cold War in Britain, Germany, and The Netherlands; a detailed description that places all perfectly for a mind like a big screen movie.

The story unfolds Alec Leamas, who used to work as a spy for British intelligence, someone wanting to quit that job but to retire he must accept one last mission, a treason he shall commit for his country in the search for a way out; it will bring misfortune for him and his lover.

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold is a book to demonstrate how spies are not priests, saints, or martyrs but individuals who might follow orders of any kind by their superiors, even if they shall act against their principles. The title “..Coming in from the cold” is a metaphor about Leamas coming in not as a spy but as a person, someone who develops human empathy. Five stars.

View all my reviews

Book Review

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is hard to find accurate words to describe such a deep and outstanding book. A dystopian story that allows the reader to question our present world: people are distracted with shallow commercials and television programs, there is a lack of real connections between individuals, plus everyone seems to be damned to live as a zombie, brainwashed by what they (owners of power) want you to be: think, buy, hate, love…

In **“Fahrenheit 451” books are forbidden and hated, no one could tell why or how it all started, no questions about what was going on under the surface but Clarisse, the young neighbor who Guy Montag meets one day changes his life. She breaks the zombie spell on Montag, a fireman who lived as a robot with the only purpose to burn books. Clarisse showed him another unique lifestyle where she enjoyed chat time with her family, walking around the city by herself, reading books, and made questions about everything; all the things that no one else was doing anymore, but her family as well. Due to this, Clarisse was stigmatized as crazy and was sent to the psychiatrist when she was one of the few caring, deep people, someone connected with humanity, with a soul within. But she was dangerous to the system and so needed to be eliminated.

As the book continues, Montag itself starts to question his reality and its existence to become somehow revolutionary as Clarisse, sharing the same ideas against the imposed reality; Montag´s changes lead the story to an unpredictable turn upon his awakening.

I give it 5 stars out of 5 because the story is original and well developed as the characters, and it becomes a questioner about life; it is impressive to notice how nowadays there are several similarities with the book, which serve as a reflection of how trivial and soulless are becoming our societies.

**Named “Fahrenheit 451” because the required temperature to burn a book is precisely Fahrenheit 451.

View all my reviews

Book Review

Introducing Jung: Graphic Guide by Maggie Hyde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Even though the book is supposed to be an introduction for beginners, a kind of guide for dummies, it gives a lot of complex information. The book tries to explain all the main ideas of Carl Jung, who was a Swiss psychologist, and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology; such as the collective unconscious, archetypes, the conscious, and the unconscious. Moreover, the text is indeed a bit difficult to digest; the whole concept that the Jungian world and its Analytical Psychology brings to knowledge.

As a new reader of Jung, it is hard to not want to learn more, going deeper into subjects about how the Ego and the Shadow work among other concepts. For example, the book explains how Ego represents the light of consciousness and the Shadow as its own “dark side,” which the ego wishes to hide from others, meaning the unconscious. Furthermore, it names the alchemical studies, how the alchemist named Unus Mundus, “One World,” the union of psyche and matter (spirit, soul, and body); an experience of oneness that Jung attempted to elucidate through his concept of synchronicity.

Synchronicity is a concept of meaningful coincidences, a-causal connection between psychic states and objective events; an inconstant connection through ‘meaning,’ while causality is seen as a constant connection through effect.

Introducing Jung: Graphic Guide explains the trinity of classical physics: time, space, and causality, plus how Jung wanted to add synchronicity as a 4th term. Other main topics are developed and underlying main ideas might continue until the end of the book.

Nevertheless, despite the difficulty to understand this guide, eventually, a curious mind may want to become a Jung pupil by finally trying to understand it all and keep on digging into his books.

View all my reviews

Reseña de libro

En media hora... la muerte de Francisco Martín Moreno
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Toda historia resulta más impactante y sorprendente cuando es basada en hechos reales, como es el caso de esta novela histórica; de principio a fin mantiene al lector al filo de la adrenalina y de la espera, con sentimientos de expectativa y asombro por conocer su desenlace.

Descubrir un secreto de familia, revelado en momentos de agonía por el propio tío de Francisco Martín Moreno, lleva al escritor a iniciar un viaje hacia el pasado para reconstruir, a modo de rompecabezas, las verdadera historia de su familia que entrelaza vidas distantes con dolorosas vivencias de persecución y tortura, experimentadas por sus ancestros.

Relata y describe con detalle, el sufrimiento vivido por ambas líneas de parentesco: su familia materna en los campos de concentración alemanes del Holocausto nazi, mientras que la paterna, la persecución política durante el franquismo español. El exilio, el hambre y la agonía, padecidos por muchos miembros de su familia, los llevará a huir e ir tras los pasos de una efímera felicidad y una libertad que parece incasable, en destinos equidistantes a lo largo de Francia, Marruecos y México, país donde nace el autor.

"En media hora... la muerte" es una extraordinaria obra que deja al descubierto una época tortuosa y reprochable, abriendo paso para que el lector experimente, como si fueran propias, todas las historias allí descritas.

El libro deja un legado histórico sobre lo que la humanidad debe evitar a toda costa; en este caso, los totalitarismos de entre guerras, y evitar que la muerte y la desesperanza sean las únicas opciones.

Es la mejor historia que he leído, por lo que recibe mi más alta calificación y recomendación. Eso sí, puede herir susceptibilidades al manejar un lenguaje directo y crudo.

View all my reviews

Reseña de libro

El club de los inmortales de Daniel Estulin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

En el libro, Daniel Estulin continúa su línea de autor para exponer verdades y desenmascarar a quienes manejan los hilos del poder, la élite, y sus siniestros planes para el futuro de la humanidad.

Con una detallada descripción, Estulin trata temas como el transhumanismo, la singularidad, la Inteligencia Artificial, la eugenesia, el esquema Malthusiano, la nanotecnología; y el control mental con programas como MK Ultra de la CIA y el MK Delta, para la alteración a distancia de la conducta humana; entre otros métodos para el control y la manipulación de masas.

Es interesante profundizar sobre estos temas, sobre cómo la realidad parece acercarse a una dictadura científica sin lágrimas, como la descrita en "un mundo feliz" por el escritor británico Aldous Huxley; Estulin esta vez nos presenta un futuro distópico según el cuál, la tecnología será usada sólo a favor de quienes dominan el poder, para construir súper hombres y alcanzar la inmortalidad al fusionarse con la máquina.

El libro es bastante catastrófico y no presenta soluciones, ninguna opción de resistencia; simplemente plantea resignarse a que un puñado de individuos, pertenecientes a sociedades secretas, ganen la guerra contra siete mil millones de personas y dejen a la humanidad en ruinas.

View all my reviews

Book Review

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite I cheated on the Trilogy by starting with the third book, I think it is remarkable the way the author describes every detail so the reader can feel during that war, all the dark and emptiness, all those losses. Besides, the story allows us to question governments and those who rule; it also gives a chance to get a glimpse of the emotions and human sides of Katniss, our heroin.

The ending is very surprising and the story gets twisted dramatically.

My decision now is to jump back to the first book, back to the beginning, as it had to be done in the first place...

View all my reviews

Book Review

The Metamorphosis by Peter Kuper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short and easy to read; a well-written book that allows the reader to almost feel immersed in a disturbing nightmare. I rated this novel 3 out of 5 not because it lacks ingenuity, considering a creative true original story, but since its existentialism influences negatively the readers' mood by leaving a bad taste about life and existence, an overwhelming desire to welcome death. A classic novel that anyway should be read.

View all my reviews

Revue de livres

va où ton coeur de porte par Susanne Tamaro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Trois générations dans une belle histoire où la clé est de suivre le conseil du coeur.

Ce livre c´est parfait pour ce personnes qui sont sensibles et ouverts à la poésie.

Il mérite tout le score les plus élevées.

View all my reviews

Book Review

The True Story of the Bilderberg Group by Daniel Estulin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Through this book one can realize who is ruling the world, the real strings behind the power. It is interesting and becomes of great help to be aware and awake about what is going on beyond the mass media news, discovering the truth and realizing some masked lies, what the elit and those with the power have made us believe as real.

Well documented besides risk, journalist Daniel Estulin did the job to gather all the relevant information. The True Story of the Bilderberg Group is an eye-opener for new readers and a true delight for those who already knew the truth; because more than conspiracy theories, there are facts.

View all my reviews

Book Review

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is remarkable to find a book so well written, one that allows the reader to develop the smell sense; most descriptively, the author gives us this unique chance to feel such a hard sense to describe.

Likewise, the story is quite interesting, with a disturbed character and his demons, psychological issues go on as his need to feel loved, and the rise of his own quest to develop a perfume containing the proper essence, which may allow him to finally be loved by others, to be accepted by the world (what he wanted the most).

The book tells the awakening of a murderer, and his inner fight of trying to fill what his soul and life lack while feeding his desperation by taking the dark path and so, leading the story to an unexpected ending.

View all my reviews

Reseña de libro

Lo entendimos todo mal de Susana y Elvira
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Es un libro divertido y rápido de leer. Cuestiona los estereotipos y la influencia de la cultura popular y paradigmas de la sociedad, en la construcción de los mismos. Es una prolongación del blog de Susana y Elvira, que integra de forma original, fuentes y citas que van desde películas, libros, blogs, hasta frases de cajón, y que con humor nos permiten ayudarnos a reír de la realidad, y a construir una imagen distinta a la del feminismo oscurantista.

El libro es bueno y aunque estoy de acuerdo con muchas de sus consignas, críticas y análisis, pienso que hay otras cosas en las que cada persona mantendrá su postura (en lo personal me opongo al aborto) entre otras ideas desarrolladas. Sin embargo, pienso que es interesante cómo hablan de ser pareja coequipera. Cada vez se difumina más lo que debe definir a cada uno en su género- así como ser niño-azul, niña-rosa. Pero lo que queda planteado, es ante todo, un intercambio de papeles..ahí se queda corto.

View all my reviews

Book Review

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is an interesting approach to the life of a teenager and his inner conflicts. Through the voice of Charlie, the reader will find poetry, adventures, friendship, disappointment, sadness, joy, love, forgiveness, and lots of good books and a soundtrack full of many songs. I highly recommend both the book and the film adaptation, however, the book gives more details and information regarding Charlie's issues. Four stars out of five.

View all my reviews

Book Review

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fitzgerald wrote an interesting story about a mental patient (Nicole) who falls in love with her psychiatrist (Dick). Nicole and her mental illness found a way to be expressed through Fitzgerald's pen; a stare full of tenderness. The causes of her illness were there as her becoming sanity. Likewise, it is through Nicole that Fitzgerald wrote an archetype about Zelda, his wife who dealt as well with mental issues.

The book is quite good in describing the French Rivera, the lifestyle of the couple, and their relationship: how time changes everything and so their own choices.

Nevertheless, as Tender is the Night is indeed a well-written book, I only rated it 3 out of 5 stars because the story develops very slowly; some chapters could just be skipped, which are not necessary for the core of the plot.

View all my reviews

Reseña de libro

The Numerati de Stephen Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A través de una minuciosa investigación periodística, Stephen Baker publica Numerati para explicarnos quiénes son y cuáles son sus objetivos, al clasificarnos y desmenusarnos en números. El autor divide los capítulos de acuerdo al estudio y las entrevistas realizadas por él a algún numerati determinado, según los siguientes perfiles trabajados por ellos (varían las especialidades trabajadas por los numerati): Empleado, Consumidor, Votante, Bloguero, Terrorista, Paciente y Pareja.

El libro en sí abre un resquicio a una las verdades más evidentes de la era digital: La aldea global se empequeñece y los datos se multiplican, facilitando las labores de marketing y mercadeo, cada vez más personalizadas. Consecuentemente se va facilitando el trabajo de éstos expertos, para quiénes somos un preciado objetivo de clasificación y ventas. Ellos nos conocen; sin embargo, llegó la hora de conocerlos a ellos.

View all my reviews

Book Review

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very well-written and original story placed in a dystopian world. The book deals with issues related to the state of the soul, a dilemma that comes out of cloning, and the human condition of trying to become God through science. Some ethical concerns emerge in the reader regarding the dark side of humanity and how it can sometimes get worst: selfishness and greed, the lack of empathy, love, and real bonds as it really should be for all of us as a whole. A deep reflection about what it means to be human, not inhuman.

(Are we human or are we dancers? -The Killers)

View all my reviews

Book Review

Just Kids by Patti Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To get a realistic approach to the bohemian NYC during the late '60s, the '70s, and '80s, "Just Kids" fits perfectly. The rock n roll, punk, and art scene invade the very essence of this book, in which Patti Smith and her love Robert Mapplethorpe had a starring and leading part. Each chapter allows the reader to feel like some member of the gang: which included personalities such as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, William Burroughs, Cohen, Dylan, and Warhol, among others. Likewise, the Chelsea Hotel was one of the main scenarios, where some of those artists would frequently gather.

While Patti kept reading Rimbaud as if he were her closest friend, plus listening to Bob Dylan, she kept inspired by her writing until becoming a recognized poet and musician, someone who came out of the streets as the sound of her own bohemian rhapsody.

Faraway from a traditional love, Patti and Robert laid a strong friendship until the end. In her own words: "He was the artist of my life." However, they both decided to choose the dark side of art: "We were as Hansel and Gretel and we were ventured out into the black forest of the world."

What would have been the end for both if they had chosen the light instead? Considering that many of them died from some kind of overdoses (drugs or drinking issues), among suicides. Robert himself suffered and died from AIDS.

View all my reviews

Reseña de libro

El hombre duplicado de José Saramago

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Qué sentirías si encontraras otro tú, ¿qué te dirías?. Este dilema del Doppelgänger aquí lo plantea Saramago desde una interesante óptica. Dos hombres que físicamente son completamente iguales y que no guardan parentesco alguno, se terminan encontrando y es gracias a este suceso que sus vidas nunca podrán ser iguales. La confusión generada de ese otro yo, desencadena una serie de acontecimientos que llevarán a tomar decisiones a partir de la pérdida y la venganza de ambos protagonistas; uno de ellos deberá suplantar al otro para poder sobrevivir.

Aunque algo lento, el libro es bastante descriptivo y permite que el lector se imagine para sí mismo, qué pasaría si pudiera hablar con su Doppelgänger. 

View all my reviews

Revue de livres

Ensemble, c'est tout par Anna Gavalda
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Un livre qui commence par décrire la solitude de quatre personnes et comment, au cours de l’histoire, construisent des nouveaux liens qui les unissent pour nouer des amitiés et de découvrir le pouvoir d’aimer en compagnie, et éteignent le bleu de leur vie pour le remplir de couleur.

J'ai eu du mal à le lire car la langue de ce livre, pour mon niveau de français, c'était assez complexe mais je pense que il vaut complètement la peine de lire, et pour ce qui sommes comme moi, de faire un effort.

View all my reviews