The Library devastatingly Beautiful
This is a BOOK. And not in word count or some other after this obsolete metric, but emotion. The way the author just gets it is frankly scary.
In the prefatory glazing, that most books seem obliged to have, there was a comment something along the lines of "ts so good my highlighter ran out", so I decided to annotate for the first time. No regrets, you should do it too, this one more than deserves it. 10/10
An atmospheric Fall read
In forgotten lands, shrowded in mist and mystery, in castles, that long precede the memory of most of it's inhabitants. Through secret passages illuminated only by the moonlight, and disturbing deaths...
I mean, how could you NOT love something like that? It's cute, it has some proto-sapphic scenes, with some underlying ScArY tension.
Did it change my life? Not at all. Did I ejoy it? Yes, and I can see myself reaching towards it some other time during spooky season.
I would deffo recommend it to all the gothic lesbians out there. It's short and sweet, and, tough it didn't really do it for me, I've seen people rave about it.
10/10
I'm just not ready to give it a review, it's just too sacred for me to soil it's beauty with my inept language.
Approaching holy text for artists and lovers
Okay, that title was a bit too glorifying, but there is some truth in that sentiment!
The book is about an withdrawn, simple man named Frederick, who falls for a beautifull stranger Miranda and so, abducts her. Miranda is an young artist, who will forever be changed by his actions.
The ending is just devastating. I mean, the whole book is, but the ending???
After about two months of living in a literal inpenetrable dungeon, Miranda, in her diary, starts documenting her decent into sickness. What starts as but a slight fever deranges into what will take her life. The entries become more sporadic, lose dates, throughlines. There is a painfully potent sense of helplesness mixed with dissapointment.
Dissapointment, that she will never get out, taste freedom, use her changed perspective on life, go back into the world a better person an live out her dreams...
But no, in the slimy and latent hands of her capturer, nothing can be done. She just dies, alone, unknown and unknowing.
I really love the charachter of Miranda. It's sort of a mix between an high brow painter and teenage dirtbag. She lives deeply, she grows and has an undeniable life force inside, she's capricious, she's amazing.
Fowles also does an incredible job of differentiating between the POVs, that detail instantly makes it feel more realistic and personal
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It has some great quotes about being an artist and, ultimately, teaches us that to love is to let go.
In the monestary does lie a "quaint" collection of books, all scattered around.
You know, it must be a shame; someone really should look through some of these...
Just as a bit of preface: please don't mind my "creative" placement of commas and keep in mind english is not my first language!
BTW you can scroll down in some of the text sections (hopefully). Idk why it doesn't really fully show, but it ain't broke enough to fix it.