Have you ever read a book which made you flip open the last page not to read the ending, but just to see how many pages more you need to read before you finish the book?
This book, The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw, made me do it.
Title : The Girl with Glass Feet
Author : Ali Shaw
Year : 2011
My friend, E, lent me this book. She loves it and told me that she likes Ali Shaw's writing style. I was interested and started reading it... Before the end of chapter 1, I looked at the page I was in, flipped the last page of the book, and counted how many pages I need to read before I finish it.
Yes, I dislike the author's writing style. The story is so slow and the too-much-information-detailed description of literally everything annoy me so much! Then...something hit me! I suddenly remembered that this book is originally written in english. In case you're wondering, I read the Indonesian translation. So..well...maybe the english one is not so bad...I thought.
Then, I tried to find at least the preview of this book. I found it at amazon.com here. Oh...bubbles...I still dislike it. It's true that his choice of words are interesting and beautiful and very...fairy-tale-like, also need less page the the translated one, but the slow pace and the detailed description does not change. Though, I might enjoy reading it in english more......nawhh..I think I need at least 6 months to finish this kind of slow-pace-plus-too-detailed kind of book when it's in my second language.
The story itself is not bad, but in my opinion, the ending is too rushed. I feel like the author try to close the curtains too fast. The ending was out of place because of it. Well, the main characters, Midas and Ida, has a nicely placed ending (compared to the other characters, though I still dislike the ending, but at least these two has an ending which was built up by the stories). However, other characters, Henry, Evaline, Carl, Emiliana, Hector, Denver and Gustav (did I mention everyone? Well, at least these are the characters I notice, other than Midas and Ida, of course), has a very very rushed ending. It felt like the ending is suddenly THERE, out of nowhere.
Another character is Midas Crook, the main character's father, who has the same name as the main character, Midas. What a confusing way to name someone. Anyway, Midas (Jr.) has a father, Midas (Sr.), who he hates (and attached to) so much. At first, I didn't pay attention to him. I mean, seriously, the main character having a daddy's issue and that concerning daddy is already dead even before the story started. So yeah, I didn't pay attention to this daddy thingy. UNTIL, page 375-378. Merely FOUR PAGES, and he suddenly become so important in my life! Okay, not in my life, just in this book when I read it. He suddenly took away all of my attention. JUST FOUR PAGES.
I will conclude my post this time with my strongest impression of this book. I wonder which one impress me more, Midas Crook (Sr.) or the fact that I need to count how many pages left before I finish the whole book. COUNT THE PAGE WIN!! I was still counting the pages on the last a hundred pages, last fifty pages, and even last twenty pages! How is that not a strong impression?? Bubbles...the font size is so small, the space is not much, and the description is too much.
Jesie S.
Medan, Thu, 5 February 2015.
p.s. I thought Ali Shaw was a woman, well, apparently, after I googled this book for the sake of writing this post, I found out that Ali Shaw is a guy (from goodreads.com in this link).
This book, The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw, made me do it.
Author : Ali Shaw
Year : 2011
My friend, E, lent me this book. She loves it and told me that she likes Ali Shaw's writing style. I was interested and started reading it... Before the end of chapter 1, I looked at the page I was in, flipped the last page of the book, and counted how many pages I need to read before I finish it.
Yes, I dislike the author's writing style. The story is so slow and the too-much-information-detailed description of literally everything annoy me so much! Then...something hit me! I suddenly remembered that this book is originally written in english. In case you're wondering, I read the Indonesian translation. So..well...maybe the english one is not so bad...I thought.
Then, I tried to find at least the preview of this book. I found it at amazon.com here. Oh...bubbles...I still dislike it. It's true that his choice of words are interesting and beautiful and very...fairy-tale-like, also need less page the the translated one, but the slow pace and the detailed description does not change. Though, I might enjoy reading it in english more......nawhh..I think I need at least 6 months to finish this kind of slow-pace-plus-too-detailed kind of book when it's in my second language.
The story itself is not bad, but in my opinion, the ending is too rushed. I feel like the author try to close the curtains too fast. The ending was out of place because of it. Well, the main characters, Midas and Ida, has a nicely placed ending (compared to the other characters, though I still dislike the ending, but at least these two has an ending which was built up by the stories). However, other characters, Henry, Evaline, Carl, Emiliana, Hector, Denver and Gustav (did I mention everyone? Well, at least these are the characters I notice, other than Midas and Ida, of course), has a very very rushed ending. It felt like the ending is suddenly THERE, out of nowhere.
Another character is Midas Crook, the main character's father, who has the same name as the main character, Midas. What a confusing way to name someone. Anyway, Midas (Jr.) has a father, Midas (Sr.), who he hates (and attached to) so much. At first, I didn't pay attention to him. I mean, seriously, the main character having a daddy's issue and that concerning daddy is already dead even before the story started. So yeah, I didn't pay attention to this daddy thingy. UNTIL, page 375-378. Merely FOUR PAGES, and he suddenly become so important in my life! Okay, not in my life, just in this book when I read it. He suddenly took away all of my attention. JUST FOUR PAGES.
I will conclude my post this time with my strongest impression of this book. I wonder which one impress me more, Midas Crook (Sr.) or the fact that I need to count how many pages left before I finish the whole book. COUNT THE PAGE WIN!! I was still counting the pages on the last a hundred pages, last fifty pages, and even last twenty pages! How is that not a strong impression?? Bubbles...the font size is so small, the space is not much, and the description is too much.
Jesie S.
Medan, Thu, 5 February 2015.
p.s. I thought Ali Shaw was a woman, well, apparently, after I googled this book for the sake of writing this post, I found out that Ali Shaw is a guy (from goodreads.com in this link).
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