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The Trial was not an enjoyable read for me. The dense and surreal prose was arduous and while I can appreciate the effect of the writing and how the style added to the feeling of the scenes I did find it a struggle at times. Many of the scenes are dreamlike with bizarre and strange things happening. I found the bizarreness and randomness made for a heavy-going reading experience.

I'm sure I missed and didn't 'get' what others find so compelling about the book. I imagine that each of the characters… (more)

The Trial was not an enjoyable read for me. The dense and surreal prose was arduous and while I can appreciate the effect of the writing and how the style added to the feeling of the scenes I did find it a struggle at times. Many of the scenes are dreamlike with bizarre and strange things happening. I found the bizarreness and randomness made for a heavy-going reading experience.

I'm sure I missed and didn't 'get' what others find so compelling about the book. I imagine that each of the characters that K. meets is an allegory of some element of culture or bureaucracy. I'm sure that if I had worked hard enough I could have found meaning to many of the strange events and characters. There are many interpretations to the book and different readers can find different meanings in the text. For me it was just too tedious to enjoy or want to think about.

It's also worth noting that the book was never completely finished by Kafka - one of the chapters is incomplete and it's uncertain whether Kafka actually intended other chapters to be written. He certainly never got to edit his work so it is rough round the edges as a consequence.

Little Brother is a novel for young adults which is set a few years in the future. A serious terrorist act shakes San Francisco and a group of teenagers get caught up in the aftermath.

The central themes are civil rights, privacy and freedom and a lot of interesting ground is covered in the book. However, as with other Cory Doctorow novels I've read, he has a point to make and uses the story as the vehicle for his opinions. Sometimes that makes the story seem incidental to the proselytising that… (more)

Little Brother is a novel for young adults which is set a few years in the future. A serious terrorist act shakes San Francisco and a group of teenagers get caught up in the aftermath.

The central themes are civil rights, privacy and freedom and a lot of interesting ground is covered in the book. However, as with other Cory Doctorow novels I've read, he has a point to make and uses the story as the vehicle for his opinions. Sometimes that makes the story seem incidental to the proselytising that is going on. The story is probably (hopefully?!) far fetched in parts but the ending seemed at odds to the rest of the book and too tidy and well resolved.

There is quite a lot of technological content and most is well explained but I am already familiar with most of the tech he includes so I'm not sure how the less geeky reader would feel about it.

I'm over the age of the target audience and I can imagine that the young adult readers that this book is intended for would get a lot out of discussing the themes with other young adult readers. Regardless of your age; if you have never considered how surveillance features in your daily life then this book could open your eyes.

A quick and humorous read.

A very, very short story about population control in the future. Well worth reading.

I really enjoyed this e-book. It's a story of ending and starting relationships from a male perspective; the main male character deals with some drastic changes. The writing style is easy-going and humorous with a well paced plot. There are some great comedic scenes thrown in - the dog scenes and Starbucks scenes are hilarious! I laughed out loud several times at the funny scenes that happen and funny lines that the main protagonist says.

The book is set in Boston, MA, and there are several locations… (more)

I really enjoyed this e-book. It's a story of ending and starting relationships from a male perspective; the main male character deals with some drastic changes. The writing style is easy-going and humorous with a well paced plot. There are some great comedic scenes thrown in - the dog scenes and Starbucks scenes are hilarious! I laughed out loud several times at the funny scenes that happen and funny lines that the main protagonist says.

The book is set in Boston, MA, and there are several locations thrown in to the storyline. I've been to Boston for a week long visit so I wasn't familiar with all the locations. If you're more familiar with the city I'm sure you'll enjoy the geographical references. The main character is interested in music (hence the title of the book) and writing reviews of music gigs. There are references to music throughout the book, a bonus if you are interested in music too.

I'll be keeping an eye out for future work by Bowick. Recommended as a well written and easy to read humorous book with a good plot.