G150 E-Reading Book Review Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Steven David Justin Sills
Author: Steven David Justin Sills
ISBN: 9781475116243
Publisher: Alcibiades Press
Type of book: Homosexuality, discovery of self, secrets, too intelligent
Year it was published: Originally 2003
Summary:
This story contrasts the lives of two people: Gabriele and Sang Huin in their search for finding their place in society without sacrificing individual liberty.
Opinion:
I hate being mean; yes I do, believe it or not, but for some odd reason the story angered me. I tried to read it, but there was something detestable about Gabrielle and Sang Huin that I merely skimmed through the whole book, and even that was more than enough. From skimming the author's previous works, one can tell that he's an extremely well-read and intelligent man, but his style is not for me, unless you enjoy running to a dictionary every minute trying to translate words such as lugubrious and so forth. Somehow the story is removed from beyond the realm of everyday and only those who are into abstract will likely enjoy it, which on goodreads aren't really many. (The book been out since 2003, and not a single written review!) Even from skimmings I feel that he tends to put down women. This book is something akin to philosophy which I didn't like and the masculine version of White Oleander. He removes emotion from just about everything, and I really did desire to pull my hair out while reading it. The book also taught me a very valuable lesson: go outside and experience life and emotion instead of trying to remove yourself from it. If you remove emotion completely, then you alienate majority of your reading public. You find yourself with characters that a reader can't relate to, as well as issues that a reader doesn't really care about. Maybe I was brought up the way I did, but I don't really care much about philosophy. I have tried to study some of it in college, but my second class wasn't exactly successful and I realize that I was bored by it. I want to make my own connection out of life and its reasons. Readers and people respond well to pathos and logos, especially if a brilliant book mixes them together. This was not a brilliant book at all. Since there isn't much summary, I'll also mention what its about: Sang Huin (Shawn to his friends, as the author reminds his readers all the time, but rarely uses the nickname,) travels to South Korea and wants to get in touch with himself. He is gay, by the way. He reflects on life, disappointments and so forth and then begins to write the story of Gabrielle, sort of his female alter ego and tries to discover himself as well as come to terms through her.
Quick notes: I would like to thank the author for the opportunity to read and review the book.
0 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
Comments
Post a Comment