Erewhon

Samuel Butler's Erewhon is the namesake of the trendy overpriced Californian grocery store known for over-the-top celebrity smoothies, playing on the fact that the Erewhonians take health so seriously that having any sort of illness is condemned as a crime. Knowing this, it's a pretty funny/extreme take on health culture, and makes me question if the creators are scamming us all 😂

Anyway, I've gotten off track. Back to the book.

It felt as if the narrative were written in three distinctive parts (though they didn't seem intended to be split that way). The first being an adventure story somewhat reminiscent of the style of Frankenstein, the second as a series of philosophic musings/essays, and the third composed of three or so very short chapters that almost felt like an epilogue. It started out so fun and exciting, but then it tapered off into all of these ideologies that were interesting enough, but not exactly *thrilling*. Then, at the end, it sort of tried to mix the two together in a half-ass way in a mad rush to get to the point which was just that...man sucks. lol. All in all, I'd say the experience felt a little disjointed and confusing...but then again...maybe that's just a reflection of how the main character felt during his journey?

Idk but here's a fun fact: the name Erewhon is derived from "nowhere" spelled backwards...with the h and w transposed. Everyone else probably noticed that besides me.

The House of the Spirits

Tragic and poetic, and mixing a bit of fantasy with the harshness of reality, Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits challenges readers to look life's roughness in its face and cherish the romantic moments as best we can. Through the pages, one traverses generations of the Alba family's histories; hating some, loving others, and growing old with all of them.  Allende doesn't shy away from exposing the follies of her central characters, and its that fact that makes the story all that much more real. 

In the epilogue that sums up the memory of all that has passed, the reader gets a true sense of nostalgia as if they themselves lived and knew each of the characters' lives. Having recently reflected on generational histories myself with the loss of my grandmother, reading the end felt like a beautiful homage to the experience of being part of a family.

One ding I give this book? The sporadic and random shifting between narrators was a bit confusing and I didn't see much reason for it. In honesty, I only even realized what was happening there like a third of the way into the book, and then I had to Google wtf was happening. If it were up to me, I'd toss that.