Book Review #3 - A Study in Scarlet, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I have read this book because, after starting to see “Sherlock”, produced by BBC, based on the books of Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I felt I had to know more about the origins of such an amazing series.

Since I have seen the series, I knew I would not want to stop reading the book and there were only a few differences between the book and the series. So, I decided to kept reading without stopping because the author is a genius who can hold us to the book without much trouble.

The first part of the book is narrated by John Watson, the companion of Sherlock, who arrives in London trying to find someone to share a place to live with him and that is the reason why Watson and Sherlock meet. The first part of the book is the main story and it is about how Sherlock finds out who was the murderer of a man found in a house where nobody was living. This part of the book ends when Sherlock caught the murderer.

The second part is not narrated by any character of the story and, in this part, it is told the past of the murderer and his motivations to the murder. The book ends when Sherlock was explaining to Watson how he was able to find out who was the murderer by just some clues that could not be connected by a regular detective of Scotland Yard.

I think there are some points in this book that are so relevant that they should be told. One of those is the way of how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle holds us to the book because nothing is written without thinking: the author provides us the description of the crime scene and leaves us thinking about who was the murderer and how did he/she did it. However, we may not be able to find out none of those things and that is where we understand how smart the author is because he is able to connect everything so well in a way that we would not even imagine.

Another of those things is the way how the author builds up the characters. The best example is, without any doubt, Sherlock because he is a hero that many of us would not like if we were told some of his psychological characteristics. Despite it, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is able to make us like him and it shows again how smart he is.

So, I think this book should be read by everyone who likes a good thriller surrounded by suspense and mystery. I also recommend reading this book just to get in touch with the author and his amazing write-style because he is a real genius.

Crítica Literária #21 - Os Planos Bilderberg para Portugal, de Rui Pedro Antunes

Razão da escolha

Quando vi este livro exposto, o seu título chamou-me a atenção, bem como as caras que figuravam na sua capa. Por esse motivo, decidi pegar nele e ler a contracapa. Após ter feito isso, decidi que deveria comprá-lo, pois tanto a capa como a contracapa me deixaram intrigado.

Reação às primeiras páginas

Este livro é diferente do tipo normal de livros que costumo ler, mas, devido à curiosidade que o livro me causou desde que o vi, sempre tive vontade de ler e de ficar mais informado em relação a este assunto.

Resumo

A parte inicial do livro é dedicada ao modo como surgiu o clube de Bilderberg, aos seus fundadores, às suas regras, ao seu financiamento, os seus convidados, as pessoas que já o frequentaram, entre outros aspetos importantes ligados a este clube.

A segunda parte do livro é dedicada, inteiramente, aos portugueses que já visitaram o clube de Bilderberg, sendo que deste lote de pessoas fazem parte Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Durão Barroso, António Guterres, António Costa, Paulo Portas, José Sócrates, Jorge Sampaio, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, entre muitos outros.

Após a demonstração de como o clube de Bilderberg pode influenciar o destino de um País, neste caso Portugal, a terceira parte do livro relata-nos a influência que o clube de Bilderberg tem não só a nível europeu, mas também mundial.

Aspetos a destacar

Este livro mostra-nos que, quando um conjunto de homens muito poderosos, sejam estes políticos, empresários, banqueiros, ou com outra profissão semelhante a estas, de vários pontos do mundo, se juntam numa conferência fechada ao público em geral, há muitas decisões que se tomam e que influenciam o destino de uma nação, sendo que isso está bem patente neste livro, mas a verdade é que, dada a pouca transparência inerente a este clube, não sabemos nunca se as decisões realmente nascem lá, mas não podemos ignorar o facto de muitas decisões polémicas surgirem após estas reuniões acontecerem.

Book Review #2 - The Pearl, by John Steinbeck

Summary

This book tells the story of a young Mexican-Indian Kino, his wife, Juana, and their son, Coyotito. The story starts when Coyotito was stung by a scorpion. Then, Kino and Juana took him to a doctor who lived in the city and he refused to see and treat him. So, Kino and his family returned home.

In the following day, Kino dived in the sea and collected a huge pearl. With that pearl, Kino could be a rich man and he thought he could use that to pay his wedding, to buy a rifle and to allow Coyotito to go to school. The news that he had that pearl spread fast and everybody knew it very quickly.

When the doctor heard the news that the man whose son he had refused to treat had found a big pearl, he went to Kino’s house to treat Coyotito, hoping to get the pearl as a payment but Kino said he would pay the following day when he exchanged his pearl into cash.

As he said to the doctor, Kino went to the city to exchange the pearl. As he was an Indian, the pearl buyer tried to trick him by buying the pearl for almost nothing but Kino understood it and he went away without exchanging the pearl.

In that night, a person tried to steal the pearl but Kino killed him and then he and his family fled to the mountains. Their problems had not finished there because there were more three men who tracked them to get the pearl. When those men were near to Kino, one of them fled and the others were killed by Kino, but they had killed Coyotito.

After that, Kino and Juana returned to the place where they lived and they threw the pearl again into the sea and then the story ends.

Comment

I liked this book because the way that Steinbeck writes is very easy to understand and because the criticism that this story conceals in it is amazing and make us think about many things.

One of those things are that the Mexican citizens always tried to trick the Indians and that they could do everything to them without any problem. Other thing is that a modest man who finds a valuable thing can’t make his dreams true because the other people will not allow him to accomplish it because of their envy. Contrary to what the book said, the pearl was not the evil thing. The evil came from the people who were envy, the pearl was only the thing that awoke the envy inside everyone.

Crítica Literária #20 - O Jogo do Leão, de Nelson DeMille

Razão da escolha
Decidi ler este livro, pois tencionava ler um livro de um autor estrangeiro e, dado que este já se encontrava na minha prateleira há algum tempo, optei por lhe dar uma chance.

Reação às primeiras páginas
Desde o início, este livro encontra-se cheio de um humor que eu aprecio bastante, o que me cativou quase instantaneamente. Porém, o humor inicial deste livro não foi o único fator que me despertou a atenção, pois o suspense, que todos os thrillers possuem, está presente também logo desde o início, o que me levou a querer continuar a ler este livro, para saber como era a continuação da história.

Resumo
A história presente neste livro fala da tentativa de captura de um assassino islâmico que entra nos EUA de uma forma bastante peculiar e que surpreende todas as pessoas. Além disso, o assassino consegue escapar do avião e prossegue o seu caminho de vingança, dado que ele era motivado por um desejo de sangue e de vingança, dado que ele tinha perdido toda a sua família num bombardeamento que tinha sido levado a cabo pelos americanos.
Do lado oposto, com a intenção de capturar o assassino, temos o protagonista, um ex-polícia de Nova Iorque que fora contratado pelo FBI, John Corey, e uma mulher, Kate Mayfield. Ambos têm como missão tentar localizar o assassino e capturá-lo, sendo que, com o tempo, John e Kate acabam por desenvolver um sentimento de amor mútuo, o que leva a que se casem.

Aspetos a destacar

Apesar de este já não ser o primeiro livro que leio e que trata de uma perseguição a um assassino islâmico, mas, apesar disso, gostei bastante do modo como o autor explorou esta temática e as motivações que se encontravam por detrás do modo de agir do assassino.

Além disso, o estilo de escrita do autor, caracterizado pelo uso de um narrador autodiegético, pelo uso de um humor muito próprio e pelo constante suspense existente, fez com que eu gostasse bastante deste livro, merecendo, portanto, ser um aspeto de destaque.