The Uncanny Review

The Uncanny by Sigmund Freud
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I mostly was interested about the article on the uncanny itself. While Freud proposes several interesting thoughts, particularly about what separates the uncanny from what is generally considered to be frightening, I find that he makes generalizations that don't account for the fact that not everyone is the world is a middle class Austrian (like he is).

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The Last Unicorn Review

Good afternoon everyone!

It's been awhile since I did a book review, so I thought I could write about a recent book on my "finished" list - The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.

The book is about the last unicorn (if you couldn't tell by the title), a female unicorn who has spent her time in a small forest that never sees winter because of her presence. She overhears some hunters passing through her wood say that there are no more unicorns, which causes her to think and ponder on her existence. So after some thought, our unicorn decides to find her "people", and thus begins her journey.

Without giving too much away, my biggest impression of this book was, "yeah, this was totally written in the 60's", although that's not a terrible thing. It's primarily a fantasy novel set in a medieval period (they still use carts, live in castles, there are princes and princesses, et cetera) but there are times where the time barrier seems to break (for instance when we are given the scene of a prince reading a magazine, among others).

To me the book felt as if it were trying to be overly mysterious, and at times I felt the author wasn't in complete control of the plot and had things happen, then had the characters be mysterious about it because he himself couldn't explain what the heck was going on.

The characters also felt shallow, without depth, and at times I wasn't even sure why they moped about so much and acted as if their lives were completely terrible. I found myself trying very desperately to find a character I could like/connect to, and it just never happened.

However... I can see why this is considered such an important fantasy novel. Although I wasn't a huge fan and there were parts that annoyed me, overall it was an enjoyable read and I found myself liking the world that the characters lived in (even though it seemed rather glum to me).

If you're interested in reading, I found a link to it online here, so you're welcome to read it for yourself and agree or disagree with me. I'm also hoping to see the movie eventually, since it somehow escaped me in my childhood.

Well, that's all I have today guys! Cheers!

The Phantom Tollbooth Review

Good Afternoon everyone!

Today I thought I would review for you one of my favorite children's books, The Phantom Tollbooth written by Norton Juster (and illustrated by Jules Fieffer). It's a charming tale about a young boy named Milo who is interested by simply nothing at all. Everything's a drag, and he thinks life to be boring - and most boring of all is learning. He comes home one day to find a strange box in his bedroom... And that's where the adventure begins.



Truth be told, I didn't read this book in my very early childhood; I believe I was eleven or twelve when I first discovered it. But honestly, this book takes you on a wondrous adventure no matter your age - I recently re-read it during work (it makes for a lovely book to read at my call center job, because I whisked right through it in no time at all and it wasn't too hard to pick back up again when I get on the line with someone). It's charming and heartwarming. One of my favorite characters Milo meets would have to be Tock, an unfortunate watch dog that goes "ticktickticktick" instead of "tocktocktocktock".



Not only are the characters lovable and fun, but the story itself will take you on an adventure through Digitopolis and Dictionopolis, through the Doldrums and back, on an adventure to save the princesses of Rhyme and Reason. I'm honestly surprised more children don't read it as part of their school curriculum growing up; it's not only a sweet tale, but it also illustrates the importance and the fun of learning.



Oh, and Slenderman makes a guest appearance (kidding! :3). I personally love this story, and think everyone should give it a go. If you're interested and want to take a peek, The NPR Book section has a preview here, and if you want to read the entire thing but aren't interested in buying, you can read the complete story (and enjoy the illustrations) here.



Enjoy!