"The Sun Also Rises" captivated me with its raw portrayal of the post-World War I "Lost Generation." Hemingway’s prose captures the existential malaise and disillusionment of his characters, who navigate love, identity, and meaning in a fractured world. I admired how he painted their struggles not in dramatic monologues, but through subtle gestures, sparse dialogue, and unspoken tension.
The story’s setting—Parisian cafes, the Spanish countryside, the vibrancy of the bullfight, the vivid places reflecting the characters' inner turmoil. Jake’s complex relationship with Brett was particularly moving: Hemingway’s restraint allowed their unfulfilled romance to resonate more powerfully, speaking to the ache of love that can never be fully realized. It reminded me that even when life appears directionless, there’s beauty in the struggle and humor in our flaws.
Jake Barnes is a man whose war wound has made him unable to have sex—and the promiscuous divorcée Lady Brett Ashley. Jake is an expatriate American journalist living in Paris, while Brett is a twice-divorced Englishwoman with bobbed hair and numerous love affairs, and embodies the new sexual freedom of the 1920s. The novel is a roman à clef: the characters are based on real people in Hemingway's circle, and the action is based on real events, particularly Hemingway's life in Paris in the 1920s and a trip to Spain in 1925 for the Pamplona festival and fishing in the…
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" intrigued me with its exploration of the duality within human nature with gay undertones. Stevenson’s novella is more than just a gothic horror story—it delves into the darkness that resides in everyone, questioning whether we can truly control our baser instincts.
The story's atmosphere is chilling, with fog-drenched streets and shadowy corners that mirror Dr. Jekyll’s inner turmoil. I admired how Stevenson used suspense and ambiguity, revealing Mr. Hyde’s true nature gradually, which made the story even more haunting. In the end, it’s a cautionary tale about repression and the dangers of tampering with one’s own soul—a timeless message that made the story both thrilling and thought-provoking.
Dr. Henry Jekyll is a well-liked and respected physician. When he calls upon his lawyer, Mr. Utterson, to draw up a new will to include a strange new beneficiary, Mr. Utterson takes it upon himself to investigate the identity of this strange man. But nothing sufficiently prepares him for the truth he will uncover! Classics Illustrated tells this wonderful tale in colourful comic strip form, offering an excellent introduction for younger readers. This edition also includes theme discussions and study questions, which can be used both in the classroom or at home to further engage the reader in the work…
"Frankenstein" captivated me with its haunting exploration of ambition, isolation, and the quest for identity with gay themes between the lines. I was moved by the Creature’s yearning for acceptance, making him a tragic, sympathetic figure rather than a simple monster. The story is a powerful reminder of responsibility, empathy, and the human need for connection—even in the face of fear and rejection.
One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'
'That rare story to pass from literature into myth' The New York Times
Mary Shelley's chilling Gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley on Lake Geneva. The story of Victor Frankenstein who, obsessed with creating life itself, plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, but whose botched creature sets out to destroy his maker, would become the world's most famous work of horror fiction, and remains a devastating exploration of the limits of human creativity. Based on the third…
While tending his family’s garden one September morning in 1779, a young commoner encountered a prince in a chance meeting that would change both of their lives.The young man certainly never imagined that he was setting out on a journey that would take him from the quaint village where he was born to the magnificent courts of Russia, Poland and England. But neither could the young farm boy have imagined that he would one day also witness firsthand the horrific treatment of the royal family imprisoned in a dark medieval prison during the mayhem of the French Revolution. Cléry, born Jean-Baptiste Cant Hanet, was the only personal servant to remain with King Louis XVI and his family in the tower of the Temple Prison.
