Tag: characters

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell revisited – Part I

On Monday thebookboozer posted a rant about George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.  She didn’t like it.  At all.  In fact, I think she used the word ‘hated’ in her commentary.  This intrigued me, as I think it’s a brilliant novel, perhaps not in terms of the writing, but definitely in terms of content and message.  I decided, rather than hijack her comment section with my thoughts, I’d write my own post to respond to the reasons thebookboozer gave for disliking the novel and explain how I think one should approach the novel to truly get the most out of it.

1984 by George Orwell book cover

Continue reading “Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell revisited – Part I” →

On good guys and bad guys

Stories can’t exist without characters, right?  Well, at least most of them need characters.  Our first stories feature characters that include dogs, caterpillars, cars, power tools with faces, and purple dinosaurs, to name a few.  As we grow our stories become more complex and we get introduced to bad guys, usually trolls or wicked witches.  At some point, if you’re paying attention in high school lit, you will further learn that the main character (usually the good guy) is called the protagonist, and his nemesis (usually the bad guy) is called the antagonist.

You also learn that characters can either be flat (or one-dimensional) or round (or three-dimensional).   Continue reading “On good guys and bad guys” →

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On resurrecting the dead

On resurrecting the dead

The Guardian reported this morning that there is to be a new Hercule Poirot novel, written by Sophie Hannah.  Poirot is a Belgian detective created by Dame Agatha Christie who featured in thirty-three novels and more than fifty short stories.  The character died in the novel Curtain which was published in 1975.

When Curtain was published The New York Times ran a full-page obituary in Poirot’s honour, and he remains the only fictional character to get such treatment.

Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective who became internationally famous, has died in England.  His age was unknown.  Mr. Poirot achieved fame as a private investigator after he retired as a member of the Belgian police force in 1904.  His career, as chronicled in the novels of Dame Agatha Christie, was one of the most illustrious in fiction.

— You can read the full obituary here

David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
Source – Wikipedia

Reviving deceased characters is nothing new. Continue reading “On resurrecting the dead” →

On Characters

I just got my tenth follower on WordPress.com.  I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal to all you bigwigs with hundreds of followers, but I haven’t been doing this for long and I’m still coming to terms with it that there are people who actually enjoy reading what I write, so welcome to Kayleigh from A World of Words.  I hope you enjoy my ramblings.  Of course, this has made me realise that I haven’t posted anything in a while, so let’s remedy that, shall we?

I received Snuff by Sir Terry Pratchett in my stocking this Christmas.  I’m a big fan of the Discworld and of Sir Samuel Vimes in particular, and I thoroughly enjoyed the newest instalment.  When I finished that one, I decided to re-read Guards! Guards!  This was the first Discworld book I had ever read, way back in high school.  It has also remained one of my favourites (surpassed only by Thief of Time and Lords and Ladies).  It is also the first Discworld novel in which Sir Samuel appears, though there he is merely Captain Vimes of the run-down Ankh-Morpork city watch. Continue reading “On Characters” →