Sunday, May 3, 2009

Snippet Reviews: Captain Alatriste and An Unquiet Mind

I read Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte and An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison in tandem. They really couldn't be more different: the first was an escapist, Dumas-esque swashbuckler, and the latter is a non-fiction memoir about living with bipolar disorder.

Captain Alatriste was really well-written, I thought, and quite diverting. Who doesn't love a rather melancholy hero and a villain who has a voice that sounds like alchohol was poured over his vocal cords and a laugh like splinters? It was rather short, though, which is okay because there are a few sequels. Plus, it has apparently been made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen, and who doesn't want to see that??

I read An Unquiet Mind for my abnormal psych class, and I read it in a day. It's a really compelling and interesting look into one woman's experience of the disease. It was also nice having both a personal and professional viewpoint represented, as Ms. Jamison is a prominent psychologist at Johns Hopkins and one of the world's experts on mood disorders. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who knows someone with bipolar disorder, but even if you don't it's still a very engaging read.

2 comments:

Lezlie said...

Really? A movie? Very cool! Viggo will make a perfect Captain Alatriste!

Lezlie

Elen said...

As I was reading I actually pictured him in the role a few times! He's fab.