Andrea Hunter
“The trick of life,” she said, “is that you can't hold the pain for too long. The magic, either.”
This was a really well written and absolutely heartbreaking book, which was based on true life events. There is a podcast available based on the true crime called “In the Dark”. At times I felt hopeless while reading this book because so much darkness was contained within the characters but people either face or become their own monsters. Sometimes our choices are the monsters that haunt us forever. Sometimes the things that save us are the very things that nearly destroy us.
There is no string of words that I could tie together to express how much I absolutely adored this book. I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a book that I could feel my breath catching in my throat over and over again. The imagery in these pages is breathtaking. These are some of the bravest poems I have ever read and I am so thankful for them.
I loved this book so much. It had a very “Stand By Me” feel to it. I felt instantly connected to both the timeline and the core group of characters, as they navigated their way through the darkness. Malfi's writing is really beautiful and eloquent and captures the essence of what it feels like to be wrapped up in something bigger than yourself and to not feel certain who to turn to or who you can trust. The friendship between the boys was so fierce and yet so tender all at once. And the relationship between Angie and his father was the most profound one in the story. This was a powerful coming of age story that shed light on the threads that tie us together- as fathers and sons and teachers and students. I will definitely be reading more of Malfi's work after this.
This story was so well crafted. I am in awe of the author's technique. In the beginning I wasn't fond of the short chapters and struggled a bit throughout the book with feeling as if I was missing information. But the way the story unraveled was quite beautiful. I heard so much buzz surrounding this book and I have to say, it is worthy of the praise it is receiving. The characters embody all angles of darkness and light and you get to experience decades of their lives together. There were some passages that made my heart ache. This was an epic story.
This book is so incredibly powerful and I loved it so much. This is storytelling in its most raw and honest form. The writing is absolutely beautiful and draws you in completely. It is one man's story of drowning and the branch of a tree reaching out and rescuing him. It is a reminder that our relationship with nature and our regard for ourselves are two of the most valuable connections that we can cultivate. I wish the author nothing but joy and peace and am grateful he had the courage and wisdom to share his story.
I was thrilled to be asked to be part of a peer edit for this awesome little book. I was instantly drawn in with the book's warm and bright colors and the storyline was both relevant and relatable. Kids will benefit from reading this story of a sweet little button who wants nothing more than to be a small part of her friend's excitement to participate in something magical and creative. When the unexpected happens, Emily must learn how to navigate disappointment. I think a lot of children will see themselves in Emily and ultimately find comfort and hope in the ways she chooses to manage discomfort. Emily Was So Embarrassed is a testament to friends and all the beautiful ways that they see the best in us, even when we struggle to see it for ourselves.
This book was terrifying on a whole new level, a domestic level. It made me angry- I can't remember the last time I yelled so much at audio books characters. It made me uncomfortable. Initially I had sympathy for the characters but wound up hating them all in the end. But you know what? If an author makes you feel that many feelings, then they're doing something right. Even though it's very, very wrong
I was not expecting such depth and beauty from this little haunted book but there it is. Fear changes as we do and this story is eerily nostalgic of all of the things we once feared and loved and how we combated and embraced them in equal measures. I love when a story is beautiful and haunting and this is both. The writing is also incredibly vulnerable and powerful. I am always searching for nostalgic eighties horror (is that a genre?) and this rises to the occasion.
There is so much that I wish that I could say about this book and none of it feels as if it would do justice to the story. This is one of the most beautifully written books that I have ever read. I grew up in the 70's and 80's and not the 60's but the story still felt nostalgic to me. He captured something about childhood that feels universal to me. I appreciated the way that he allowed his main character a window to see his parents and genuinely care about what they were experiencing. The supernatural element to the story made it even more interesting to me. There were times that I felt the author wandered in other directions and I wasn't sure where he was eventually going to wind up but ultimately realized that if this was the process he needed in order to tell this tale, I was going to follow right along. There were moments I could hear myself audibly gasping at how perfectly and eloquently a sentence was formed. He captured all of the magic and terror that is childhood and invited us along for the ride.
While I definitely could appreciate the author's message about Climate Change (and mad respect to him for writing a book that addresses this head on) it was way too fast paced for me. The stories felt crowded. The chapters were very short and it felt as if the characters were all dropped immediately into dire situations without any real backstories. Too much was happening all at once and a great deal of it felt far fetched and overly tragic. The characters were in mortal peril the entire book. The message of the book was strong and clear but it often felt repetitive. Then again, there are still people who refuse to believe that Climate Change is real.
I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book. This was my first experience with Cormac McCarthy. I was bothered that I didn't have more information about the man and the boy or what had happened in their world. I also was thrown by the writing style. The story was told in fragments, which worked sometimes but others it didn't. I spent much of the book in confusion. But then there would be a passage out of nowhere that was just utterly beautiful and perfectly composed. All in all a heartbreaking read.
I wound up reading this book because I thought the new series on Netflix was based on the story. Ironically, this book has nothing to do with the series but I am so glad I read it because it was beautifully written. Weaving elements of childhood, friendship and art, the story is so well composed. I am looking forward to seeing what this author has to offer.
I don't think there are adequate words to describe how beautifully written this book is. I stumbled across it as a recommended horror read, which it isn't at all. It's been a long time since I have come across something so eloquently written. I listened to the audio book, which was narrated perfectly. There are pieces of this story that are so gentle and delicate and others that are raw and unforgiving and it all blended together seamlessly. The passages about parenthood just broke me but I was grateful for them. I cannot believe this book and author have not received more PR (or maybe I just missed it?) This is, hands down, one of the best stories I have ever come across.
This is one of the strangest books that I have ever read and I've read quite a lot of strange books. I was so excited going into this knowing that it was going to take place in the 1980s. Although it was very creative, it was also extremely disturbing. Some incredibly f**d up things happened in the story. The majority of the atrocities were committed at the hands of men, and not monsters, which honestly made the tale all the more unsettling. I think I need a few more days to process what I read.
I had so many mixed feelings about this one. There were parts that I really liked and that were genuinely well written and very creepy but it didn't all connect for me. There were too many pieces left askew at the end. The concept was clever and the writing was very good but some passages were choppy. I'm still not sure I understand the general thread that ran through the story, connecting everything.
This memoir is incredibly powerful and brutally honest as well as eloquently written. It's as if you are looking at a dollhouse, from one side only, and when your turn it around, you suddenly have the ability to see the whole story-the inter workings of the family living inside. I value the bravery it took to write this story and the manner in which Vince was able to humanize mental illness, not merely demonize it. Sometimes the hardest stories to tell are the ones in which the characters keep on living.
I listened to this book on audio cd and more times than not when I arrived home, I sat in my car, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and unable to turn the car off. I would have given it 5 stars but there was so much more I wanted to know before it ended. It was a gripping read all in all and very eerie. It was also extremely well written with passages that were very beautiful and powerful. This is the second book that I have read by C.J. Tudor and they don't disappoint.