Cristina Ghita
Chanel Cleeton doesn't disappoint. My second book by her has been just as good, full of colour and fully fleshed out characters. On top of the fabulous story, this has also got a dreamy setting on a cruise ship during Prohibition era. It even felt like a sweet indulgence I the middle of such craziness.
There is this French word that comes to mind whenever I finish another novel by Dicker - rocambolesque - Rempli de péripéties invraisemblables, extraordinaires : Des aventures rocambolesques. Possible synonyms:fantastic, incredible. Both adjectives find their perfect embodiment in his novels. This one doesn't disappoint and doesn't let up. Chapeau, Monsieur Dicker!
I can't help but gush about this book. If you read one speculative fiction book this year, make it this one! I just loved the story and how it was told from alternating POVs only for them all to come together at the end and make sense as a whole. This felt like an ancient Greek choir where each voice adds their own special touch to the overall arc ot the story. Just loved loved loved it!
E. B. White ‘I arise every morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savour the world. This makes it hard to plan for the day.'
I didn't expect this. Not at all. And the again, I've read my fair share of medieval historical fiction that I could've anticipated this. What blindsided me though is the fact that as late as the 17th century superstitions and Prejudice were so rampant. It really made me ponder women's lot in life today and consider myself lucky for living in ‘enlightened' times. Much is still to be done, but we've come a long way. The matter of the divorce, domestic violence and how women were treated in a court of law really drove this point home. Lovely way of better understanding other eras. Prepare for a good but reflective read.
What do I have in common with a 40-year-old American mom of two when I'm a 35-year-old childless Romanian living in Italy? Nothing, you and I might think, and we'd be wrong. This book was ecerything, comedy and tragedy and philosophical reflection on the vagaries of life, what really matters, how to take a good long look at our lives and build on what we really want more of. Loved it!
For anybody who wants to make an informed choice with more awareness about their own or their kids use of technology. This is the best kind of nonfiction book for me, so interesting I feel like I'm reading a pageturner. Although I normally read fiction in a matter of 1 or 2 days, nonfiction is much more likely to drag on for me. So, you're curious about why, when you step into a train/bus, you can only see a sea of head glancing down at their phones, read this book. If you're one in that sea, you've guessed it! Read it too.
I loved, loved, loved this audiobook! The three separate threads of the story and the different POVs made it seem just as complex as life. The narrators were fabulous, Aphrodite's voice sounds as that of a gorgeous voluptuous woman, Ares's seemed exactly like that of a bellicose man. The musical interludes made this story whole.
This book was absolutely fabulous. I've always loved immersing myself in a new culture, learning what it is to be somebody else, in a different era, living by different rules. At turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, exotic for its setting and characters, universal in what moves people and makes life worth living, this only goes to underscore how alike we all are. The running thread of discrimination and prejudice, of what pits ‘us' against ‘them' is so alive and fresh throughout the book, but unfortunately an all too common occurrence. I'm a Romanian living in Northern Italy, and I feel that this kind of mentality has blighted relationships between Northern and Southern Italians for many years, then it was the Romanians' turn in the 90s, now it's somebody else's turn. Written with a deft hand, this was poetry for the soul and food for thought.
