CrescentMoonGazing
I absolutely loved this series. I was extremely interested to see if it would end in a stereotypical magical optimistic kind of world, or if it would lend itself more to the idea of the group finding acceptance in the circumstances that occurred and having to come to terms with their grief, realising that some things cannot be changed. I would've been satisfied with either ending, but I'm not going to complain about the one we got.
My only bone to pick was with how some of the really moving conversations were worded, but I think it's a case of poor translation.
Either way, I would easily recommend this as a quick read! It was a beautiful story.
I think that this book could honestly be something so incredible. The messages in the story are beautiful; but the plot, the characters, and the world just have not been fleshed out enough, and with only 180 pages to work with there is absolutely no question that that is why. The writing itself is beautiful, fast paced (although the book does slow at the halfway point for a bit), and it is such a lovely message of connection and grief expanding over universes and different planes of existence.
Radio Silence is a passion project to the core. You can feel the breaths of Alice Oseman's experience being expelled from every word, chapter and character.
It is so reassuring to know that young audiences have works like this to read, amidst their piles of study materials, to remind them that all our lives are far too valuable and should never be reduced to something as shallow as a few grades for the entirety of them.
I learned about Marina Abromavic (pardon the inability to find the diacritics on this bloody thing) a couple of years ago, through a Wikipedia page of her exhibition ‘rhythm 0'. I was very intrigued, very quickly, especially in understanding a bit about this incredibly unique artist and her dedication to her craft. I looked into her memoir first ‘walk through walls', however, I fell into a slump with my reading just after and never got around to it. Then I came across this at the start of the year, I felt it probably offered more to what I was interested in, and I was very much right.
Everything about the way she articulates herself, her perspective and her beliefs made me feel very conflicted. Simultaneously, I felt as though I was a kindred spirit, yet there was so much admiration for who this woman is. She delivers her beliefs and arguments beautifully, and despite not agreeing with absolutely everything she said, her manner and the way she presents things as opinions rather than ‘all knowing' makes her an incredibly humble and truly admirable historical figure.
She is one I sincerely hope is remembered.
I'm going to be fully transparent about this book and my experience with it.
I only read two chapters of it with my tutor before asking her if I could switch. I genuinely could not fathom the idea of picking this up every other Monday to analyse for the next four months, maybe more. The book would be incredibly interesting to me if I were back in the time in which it was written, but as now there is understanding of the psychology behind it it takes away that intrigue, which is fairly important (imo) to the plot.
Ethics interest me, which is why I believe so many people thought I would enjoy this book, but I also enjoy character driven stories, and the problem there is that Mr Utterson is the most dull perspective I've read in a book yet.
This is all my personal opinion, but if you're like me you'll probably find yourself struggling with this too.
Let's start with the plot of the book. It is nothing too specific, instead it is more just multiple little side plots, which I actually really enjoyed. It was nice to see the author focus primarily on building this world in a coherent way and make the storylines inside work around that. It was delivered in the exact way I had hoped and offered exactly what the blurb tells you. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like the characters were developed enough. I did like how we had little bits of backstory for each of them, but I felt that for Dallergut and Penny being the two main characters we weren't offered enough about them. Penny only felt emotive nearing the end, maybe that was her character's development? but her character lacking any emotion made for a fairly draining experience halfway through. I only just got around to finishing the last chapter because I wanted it out of the way. I will say that it was much more enjoyable today, maybe because I left it for a month, so it allowed me to see more than just how irritating Penny felt.
To summarise, the idea of the book and how it was done really carried the whole thing, the characters were a bit duller than I had hoped. I think the translation made some bits of conversation sound very stunted.
I'm picking up manga more to get back into a rhythm and just so happened to stumble across this.
I truly loved every part of this story, watching this supposed monster nurture and care for a little girl while she had no one else, remain collected and devoted to her when faced with danger, and seeing how well the characters meshed together all created a beautiful story. There were a lot of uncontrollable “aw's” and “aww's” and a few little giggles. What an incredibly enjoyable little book, cannot wait to pick up all the volumes.
Maurice is a beautifully written book about a man and his hidden sexuality in an oppressive society following the Oscar Wilde trial. It is also about the human experience and finding individuality in a world where it is so difficult to freely experience self discovery.
Forster blesses us with this novel and takes us on Maurice's journey as he comes to terms with his sexuality, questions the mindset of this society and whether there is more to it than being as simple as his young mind once thought. These are his first steps into maturity and growth; which only develop further throughout the story and help him to form his own opinions on the society he has built himself around.
From a young age he navigates himself through a naïve and secretive relationship with his partner, limited by society's abrasive and conformist attitude. Over time his partner is shackled by the opinions of their society and builds a traditional life, revolving around its suffocating conformity and the hidden self loathing of a life built on lies.
Maurice, through this journey, learns of heartbreak and begins his development as he understands the condemnations of this world they live in, how an idyllic situation must fight to exist, and learns of the sacrifices he will have to make for the future he wants.
Through a heavy set depression, he experiences denial and contemplates whether he could possibly exist as a real person if he didn't function the same as, what was considered, an “ordinary” one.
I read this with my tutor and finally finished it today. Here are my thoughts.
An Inspector Calls is a brilliantly constructed story of how those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and if we cannot express empathy towards others in situations of conflict we are all affected and there can be no resolution.
The ending was well crafted and well thought out, and the importance of the conversation shouldn't be lost on anyone. It brings forward a necessary acknowledgment of the human existence and how no matter your background or experience we all have a responsibility in holding one another accountable, not as the law but as members of the society in which we live.
I've not read many books recently, and if I have I've chosen short stories to make it more manageable and enjoyable. The two I settled on were Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ‘The Yellow Wallpaper' and this one.
I loved the absolute absurdity of this short story and the tension in the writing style. The repetition was delicately written in to be the main tension building factor; seemingly settling down, only to then follow on with the character loosing an even further grasp on reality and having gradually worse paranoia.
I caught sight of this book last summer at a small art gallery, sat on a table alongside various other diverse books and authors. It stuck out due to its beautiful cover, admittedly, which does absolutely no shame to the gorgeous photographs inside.
This was one of the first items to go on my Christmas list and I was not disappointed. The absolute charisma embedded into each of the looks, all in such a unique and creative way, makes the pictures so vivid; all of them emphasised with the plain black background creates so much contrast to the looks.
I love seeing a space made for all those who deserve recognition for their beautiful artistry.
Damien Frost had a fantastic vision for this project that absolutely shines through the entire contents with the help of these truly individual minds.
Irina is the most malicious and well written psychopath I have come across in any of the books I've read yet.
I've had the desire to put down a book before; it has been boring, lacking in plot consistency, or just poorly written, however this is the first where the character made me so ferociously angry I couldn't keep the pages open.
I've only just come out of this one, and truly feel like I've been thrown into a spiral. I had to read this in either intervals or power through large chunks at a time, not due to any bad writing, but due to how good it was at what it did. It is a wonderful novel and the authors delivery matches the purpose of the book itself.
I didn't read this as a romance, as I felt there was no fair judgment if I did so; if I limited the authors work down to that one individual trait then this book would definitely drag out, as would any other like it. However, this book isn't just the character romance, but a historical fiction of a woman journeying through an endless life with endless possibilities and appreciating that ability; thats personally why I would it pick up.
I don't think it works for anyone who goes into it purely for the romance because there is just so much more going on. It more felt like a journey of someone understanding relationships, finding a kindred spirit and finding a desire for a love she has never been interested in or felt.
Addie and Henry made one another feel understood and seen. They're the most perfectly mundane characters I have met in a book. Appreciated and very much walking the planes of earth; because they are humans who have the same questions and aspirations a many of us have. You could walk past an Addie or Henry on the street and you wouldn't even know.
Some of the writing did make this book tedious, I would be lying if I said otherwise, it was longer than it needed to be, which you will see (or would've seen) when picking it up.
Last year, on Christmas Eve, I started and finished the first book in this duology. Then I immediately pre-ordered the second book and awaited its arrival for February 6th. It arrived, and I started and finished the second book that same day.
The first perspective we are given is Finny's. I initially found his character to be unlikable, as it seemed, for a few brief pages, that his attraction to Autumn stemmed completely from her appearance rather than her as an individual. This felt like a slip up on the authors part -in my opinion- making him come across as shallow through some of the start, but only a few pages in it felt like the author fell back into the flow of things, and he is more accurately written with genuine depth. After this, I found Finny as easy and enjoyable to connect with as I did in the first book.
I found myself having a very conflicting relationship with all the characters, including him.
Throughout it all he does things that, at face value, are irritating, however this is where you are given your best opportunity to truly connect with him.
Finny's certainty that he can always read people, although he obviously cannot, and his constant developing self-doubt makes for his worst, yet most important characteristic.
Finny is the type of character who you will always have a back and forth with, and as you connect to his character you find this trait sinking itself into the real world, where suddenly he is your friend, and you're trying to turn the final page of his story with tears in your eyes, then after a few tearful seconds you finally flip the page, where Finny becomes a figment of the past.
The second perspective we get is Jack's -Finny's best friend- who is briefly mentioned in both the first book and in Finny's perspective.
When I first saw his perspective in this book, my initial thought was that I didn't care about him.
I knew nothing of the character.
“This is Finny and Autumn's story” I sulked to myself. Ironically, I think Jack ended up being my favourite perspective of all.
Jack, throughout everything, proves to be a devoted, loving and protective friend, whom I found myself attached to immediately.
His grief was depicted perfectly, with us having to listen to the grief that was consuming him; loosing the only reliable friendship and support he had, and forced into moving on with only minimal comfort from his family.
By the time Jack's perspective came to an end, I had been crying for 50% of the book, and by this point I had no more tears to offer Autumn.
Autumn is the final perspective.
From the first book, I enjoyed seeing the teenage characters portrayed as irrational, insecure and confused, as it felt very accurate to all the themes surrounding this book.
I know, based on a lot of reviews and opinions I've heard, that there was a large majority that did not like this. I think that it's largely because this is something that resonates with us a little too much, maybe it takes us back to feeling that same uncertainty that we did during those years. It was enjoyable to see realistic people, desperate to make their mark, placed in front of us so openly.
I found Autumn's POV harder to read, due to the fact that descriptions of pregnancy have always stirred my stomach.
Admittedly, I rushed through as many parts fixated on it as I could.
Autumn's battle with her grief and depression, takes you down an uncomfortably realistic journey of blame, guilt and helplessness. Autumn's character, beginning to middle, is disconnected and confused, but as she heals and everything begins to adjust to & around her she finds herself on a path of acceptance, with relationships built gradually between her, Jack and Sylvie.
These forming relationships slide delicately and naturally onto the paper, and all I could think was,
“Finny would be so proud of them.”
These books will hold a special, painful place in my heart for a long time, and I couldn't be more grateful. I fell in love with all the characters and their intricacies, their development and sudden awakening to the real world. Brutal, yet necessary. I could not recommend enough.
After officially completing this duology I finally decided to sit down, chest and stomach aching, and travel back to this world.
This first book focuses primarily on navigating the difficulties of friendships, emotions and coming to terms with the adult world, which we are all thrusted so abruptly into. The craft of this book was fabulous with the words, and Autumn and Finny's story, constantly pulling me in and keeping me engaged, falsely giving me some kind of hope that somehow, someway, everything would end how it should.
The first book is described as slow by the lower star reviewers. They also say that due to the fact we know what happens they find it hard to find sadness for Finny's inevitable ending. I think that while this can be true, a lot of the audience can range from people more drawn to other genres.
The beauty I found in this book was it's ability to tell me the ending yet still prompt my tears.
The way we see the development of Finny and Autumn's friendship and relationship, whilst simultaneously having it gradually picked apart, showing us various very different and conflicting stages of life.
The book fell together beautifully, was well written, and I finally found one that held itself to one of my many book recommendations standards.
This trilogy was one of my rare occasion pick-up and do not put down reads. I can say that not only was I so engrossed I sat on an incredibly uncomfortable office chair for hours on end (per book) fully slumped on my spine in agonizing pain, but also still refused to move, is a reflection of how reluctant I was to put this book down.
The series addresses so many subject matters and does so brilliantly, it is such a wonderfully crafted world, with the characters being so unique and beautifully fleshed out, and the plot is so full of intrigue. I finished all the books and was able to fully digest all the content in less than a week.
I don't think I can recommend this series to people enough, even if I don't believe everyone can like and enjoy it I would still recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.
Holly Black did such a fabulous job with this world and I was completely blown away with how much I enjoyed it.
Little note being that I just wrote this review for the second time in less than ten minutes because goodreads logged me off. I was fuming.
This book was a three star for me, the plot was interesting and I could see what the author was trying to do.
I enjoyed all the relationships and, although they irked me, the characters. They all had their faults throughout the book, which whilst humanising them did also make for some tedious points of plot.
The descriptions were also tedious the entirety of my read, most of it felt like they had pulled out a thesaurus and crammed in as many words as possible.
The book was definitely overhyped and I was disappointed, the only reason it gets three stars would be due to the lasting impression the story had on me, because I would be lying if I said it didn't, and not a lot of books have achieved that for me.
Search up the heavy topics included!
I have no words to describe how I loved this book. I rate this one based partially on my enjoyment of it and also the plot itself.
I never buy audiobooks but after I read this I felt I needed it there too.
Such an enjoyable YA dystopian romance and the characters were both lovable with their own positive and negative traits. I cannot say enough how this is the only miscommunication book I've read and had fun with, since there is an actual reason for it, and actual relationships at stake in an already isolating world. Recommend this to everyone.
If you had an interest in this book based on the blurb I seriously advise you start reading, you get exactly what you desire from this novel and more.
I loved the focus on the relationships, the individuality of all our characters, and the main conflict that leads to the ending tragedy.
I am certainly due a reread on this, it is a book that makes an impact on you and the story holds significance; one that leaves a lasting impression on you, I can wholeheartedly say that this book achieves its intent.
You may predict the ending, you may not, don't be too quick to close the door on it.
Update: A notable aspect that knocks a star for me is the racism and prejudice that, although being addressed, is not treated as thoroughly as it should've been. 3 ⭐️
The book itself is fine. Her writing style is easily digestible for everyone and therefore appeals to more rather than just a select few. While it's not necessarily, in my opinion, worth the hype it gets I can understand the popularity, also accounting for the people who haven't had much to measure it against in their reading journey.
Upon first read I gave it a four star, I have since picked up a few more books and can easily say from them that, no I do not believe this book can venture above two stars in my read library.
The twist wasn't anything spectacular and it felt a bit lazy, even the first time I read it. It felt like a cop out from having to think of something well constructed. I would've been more satisfied with the ending if she had not tried to add in a twist, as the story was already pretty fucking insane without it.
I read this two years ago and it is still very fresh in my mind, not so much for it being a unique book with its contents but for it being one of the main two that got me back into reading. I would like to put this out there that although I do not respect the author this book is the only one of hers I have read and can therefore judge.