George
This wasn't what I expected or hoped. It is a good overview of how one forensic scientist went up against the New York City boss system and developed the methodologies to identify the effects of chemicals on the human body. I had hoped for a narrower story about poisoners in the Jazz Age. Stories of chronic wasting disease, horrifying industrial injury and crumbling bones are not for me. Others with medical interest, less squeamish and visual may enjoy this. It is well written.
Orion Kelly is able to provide personal insight into the inner world and outer experience of an autistic person. The book focuses on what it is like to be autistic and exposing misconceptions. Using his own experience as a parent and late diagnosed autistic person, the book, like Orion Kelly, is funny, engaging, direct and uncompromising. Buy it and read it. You'll learn a lot.
Orion, thank you for sharing your experience, insight and advice. Your advocacy matters.
This is the 3rd book in the Thursday Murder Club series. Each book is better than the last. The plots are layered and interwoven with the characters interacting between the plots and subplots. The characters have more depth, nuance and interesting flaws as the author reveals more of their back stories through the action of the story. Well Done! I'm looking forward to #4.
I didn't find any of the characters to be particularly lovable or well developed. The plot followed the title so nothing unexpected there. What was unexpected was that in spite of not loving the characters and knowing all along we were counting down 7 husbands, I didn't need to like them or be surprised by the story to really, really enjoy this book. There is a lot unexpected here and things don't quite unfold the way you'd think but then again they do. I'm not going to spoil anything. Read it. You won't be sorry.
I loved the idea of this story. The time period and topic are unusual and intriguing. Unfortunately, for me, the story was as boring as the desert it is set in. The author's frequent over narration of the divorcee's feelings got in the way of getting to know the characters. I really wanted to like this book and support their first novel but the style of writing just isn't for me.
This is a fun read. I found the accents to be difficult but gratefully not everyone was written with one. The plot moves a bit slowly for me and it can be somewhat wordy. However, the action peaks, turns of plot and general likability of the characters gets this its rating. I thought midway through that I would DNF and kept going just long enough to hit a great plot twist and was on a roll for the rest of the novel. Give it a go and stick with it if you get bored.
If you have been abused, have experience with violent, neglectful alcoholic or controlling behavior consider reading something else. This a horror story of obsession, violence, the legacy of family trauma, alcoholism and abuse. Heathcliff is a nightmare model of coercive control. What he and Catherine have is not love it is passion, obsession and mutual distruction. They and everyone around them suffer. This story has influenced women for generations to believe that this is what love looks like. A romance. A love story. No. It is beautifully written horror story.
This is a book of fiction written closely following the actual events and using the style of the Aeneid. It is the story of Vasco da Gama's voyage to Calcutta, India written by an explorer of the next generation of Portuguese mariners. Camoes incorporates the Greek Gods, fantasy islands and several hostilities between the explorers and the Muslim communities they encounter.
The book is a well written series of facts with short anecdotes and quotes from a particular village meant as illustration for the whole. There was nothing here that was particularly new or insightful. If the focus had been narrowed to a shorter time period of 50-100 years or a particular region there would have been opportunity to understand the culture of night and share stories to illustrate the experience of those people in that time. I read the first 130 pages and skimmed the rest. My plan is to go to some of the source material in the bibliography for the insight.
The first 2 chapters drew me in. The narrators first person account of her angst, dissatisfaction and perplexity at why, was engaging, funny, real and relatable. Then she lost me. The narrator, for me, is a boring bored housewife. I skimmed 100 pages and gave up. If the rest of the book were as carefully crafted as the first 14 pages, this book would be a gem.
