Mari
I've reached the point of dimishing returns with the Hunger Games series. This book mirrors the other books to closely, hitting major plot points in past books with disappointing accuracy. Some aspects were interesting--learning a little more about the Covey, meeting younger versions of future characters, the "sister" relationship, some new mutts in the games--but not enough to make me remotely interested in reading another book in this world, if it continues.
This book is one of the best all-encompassing explainers of how Christian Evangelicalism affects every facet of the United States Government and religious patriarchy's role in shaping modern America.
Evangelicalism is just as underhanded and sinister at silencing balanced discussions about equal rights as it is SA victims. People like Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Bill Gothard and Phyllis Sclafly started a cesspool of far right, anti-science, anti-woman rhetoric that's still poisoning the public consciousness today.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how the traditional, peace-loving, socialist Christian Jesus turned into the gun-toting figure many hyper-religious, meglomaniacal über-conservatives follow today.
This harrowing story is written with so much historical context and sympathy that humanized the Donner-Reed Party very well. This book does an incredible job of breathing life into these emigrants' stories and legacies.
Throughout the entire tale all I could think was, "Why? Were things that bad in Illinois that they had to risk everything in the wildness?" Mary Ann Graves said it best in her letter to family back east, "Stay at home--you are in a good place."
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning about the Old West, the wild idea of Manifest Destiny and the people who embarked into vast nothingness to create what they thought would be a better life.
The Goldfinch is an incredibly immersive book about love, friendship, loss,class mobility and purpose interwoven with art history.
Theo is blindsided in New York City by something horrific and spirals. Most of the people around him are not stable or reliable except for antiques dealer, Hobie. Their surrogate father-son relationship is written so sweetly and convincingly that I wanted more Hobie on every page.
Then, Pippa is introduced and Theo's love for her is his constant shadow throughout the rest of the book as much as his mother and The Goldfinch painting itself.
Overall, I loved this book for it's immersiveness and mostly well-written characters, but the typos and grammatical errors toward the end wore on me.
Pippa got her ending "off screen", and Theo's final realization about her was muted and over too soon. I wish their issues would've been hashed out over a phone conversation at least.
I also felt like Boris never got to the point with any of his stories in under a page; that final scene in the Amsterdam hotel between Theo and Boris just felt like obfuscation for page count. I could only handle so many drug-induced, three/four-page fever dreams in one book.
Theo's voice in the final pages also inexplicably dissolved into the author's philosophical voice waxing poetic about life and art--it was distracting, anticlimactic and should've never happened.
Still, this book is a great read.
Love this book! Lies and Weddings embodies the sassiness, fabulousness and love triangles of Crazy Rich Asians with a dash of mystery thriller. This book would make a spectacular movie too! With settings ranging from English estates to volcanic Hawaiian weddings and resorts. Kwan always knows how to sweep a reader away behind velvet ropes swathed in couture, and this book is no different.
I thought I was savvy Henrietta Stackpole going into this book eyes wide open, but I was actually Pansy, completely innocent and oblivious to the reality right in front of me.
Isabel Archer is such a complex character. She thinks herself free of Society's expectations and wants to see every inch of the world, yet she is somehow still ensnared by those expectations.
The book lags a bit in places but when the last third of the book gets going, it's like a high-speed rail of drama and intrigue toward an ambiguous ending. I almost threw the book aside, but then laughed at the hopeful mystery Henry James left us.
Actively living an engaging life can be tiresome and neverending, but it can also be filled with hope and joy until the final page is turned.
As a Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age fan, this book hit all the right notes. I couldn't put it down! Plenty of bread crumbs and red herrings were sprinkled throughout great world and character-building. The author struck a satisfying balance between sumptuous settings and drama. The ending left me a little cold but it felt true to the characters. This was one of my most fun reads this year.
The pacing turned dismal about halfway through. Annie and Sam's relationship was problematic in the first half, and then they talked in so many circles that I lost interest and had to speed read to the end. The Rotten Rosie angle was vaguely interesting, but I would've rather spent more time with Sam's family, the Cheyenne.
We don't forget our sadness or grief, we hopefully learn from it and grow beyond it.
I learned about the Vietnam War in Vietnam, so I knew what I was in for with this book, but it was still a hard read.
Yet, I learned more about the post-war era and how poorly people treated war vets from this book.
Frankie isn't the heroine I'd imagined, but no one really is in any situation until they're forced to dig deep and push through.
People laughed to keep from crying, and I was able to laugh with them to some degree. I felt like I spent so much time with Frankie that when that quiet exchange happened on page 459, I teared up.
The historical detail in this book is impressive, but never overtakes the characters or their arcs. There were several soap opera twists and turns that I can forgive in favor of how satisfying this book was to read.
If you're into Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Locke and Key and Mexican Gothic then this book is for you.
A mysterious house with an even more mysterious owner, and the burgeoning dark secrets underneath threatening to swallow a town whole. This book was such a fun read!
Unfortunate Opal, not much of a family or history to speak of, she did her best to provide for her little brother, Jasper, and send him to greener pastures. The oppressive small town have bothered her and her kin long ago and would rather have them gone.
Opal somehow keeps her curiosity and wonder alive partially in part to her favorite book, The Underland, a Lewis Carroll-esque written by a previous owner of Starling House.
Then, Opal meets the current young legacy owner of Starling House and breadcrumbs turn into life or death decisions. Trust is earned and easily dashed.
I loved how all these storylines intersect as the characters get to know themselves and each other, all while they fight an even greater evil. Yet, The Big Bad is not painted in black or white but in satisfying shades of grey. The final hurrah, as characters dash forward to fulfill their purposes, felt earned and satisfying. Great book.
Contains spoilers
I expected more resolution in this book but it was just filled with more loose ends.
The late nights Violet spent researching solutions were tedious and really slowed the overall pace of the story. Apparently, we couldn't find this information out any other way, even with a mind reader on the home team. (More on that later.) Despite all that time together, Dain and Violet's relationship remained unresolved.
Aretia and the warding component was an interesting world-building addition. The dragons and gryphons coming together was also interesting enough. Cat and Violet spent a while trying to kill each other with some brutal emotional manipulation, so their beef was resolved way too easily.
Then, Xaden disappeared for huge sections at a time and the reasoning seemed weak. Maybe his character was inconvenient to the plot with his ability to read minds? Once a character becomes too powerful, some plot twists don't hold water. Extra note: Violet has two signet because she has two dragons, but why does Xaden have two signets if he only has one dragon? Violet spent so much time wondering about Xaden that I almost put the book down.
Finally, the change in POV in the end was so jarring left on a terrible cliffhanger. All I wanted was some modicum of closure for something, anything.
Despite the all the unresolved things, I enjoyed seeing Violet and her siblings come together, charging totems, and every scene with Andarna.
This book was entertaining enough but I won't be reading the next one.
What a melodramatic rollercoaster ride and I enjoyed every minute.
Dr. Sloper is the coldest, unmoving monolith of a father. No one is spared from his articulate and analytical observations, not even his sister, Mrs. Lavinia Penniman, or his daughter, Catherine.
The things this man said about his daughter gave me chills. With a father like that, who needs enemies.
I wish he would've pointed his ruthlessness at his sister a little more because my goodness! That woman was hilariously insufferable. I almost threw the book down a few times when she wedged her nose where it didn't belong countless times, and still thought herself a hero to lovers everywhere.
What a fun read with meticulous insight into the rules of social class and finances of the time.
This is my first Evelyn Waugh book and I did not expect the wildly modern twists or turns from a book published in 1934.
Tony and Brenda's relationship was so tedious at first--socialite babble--I almost quit. Then, the this crazy train really picked up speed.
By page 132, I already gaped and gasped a few times, but then a few pages later I had a dark laugh when Jenny Abdul Akbar said, "Little Jimmy."
Waugh's dark sense of humor and keen insight into Society life rivals Julian Fellowes. I'm a fan.
Contains spoilers
The first half of this book is what I imagine the Olympic Village is like during competitions. The graphic descriptions constantly took me out of the book. I knew more about the characters' favorite sex positions before I got to know the characters themselves, so the sex felt hollow on the page.
The second half is when the book takes off with the real drama. I started to love the verbal sparring between all the characters in the second half, whereas the sniping in the first half felt unnecessarily cruel instead of engaging a lá Ms. Bennet and Mr. Darcy.
Page 292 had me rolling a tear when Stasie and Nate bared their souls. Very touching and genuine moment.
Stasie made me roll my eyes when she said the egotistical thing about having more therapy than Nate so she knew better. I thought he did go to therapy after all that stuff with his parents and that's why he was such a good communicator?
Anyway, in spite of all that and the typos throughout, the ending was satisfying. That is, until the epilogue ruined it. Why can't authors just let their leads enjoy themselves? Why do they always have to book-end a relationship with The Life Script ™️?
This book was a fun read, though. Now I'm going to rewatch The Cutting Edge (1992).
"These places are not there for your kids' well-being. They exist because it's a huge money-maker... Let's not silence our children by making them fear more punishment and hurt from speaking out."
Like a lot of kids growing up in the 90s, I heard of "troubled teens" get dragged off stage on Jerry Springer in front of near-rabid audiences to boot camps. That was fiction, so I didn't think these places actually existed but they do, and they aren't run by specialists or anyone trained in the fields of Psychology or Education. They're represented by glossy flyers and modern websites promising results, when in reality they crush individuality and ruin lives.
Allie Burton, who was raised by strict Mormon parents, and so many other kids were abandoned in these programs by parents. Imagine parents of all walks of life foisting their "problem" children on complete strangers and then going on cruises and vacations like nothing happened. Somehow there was never a whisper of consulting with psychologists or therapists, just banishment to Casa by the Sea and the myriad of fascist rules and regulations.
Yes, fascist because kids were forced to report on each other and dole out consequences, and if they didn't, then they would be punished themselves. There was no privacy in or out of the bathroom, no shoes (just socks and sandals), no freedom to even look in a mirror, no speaking to each other unless someone else was present, etc. A kid could be given a consequence, lose points and extend their stay at Casa just for leaving one hair on their hair brush. Few program rules loosened in higher levels, but the damage was already done. The fear and night terrors followed these kids home, and some kids never recover.
Burton wrote about her experience at Casa with raw honesty in a stream-consciousness diary style that may leave you gasping and/or triggered. This is such an important read to spread awareness and healing with the hope that these abusive institutions can be shut down forever.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.
This book started as a slow-burn Spanish-Mexican political tale of colonialism sprinkled with Zorro vigilantism. The swash-buckling adventure is slowly interlaced with fanatsy and folklore towards the second half, although the Prince storyline left me a little cold. There were a lot of new elements in the second half that felt a distracting and little overwhelming, especially Amelia/Amalia's scene late in the book. This was a fun read that turned into a speeding, runaway train by the end.
I loved the mechanics and descriptions of witching. The lost histories of what bound these women together were fascinating, and the tragedies of othering that shaped their world drove the story pretty well. All the lore and fairy tales are beautifully written.
Then enter Juniper, a character that I just couldn't get behind the entirety of the book. Eve could've been written out completely, replaced with a witch sister and the story would've been about the same. Pacing suffered when some characters were on the lamb. Also, the suffragete storyline seemed completely forgotten to the detriment of the rest of the book.
The final set piece was interesting and ripe with tension, but the ending still somehow felt anticlimactic. I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January, so maybe that's why this book disappointed me so much.
This book was a pitch-perfect first generation BIPOC girl's experience in a nutshell complete with conservative religious family, parentification and resulting trauma. Yet, the tone was upbeat and fresh with excellent twists of dry humor throughout.
Innocent Maddie was so realistic and relatable as she struggled with familial love, romantic love and self-identity in modern London. The parade of racist micro-aggressions and unconscious bias also had me livid but also rooting for Maddie to stand up for herself and break free.
Beautifully written novel.
"Vanity Fair is a very vain, wicked, and foolishly place, full of a sorts of humbugs and falsenesses and pretensions... Everyone is striving for what is not worth having!"
Thackery's "novel without a hero" is one of the most epic tales full of romance and intrigue I've ever read.
Miss Rebecca Sharp was forcefully thrust into adulthood impoverished child of a painter and an Parisian opera singer. She held her head high and did anything to make a better life for herself and get into Regency-era Society, exactly everything the ton loathed.
But who isn't putting on airs in Vanity Fair? Everyone is flawed, as we all are included the innocent Miss Amelia Sedley and Major William Dobbin--that's a love story for the ages right there. Becky had me cheering and gasping, sometimes on the same page. Talented, determined and unapologetic, that's Becky Sharp.
This book took me a while to read, but I always looked forward to picking it back up and learning what other mischief Becky had gotten herself into.
The story dragged a little during all the intricate details of the Napoleonic Wars, wordy explanations of peerage, Greek, French, Italian and Shakespearian references but I'm glad that was all included to set the stage and raise the stakes of Vanity Fair.
I love this book for it's upstart anti-hero, immersiveness and detailed character histories that span decades.
