Soma
Am I missing something here? Have we all read the same book?
So many people related to Sybil which surprises me! She came across as a rather selfish person. It's not wrong for any one to work in self interest - after all THAT is survival instinct. But to the point of merely benefiting from others at ones convenience? Considering the elephant in the room was the death of Gilbert - and everything else was an aftermath or consequence of it- Sybil chooses to talk to THEODORE about it? Her neighbor who she never showed interest in?, Who she conveniently “likes” when she needs driving around and after she doesn't want to move to Texas ?? And the deal with her real family was rather rushed and it all sort of amounted to NOTHING. I understand that the pain of losing a child was at the centre of Sybil's life but it just did not make any sense to read about her pushing everyone away and then making amends one year before she dies. I did not like the character and nor the story.
What a brilliant story. Hats off to the kind of imagination Rivers possesses!
A very interesting world where the characters are set, with interesting stories and details.
However I felt there was lots happening at times with little explanation, and the ending was quite rushed. A good read nonetheless!
3.8
The book spans the lives of two siblings, Maeve and Danny, but the way it's written - one never entirely stops looking at them as the children they're introduced as when the story starts. Initially I was waiting for something more to happen, but the book revolves around the house because the characters' lives do. It's like their center of gravity. They find themselves coming back to it, never completely untethered from the place even after having left it. Perhaps because they did not get a chance to grow up or out of it but were thrown out from it. The book is limited in its exploration of the lives of all children but there is something about the way emotions and events are written that it makes you want to read on. That would explain the high rating on goodreads for it!
Depicts Palestinian culture at length, esp an introduction to the biscuits, teas and bread making which I was not aware were a central part of the food.
On a more serious note, the atrocities in the story are sadly the truth for many women around the world. If anything it made me angry and sad for the characters, because they were somewhat relatable as a South Asian woman myself. The story is an immersive experience to say the least.
In the end it left me feeling grateful
-grateful for all that I have today, as a 21st century woman
-grateful to all the women before me who fought and faced so much, so that this life would be possible for me today
Pachinko is a saga of a Korean-Japanese family. It starts with the story of a Korean woman who migrates to Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Spanning 4 generations and told from the narratives of multiple people, Pachinko brilliantly captures the stories, emotions, hopes, dreams and lives of ordinary ‘citizens' during times of War, political instabilities and economic change. At the heart of the saga is survival - through war, through death and through life; and how the meaning of and means to survive changes over the course of different generations.
Pachinko is a masterpiece.
4.3
I loved how the book began, the characters and the world building - just fantastic. But it got slower and slower towards the end, until it was barely moving. And the ending . SO drab.
I am really not into Alina or Mal's journey in the next book.. but I think Russian folklore and the different orders of The Small Science have massive potential to make this series a 10/10. And so I read on!
Special thanks to Ayushmaan Sinha for pulling me through my reading slump and being the best buddy reader everr!
Poignant. Compelling. Bewitching. Enthralling, mesmerizing and spellbinding. BREATHTAKING.
“But if there was one thing I knew in all the world, it was that there was no mercy among gods.”
I revere Miller's writing. Little lines sneaked up on me out of the blue and made me catch my breath.
“It is youth's gift not to feel its debts.”
I have rarely ever seen such ‘precision' in writing (for the lack of a better word), where no word is ever wasted, each serves a predetermined purpose, capturing and weaving meaning into a more complete tapestry, that is the evolution of the seemingly unchanging, immortal goddess Circe. She is barely powerful, and it pushes her to be willing to observe and learn and unlearn and relearn, and that is what sets her apart from the other Gods. She is a hero in her own right - enduring, persevering, melancholy (because heroes were born to never be happy), patient and protecting what she loves with her entire being.
“But there was no wound she could give me that I had not already given myself.”
Miller pens with such poised but piercing dexterity engraving words in the mind.. they imprint on your eyelids, infuse in your airway and then sink to your bones where they'll forever stay.
“Each task was a mountain to be climbed anew. All I could carry with me from last time was the knowledge that it could be done.”
I don't think you ever fully recover from a Madeline Miller book..
I don't think I ever want to.
To me, Spinning Silver perfectly demonstrates why the words ‘fantasy' and ‘fantastic' are related.
This is literally NOVEL. A lot about this book was fresh to me - a fresh take on fairytales that is somehow so realistic and relatable, the morally grey characters and villains(?),the dilemmas they face and the story in general, the plot ties up so well. I particularly enjoyed the writing - how the characters all have different narration styles keeping in mind their age, education, social standing etc. That was extremely intelligent and a rather pleasurable cognitive exercise (each chapter is narrated by any one character but nowhere does it say which one, you find out as you read on).
I haven't read anything like this, ever.
That being said there was something in the ending that makes me give it 4.599 stars. Oh well
A satisfying end to Feyre's story. The last 100 or so pages of war had me whimpering and crying and NOT breathing. I was quite invested, to say the least. LOVE the closure with Tamlin, that he was not made out to be a monster, just a person with flaws who couldn't channelize his rage any better. The plot as a whole was really good, the twists mostly unanticipated and the character development was really well done. The story flows smoothly, its well paced, the twists catch you off guard.
Issues i had/problematic areas : (clearly I am in too deep)
-Rhysand's need to “support” Feyre in whatever the hell she does, a messed up portrayal of hEaLthY reLatiOnShiPs
-sex scenes that turn you..off..? What a paradox.
-NESTA ?? someone PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME why we forget what she was in the first book ? Im sorry but DID I MISS HER becoming selfless for Elain?? Its like her bitchy character WINNOWED to another -also bitchy- character.
-Lucien has gone to find help, its a 700pg book, but we hear NOTHING of it, and to top it off good ol' Daddy is the one who comes to save the day (and no, I do not mean Rhysand)..
so wait. lucien did.. practically . ..nothing??
-The ending: too happy.
ELAIN. Kills the king. With a dagger. scoff
So out of all the overpowerful “strongest deadliest creatures to ever walk the night court, the planet”, meek Elain just shoved a knife into the meanest nastiest King's throat? Just like THAT? If THATS how he COULD die, why didnt Jurian think of it??? just do it before the war -.-
Reminds me of Amarantha's anticlimactic end, tbh that seems better than this. At least Tamlin used some claws, some photon of power.
-If there is a humongous war, someone NEEDS to die. AT LEAST AMREN!? Why bring her back? Breaking Dawn flashbacks
Overall, its good closure. Will put a pause on reading this series for a while.
ARGHHHH Grief. Agony. Pain.
What a book. I want to tear this book into little pieces .. so that i can store the totality of it inside my heart. I want to give it 5 stars, and no star at all.
I saw a lot of people use the word “polarizing” in their reviews, and i agree 100%.
Please just read it for the raw emotions it will make you feel. Ill write a better review someday
Edit1: Miss Rooney what'd i ever do to you, whyd you have to write it like this and then end it like that
An empowering read. This is Virginia Woolf's speech on “Women and fiction” which was then put together and published. Written almost a 100 years ago, it gives a glimpse of what it was like to be a woman back then, how narrow your horizons were, how thick the veil of stereotypes cast over you. Sadly, its not drastically different (by that i mean 100% different) from being a woman today. And with the world being the way it is, this book is going to be relevant even a 100 years from now.
Woolf doesn't resort to lamenting about the treatment of the “invisible sex”. She simply states certain issues that she notices around her (for eg. women before her not being permitted by the law to own money) as a rational observer, and tries to reason their existence, arrive at a possible cause.
My takeaway from her words is definitely extrapolating it, but I do it keeping in mind this time and age, where I am a woman -
You will face unfavorable situations (probably more so if you're a woman). Be prepared. When you do face one, take a stand. Make your decision. Then make the best out of it.
Intriguing plot. Well written characters. lots of potential!
The characters - I particularly liked the character development, the fact that the characters dont resort to sudden uncharacteristic behavioral changes (which can be a major bummer in comics) is especially welcome. The plot unfolds in alignment with what the characters are going through, so its nice and believable, nothing too surreal or flimsy for that matter.
I love that Rachel Smythe has put the modern Greek Universe to good use, exploring different myths and lores to build a solid storyline, one that adds characters which flow with the story, rather than randomly crash against it.
One star less because it does get a little too dramatic, almost unnecessarily, at times.