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46
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| 0593198107
| 9780593198100
| 0593198107
| 3.93
| 79,114
| Jan 01, 1979
| Sep 08, 2020
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liked it
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**spoiler alert** I first heard about this book while I was scrolling through lists of what people claimed to be the best scary stories of all time. I
**spoiler alert** I first heard about this book while I was scrolling through lists of what people claimed to be the best scary stories of all time. I had been looking for a book that would spook me out of my socks; the type of story that leaves you feeling haunted long after the final page has been turned. Most unfortunately for me, as is often the case, this was no such story. This is not a book that will leave you with sombre feelings or any type of tangible terror. This is simply a story about some friends, a New England town, shapeshifters & internalized regret. I will credit Straub's writing as the reason why I was encouraged to finish this book & the singular reason why I enjoyed any of this story. That is to say that Straub has a very distinct written ability, one which sets him apart. This story flourished under his talent & I truly admire the way he strung me along, even when I knew that this wasn't the story I was looking for; leaving me with feelings of appreciation towards a book that held some very humorous takes on horror. Critiques surrounding Straub's writing highlight confusion on the part of the readers. Therefore, let me clarify that this book is written with the intent for the reader to have a full bird's-eye-view of the entire plot. We float through discussions, events, monologues et al. while the main players move around the board liberated from the burden of having to vocalize something for the reader to be put in the know. That being said, I wish that this had been a different kind of book. Had this been put forth as recounted ghost tales shared amongst friends who were detained from their guilts, regrets & inner turmoils; I wouldn't have been so disappointed in the paranormal aspects that presented themselves later. This book truly had the potential to present a spooky scene. The reader meets a group of adult men who have maintained friendships with each other throughout the 50+ years of their lives. They find themselves together on occasion to share ghost stories of which one (1) is shared with the reader. Without hesitation, the story that we read about is monstrous. I had hoped to find more of this type of terribly bizarre phenomenon throughout. The shapeshifting demons whose eyes are riddled with jaundice didn't quite evoke the same effect as the child molester turned into a ghost who roamed the earth to torment the siblings he was abusing in life, after his death. That being said, horror is certainly subjective. Objectively, ghouls murdering an entire town of people for the sake of killing is terrifying. However, none of their actions nor their dialogue ever invoked the feeling of fear within me. After all, that is what I was seeking in this book. Regardless of that, I didn't dislike working my way through this story. There was a lot to appreciate & as I have said before, the ability to write was what left me determined to finish this behemoth of a read. Totalling 516 pages, it takes time to read through the chapters because Straub holds an intricate understanding of his characters & what he is trying to convey. When all is said & done I am glad that I read this book. It is not one that I would recommend to those searching for a great ghost story. However, it is one that highlights how tragically enthralling good writing can be. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Oct 29, 2021
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Jun 03, 2021
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Paperback
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28
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| 1250803187
| 9781250803184
| 3.92
| 245,733
| Jun 01, 2021
| Jun 01, 2021
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it was ok
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August moves to New York City after having pursued post-secondary education at two previous institutions, in two different cities. She struggles to fi
August moves to New York City after having pursued post-secondary education at two previous institutions, in two different cities. She struggles to find her place & has gone through life feeling as though she didn’t ever have one. However, upon arriving in New York, she finds her roommates to be the friends she’s always needed; people who know themselves & feel confident in their place in this world. August also meets Jane, a girl on the subway, who seems to be part of many people's experiences in the city yet remains ever elusive. Though this was a pretty decent book & all my praise goes to Natalie Naudus for her stellar narration, I cannot say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I don’t think I was the ideal reader as this genre isn’t one prefer & I often found myself with bits of questions regarding the ease with which August flew through life. August moves to New York for the first time in the hopes that this will be the place where she will fit in & be able to complete her post-secondary education. Not much focus is given to her education as the majority of the novel sees her quest to reunite Jane with her memories. I can appreciate that much of a character’s development does not necessarily centre around what we are presented at the beginning of the novel but, she was working what we might assume is a full-time job & she was attending a full course load at University. Where would she have found time to fleetingly pursue a random person she met on the subway? Possibly this is why she is jumping around in life; being easily distracted by things that she assumes require her attention versus the things that actually do (i.e. her studies). I wondered if everyone in the United States knew how to ride a subway, innately. The way that August was able to simply ‘jump on’ a train without any real concern was questionable to me. I’ve always heard of the complexity of the New York subway systems & therefore, felt it odd that this girl was able to adapt without a qualm. I think, had we focused more on the paranormal aspect of Jane, rather than the romantic one which felt very disjointed in the story, I would have enjoyed this book. August’s lust after Jane made me feel uncomfortable. Set aside the fact that Jane has no memories of her life up until meeting August; the romantic aspect felt kind of predatory. You can definitely develop a crush on someone you don’t know but, Jane didn’t even know what year it was. You’re telling me it wasn’t weird that August thought: ‘ya sure, let me just pursue being in a relationship with this person who can’t tell me their favourite colour, but I want a relationship so I get one’? Overall, it was quaint & a little disjointed but, quaint nonetheless. The secondary characters really made up for the shortcomings of the main character. Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, & Casey McQuiston for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 02, 2021
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Jun 02, 2021
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Audiobook
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38
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| 1250804949
| 9781250804945
| 3.81
| 76,170
| Aug 03, 2021
| Aug 03, 2021
|
liked it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on physical violence, monetary insecurity, parental neglect, substance abuse, death, & others. Lange’s debut novel puts the spotlight on an Irish family in New York & explores the complexities & nuances that have seen the members flourish & crumble under familial all while remaining people that community members aspire to become. Barrie Kreinik was a phenomenal choice for the narrator of this book. I had a bit of trouble becoming invested in the story but kept wanting to go back & finish the book simply because I trusted Kreinik to tell a good story. The Brennans are a family with multiple members who each have their own complicated personal issues. I can appreciate that every family, fictional & not, has an array of quirks & contentions. What rendered this book a bit heavy to read was the fact that every single member of the family was dealing with, directly or indirectly, a very serious situation that the book didn’t quite explore to its full potential. For example, we read about a younger member of the family (whose name escapes me, as they all do) who had a developmental delay. We are then told that the matriarch of the family shunned this child because of her strict upbringing. This is shitty enough—no one deserves to be treated like crap by their parents, let alone someone who didn’t have a fighting chance to even get to know their parents because said person couldn’t give less of a nickel. I digress. Then, we have Sunday, for whom the story centres around. She is close with her siblings but, because of reasons which we never truly delve into, her mother also treats her like garbage. The point I’m getting at, though it might appear that I’m talking in circles, is that the matriarch is a mess & the reader is never given a concrete reason as to why she singles out her children; belittling them & ensuring that do not reach their potential for success. It’s not enough to say that you were raised in a very strict religious home—not every religious person treats their kids like trash. I would have appreciated knowing what made her keep Sunday back from going on the trip to Ireland & why faked an illness. Maybe these things were explained but I wasn’t paying close enough attention to notice. This leads me to my next point—there was too much going on. For example, we have Kale who never stopped loving Sunday but who went & married someone he barely knew because they had unprotected sex which resulted in them having a baby. Then we have Sunday who got pushed down a flight of stairs by someone she refused to have sexual relations with who also happens to be the same person who lent Sunday’s oldest brother money to support expanding the family bar, a bar that encountered an array of problems. We also have a sibling who had to keep Sunday’s secret miscarriage to themselves. This person also deals with substance abuse but I guess Sunday didn’t care about adding on to that person’s outwardly playing turmoil. We also have the patriarch who has dementia, but still, just pops up every now & again & whom no one notices is dealing dirty to allow them to have a comfortable life. Their mother dies from cancer after faking illnesses for years & treating her kids like garbage, etc. I appreciated the way that Lange included everyone in the family however, it was a lot to keep track of & for me, became a bit too much trouble in the process. I can’t really pinpoint one reason which lead me to feel this way but, I struggled to become invested. I am certain that many people will adore this story because, when all is said & done — it’s a good book! Lange shifted points of view with ease & I didn’t struggle to keep track of who was talking because her characters were well-developed. That being said, I am happy to have been given the chance to read it. I would say, that if you are in a proper mindset to read through some heavy familial drama — read this book. It’s very clear to me that Lange is a good author & I will eagerly await any other books she decides to write. This book is worth a shot & I would like to highlight that my rating is purely based on the fact that this was not my preferred genre of books. However, I would recommend it to others! Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, & Tracey Lange for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jul 18, 2021
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May 25, 2021
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Audiobook
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27
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| 1501116851
| 9781501116858
| 1501116851
| 3.80
| 37,399
| Jun 13, 2017
| Jan 09, 2017
|
liked it
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**spoiler alert** I liked this story, I appreciated Sullivan’s writing style & I enjoyed my reading experience. There was, in my opinion, a lot to app
**spoiler alert** I liked this story, I appreciated Sullivan’s writing style & I enjoyed my reading experience. There was, in my opinion, a lot to appreciate about the way this plot unravelled & I would like to highlight that, often, the make-or-break of a plot that relies so heavily on coincidences is the writer’s ability to develop the world around the characters. In Sullivan’s case, I would say he succeeded. Though I found myself noting how absolutely ludicrous it might be that everything was as intertwined as it was, I also found myself appreciating the world he had built around the coincidences so that they felt less improbable & more like things that, should we be so randomly unlucky, might very well happen in our own neighbourhoods. Lydia, the main character, is the sole survivor of what appears to be a lone murderous attack. I appreciated the way Sullivan wrote this character because I often found myself annoyed at her self-righteousness. I had to pause & remind myself, had she not (& I assume she didn’t), sought proper therapy for the events that transpired in her childhood, she would indeed have only her own thoughts & emotions as a basis for understanding & decoding the world around her. Therefore, at every instance, & there were many, where Lydia replies with 'I know', I reminded myself that she was seeking to solidify her position in the conversation rather than put another person down. I was also rather glad that Lydia wasn’t a wash-cloth character. By this I mean, a total spineless person who wallowed through life & never developed a backbone. It felt more authentic to have her be who she was; short, reclusive, self-involved, distrustful & solitary. However, I will say that it wasn’t always easy to appreciate what she brought to the story. Just because she was a person in the house during the events didn’t mean she was the only person affected. Lest we forget that the O’Toole family had relatives who would be devastated by their deaths. I can, however, forgive her for not seeking to empathize with everyone else in terms of the murders; her relationship with her father, on the other hand, I find hard to digest. Lydia’s father was never a perfect parent & seldom are there any parents who are. Unfortunately, when Sullivan wrote Thomas as drifting from his originally set-out character mould, I was a bit confused. Thomas lost his wife & was very protective of his child. All the while, he humoured her friendship with Carol, however negative it was because he was having sexual relations with Carol’s mother. That doesn’t seem like the same man who was bending over backwards to ensure that his daughter had a fighting chance in life. I don’t know that an introverted person (Thomas) would think that any friendship was better than being alone. Usually, people who are okay with solitude don’t find it acceptable to amuse destructive relationships just for the heck of it. I can’t imagine Thomas being alright with Lydia acting so destructively just because he didn’t want her to be alone. Lest we forget that she was best friends with Raj before ever meeting Carol. I found it a bit excessive for Lydia to be so upset at David upon finding out that he had had conversations with her father. She would have had to know enough by that point that, if you ask someone not to do something, you have to explain to them why you are asking that. In this case, it never really made sense. I understand she was probably still hurt by Thomas’ absence when they moved to the mountains & I won’t make excuses for that except to say that sometimes, single parents do not have the liberty of choosing whether or not they can turn down long working hours; food needs to be on the table for their child & they need to work to provide. It sucks but that’s adult life. At any point in her adult life, Lydia could have sought proper therapy. She obviously didn’t get a fair shot at being decently evaluated by the social workers who visited her in the hospital because they took her quick ‘no’ answers at face value. A child (person) would have nightmares after listening to triple murders take place right beside her. In any case, Lydia should have explained to David that she was having trouble processing decisions her father made when she was growing up. She didn’t even need to explain that she was a survivor of a triple homicide. She very simply needed to say she was struggling with their relationship. The end. I don’t know that Mr. Patel being the Hammerman made a great deal of sense to me because, at the end of the day, he killed two (2) innocent people instead of the one person he sought out. Being as we are meant to view his character as sociopathic, I didn’t understand why he killed a child when, bottom line, he didn’t need to. He could have easily just knocked her out, he didn’t need to butcher her at all. The fact that he became such a senselessly violent person felt like it missed the mark. He was originally described as not fearing confrontation when it counted (i.e. a vigilante). As the reveal was presented we are meant to believe that someone who was a force for justice in the community murdered a child in cold blood. I think not. Much of the circumstantial evidence held against Thomas didn’t fit into the reality that Mr. Patel was the murderer. How did he know where to go in the house if he had never been there before & closed the light? It’s overly confident to assume he would put himself in darkness assuming he wouldn’t run into anyone on the way—trying to find the way—to the bedroom. Why didn’t he check to see who was under the counter? He couldn’t assume that it was Lydia as the scenario he thought he was walking into was already debunked when he ran into Carol on his way to the parent’s bedroom. If Carol wasn’t in fact at Lydia’s having a sleepover he couldn’t assume that Lydia was at Carol’s, therefore, he wouldn’t have known whose trail of blood lead to the kitchen & therefore who was hiding under the sink. As for the memories that Lydia held & her discovery of Mr. Patel being the Hammerman, taking into consideration that I acknowledge that Dissociative Amnesia is valid & that she might not be able to recall everything—why did Lydia not recall the fact that the arm she saw & described to the reader was brown? The only Brown people she knew owned a doughnut shop. I suppose that would have been too easy & we wouldn’t have had a story. How did Lydia remember the exact gloves the murderer was wearing but couldn’t remember his body smell which would have easily induced more concrete memories? Mr. Patel left the Doughnut shop, where he worked in the kitchen & we can assume wore a specific cologne, to go to the O’Toole house to commit murder. Lydia would have inadvertently smelt him. How did she even put two-and-two together to think: ‘Ah yes, Mr. Patel is the single person in all of Denver who has this one pair of corporately manufactured gloves. He has to be the killer’. Sorry, but, no. Why wasn’t Mr. Patel questioned? A simple inquest at the school would have uncovered the fact that Raj had been shunned as a friend upon Carol’s arrival. It’s not far-fetched to question the parents of a loner child upon his forced expulsion from a friendship that resulted in the child’s death. As well, the Patel’s were involved with the O’Tools very recently. In fact, it would have been noted that there was close contact between the three within the year due to work contracts which, again, would be a good place to start for questioning. The remnant of the latex in the house could have been linked to the gloves that Mr. Patel wore religiously at his place of work. There are just so many things that didn’t happen which should have but, again, we wouldn’t have had a story if they had. Overall, this is a good story. I was peeved that Lydia & David broke up because I really felt as though their relationship had been built-up to be such a wonderful thing for both of them. Lydia & Raj made no sense romantically & even their friendship was weird because they hadn’t seen each other in over twenty (20) years so I do not believe that the couple-month friendship they had when they were ten (10) was enough to deem them best friends when they first regained contact. Random bothersome details aside, I appreciated this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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May 30, 2021
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May 10, 2021
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||
26
| 
| 0143107046
| 9780143107040
| 0143107046
| 3.77
| 8,872
| 1951
| Jun 25, 2013
|
it was amazing
|
It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on th
It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on sexual assault of a minor, rape, self-harm, suicide, & others. I adore Jackson's writing style & this book did not disappoint. We are introduced to a character who teeters between her lived reality, her perception of reality & her illusions. Natalie is the main character of this story & in some instances the narrator of her own divide; she seeks to understand how a lived reality can be reliable when in truth, there is nothing securely confirming to us that what we live is real, nor that who we are is for certain. I am a person who very deeply enjoys this dialogue & therefore appreciated reading through Natalie's experiences of existential overwhelm. The first part of the novel explores Natalie as a child in her family home. We are introduced to her mother who constantly seeks to penetrate the wall Natalie has built between herself & her reality. Her mother often goes off on tangents in which she expresses desires that her life might have been different, that her marriage is a sham & that, once you are out in the world, people can seldom come back to the safe place they sought to escape. Natalie's father is something of a narcissist who is very invested in having people perceive him as being the smartest person in the room. Him & his daughter partake in weekly read-troughs of her own writings & he offers criticism as only an 'expert' can. I found this part to be very interesting as it did foreshadow much of what Natalie experienced throughout the second & third parts of the book; her father is involved enough in Natalie to want to ensure that she represents him in a positive light but, is not involved enough to seek to ensure her well-being as an individual person in society. Finally, Natalie has a younger brother, Bud, who is as one might assume, aloof & constantly distanced from the family circle, whereas Natalie appears to be deeply entangled in her parent's actions. The cataclysm of the first part which might be reflected on as being the basis for the life of a person, & their family, sees Natalie help her mother prepare for a Sunday afternoon gathering that her father organizes every week & for which a number of his peers are invited to discuss literature, politics & most assuredly, themselves. As Natalie's mother expresses to Natalie, once a woman leaves the family home, everything which has transpired might be regarded as having been better than what is happening to her now & one can never really go back to what once was because one must endure what is. Natalie's mother often reflects on the lack of happiness she feels in her own marriage & wants to save Natalie from having to go through the same events that she herself experienced. Natalie leaves her mother in tears as she cries about her daughter's fate in life & joins her father at the gathering in their garden to help serve beverages & finger foods. This is where she meets a mirage of a man who is revealed to be much older, the longer she spends in his presence. His voice is both a mystery in the words it is vocalizing & the secrecy in which is it spoken. Natalie is led to the trees where we previously found her enjoying the landscape. Though this scene is not explicit in stating what happens, it is clear that Natalie is sexually assaulted & is in fact raped. Many reviews have stated that this fact is never touched on again & isn't for certain but, in the second part of the novel it is, in fact, brought up again & the reader might certainly understand that Natalie carries the weight of her assault alone for the remainder of the book. When Natalie leaves for college she finds herself in a place where reality is even more blurry than it was in her family home. People are cruel, they act without reason & everyone around her seems to be playing the same game for appearances whereas, Natalie is struggling to find her place both academically & amongst her peers. She quickly garners the reputation for being peculiar & a recluse as no one really ever sees her around & she, herself, states that she wore the exact same outfit for a week straight, having no desire to change clothes. Where the assault is seen again is in the Frosh week initiation events. Natalie is in a room full of her peers & as a gag, some of the older girls are pushing the younger ones to reveal whether they are virgins & whether they know any dirty jokes. Natalie vocalizes the hope that she wouldn't have to answer the question as to whether or not she was a virgin. Later when speaking with a peer who assumes that both herself & Natalie aren't the same type of girls as the popular group, because they don't have boyfriends nor did they engage in sexual activities, Natalie wonders why the girl would assume they were the same & how one might know whether a stranger was engaging in relations or not. Her tone indicates that she had engaged (albeit, once again, against her will) in sexual activity. Therefore, even if the assault is not explicitly stated it does play a significant role in the plot as a whole. By the end of the story we find Natalie roaming with a friend whose name was used to describe another girl but, I do choose to believe is simply a figment of Natalie's imagined state; the two walk around town & imagine themselves in a place far away, where they have a fresh start & live lives far from the ones they are currently leading. It's very unfortunate to read about a person who is so entrenched in their illusions, due in part to trauma but also because they inhabit a world that does not afford them any freedoms, seek to find themselves by releasing themselves from all the confusion & hurt they feel. The moments in the forest are confusing to read about because once Natalie is picked up by a passing vehicle, the conversation revolves around assault & horrible things happening in the woods. I suppose one might believe that in some ways Natalie was seeking to rid herself of these conversations & memories by ending her life but, found herself recalling things which lead her to feel hope for the next moment & that in fact, the reality she was experiencing was, in fact, an honest one. Overall, I appreciated the tone of this book & the entire plot. I wouldn't encourage someone to read this book should they not enjoy a dialogue that walks in circles, nor if they do not want to read about the consequences of disassociated family members & assault. Specifically, I recall the day after the gathering when Natalie goes to breakfast. She has described herself as being bruised, to the point that someone would obviously notice, & yet no one says anything. The characters are more interested in pursuing the normalcy of their quotidian rather than inquiring about the singular well-being of another. This was incredibly well-written & I am glad to have read it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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May 24, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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Paperback
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37
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| 0143039989
| 9780143039983
| 0143039989
| 3.82
| 314,196
| Oct 16, 1959
| Nov 28, 2006
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it was amazing
|
**spoiler alert** What I appreciate, so very much, about Jackson is her ability to weave a double plot into a single story with such formidable ease.
**spoiler alert** What I appreciate, so very much, about Jackson is her ability to weave a double plot into a single story with such formidable ease. I have said it once & shall say it again—Jackson is an incredible writer with a seamless ability to tell stories. Four (4) strangers gather at an abandoned house that is nestled safely in the hills, many miles from the nearest village. The house is eerie & shadowed due in part to its geography but also because of the varied tales of terror that bolster its reputation as being a haunted house. These strangers gather together under the pretence of scientific exploration. Three (3) of said strangers have been given no information pertaining to the study, so as to not sway their experiences. The series of events that follow lead the reader to form their own conclusions; is the house in fact haunted or are these characters projecting their own torments onto the walls of the old house? In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you think the house is haunted or not. The point of the story is to hide a story within a story within a story. Firstly, the house was built by a man who wanted to please his wife, so he built them a home that was a labyrinth & had tilted axes that would imbalance anyone inside. I’m not sure that anyone who adored another person would want them to be stuck within a labyrinth of a house, I will leave you to form your own conclusions with regard to the original homeowner. This man then abandons his children to seek another wife, over & over again. These children grow to host animosity towards each other because they were never shown anything but abandonment growing up & have only the house as any proof that they were once parented by someone. The sisters fight all their lives. The rumours surrounding them go so far as to state that one sister stole from the other in the depth of night. I suppose to do that you really must hate to see the other person, so much so that you are pushed to wander in the dark for things that you think are worth more than your relationship. The eldest sister was said to have taken in a ‘companion’ from the village because she couldn’t bear to be alone & this girl helped around the house. This might be interpreted as a wholly platonic endeavour but, one usually does not leave great possessions (i.e. the house) to someone whom one does not deeply care for and/or love, so read into that what you will. The fact that this companion was then led to taking her own life in an attempt to rid herself of the turmoils that surrounded her does lead one to believe that the relationships she held with the eldest sister were more than a simple working arrangement. This book was also written in a time period in which anything other than the cis & straight relationship was nowhere near an acceptable option & one might conclude that the village & the younger sister drove the companion to take her life as they made it an absolute terror to live the way she did. Up until this point, many people have been putting others in harm’s way because of their own selfish endeavours. It’s no surprise then, that Dr. Montague invites people over to the house to confirm for his own sake, whether or not it is haunted. Eleanor grew up in an abusive home—one might conclude that the rocks that ‘fell’ on the house were in fact the collective social awareness of people around her knowing that her mother was an abuser but ‘losing interest’ & ‘soon forgetting’ about it after Eleanor grew up enough to make believe everything was fine outside of the house for her own sanity. By this, I mean compartmentalizing her abuse in any hopes of having a ‘normal’ life in society. Theodora was said to be able to read minds. Luke is said to be a liar & a thief. Dr. Montague is single-minded & assumes that everyone is immature & childish. Mrs. Montague is set on discovering a lost soul but isn’t able to accept the fact that Eleanor has just made it through years of seclusion, having to care for an ailing parent while her sister refuses to offer her any support whatsoever. Arthur is at the head of a boys’ school in which he boasts of worldly knowledge being shared with the youth but again, spends his time fulfilling his ‘macho’ ‘manly’ role in society while totally ignoring any warning signs of anything other than the single-paved-path which he walks on. I would not say that this novel will leave you with a feeling of terror or fright. Perhaps if you read it at night or on a stormy day when you are alone at home, you might. There are a couple of good little spooky scenes, but this felt like more of a sous-entendu story rather than an outwardly scary haunted house tale. Therefore, keep in mind that Jackson’s strong suit is writing about women who have been absolutely demolished by society & those around them, whom they have had no choice but to trust. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jul 18, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||
24
| 
| 0312868855
| 9780312868857
| 0312868855
| 3.74
| 52,925
| 1971
| Oct 13, 1999
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did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on physical assault, self-harm, psychological abuse, animal cruelty, & others. Mr. King, regarding your comments suggesting that this was “[…] the scariest haunted house novel ever written.”, I will assume you have not read many haunted house novels. What an absolute gag of a story, truly hilarious & laugh-out-loud ridiculous. To begin, I acknowledge that this book was published in 1971 & so holds certain views on social occurrences, gender roles, etc. that are very dated & fit sturdily in 1971. For example, Edith is described as being on the brink of committing suicide upon having to spend three (3) weeks away from her husband. There is no real explanation for this description, which went into great detail regarding the mental decline that Edith experienced. Rather, we are meant to assume that Edith is a woman & therefore cannot live without a man save she wants to off herself without his companionship & guidance. Edith’s character is never given a fair chance & linking back to what I just wrote, the reason was probably that her husband was, as well as being a man, a doctor of science & deep thought. We had to read so many times about his explaining something in detailed terms, which I acknowledge he might have used in his field with his peers, & then, we had to read about Edith not understanding a lick of what he was saying. Why couldn’t he simply state what had to be said in layman's terms? Why was every exchange a chance for Lionel to showcase his immense smarts? It didn’t in fact translate into this character as being well versed in the subject matter in which he was working, but rather, showcased him to be very out of touch with his wife for whom he seemed to care very little, assuming she was always lagging behind both theoretically & physically. The main plot point of this story was people who were sexually promiscuous. Many people are aware of the ‘Satanic Panic’ which consumed many an ignorant person in the 70s, 80s & some of the 90s. Therefore, reading about Emeric Belasco & his group of followers began to feel like a fear tactic rather than something to actually fear. Let me begin at the start. Emeric himself is a person who, alone, was a fright. He assaulted animals at a young age (& that’s putting it lightly), he sexually assaulted his sister so brutally that she was hospitalized for two (2) months & was overall a deviant in more than one way. If Matheson had held on to those things he would have genuinely had a good thing going for him in terms of a scary story because what Belasco did was scary, for any generation of people. However, instead of holding the singular horror which was the main ghost, Matheson decided that he wanted to sprinkle in some promiscuity & voila, enter the dreaded orgy. I am not here to kink shame, anyone, & truly you do you while respecting yourself & others around you consensually. I simply fail to see how an orgy is meant to inflict terror. Again, I look back at the time in which this story was published & can somewhat wrap my head around why this plot point was introduced but it was a great downfall because, from the point of its introduction to the end of the story, we read far too much about sexual promiscuity to the point where the book becomes a soft-core-porn. Each of the two (2) female characters is described at length physically & are the two who experience the most with regards to ‘sexual danger’. By this I mean, Edith finds pornographic images which were taken when people were living in the house, Florence is constantly naked; has her nipples bitten, & is raped. Both women are then written as falling under the spell of ‘sexual danger’ in terms of them ripping off their clothes to beg the male characters to enter into sexual acts with them. It just felt so,…super dumb. One instance in particular that I found surprisingly stupid was when Edith drank some of the liquor that she found on the bookshelf in her room. After Lionel explains to her that the drink was spiked with an aphrodisiac, she questions why she would act out sexually & blames the house. She cannot possibly have been this dumb. Her husband literally just told her that the liquor she was guzzling was spiked; there is your answer right there. Matheson ignores his own writing to encourage his female characters to be the vessels for all sexual activity & then makes them vapid to the very evident reasonings provided. Again, the fact that the people of the house participated in orgies isn’t a scary thing in & of itself. People can consensually do what they please. Where Matheson had the opportunity to create a scary setting was upon explaining how members of the house arrived at participating in orgies. He could have carried on with the idea that Balesco (a psychopath) enticed people into his house & gained their trust enough to exploit them sexually. Rather than add paragraphs about cannibalism by way of lack of exposure to the outside world, Matheson could have simply explained that not unlike many of the serial killers who were becoming known to the public at such time as he was writing this book; Balesco groomed his followers to be subjugated & subject others, to abusive situations. Now, for my very favourite aspect of the story: Indigenous cultural appropriation. (/s - sarcasm, if that is not clear) When Florence introduces the spirit of ‘Red Cloud’ I was curious as to where Matheson would go with a spirit guide. Let me emphasize that by this point in the story I had already acquired an impression of Florence that was less than desirable. I thought her annoying, full of herself & overly confident in the idea that God would blissfully transport her through life unscathed. What a wonderful surprise it was for me when Red Cloud was conjured during the first seance. Are we truly meant to believe that a non-Indigenous God-grovelling White lady has an Indigenous Medicine Man as her spirit guide? In what realm are we meant to believe that this would ever happen? To top it off Matheson wrote Red Cloud as the racially typical depiction of an Indigenous person, speaking with the same intonations & lack of specific indicators in his speech. Way to really include the racism 10/10 for not leaving that out. Honestly, I just do not understand the point of this. The only time Red Cloud appears is in the first seance & for enough time for us to understand that a Medicine Man is Florence’s Spirit guide & that yes, he does in fact speak in poor English because he’s Indigenous. What a healthy load of horse shit. From that moment on I truly could not have cared any less for what happened to Florence. Every time she prayed to God for aid in helping Daniel I damn well knew that a White lady that thought an Indigenous person was her Spirit Guide was being royally fucked over by the demon that was haunting the house & bravo to Belasco for that. The characters in this story were written as being almost caricatures; people that you would assume would be daft enough to go about staying in a haunted house for a week to dis/prove the existence of supernatural presence/happenings. None of what was said or done felt natural to human existence & was never a believable occurrence. I can’t speak on that being the goal of Matheson when writing this story but that’s what came of his writing. None of his characters were likeable, they were all daft & blindly confident in their abilities, they believed themselves untouchable & were really very stupid. Why was no one really ever harmed when they were sleeping? Isn’t that the most ideal time to attack? The scene where a ghost materializes under a fallen sheet was decent & had potential but of course, it took a sexual turn because where else was Matheson to go with so many possible alleyways? I genuinely thought it so bizarre that everyone was seemingly able to go to bed unscathed & unbothered every night as though everything that happened that day was a fever dream. If you’re looking for a genuinely horror-filled, scary story, look elsewhere. This book made me legitimately laugh out loud at its ludicrous plot. This isn’t a Thriller, this isn’t a Horror, this isn’t scary; this is badly written, has poor plotting & is a boring story. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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May 12, 2021
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Apr 15, 2021
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Paperback
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44
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| 1501167715
| 9781501167713
| 1501167715
| 3.91
| 135,416
| Sep 17, 1962
| Oct 24, 2017
|
it was amazing
|
This book took me entirely by surprise. I did not expect to come across a piece of literature published in 1962 that carried with it the delicate way
This book took me entirely by surprise. I did not expect to come across a piece of literature published in 1962 that carried with it the delicate way that the human species wades through life; horrors & fears, joyful connections & tenderness. I absolutely adored this book. Bradbury is incredibly skilled at crafting a world wherein the overly succulent detailing of words is essential to the plot in a way that comes as a bit of a point of contention; why did we spend so many paragraphs reading about comparisons, symbolism, metaphors, allegories & imagery? Because it allows us to drown in the town, to become enveloped within the dream that leads Will & Jim through their nightly boyish wanderings in the neighbourhood, it carried us to the solace that was Charles standing in between rows of books. It captured what was to be feared in this story. I admit that it took me a couple of chapters to fully appreciate the purpose of such poetic prose. When one isn’t habituated with reading a story wherein the author absolutely allows themselves to name nouns at length, to describe what might appear to be the tedious shapes that float around scenery; it is a task to allow the mind to read through such long descriptors, such detailed allegory, to find oneself back at the main plot. However, I was always appreciative of Bradbury’s ability to utilize language in such a way as to lead one to become lost within the metaphors. I like to be tricked, to stumble through thoughts—they ask of me to reflect more deeply, to ponder with more profoundness & I will always be appreciative of that. The plot as a whole is magnificent. The characters are intricate in their symbolism & imagery. I wish I could sit & write about all the aspects of this book that I enjoyed but instead, suffice it to say that I will return to this story during another cold October day & find myself immersed in the chilled developments of childhood becoming the morose loneliness which can be adulthood. This story will remain etched in my mind as one which simmers in the recesses of the subconscious. If I might offer one word of warning regarding this book it is; do not endeavour this reading experience as one which you might hope to grant you deep dark fear. This is an older story & the more obvious ‘horror’ aspects don’t hit quite as tragically in 2021 as they may have in 1962 because one is far more exposed to such physical realities in our time. However, keeping that in mind I would encourage you to focus on what it might be like to meet what is eminently a fear-invoking person, someone not unlike The Illustrated Man, as Will, Jim & Charles might have. I found it appropriately chilling how delicately the plot treads the fine line between the horrors of fictional monsters & the terrors of developing individuality in human society. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Oct 19, 2021
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Apr 15, 2021
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Paperback
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25
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| 1250768330
| 9781250768339
| 1250768330
| 3.68
| 1,749
| Apr 20, 2021
| Apr 20, 2021
|
did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** This story held a great deal of potential but, ultimately, fell very flat. Maggie is in the mid-years of her life; she's written sev **spoiler alert** This story held a great deal of potential but, ultimately, fell very flat. Maggie is in the mid-years of her life; she's written several books, teaches classes & is now experiencing writer's block while trying to complete the final book in a Romance-Fantasy trilogy. Had Maggie been written with a bit more gusto & less arrogance, I would have probably enjoyed this book more. To start, being a person who lives in the United States doesn't automatically make you an ignorant fool of everything happening in the world. However, in Maggie's case, it seemingly did. Maggie travels to Paris under the guise of working through her writer's block & arrives there only to be totally unaware of basic culture & environmental etiquette. Why is she unaware of reusable bags? In which grocery store are people bagging all of your items for you to save Costco (who uses readily available boxes)? This is 2021, we are charged for plastic bags in North America, where have you been for the past ten (10) years? The scene where Maggie assumes that someone is going to bag all her grocery items felt so beyond dated it made me uncomfortable. Also, how are you a very grown adult, travelling to a foreign country only to refuse to think ahead, to avoid instances where very clearly life is not the same for everyone everywhere? There is also a scene wherein she stands in a shop & calls the attendant (albeit not to their face) rude names because they didn't want to waste their time looking for a bottle of wine that Maggie didn't bother to remember the name of. That's on you my friend, that's not the clerk's fault. They don't have to help you if you're unprepared & assume that they're meant to recall every brand of wine ever made. These are just two examples of ample instances where Maggie is rude & conceited. I cannot understand going to another country & treating people like shit because they don't act how you act back home. It's ignorant. It also represents your fellow countrymen in a poor light & God knows Americans don't need more of that. I wish I could say that the rest of the story fell into place positively regardless of the main character but it didn't. The love interests weren't interesting & there was no actual build-up for the reader to believe the plausibility of calling someone ugly upon first meeting them, to then wanting to jump their bones. Where was the transition? What exactly made Maggie want to have relations with Max? Also, what made Maggie such an appealing catch to Max? She complained often, was unaware of social rules, & wrote White saviour stories….where is the appeal? Many other reviewers have touched on some of the deeper issues of this story & they said it best, so I will leave you to read their reviews regarding white saviours, poor display of people on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), etc. In any case, this whole book was a bore. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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May 14, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Paperback
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31
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| 0062982656
| 9780062982650
| 0062982656
| 3.50
| 98,353
| Sep 01, 2020
| Sep 01, 2020
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** There was a lot to want to like about this book; Cole has written a story that centres around gentrification with the focus on a nei
**spoiler alert** There was a lot to want to like about this book; Cole has written a story that centres around gentrification with the focus on a neighbourhood in Brooklyn, NY. I will preface this by saying that I am not from New York nor is anyone in my immediate circle. However, I found it bizarre that this neighbourhood in, reputably, the most multicultural area in the West had only two types of people; whites & blacks. I appreciate that Cole's focus was on the polarized experiences of White people—even those who are White-passing—versus any & all people who are Black. However, the exclusion of actual cultural diversity which would be found in this area made the scenarios we were being presented stilted. Would it not have carried greater weight to have had a variety of people 'disappear' from their homes & be replaced by the same cookie-cutter-couples? I think yes. In continuing with this thought, Cole never explores the cultural diversity within the two groups she presents to the readers; they are White & they are Black. There is a single scene where Theo mentions that one of the ladies he is speaking with has a foreign (to America) accent but, we never see or hear any more about that. It felt like I was reading a book about stick figures; there was no cultural depth to any of the characters which made them vapid. Black people have culture & there is not a single marker of where a Black person comes from. You have the entirety of the globe to choose from in terms of giving these people distinct cultural markers but rather than do that, the author simply made them neighbours who are Black & left it at that. It was bizarre that Theo was seemingly the only person who was given any markers of his culture & ancestry by describing his father as Russian but never introducing any other character with more than their skin tone. Perhaps this helped drive the polarization, however, I didn't think so. To continue speaking on Theo; as a character, I thought he could have been more than the goofy, nicely intentioned neighbour. It's bizarre to me that the only person that the Black community was written as accepting, for being perceived as non-threatening, was someone who had a background riddled with crime, violence & abuse. People from different cultures can find common ground on more than just the bad things that have happened to them & I felt that, given that the book centred on the abuses of a Black community, it might have been nice to see people unite with someone who was generally a good person. By this I mean, we shouldn't view the connections Black people make with anyone outside their ethnicity to be on the grounds that; Black people are treated like shit so the only people they can connect with must be people who have also been treated like shit. Again, we link back to cultural markers; had there been more depth to the characters such as where their families are from or religious practices which heightened their daily experiences, we might have had the chance for Theo to be a great guy who just so happened to end up in a bad relationship. It's weird to me that a person who claimed to have done work with organized underground members of a specific group would put up with the back-talk he constantly got from Sydney. You would think that someone who had little time to waste on that kind of behaviour might not be so ready to accept it, even if it was coming from someone whom he found attractive. Alas, Sydney treating Theo like dog crap was pretty much all we got from her character. Save the fact that she has a 'sick' mother with an illness we never explore, what else is there to Sydney? We spend the entirety of the book reading about her endeavour to create a tour of the neighbourhood because she wasn't happy with the information being provided on the one being given by the city. A lot of my qualms against Sydney reside in the fact that she is aware of the fact that settlers came to the West & genocided Indigenous peoples into oblivion; she often utilized this point for shock value rather than as an actual tool for betterment. Then, she turns around & pretends like Indigenous peoples are not still alive. Just because Black people have inhabited this neighbourhood for a period of time does not mean that you have all claim to the land; news flash, that hot-take piece of information about the Algonquin people you were chiding around to anyone who would listen—these people are still here. Also, could we please properly capitalize the word Indigenous —thank you! I mention this part because a lot of Sydney's dialogue revolved around the circle of suffering. She mentions the Algonquin people in a way that makes it seem like we're all dead & gone & the houses she & her neighbours inhabit are their rightful claim because they are currently alive. It was a bizarre narrative, to say the least. Then, we have Drea who 'disappears' & whom Sydney does not spend a wink of time searching for at all. Maybe I'm confused but, if my so-called best friend in the whole wide world randomly went missing I would be worried. Knowing that there was a stairway behind the walls, I might even be encouraged to look there had she maybe been cleaning or taking a shortcut & have fallen. Call me crazy but adding on to the fact that Drea was a Black person in a neighbourhood that was over-policed, I would be on high alert until she was found. Unfortunately, Sydney is too busy randomly fornicating with her neighbour to worry about the disappearance of her friend. I was waiting & waiting & waiting for Sydney to finally tell us her mother had been dead this whole time because I was tired of her acting as though she wasn't. 'Let me just call this phone that never gets answered & leave cryptic messages, oh ya my mom is totally alive'. It might have been cool to have the reader involved in the fact that Yolanda was dead the whole time because the secret could have actually been that she was buried in the garden. Though, I must say this was a fact I couldn't understand because Theo randomly digs with his hands & is seemingly unable to find a body. Would you not have dug a very very deep hole to ensure that no one (animal or human) came across the remains? All in all, not a great book. There were pieces missing in the plot, the character development, the dialogue, the world-building - which would have led to the story as a whole to be more than the hope that gentrification would be scary. None of this book is thrilling nor does it create a feeling of terror. You have to build that sentiment for the reader; you have to give your characters a life to lead which, when brutally taken away makes a person feel sorrow & fear for that character. It's not enough to say that racism exists & is thriving—we already know that as being true. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 20, 2021
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Apr 08, 2021
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Paperback
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48
| 
| 0525619267
| 9780525619260
| 0525619267
| 3.82
| 140,609
| Jun 25, 2019
| Jun 02, 2020
|
did not like it
|
I have procrastinated this review because I didn't know how to say that I was bored out of my skull while reading this book without sounding absurdly
I have procrastinated this review because I didn't know how to say that I was bored out of my skull while reading this book without sounding absurdly mean. The one thing that I didn't mind about this story was Andy. His genuine friendship with Evvie was nice to read & I appreciated how he was overall just a good friend. This isn't a well-fleshed-out story & the characters are annoying, ignorant & dull. I would not recommend this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Apr 03, 2021
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Mar 10, 2021
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Paperback
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34
| 
| 3.91
| 899,918
| May 14, 2019
| May 14, 2019
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** If you are looking for a book that centres around two (2) characters, Olive & Ethan, who do not ever speak with each other, more so,
**spoiler alert** If you are looking for a book that centres around two (2) characters, Olive & Ethan, who do not ever speak with each other, more so, at each other, & if you don’t mind a lot of physical description versus psychological connectedness, you might thoroughly enjoy this book. I wish someone would have sat down with Olive & told her she needs to cool her roll & listen to what is being said & ask questions if she is uncertain about things. Unfortunately, though Olive comes from a very large family whom we are explained is always there in a material sense, for one another, no one is ever emotionally or psychologically there when it counts. Olive’s own parents utilize their children as sounding boards for their communication with each other after having been separated (not divorced) for over 10 years. This is written as being cute & bullheaded (when speaking of the mother) however, it’s really not. I found this to be an irritating point which I suppose was reflective of the family situation as a whole. There are many family members but no one ever steps in to give some sound words of advice or comfort. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people deal with things differently & that it is a blessing in itself to have family that will provide you meals for a week because they know you’re going through it. But, being that Olive is a thirty-something adult who can’t take two seconds to vocalize anything & is quick to temper tantrums in the place of conversation, you would have thought someone along the line would have been dedicated enough to her well-being to give a helping hand. Ethan is never given any depth & I know we’re meant to swoon over him but really, having rock-hard abs isn’t the be-all-end-all of qualities to seek in a person. Being a grown adult himself, one might have thought that he might have taken the time to question Olive regarding her rude comments if he thought that she hated him. Unfortunately, he never does & so we embark on this harrowing journey of back & forth mockery between two people who are enticed by each other’s bodies & very little by their personalities. I think had it not been for the drastic turn of plot this book took in the last 150-or so pages, I would have enjoyed it more. However, I was really peeved (disgusted, to be honest) with everyone’s reactions towards Olive after she speaks out about being propositioned by Dane. If my sister had come to be saying that my husband was most probably cheating on me & that, that same man then propositioned her into having ‘entanglements’ I would believe her. First of all, Amie’s reaction is so off the charts inappropriate it made me lose all respect for her as a character. How are you going to stand there & call your sister a psycho for speaking out about something that made her uncomfortable? Secondly, even if Olive was lying, why is getting violently angry the go-to? It just felt so bizarre seeing as we’re meant to believe they have a close-knit relationship as sisters so, why would the person you grew up being closest to react with such disdain towards you? Ethan’s reaction was the same. I felt annoyed by his choosing not to believe Olive but I understand wanting to give your sibling/family member the benefit of the doubt. However, I wouldn’t have said what he did, namely that it didn’t really matter at the end of the day who was right or wrong. You’re meant to be (unrealistically perhaps) utterly in love with this person & the first instance in which they vocalize not being OK you fly off the rails. Weird. Maybe check in with your sibling who has a history of lying & betraying people around them before you alienate the person you say you love. Olive & Ethan share very little chemistry & though the massage scene was good, it doesn’t make up for the fact that they share little of themselves with each other. Their relationship is based on the physical & they encounter too many instances of poor communication to forgive. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Mar 07, 2021
|
Mar 01, 2021
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
30
| 
| 4.01
| 1,219,957
| May 19, 2020
| May 19, 2020
|
really liked it
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on death, child abuse, cults, & others. My first reaction upon finishing this book was that it was better than I had anticipated. I usually set the bar very low for Romance novels of any kind because they are not my preferred genre & I am not their intended audience but, I do try & read outside my preferences & am always eager to read something new. In the case of this book, I found myself able to swiftly read through the chapters without much cringing & was even left feeling pleasantly surprised by how inclusive the novel was of very sensitive topics which affect many people. However, upon further reflection, I have to say that the main aspect that hinders this novel from being fantastic is the character of January. January moves into the beach house her father owned with his 'mistress' after his passing. I would like to first highlight that throughout the entire book I was waiting for January to act her age & understand that adult people are complex & make their way through the world in ways that are often incomprehensible via third-party observation & that, very clearly, the situation with her father & 'the other woman' held more than what she was aware of. The way this whole aspect dragged on for the entire book was irritating. I understand that the image you held of your parents was broken when you find out that one of your parents held an extramarital relationship but for the love of god could you just listen to what the person has to say, then you can move on with your life forever & never have to wonder what it was that they had to say. This also comes down to my prerogative in life; I'd rather get it all out in the open so I can not have a situation linger for all eternity, however painful it might feel in the moment. January gets this house with no strings attached & is obviously still grieving the loss of her father but, instead of welcoming the fact that she now has a house when previously she had none (assuming it's mortgage-free), she spends her time selling everything in the house even though she was gifted the house by her father, specifically for her. Had she grown some balls she might have taken the time to read the letter she was given & understand the situation rather than find herself having to mourn all over again after spending months in fury against her adult father. Again, little things like this might not bother someone else but I find it annoying when we have to spend pages on end reading about an adult character avoiding the truth because it inconveniences them & their emotions. Though January has every right to mourn the loss of her parent that doesn't really seem to play a pivotal role in her character development, unlike Gus' traumas. Gus, her neighbour & the college student she never took the time to get to know all those years ago, is now her neighbour & (shocker) she still uses her own deluded ideas about him to shape her understanding of him as a person. I was so tired by the end of the book, of having to read about January's assumptions of Gus; how hard is it really to ask the person you've just had sex with if they're into you or if they just want something casual? It's not. You're also almost 30 years old so at this point, you need to be able to communicate with the person you're having relations with, of any kind, so that you don't unintentionally hurt them or create delusions for yourself that in turn hurt you. Instead of simply asking, especially after Gus told her that he wouldn't offer information unprompted but that she could ask about things; January continues to refuse to ask Gus actual questions of substance. Asking someone who told you they were abused as a child & subsequently that they don't enjoy sharing their feelings, the simple 'what's wrong' question, isn't going to result in a deep & meaningful answer. Yet, January, who miraculously understands, Gus doesn't catch on to that, ever. I think the one thing that I found to be the most irritating was the emphasis on January being the saviour of poor broken Gus. There were parts of the story that I found to be well-versed. For example, when January highlights that Gus felt that he was never the first choice because of the abuse that his mother inadvertently allowed him to be subjected to by not leaving the relationship with his father. This was well put & authentic. However, from then on we have to read about January seeing Gus as a broken person. People who were abused (in childhood & otherwise) are not broken, they are hurt. I was glad to read that Gus was seeking therapy & engaging in practices that helped him maneuver his way through life in a healthy manner. I could go on but, for some bizarre reason, I enjoyed this book. The cringing was few & far in between which resulted in me enjoying Gus' character & being able to look past all the flaws that were January because we never really focus on her at all. Her dad dies, she stops talking to her mom, her best friend is a cool person whom I would have liked to see more of, she falls for Gus after spending 6 years with someone for the public image but doesn't know how to listen to her partner when it counts (i.e. flipping-out at Gus whenever he's not forthcoming), etc etc etc. I would still recommend this book because Henry is a good writer & I was engaged in the story enough to fly through the reading experience & to be truthful, I enjoyed it. No one is more surprised than I. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jun 13, 2021
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Mar 01, 2021
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
23
| 
| 1503903885
| 9781503903883
| 1503903885
| 4.19
| 43,260
| Oct 16, 2018
| Oct 16, 2018
|
it was ok
|
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, theref
**spoiler alert** It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on abuse, child endangerment, parental neglect, & others. There was so much about this story that seemed improbable & quite frankly, impossible. Lucy is a character I've come across more than once, often enough for me to say that I'm unsurprised by her lack of development throughout the story & her overall shallowness. Having moved nearly 15 hours from where she grew up, Lucy is faced with the decision as to whether or not she should remain in Virginia. She gets a free mansion-like-house, doesn't have to pay for any groceries, gets free services from nearly everyone in town as a 'welcome' & spends the entirety of the novel referring to friends she never hears from & nostalgia that seems misplaced as the only true recollections we get of her time in Nashville are of her struggling to make ends-meat. I wish we had read less about her indecision throughout the story. I can't imagine having $100 to my name, driving 15 hours & spending 5 days in a town where I constantly involved myself in things that didn't concern me, only to imagine myself back in a city where I had nothing to go back to. As well, $100 is barely going to cover her gas on her trip back so I'm unsure why she thinks moving back to Nashville is an option. I cannot in my right mind understand how Lucy was able to involve herself so heavily in Natasha's life. This is a 12-year-old person who has a severely abusive parent & this stranger comes into town & suddenly everyone is okay with this kid staying with this lady whom no one knows anything about. How does even happen? I understand the convenience of Lucy becoming close with Natasha in such an indirect way given that they are revealed to be siblings but, come on, that makes no sense. I feel like we could have done without the entire 'Natasha saga'. It was sad to see a kid have to go through so much turmoil & then really have nothing resolved for her except that she's privy to a whole bunch of bananas stuff that Lucy has have happen to her (i.e. bones on the property, a 'love' affair with Hank, etc.) While we're on the topic of things I could have lived without; the whole 'romance' (if we can even call it that) aspect of Hank & Lucy felt so forced & dry. I kept expecting Hank to be revealed as the antagonist because he was always so present & so nice & so involved & so helpful, it was improbable & made me feel like I was waiting for the next shoe to drop. If Lucy & Hank had stayed at the 'getting to know you' stage, I would have felt that this was more authentic than whatever started happening near the middle of the story. Claire's part of the story was alright. I appreciated how everything tied together & we weren't left with any unresolved situations. However, I was left feeling the same way that other reviewers did; Jimmy & Claire were not the ultimate romantic couple & it felt like something out of the left field to see Claire be totally enamoured by someone she met one time. Then, upon seeing him as an adult, she expects him to remember her & be as randomly in love with her & she has been with him for all these years. Victoria had Jimmy's baby & Claire goes about her life as if she & Jimmy have been in love (deep down) this whole time & they just had missed opportunities. No, that is not what happened, Jimmy chose to go engage in extracurriculars with Victoria & then left for WWI. The end. That's the story. Claire was never a choice, she was never wanted & again, her character forced her way into situations that didn't concern her. I get pinning for someone but this man had a baby with someone else & then when he was a burn victim & suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the War, he settled for the fact that you had nothing else going for you. The entire story is explained in the family tree at the beginning of the book so I felt a little cheated when nothing else but what I knew was going to happen, happened. Having the legend at the front to explain which character fits in where was helpful but it might have been better to fit that in as we went along so that we as the reader had to piece things together more on our own, rather than having Victoria & Jimmy's baby's name right there for us to see. The secondary characters added too much confusion to the story because I never became invested enough in their storylines to bother understanding what the point was. Meghan was trying to renovate the house, why? She told herself she wanted to open a bakery but it was going to be a lot of work. But renovating a 100-year-old house isn't? Also, what's the point of that part of the plot? Lucy just kept meeting random people who were all weirdly related & conveniently had their own motivations for being involved with the house by the end I was wondering why we had to read about a town in which everyone seems to be related. I'm surprised I got through this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jan 31, 2021
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Jan 31, 2021
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Paperback
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49
| 
| 1488210764
| 9781488210761
| 3.75
| 389,457
| Mar 02, 2021
| Mar 02, 2021
|
liked it
|
**spoiler alert** This is a dual timeline story in which Caroline travels to present-day London on what was meant to be her 10th wedding anniversary t
**spoiler alert** This is a dual timeline story in which Caroline travels to present-day London on what was meant to be her 10th wedding anniversary trip. She stumbles upon the remains of an 18th-century apothecary that hosts similarities to the business ventures of real-life Italian Giulia Tofana. I will attribute my enjoying this book so much to the fact that I was in the right frame of mind. The story is uncomplicated & pretty easy to follow (& predict) however, I just generally enjoyed the flow & the ease with which the story progressed. I played this audiobook during my evenings; while getting ready for sleep. Though Caroline is a character that might make one easily annoyed I didn’t mind her storyline. She married someone she loved, decided against pursuing things she was passionate about & instead settled for an uncomplicated life which left her in the shadows of someone who always seemed to want to complicate things. However cliche this might appear, Caroline did seem to redeem herself. She went off to a foreign country & makes it clear to her husband that she wants to have time alone. Many people would have caved at their significant other crossing the ocean to come & try to ‘win them back’. However, Caroline had truly put forth the effort to enjoy herself. She spent every day as fully as she could & in so doing, had little time to miss the husband who spent his own time being unfaithful. As an aside; who drinks eucalyptus oil? That is insanity. The 18th-century timeline was interesting, not incredible but, good. Nella had followed in her mother’s footsteps & ran an apothecary in London which catered to the needs of women. She then was wronged by someone she loved (someone who was married) & whom she decided to poison because she was hurt by his lies & an array of other reasons too, I’m sure. In the end, she loses the ability to carry children, never falls in love again & turns her apothecary into a shop of poisons so that women can murder their husbands for any which reason. Her demise was revealed to the reader early on in the story. Having described how her own mother had suddenly died from what one might assume was consumption, Nella develops a cough & the reader can easily deduce that she carries the same illness that her mother did. Though I was a bit disconnected from Nella, I understood that to be a good thing. Her character was drained of almost all energy which felt like an accurate representation of a person living her lifestyle. When Nella meets Eliza, I was glad for a different tone throughout the story. However, holy crow did I ever wish that someone would just tell Eliza that menstruation was not a demon, nor the ghost of her former ‘master’ haunting her. The poor kid went through over half of the book thinking that she was being punished & not a single person noticed that she was bleeding through her clothes. I would have liked to get a bit more detail as to how Eliza survived jumping into the river; could she even swim? Was it made possible for her to have learnt how to swim having been a maid of sorts since she was 12 & prior to that having lived in the country? I doubt it. Regardless, I was glad when it was revealed that she survived. I thought that to be a nice reveal in an otherwise unfortunate scenario. As well, I gather that Nella died. I’m sure that Eliza’s pink potion might have soothed her for a bit but, I choose to acknowledge that a 12-year-old was not able to cure Nella of her lung disease. I would definitely recommend this book. I would have only really changed the ending of the story; why did Caroline throw away the vile? What was the point of that? No one was going to come to her for it because no one knew it existed & even fewer people knew the significance. It felt kind of dumb to throw away something that she worked so diligently to understand & also, rude to contribute to pollution. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio, & Sarah Penner for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jan 17, 2021
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Jan 17, 2021
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Audiobook
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68
| 
| 0778311171
| 9780778311171
| 0778311171
| 3.53
| 42,969
| Sep 01, 2020
| Sep 01, 2020
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did not like it
|
**spoiler alert** What an absolutely boring story. The writing was what resulted in my inability to engage with the characters, the storylines (there w **spoiler alert** What an absolutely boring story. The writing was what resulted in my inability to engage with the characters, the storylines (there were many) & the overall development of the plot as a whole. I felt as though I were reading this book via a poorly computerized recitation (you know the voice everyone is using to dub their Reels/TikToks). Seeing as the writing was so bland & honestly, not great, it made me feel very disappointed because the concept of the story was what drew me to try & read the book in the first place. The reader is initially introduced to Margot who is the daughter of Mina, a Korean immigrant who is undocumented in the United States. Margot reads as a spoilt, immature, ignorant mess of a person & has very few redeeming qualities. She latches on to every small detail & we have to read about it over & over again as the story progresses. I understand repetition if a book is 900 pages long but this is barely 400 pages, we do not need the same information repeated in such a horribly redundant fashion. I could comprehend where Kim was trying to go in terms of the relationship Margot & her mother has, but it felt tiresome to read about. We were meant to feel bad for Margot because she couldn’t speak Korean & had difficulty learning & understanding but then she reveals that she never cared enough to try. Knowing that her mother relied heavily on that language versus English, this feels insane. It’s weird to me that she had no comprehension of the language given Mina hardly spoke English. I was interested in Mina & her experiences as an undocumented Korean immigrant. However, her chapters were plagued with repeating her sadness towards the loss of her husband & daughter in Korea. After the third time reading about the situation in nearly the same way, over & over, I felt a lack of empathy towards the situation. There is so much more to explore in terms of her experience coming to the United States, finding a job, being a mother for the second time over, falling in love, her experience learning a second language, etc. but we seldom saw much of that & instead we read about her sorrow (given, it was something to be very sad about) & how she continuously kept secrets. I think what was missing was the ability to make the reader feel as though they were there with the characters; that what we were reading about was being felt, experienced, and seen, versus us being told what to feel. The redundancy in the text didn’t help with that at all. I unfortunately would not recommend this book. I understood that a lot of what transpired was for the purpose of this story but so much of it felt annoying & unrealistic. For example, Margot grasped onto a passing comment that the landlord heard screaming, which he could not confirm whom it was coming from; Margot being certain that her mother was a quiet person & then pushed the police to investigate based on her slim knowledge of her parent. There are other great stories that might explore the perspective of characters & people you may have sought to explore with this book. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Feb 26, 2021
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Jan 17, 2021
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Paperback
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32
| 
| 3.35
| 5,237
| Feb 20, 2018
| Jun 04, 2019
|
liked it
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This was a story which follows a specific period of time in the life of a child in the foster care system. Much of what is written informs the reader
This was a story which follows a specific period of time in the life of a child in the foster care system. Much of what is written informs the reader of a dark & almost socially disconnected train of thought of a child as he manoeuvres his way through his current home. I found that after reading some other reviews, namely that written by "Canadian Reader, I had a better appreciation & grasp of the story in full. If you endeavour to read this book I advise you that some of what is presented are not enjoyable to read & Hobson hints at his narrator being the cause of the demise of other characters, which might leave one with deep feelings of discomfort & unease. If you don't mind that, then I would recommend this book. It's a quick read, off-putting & intriguing. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Mar 15, 2021
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Jan 17, 2021
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Paperback
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22
| 
| 1734150785
| 9781734150780
| 1734150785
| 3.50
| 20
| unknown
| Nov 23, 2020
|
liked it
|
This book is comprised of three (3) novellas written by Rachel Carrington (Spirit of Christmas), Barbara Brutt (Take A Right At The Mistletoe) & Debra
This book is comprised of three (3) novellas written by Rachel Carrington (Spirit of Christmas), Barbara Brutt (Take A Right At The Mistletoe) & Debra Curwen (Remember Me At Christmas). Each story presents the reader with a quaint Christmas tale. This is usually not the type of literature I am drawn to (romance) but I wanted to take a chance on this one because tis' the season. I was very pleasantly surprised! These stories are well-put-together & leave one with very warm feelings. I would encourage you, should you choose to pursue reading them, to not read them while being overly critical. There are a lot of aspects in the stories that don't check out in real life but for the purpose of a warm Christmas love story, it works. I would recommend this book & these stories to anyone looking for an easy Christmas read. Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing, Rachel Carrington, Debra Curwen & Barbara Brutt for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Nov 12, 2020
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Nov 12, 2020
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Paperback
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21
| 
| unknown
| 3.81
| 2,244
| Oct 23, 2018
| unknown
|
did not like it
|
I think that stories that involve time travel are often harder to execute than people might think. It's lovely to write about a man in 1902 that arriv
I think that stories that involve time travel are often harder to execute than people might think. It's lovely to write about a man in 1902 that arrived in the modern age & was able to adjust, almost seamlessly, to a lot of differences between our societies. However, in reality, it would not have been so easy. The simple experience of being in a vehicle might have sent him for a loop. Our automobiles go at a far greater speed (even on the slower speed-limited roads) than those available to him in his time. Though this is one example, I often find myself nit-picking at the experience of the character who has travelled through time. The wording we use is different, our clothes, our mannerisms, our stores, our vehicles, our music, our technology, etc. I understand that this story was meant to be a cute holiday read but I couldn't get past the ease with which Charles just kind of accepted that he was not in 1902 any longer. This book would make a great corny holiday movie. Listening to the audiobook really solidified that feeling for me. Though Kate Rudd did an awesome (superb) job at narrating the story, the plot itself would play out better in a film than in literature. I was interested in this book because it's the time of year to be reading about Christmas & love but, this is not the type of book I am usually drawn to so perhaps due to this fact, I wasn't able to appreciate it as much as another person might. Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, & Alexis Stanton for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Nov 11, 2020
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Nov 11, 2020
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Audiobook
| |||||||||||||||
20
| 
| B08BGBBVTW
| unknown
| 4.07
| 10,690
| Mar 16, 2021
| Mar 02, 2021
|
liked it
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I want to first start out by saying that I really appreciated how Willig properly referenced “Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus”(1818) by Mary W
I want to first start out by saying that I really appreciated how Willig properly referenced “Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus”(1818) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. It was so refreshing to hear an author reference the work without mixing up the characters (i.e. Victor Frankenstein & the Monster). To me, this really set the tone for the reading experience. Willig introduces the reader to a group of women from the Smith College Relief Unit who participate in the war effort during WWI. While this aspect was what originally drew me to the book, given the fact that we read historical works about WWII, more frequently, the vast array of characters & swift changes in the chapters did make it hard for me to keep my interest piqued. I listened to an audiobook version of this story & very much appreciated the stellar performance of the narrator—Julia Whelan. However, some parts of the character interactions (ex. male to female) felt awkward due to the fact that a single voice was performing all the roles. For some, this might not be an issue but, due to the fact that I visualize stories as they play out, I found it harder to connect to the characters & their life events. I appreciated how all the women we were originally introduced to at the beginning of the book had greatly differing origin stories. Some had even previously connected prior to the events we were about to read. I can’t imagine having done what these women did; moving abroad during wartime to try & bring some comfort & aid to those whose country was in the middle of the attacks. This was another reason for my wanting to pursue reading this book; I think it’s important to read about very real situations in a way in which we might be able to put ourselves in the shoes of the characters without necessarily reading stories riddled with horror, though we knew consciously that terrible things are transpiring. My only true complaint is that this story felt rather long after the halfway point was reached. I often lost track of what happened previously but then, we were on to something else & it didn’t really matter if I was on track or not. Should you choose to read this book, you would not regret it. The story is easy to appreciate. The characters are diverse & approach a very big event in world history which I feel we should read more about, especially in the historical fiction genre. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio, & Lauren Willig for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Nov 10, 2020
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Nov 10, 2020
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Audible Audio
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
46
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| 3.93
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liked it
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Oct 29, 2021
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Jun 03, 2021
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28
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| 3.92
|
it was ok
|
Jun 02, 2021
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Jun 02, 2021
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|||||
38
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| 3.81
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liked it
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Jul 18, 2021
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May 25, 2021
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27
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| 3.80
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liked it
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May 30, 2021
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May 10, 2021
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|||||
26
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| 3.77
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it was amazing
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May 24, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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|||||
37
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| 3.82
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 18, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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|||||
24
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| 3.74
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did not like it
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May 12, 2021
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Apr 15, 2021
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|||||
44
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| 3.91
|
it was amazing
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Oct 19, 2021
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Apr 15, 2021
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25
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| 3.68
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did not like it
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May 14, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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31
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| 3.50
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it was ok
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Jun 20, 2021
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Apr 08, 2021
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|||||
48
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| 3.82
|
did not like it
|
Apr 03, 2021
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Mar 10, 2021
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34
|
| 3.91
|
it was ok
|
Mar 07, 2021
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Mar 01, 2021
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|||||
30
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| 4.01
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really liked it
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Jun 13, 2021
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Mar 01, 2021
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|||||
23
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| 4.19
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it was ok
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Jan 31, 2021
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Jan 31, 2021
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|||||
49
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| 3.75
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liked it
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Jan 17, 2021
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Jan 17, 2021
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|||||
68
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| 3.53
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did not like it
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Feb 26, 2021
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Jan 17, 2021
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|||||
32
|
| 3.35
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liked it
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Mar 15, 2021
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Jan 17, 2021
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22
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| 3.50
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liked it
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Nov 12, 2020
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Nov 12, 2020
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|||||
21
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| 3.81
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did not like it
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Nov 11, 2020
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Nov 11, 2020
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|||||
20
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| 4.07
|
liked it
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Nov 10, 2020
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Nov 10, 2020
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