Wow. I loved this book so much! It was a little slow at the beginning but after the characters arrive at the place of the deed, THE PLOT TWISTS JUST KEEP COMING. And they dont stop. And you try to guess the twists but they just, yiu can’t. I’ve been an avid mystery/ thriller reader and I guessed wrong. And it’ll happen to you too. I just . . . Wow.

rating: clearly 9/10, must read.

SPOILERS AHEAD

the only twist that seemed illogical was when Gem said she devised all this to frame Jamie and kill her, just because she was taking Kat away to start a new life. Like, that seemed … not so good thinking by Karen.

This is the first book I've read by Colleen Hoover, and I will definetly be reading more of her books. This book was absolutely incredible! I devoured it in less than a day (finished yesterday) and am still reeling from it.

*SPOILERS BELOW

So, I want to focus the discussion on the Manuscript and the Letter Verity leaves for Jeremy. Which one was the real her? Were either of then the real her? Was the manuscript the truth? Was the letter the truth? Was there some truth to both the letter and the manuscript? Is Verity "manuscript Verity" or "letter Verity?"

I was a fan of Danielle Steel in her heyday. Not fine literature, but always a juicy page turner. This new book is so flat, it could be a bookmark. It is filled with descriptions of action,but no action itself. The first dialogue is on page 41! Basic facts about the characters (for example, she comes from a warm Italian family) are repeated multiple times. I had to keep reading until the end because I was fascinated by how terrible it was.

This is a historical fiction novel about the Warsaw Ghetto in the early 1940's. It centers around a middle-aged man, Adam Paskow, who, being prominent English professor before the war, teaches English to the young children/teens in the Ghetto at night. After a few weeks in the Ghetto, Adam Paskow is among one of the few Polish Jews to participate in a testimony gathering project, known as Oneg Shabbat. He is tasked with interviewing and recording the testimonies of his students, friends, and neighbors in the Ghetto.

Throughout his interviews, he learns about their childhoods, daydreams, passions, fears, strategies for safety, and, of course, survival. He also inquires about their lives in the Ghetto, how they are different from their lives before, as well as their hopes for the "future," a term that seems to have a melancholy and slightly comical affect on his interviewees, whose ages range from 6-14, approximately.

Adam Paskow also finds love in one of his several flat mates, Sala Wiskoff, who is there with her husband and two sons. Throughout his affair with Sala, he is plagued with the constant horrors and cruel realities that the Warsaw Ghetto offers, as well as memories of his late wife, Kasia, a non-Jewish woman who passed away well before the war.

This book, while rather short (300 something pages) it is rich with history, love, horror, sadness, but most importantly, hope. Reading the children's interviews is both sad and comical, as they try to make sense of their current situation and cope with their fears of the future.

This book treats the horrors of the Ghetto almost like background noise; it is there and ever-present, but its inhabitants have grown so accustomed to the cruelty and death that constantly surrounds them that they are almost in a stage of acceptance, and, in a way, so is the reader. Not a passive acceptance by any means, but a forced acceptance that puts the reader in the shoes of the characters who have been forced to acknowledge that "this is just the way things are."

10/10 - Incredible book. I cannot recommend it more, especially if you enjoy historical fiction, particularly about WWII.

While the focus of this book would not generally inspire one to expect a feel good, upbeat all the way thru, story; the public library review writes it up as such:

I find it's very common for articles, book jackets, etc to describe books as feel good; then I start reading them & find a large focus on murder, characters dieing of terminal disease, plagues, rape etc... none of which do I find as feel good stories; even if humor, inspirational comments, or people having a positive attitude about it are thrown in.

However, the negative things I just listed can simply be mentioned, as a reference, not described in detail, not happening live to the chatacters in the story, not the focus of the book, -- & then it might still be a feelgood or upbeat book.

This doesn't mean I might not read or appreciate the book, but I do appreciate reviews that aren't misleading. And I do like solution-oriented fiction, & books where people succeed, save the day, & keep upbeat & determined despite the odds that may be against them.

...But once again, if a book features a lot of death, loss, &/or suffering; especially if close up, personal, &/ or described in detail, I wouldn't call that feel good.

So is it feel good?

Or if not...but you think it's done in a way that focuses entirely on solutions & successes, & there aren't distressing details & sad stories; plz explain. ( It's not clear to me how much detail one is allowed to reveal about books in this group, but though I've made a point in not even revealing things posted in reviews; I'm fine w/anything being shared, if it's allowed here (& you're welcome to msg me additional notes).

Thanx so much!

Hey I've being reading books for about 2 years and have read well over 100 books and can tell good from Bad to a certain extent but I was hoping if you guys could help me learn how to do proper book reviews instead of just saying it's good or bad.

Even if you don't comment thanks for reading! Have a great day.

The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society by Dr. Debra Soh takes on controversial topics like whether transgender women are women, autogynephilia, Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, bathroom bans, and feminism. Critical to Soh’s argument is the theme that gender expression, limited only by creativity, should not be confused with scientific categories.

On starting The End of Gender, I was immediately struck by how clear and straightforward Debra Soh communicates. She does not mince words, complicate her message, or weigh her writing down with rhetorical flourishes. While she approaches the topic as a scientist, a “sexologist” (which I didn’t realize was a thing, but Google confirms that yes, it is), the book is designed for the lay reader, not the scientific community. She’s a neuroscientist with graduate work in paraphilias (abnormal sexual preferences, or more colloquially, kinks). In other words, she uses an MRI machine MRI and brain imagining to understand sex and gender. To boot, she’s pro-choice, pro-kink, and pro-sex-without-strings.

Socially speaking, that’s a long bit away from where I fall on the spectrum.

Despite her inclinations, Dr. Soh doesn’t seem to have a lot of faith that the scientific community can research and publish in the area without facing the threat of attack and the potential to be “canceled.” She argues that there might actually be more research on point, but activists have made it too difficult for researchers to publish without negative ramifications for results that don’t match up with the political narrative of the activists. While I can’t speak to that, there are strong and intense feelings around gender and gender identity, and it is a topic that has become politicized. I myself have friends and associates who have transitioned genders, and as I wrote this review of The End of Gender spent a lot of time considering how to avoid anything that might step on or harm their experience, while also adequately discussing and sharing what I learned from the book.

I don’t know that I’ve succeeded but I hope that the book will be read, anyway. As Debra Soh argues, it’s possible to both support those who feel like they should transition, while also raising questions and concerns about the implications of transition, especially for children (which I define as anyone under the age of majority, or 18. Science tells us that even then the human brain has not finished growing and changing, but generally, 18 seems to be the legal age we’ve arrived at as a society when a person becomes an adult).

Soh’s ability to communicate well on her topic is useful to the lay reader, because gender, and sexuality and identity, and so on, is anything but simple, and it is increasingly a topic that is relevant to all of us. Whether it is through debates about who participates in sports, who uses what bathrooms, the pronouns that people prefer, or the politics that swirl around these, it’s hard for these topics to not come up. And the message can be difficult to parse with from the politics. Soh aims to avoid this, or at least to point out the conflicts in politicizing something that is supposed to be largely driven by research and medicine. Soh, who comes from the political left, recognizes that most on her side of the aisle can’t agree with her.

Despite these fairly liberal inclinations, Soh says the science in the field has led her to criticize the ideas being pushed by trans activists. While she supports the transitioning of adults if it makes them happy, participating in sports, and even using public bathrooms of the sex they identify with, she raises serious questions about the transitioning of children and teens.

Dr. Soh, be her own account the victim of the social media mobs (she dedicates the book to “everyone who blocked me on Twitter”), organizes the book to address 9 different myths of the gender conversation:

Myth 1: Biological Sex is Spectrum. Based on the gametes of each individual, Dr. Soh argues that science provides for only two sexes: male and female. If you produce sperm, you’re male. If you produce eggs, you’re female.

Myth 2: Gender is a social construct. On the contrary, Dr. Soh, says. Gender has a basis in biology, with men gravitating towards certain behaviors, interests, and activities, while women are inclined towards others. And those inclinations, whether a man or woman is gender-conforming, depend on how much the person is exposed to testosterone in the womb.

Myth 3: There are more than two genders.

Myth 4: Sexual orientation and gender identity are unrelated.

Myth 5: Children with gender dysphoria should transition.

Myth 6: No difference exists between trans women and women who were born women. The research that Soh cites here is extremely interesting, but her less scientific approach in communicating it does open her to critique.

Myth 7: Women should behave like men in sex and dating. (See my comment for Myth 6)

Myth 8: Gender-neutral parenting works.

Myth 9: Sexology and social justice make good bedfellows.

It’s a list that touches on so many of the topics that seem to be right at the edge of the news.

Even in the news, many of these seem almost obvious or common sense. There are moments when I was reading (or listening—I listened to the audiobook, read by Soh herself) when I couldn’t but wonder that we have a book like this. Do we need a book that lists out things that seem so obvious? That men and women are different—physically, emotionally, psychologically—and that there are real reasons for these differences. Her goal is to refocus on the science underpinning what and who we are rather than allowing politics to distort the conversation.

She is, implicitly and explicitly, planting her flag in an ongoing cancel-culture war.

Not surprisingly there are critics (and not just the ones who blocked her on Twitter). One critique is with how she uses her “gender”, which she defines early in the book, and though she later becomes more fluid in how she uses the word, sometimes even discarding it or conflating it with “sex.”

In another critique, the critic argues that her response to Myth 2, that gender is a social construct, is circular, and that Soh does not understand feminism. (Far be it from me to define what feminism is, but I see it as treating men and women equally, providing equal opportunity, and removing barriers to women to advance in any particular field, merit alone being the advancing factor in promotion and pay…roughly speaking).

Another critique, and one that landed less persuasively to me, is Dr. Soh’s disdain for non-scientific explanations. Given that much of her attack is on those very non-scientific explanations, it is unsurprising that those who rely on them feel a little stung by her arguments. Ironically, these critiques were heavy with disdain for Soh’s views on the differences between men and women, looking at evolution for explanations about why we act and prefer the things we do. She does not think much of gender studies majors.

For example, Soh writes: “Men’s behavior is, to some extent, the result of female sexual preferences. If women didn’t want to mate with masculine men, these traits would have been removed from the gene pool long ago. It’s a case of ‘the lady doth protest too much.’ Toxic masculinity is the result of women’s sexual preferences over thousands of generations. Contemporary feminists are punishing an entire generation of men for the mating preferences of their female ancestors.”

I’m not so sure, but I see the logic. The counterpoint might be that our race has continued to produce monsters, whether it be Stalin, Hitler, or drunk and abusive husbands and boyfriends. Blaming those choices by terrible people on women’s sexual preferences seems to be missing the mark that people always have a choice in what to become, and what they become is not always apparent when sexual selection is operating.

Soh goes to lengths to remind the reader that she’s not opposed to “live and let live,” and that if a woman wants to crossdress, or a man wants to identify as a woman (or a tree, or a different gender at night than in the day), then she is okay with it. It’s a free country. But what she sees as troubling is the impact on children and the dangerous effects of transition (from one gender to another, including using puberty-blocking drugs and surgery).

This is where Dr. Soh sounds most concerned. She says that research suggests that young women (biological, not trans) that are experiencing mental health disorders are moving to medical transition far too frequently through Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria that spreads socially. (According to one paper I found online, this gender dysphoria “seemed to occur in the context of belonging to a peer group where one, multiple, or even all friends have become gender dysphoric and transgender-identified” within a period of time. The same study also noted that parents reported that their children exhibited an increase in “social media/internet use prior to the disclosure of transgender identity. And now that I’ve waited so long to post this, I no longer have the study at my fingertips).

How to sum up?

Read the book and decide for yourself. The information is worth understanding better. The End of Gender is a fascinating read, relevant and timely. Even if you don’t agree the arguments are compelling and thought-provoking, and the book is worth the read.

I give it 8 out of 10.

Good day to everybody, it has been a pleasure to have grown so much as a community in the last year- definitely did not expect over 500 members! I like reading all your reviews and to see how much you’ve enjoyed your books:-)

UPDATE: I’ve made user flairs available to everyone, feel free to customise yourself. (Though if this is abused, I might have to remove it)

Please do not hesitate to leave feedback or any ideas you’d like to implement to this subreddit down here. I want to make sure everyone has a good experience. Comments will be looked into asap.

Wishing everyone a safe time.

T.E. Lawrence has always intrigued me. Not that I know much about him, but something about him, as played by Peter O’Toole in my mind’s eye, has always seemed mysterious and exciting, though I could not have put my finger on it. I visualize a blonde, wild-eyed rebel, a man who could manipulate the greatest of world empires to his will, who crossed deserts and captured cities, ambushed armies and sabotaged trains, and laid the groundwork for the modern Middle East…and then walked away from it all. Who was this iconoclast of a man?

I first discovered him in the 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia,” played by the already mentioned and inimitable Peter O’Toole, and I remember that I wanted to read Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom (spoiler alert: I never have, though I did find a copy in a second-hand bookstore that I bought and maybe someday will even read). The movie was exciting, and Lawrence was a real-world Luke Skywalker, a lone hero leading a scrappy band of rebels against the might of the Ottoman Empire, which in turn was allied with the worst villains of history, the Nazis. In my youth, the extent of my analysis was bemoaning the tragedy of Lawrence’s untimely death, and never mind the complex threads that took the young British man to the center of the strange and convoluted politics that gripped and twisted the Middle East in the early decades of the 20th century. It left an itch in my mind, one I left unscratched for many years until this book came along, highly recommended (and, fortunate for me as I painted a room in my home, readily available in the audio version).

So let me come right to the point: Scott Anderson does not disappoint with Lawrence in Arabia. While nominally naming his book after Lawrence, he expands his story to three other scions of the age who also participated in the forces that transformed the political lines of the area. Here we have Curt Prufer, a mid-level German diplomat, Aaron Aaronsohn, an accomplished agronomist who was also a committed Zionist, and William Yale, an American and son of a down-on-its-luck upper-class family who somehow found himself looking for petroleum resources for Standard Oil on the sly. Their paths intertwine and overlap, and each becomes a protagonist in their own right as much as Lawrence, leaving me as intrigued with each as I was with him. As a rose by any other name is still a rose, each becomes in one form or another a spy for their own people, whether Prufer for Germany, Aaronsohn for Zionism, and Yale for Standard Oil, and them for the Americans.

To be sure, the underlying tragedy here is that each is really just part of a sideshow while the greater narrative—World War I—is centered elsewhere, boiling over into the Middle East in the contest of empires that caused the death and suffering of so many, not just on the frontlines of the battles, but as resources and crops and materials were gobbled up and taken for the war effort. Here we see the Turks killing the Kurds, the Jews and Arabs competing for survival, and the British and French (and to a lesser extent the Americans) competing for lines on a map for the prestige of empire.

So, it’s a tragedy.

And what does it do to these men? And the men and women and children that are caught up? What has it done to the people and their descendants in the intervening decades and generations that have lived with the effects of the war? Nothing but tragedy comes from the story.

Score: 8/10

The book is a retelling of the Greek tragedy Of Antigone.

I would say there is a more focused theme of British politics, but I can see it being characterised as romance.

Shamsie’s writing was very evocative, she can beautifully create an image to represent the many emotions in the book. I thought the book overall had a good pacing, except the end- it really ruined it for me, I thought it was anticlimactic but it did leave me shocked and I couldn’t believe that the time spent reading the book (which was not long to begin with) ended so drastically, but I guess the surprise could be considered unique to some(?)

I think the perspective of British-Muslim twist to the original tragedy was done relatively well. I could see the characters’ roots to their religion and I felt that it wasn’t washed out by British stereotypes. It is also able to tackle the stigma behind immigrants and terrorism without being too fake or exaggerated.

Overall, I would say the plot is quite surface-levelled, I did notice a few plot holes, so if you give it a read let me know if you spot any... I thought the author did not add much to the structure of Antigone. Though her ability to write artistically makes up for it.

Rate: just touched 6/10

-back story- I rarely give up on a book. I would force myself to finish it even if it takes a whole year. Alas I could not for American Psycho. I borrowed it from my library 5 months ago(?) and through out that whole period I only managed to just passed Bateman's morning routine.

I was not font of the diction and writing style Ellis presents. At first, it was quite 'intriguing' to read about his latest suit or hook up. But I found that this was too long of a build up to the actual murdering (if any...) and I just gave up.

The movie is claimed by some to be better than the book, I might give that a try.

Has anyone finished the book? If so, let me know if it was worth your time.

Stopped at: Chapter (?)

Beasts Heart By Leife Shallcross

A retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, but told entirely from the perspective of the Beast and gives him a backstory that’s not only unique but actually believable characters despite the curses, magic, and an angry curse wielding fairy.

The writing style is absolutely beautiful. It’s lyrical not in a “traditional” sense. And by that I mean, I wouldn’t call this lyrical in the same sentence that I called Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller lyrical. But the two of these book belong on the same shelf.

The author writes the Beast’s monologues and thought processes beautifully. And, since this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, you can imagine that the chief storyline is one of romance. And it is a romance that is done so well that when I finished this book I was tempted to call it my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Now that it has simmered in the mind for a few days, I know for certain that it is. Because no other Beauty and the Beast story has captured the Beast in such detail so as to make him both a man tormented and a Beast cursed and all with love twisted around him that makes even me, the reader, short of breath.

Beauty, called Isabeau, is given no intimate look into her mind, as this book is entirely from the perspective of her lover. But that’s no loss for me, because Beauty has told her story many times over. And, in fact, the story she is given here is quite endearing to match that of her lover’s.

Normally I would list other books that I was reminded of, but in all honesty, this is a stand out, with the exception of Song of Achilles of Madeline Miller, but not because of any shared themes (besides romance and a historical setting) but because both are slow burning, lyrical, beautiful love stories.

If Leife Shallcross releases another book in her career (and I sorely hope that she does) I will eagerly snap it up to read what spellbinding tale she tells next.

An honest 5/5 Stars!

What are your thoughts on the revelation of >!Oryx and Crake!<'s death? As well as the end of the book?

I can't seem to shake this uneasiness off. The death of the two really messed with me. Oryx seems to be the best choice to lead the Crakers so why did Crake leave it Jimmy (- Of course I have speculations but none seem worthy)? There are so many questions this book has given me. Any particular idea?

The end of the book seemed like it was cut off to me, I guess it might be the base for the next book to the series. What does Snowman decide to do >!to the same kind of human as him!<?

I hope to read it one day.

A dystopian tale in which scientist control. It tells the story through Snowman (his POV) we safely assume to be the last of the original Homo sapiens among others who seem to be genetically-flawless.

It goes through the events leading up to the destruction of the world we know while we follow Snowman's life. The structure is interesting (going back and forth from past and present).

The story can sometimes be difficult to read - it has vile topics: child trafficking, rape, abuse.

Liking her writing style and characters can be a hit or miss, but the complexity of the plot is what I quite enjoyed - it is similar to 'The Handmaid's Tale'.

Rate: 8/10

TW: Violence

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

336 pages

Published Feb. 2019

Artist Alicia and photographer Gabriel Berenson were happily married until the evening when Alicia blew Gabriel's head off with five shots to his face. That's apparently all that anyone knows, because from the minute she pulled the trigger, Alicia has been mute. Now she sits at the Grove mental hospital in North London, locked up here instead of in prison, sentenced to get well. But as 42-year old psychotherapist Dr. Theo Faber, the book's narrator, discovers when he takes a job there, Alicia is not receiving any sort of treatment at all, except for heavy doses of anti-psychotic meds that leave her limp and drooling.

At the Grove, Alicia has a few very troubling physical outbursts of violence, the most gruesome being stabbing a fellow patient in the eye with the sharp end of a paintbrush. She also attacks Theo himself, and the woman seems to have the strength of a gorilla...or a crazy person. And as it turns out, and this isn't a spoiler even though it may seem like one, Alicia wasn't exactly sane before the murder.

Alicia does have some communication in the form of a journal she kept for a few weeks up until a few minutes before the main event. There's her writing about a nebulous man who seems to be following her. There's a rumbling of marital discord that indicates that Gabriel was a rather controlling and self-absorbed jerk. But there's no real indication that Alicia had motive to kill her husband. So...did she?

Theo's personal story runs concurrent to Alicia's; he's married to Kathy, the love of his life, and things are not good; he suspects she's unfaithful but he can't force himself to confront her. He would rather have her only most of the time than to risk ending their relationship, so he remains silent. But is that truly what he feels? It seems he's become enamored of Alicia, so where does that leave Kathy, anyway?

The big reveal floored me. I had to read it twice, and parts of it three times, and to play a few little online games to clear my head, before I fully digested it. And it was fantastic.

The Silent Patient suffers from two of what I call "Gone Girl problems", which I believe affects the reviews. First, the plot was spoiled by a lot of people to those who'd not yet read the book, which can diminish or even ruin someone else's reading experience. I personally think that plot spoiling should be a felony crime. Oh, just kidding, really it should just be a misdemeanor with a hefty fine. (I truly do get infuriated with Amazon reviews or even a review on Reddit that spoiled a mystery book's ending but I don't think it's worthy of death. I'm not the crazy one here.) The second problem is so much talk about how great, how shocking, how absolutely unforgettable and I-almost-had-a-heart-attack the prose was, and how amazing and thrilling each and every page was...what book can live up to that?

Having said that, this book was easy to read and follow (if it hadn't been, you can be sure I'd not have finished it due to terrible brain fog during this time of pandemic) and it all comes together seamlessly. The writing actually is stellar and the book is intelligent. I promise that all of the loose ends get tied up eventually.

I signed up on the wait list of our online public library back in April; I was #58 on 18 ebook copies. So it took me about seven weeks to get the book, maybe you'll be luckier or even buy the Kindle or hardcover.

Any way you do it, I highly recommend this book. And because I have yet to find the utterly perfect book, I rate The Silent Patient...

9/10!

Really not a great book. To start off with, this is a quite interesting concept the author didn't seem to grasp well. Where there is a girl on the run with a blackmailed boy (she doesn't realise) is being sent to kill her.

It switches between the POVs of the girl and boy to see their thought process of the hiding and seeking. Bland narrative.

This book gives a cheapskate vibe of Romeo and Juliet. Although it claims to be a YA thriller, it really was not. You would not get any excitement from reading this. I had to really push through to finish this up.

SCORE: 3/10

An American coming of age classic.

Context: Post-war (1950s), America

The story starts with Holden Caulfield (a rich teenager) who was expelled from a prep school. Afraid of his parents reaction (after being expelled once again), we follow him exploring the fake facade ('phoniness') of adults and the meaning of life - however I can see that some may argue the plot line is not exactly clear. The book has a lot of great and bad moments. It depends which one sticks to the reader. It might be the reason why it is so controversial/infamous.

Salinger's characterisation of Holden is quite accurate to a rebellious teenager - you see things in a cynical, highly pessimistic mindset because of his vernacular. Also, the book mainly faces on first world problems. Some of the phrases are repetitive to mimic the swarming message Holden has rumbling in his head - if you are a fan of fast-paced or continuous action, this is not for you. I found the psychological study of how he acts to be quite intriguing. However there are moments where I can't help but cringe because of his melodramatic attitude... He is a rich, white boy but I do get everyone has their problems.

Fun analysis: I believe there are many points we can analyse in the book - starting with the character's name. 'Holden' sounds awfully like 'hold on'. It could relate to his despise on 'adults' with associations to the word being constant movement, productivity or ambition. It could suggest Holden' desire to want to figure out the present, the past and struggles to accept the future as well as the transition for him from adolescent to adult. If you find anymore feel free to comment it down - I would love to read your take on any of your studies!

Trigger warning - these topics might be mentioned in varying degrees: Mild racism, 'sexual violence' (there's one particularly uncomfortable scene), depression, abuse, degrading women (...but do consider the context)

Score: 7.5/10

Hello World by Hannah Fry presents an interesting look at the positives and negatives to all the algorithms that surround us on a daily basis. The book is separated into 6 sections: Power, Data, Justice, Medicine, Cars, Crime, and Art. Each section goes into how algorithms are used in the specific area. The section on Justice for example, goes into how some prisons and courtrooms have started using algorithms to decide which inmates should get bail. Overall I think the book explains the content very well and pulls from countless well researched examples and stories. Hello World conveys all the information in a very clear and effective way. Despite my very limited knowledge of programming, it was still easy to follow her explanations on any concept she covered. I think I’ll rate the book a 8/10, because it wasn’t as boring as most non fiction books I’ve read, it used plenty of interesting stories to entertain my impatient brain.

Beautifully composed graphic novel.

A story about family and self-identity which Bui has compiled over the years. It is about the backstory during the Vietnam War [Trigger warning - sometimes violent imagery] with a key focus on her mother and father past. As well as describing her journey to America, it also looks back at her not-always-so-pleasant childhood. Good autobiography and perspective of the Vietnam War and immigration.

However, I didn't always feel emotionally connected to this book. I think this would be best for someone interested in colonisation, memories and change. Or maybe if you relate to being Asian-American. There is probably some information left out which didn't allow the story to flow as well, but I can't blame Bui. It must have been hard for her.

6/10

Thanks to all of you for joining the community!

To show my appreciation, I decide I'll be giving 3 members customs flairs.

To join the giveaway, please make at least one post (choose [RATE], [FIRST IMPRESSION] and/or [DISCUSSION/RANT]). I will be looking at your posts and the most thoughtful writers will be contacted privately to talk about your flair.

DEADLINE: To be decided, but it is most likely it ends when I've given the rewards

Illuminae is a very unique scifi book. The story is told entirely through a series of classified documents, censored emails, interviews, security footage transcriptions and other things of the sort. Besides its uniqueness, it is very well written and the story captivated me with elements of action and romance. I do not want to spoil anything so I will leave out the plot. I give the book a solid rating of 8/10.

Light-hearted, 'cute' and quick book, not to take too seriously. Got better review than book 1 (google) and can be read as a standalone (I didn't read the first book and could understand what is going on - though reading #1 would make the experience more enjoyable - backstory to #2). This takes place 2 years after the first book where they finally get to use their powers.

Mlynowski's 'Don't Even Think About It' series. So there will not be any spoilers on this book, but note that some pieces of book 1 might be mentioned.

Baseline for #1: The class 10B get flu shots to discover that it has given them telepathy.

Very character-driven plotline. It jumps from POVs of 'relatable' teenage students in the telepathic class. Which just requires teachers to teach them with sunglasses on (to prevent them from reading their thoughts).

They begin to realise now that they love and have adapted to their skills, the powers seem to be growing weaker and it seems as if they will lose it. It goes through them trying to find a way to maintain and strengthen their powers as well as drama that goes on with each of their lives.

However this is hard to tackle when you have to go through POVs of 20 students. This would be hard to get a feel of all the characters but the author tried their best.

Ending will get you to chuckle because of the sheer surprise - it really doesn't make too much sense.

SCORE 5/10

If you liked the Divergent series or The Selection, this is one for you.

A fantasy novel set in a dystopia with themes like historical, adventure and a hint of romance. This book looks into segregation by blood type (silver and red), standing up for oneself and war. Good plot but I think it should have more exploration of characters. The powers of Silvers (which is what divides them from common Red-blooded folk) and just the right amount of detail leaves some work for our imagination to decide. The narrative can make Mare (the main character) seem 'snippy', but I think it gives the character a special flair as sometimes protagonists are portrayed too flawlessly. Also, there may be some scenes that drag on but it's hard to noticed because of how deep you're in with the characters.

I think the plot twist >!which is Maven's betrayal (this person is someone Mare is quite emotionally close to)!< made this story worth the read and provided a good base to continue the series.

SCORE: 8/10

Chapters 1-5

Current context: early 1970s

Interesting so far. There is a distinct tone of a teenage girl (Susie, main character) with a slightly disturbing plot. The key idea is that this is told by Susie in heaven who views things on Earth after her death, making the readers feel sympathy (mentioned in blurb - wouldn't consider this a spoiler). Effective technique to showing the tolls of the aftermath to death.

Quite saddened to see the reactions of her family members. Will read on.

Context: 18th century in France.

This story follows a boy with no scent called Grenouille and his extraordinary sense of smell. It focuses on detailed, beautiful descriptions of different odors and his development of obsession over this.

Süskind's narrative leaves the reader wanting more. The melodramatic imagery of the tale of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is one that I will never forget. The author plays with your mind as a poem would and once you've started you won't be able to stop. Perfume explores the art of scents in a magical way and the fantasies our narrator has can be disturbing. All the symbolism and hidden meanings will be something you can never fully digest.

I would say, this is definitely worth a try, but be warned the description can be 'confusing' or lurid.

SCORE: 9/10

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