Okay, so let's jump right in . . .
with The Nickel Boys. While fiction, this is based on the real story of a reform school in Florida that operated for more than 100 years. I spent the entire time reading this thinking how does this happen? Elwood Curtis is sentenced to the Nickel Academy, a juvenile reformatory, after making an innocent mistake. This is the early 1960s, Curtis is black and the amount of injustice described here is crazy. But sadly, this is what the world used to be like - and still is in many ways. The author does such an amazing job with this book. I think everyone should read it.
This book was soooo close to a five star rating. There were a couple of things that annoyed me - like so many unplanned pregnancies - but otherwise, I thought this was such a fantastic book. The Most Fun We Ever Had is about the past and current relationships of a family with four daughters. The chapters flip back and forth between time periods and characters, and the author really digs deep into character building and helping the reader understand the how and why of events. At 500+ pages in length, this isn't a quick read. It's a book you settle into. I'm throwing that out there for those who don't like longer books.
From a personal standpoint, there was something very close to my heart detailed here and I felt like the author really hit on realistic emotions. I can't stand when I read something I've been through or witnessed and it's obvious that the author just wanted to put it in the book and didn't thoroughly research it.
This is Stephen King's new release and I simply could not put it down. After being kidnapped from his home in the middle of the night, Luke Ellie awakens in a replica of his bedroom at a place called The Institute. He is held captive with other children with telepathy and telekinesis abilities. They are forced to undergo invasive testing and brutally punished when they don't comply. No one has ever successfully escaped from The Institute but once Luke realizes the future that awaits him and his new friends, he knows he needs to try something. So, yes, there are some dark concepts in here but a lot to think about. You do kind of have to go with the flow near the end. I know some people are hesitant to read King because they believe it will be gruesome but not all of his books are like Cujo or Pet Semetary.
Marilou is Everywhere was not quite what I expected after reading the summary, but very well written and overall a great book. Teenager Cindy and her brothers live in rural Pennsylvania. Their mother leaves for months at a time and money is tight with her brothers picking up odd jobs here and there. When an older teen goes missing, Cindy moves in with the missing teen's mother and pretends to be someone else. There are a lot of underlying themes - poverty, mental illness, alcoholism - throughout the book. Things kind of stalled out for me at one point but it's not a long read so that wasn't too big of a deal.
Click here for links to all my book reviews.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. TGUH is a participant in the Amazon Services Associates Program LLC, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
1 comment:
Always look forward to your book reviews. Books are expensive in south Africa and although inhale a kindle the exchange rate is bad for books as buying in USA dollars. Libraries don't have kindle book lending options so I either buy second hand and am.late with popular or recent books or borrow from a friend.although I occasionally buy. Did you read eleanor oliphant ?
Post a Comment