This was a solid story. It's very traditional for a thrillee, in some ways even predictable, but in the best way possible. I haven't been able to get This was a solid story. It's very traditional for a thrillee, in some ways even predictable, but in the best way possible. I haven't been able to get into a book for weeks, maybe longer, but this one had no problem hooking me. Sometimes you just need a solidly written thriller like that. I didn't think I'd be able to get into a book like I got into this one, considering my massive and recurring reading slump in the past year or so. But this was great.
Feels like it might have a sequel one day too! I'd love to read something else by this author....more
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
This has a couple of good ideas and resources for getting out of isolation. However, the reHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
This has a couple of good ideas and resources for getting out of isolation. However, the resources are only for the US - most of them don't work for outside of it, nor do they have equivalents. The ideas were good as well, but I felt like the book was being repetitive about them - it's like I kept getting the same info back again and again, although the author had seemingly already spoken about it, albeit from a slightly different angle. Everything was also a little bit choppy, there are many lists and many tests that don't really have any real scoring to them, or the answers to which are fairly obvious.
But I did like the main theme of the book, the fact that it's not really most of our faults for being lonely and that society often just makes us question ourselves as to why or how it's our fault, when in reality it can happen to almost anyone, and it seems is happening increasingly so to a lot of people due to how we currently structure how our society works. A lot of the narrative was focused on forgiving yourself for being stranded like that and trying to see past self-blaming - and getting out of the social anxiety rut. A lot of the methods the author talked about - like helping and thinking of how you could be useful to others yourself instead of how someone's judging you - are also things I've come across commonly in some philosophies, but are not things that are widely shared outside of mindfulness practices and such. So for someone who has not yet done a lot of soul-searching or therapy, this could indeed be a good resource.
However... As a quite lonely person myself with few friends, I find that this book hasn't really given me any new information on how to be less lonely. It was a book about how loneliness feels and how you shouldn't judge yourself, and that's all good, but what to do next? I don't feel like I even know how the author 'got over it'. The whole narrative makes you feel like she did, but when I think back... I'm not sure she told us about exactly how? So she made up with an older friend. So she met someone who invited her to one party. That's it? Happy ending? I feel like something is missing.
There are also these sort of 'success stories' at the end. They were definitely warm and nice to read, but also admittedly? Kind of boring. But I'm also unsure whether they furthered the cause of the book. No real takeaways for me. Some of them were also repetitive in the suggestions of what we should do. I get it, Meetup.com is everyone's preferred solution - but what if there are no groups where I am? And what if people at gyms would rather avert their eyes and run away, lest they have to say hello to someone else? (I really hope that's a regional issue and this isn't relevant in the US, for which this book was written.).
Anyway, at the end of it there are also some (regional) resources, like projects, some books, some websites, specifically for over 50s. Those looked good, but are not applicable to my situation, so I will not give any opinion on them.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
Got this book for free when an author sent me an email about it being free on Amazon sever years back.
It feels like the book wasn't edited. TDNF @ 22%
Got this book for free when an author sent me an email about it being free on Amazon sever years back.
It feels like the book wasn't edited. The tenses are weird - a paragraph can start with "she always has mixed feelings" and end with "was usually doing this and that". Has, but was? Umm? And this is not just one paragraph in one chapter. This is constant, and it bugs me and makes me reread the whole chapter thinking if I've missed anything.
The main character who is 11 is also written like an adult, with a lot of slangy words only an adult would ever use (and maybe even choose not to), and it just doesn't sound very natural. Some of her opinions were decidedly way too grown up and just didn't feel right for a child this young. I just read a review which said that the child's character was captured well, so maybe it's just me here.
But really, I stopped reading this because I wasn't comfortable with the author saying some weird things about foreigners. Like saying it's a miracle the dinner was good because the chef was a tiny Chinese man or something like that. There were other things. It made me pretty uncomfortable and I don't want to know if there are any more of those in this book....more
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
This was such a cute book. It felt a little short and more of a novelette than a full blownHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
This was such a cute book. It felt a little short and more of a novelette than a full blown novel, but so very cute, warm and cozy. The other books I've read before by this author have been more in depth, more complicated stories, and while this one wasn't just like that, I still greatly loved it. I was torn between 4 and 5 stars, so I've decided on 4.5. It's definitely one of those stories that made me feel warm inside, and I loved how much ghost stuff we had - the ghosts in this one aren't just foreign objects and reflections, they're sort of their own characters. If this book has any sequels, I can't wait to read them.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free audiobook copy received through Libro.fm
I loved this story. At first it took me a while to settle into it, like 15-20% of the auHow I read this: Free audiobook copy received through Libro.fm
I loved this story. At first it took me a while to settle into it, like 15-20% of the audiobook, but after that it just flew by, and I was surprised that I'm already at the ending. I can't wait for the next installments, as I've become pretty invested in the characters' lives and I just want them to be okay. Also, the sass of those vanguard machines is certainly not something I'll forget anytime soon. The book just had a specific vibe to it that I don't know if any other book I've read has ever had. While it's about heavy survival stuff, grief and just plain old scifi villains, it's also about music, art and rock stars, and therefore, wildly informal where other scifi books would be pretty formulaic. I loved that. I can best describe this story as very colorful, and I really enjoyed that. The audio is good as well, the range of voices the narrator did was really good, and it was nice to listen to in general.
I thank the publisher and libro.fm for giving me a free copy of the audiobook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
I loved the story, but oh my gosh was it poorly proofread. Or not at all. I'm talking three misspellings in a page sometimes. Considering this was a rI loved the story, but oh my gosh was it poorly proofread. Or not at all. I'm talking three misspellings in a page sometimes. Considering this was a re-release, I'm not even sure what to think. The wrong file uploaded to the Kindle edition or something? (I'm really starting to think it is, cause there's a sample at the end of my copy of a related book to come, and it starts with "change this to that" and stuff...)
But anyway, I loved the story well enough, and it has that peculiar tone that authors who don't normally write scifi put in their scifi books. That's good and it's refreshing, because they don't go for the typical tropes or settings in scifi. That said, this was a YA dystopia, and some things were fairly typical for one, some didn't even make sense and seemed to be there only to fit the theme of the evil dystopian society, to check a box. But even that said, it did not take away from the enjoyment. I devoured this in a day and a half and it was time well spent. I also kind of wish it had a sequel....more
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
The Martins was a very quick, very engrossing read. I greatly enjoyed it. It's not your typHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
The Martins was a very quick, very engrossing read. I greatly enjoyed it. It's not your typical novel - the whole idea of it is that it breaks the fourth wall to begin with, and it stays that way. The story is told through an author's point of view - I'm not even sure if the author is fictional or the actual author of the book. But this author decides to get himself out of a creative rut by writing about the first person he will encounter on the street. It sort of works out that way, except with extra strings attached - he not only gets to write about that person, but their whole extended family as well.
The idea here is that the story of anyone at all can be interesting and dramatic, and carry meaning. The author ends up writing about the Martins - a typical French family, as 'Martin' is about the most common and typical surname, almost like Smith in English. But even these 'Smiths' have very real crises in their lives, and do some very wild things, when put on the spot. The author's intrusion into their lives becomes like a breaking point to a lot of them - and they suddenly end up doing 'make it or break it' decisions which change their lives quite a lot.
I ended up loving the Martins as characters. They were very interesting, and I do subscribe to the idea that just about anyone's life could become a movie, if you were to only pick the right time in their lives and remove the boring bits, such as brushing one's teeth or doing office work. Just ask your grandma to tell you about her youth adventures, and you'll know what I mean.
The Martins reads fast, is well written and will definitely deliver an unexpected, but engrossing and interesting plot. A very unique novel, and I know I would love to read more by the same author.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
4.5 stars
This book really reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but in a weird How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
4.5 stars
This book really reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but in a weird way. In most ways, this book is NOTHING like it. But in some very key, very specific ways, it's SO MUCH like it. The secretive main character. The very things that happen (no spoilers...). The glamour of a coveted life. But - everything is translated into book lovers' lives. Glamorous bookworms. Isn't it brilliant?
Yep, all this story is about writing and the love of reading. The author essentially had a 'playlist' of books to set the mood, as a name is dropped here and there, as the main character keeps coping with situations by either rereading a book, or listening to it on audio. I felt like it captured the essence of a bookworm's life pretty well.
This book was surprisingly emotional though. The main character is lost in her own life, and has many regrets - over how she never reached for her goals, perhaps married too early, never spoke up for herself. She was always blown about in the wind because of what life threw her way. But something happens that makes her do something unexpected - again, because life forced her into it.
And what follows is a transformation. But what I loved about this story wasn't the transformation itself - it's that the main character truly does find herself through it. It's not one of those silly makeover stories where everything changes because you now look different. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I thought the message in the book was great. It's multifaceted and I think most readers will take away different things from it, but one of those things is that, no, the grass isn't greener on the other side - and, no, things aren't always perfect because you remember them that way, or because it appears to be so on the surface. There was a strong message here that resonated with me that I'm finding it hard to even put it into words - but sometimes we get things into our heads that aren't strictly true, and those things block us from moving ahead. This story really accentuated that idea for me.
This was a great book, and I really enjoyed it. Definitely do recommend!!
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
This was such a beautiful book. I stayed glued to the pages all day, and it's funny to admiHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
This was such a beautiful book. I stayed glued to the pages all day, and it's funny to admit I feel this way about a middle grade book, while being a grown woman, but I read this as a thriller and it kept my palms sweating quite a lot. Not a thriller-thriller, of course, the topics are still middle grade, but oh my gosh, was it, well... thrilling!
First of all, the title of the book is... Well, let me tell you, you'll only learn why it's like that when you finish the book. I was puzzled about it the whole time, but when I reached the end? I thought it was pretty brilliant.
Another thing I liked about this book is that it goes deep into several things that are important for a middle grader to know - when an adult is gaslighting you, and when an adult is manipulating people for their own gain. It's also tied into discrimination and judging people based on prejudice, which was a companion theme in the story. Why I say it's important, is because the story teaches children to RECOGNIZE the signs of gaslighting and manipulation.
If anyone had told me what it's like to be manipulated or gaslighted by an adult as a kid? I know for sure some situations would have appeared differently. But children, especially young girls, tend to believe that literally everyone else's word will be taken before theirs is, and they're probably not even wrong, considering how society treats it. Therefore, they don't speak up - worse, they often think it's them who are in the wrong.
This book has a teacher who is clearly manipulating people and gaslighting the main character. When I look at it from my current perspective as an adult, it's painfully obvious. But if I were to look at it from the child's perspective, I know I wouldn't notice it, because I'd just implicitly trust the adults, or think I just don't know something. Therefore, it's incredibly valuable to read this and know what it looks like - and why it's bad when people do it. The author doesn't go into explaining what gaslighting is, but it's not necessary - it's just labelled as a behavior that's not good, and one you should be able to recognize and believe yourself, not the manipulator, which I think is enough for a child to know without knowing much about the terminology. I think it would be even better for this story to be read or at least discussed with parents or guardians, because then the reasons could be explained to the child reading this. It's an important life lesson, one that could prove incredibly valuable if learned early.
But even aside from that - the story is brilliant in its own right. Jaclyn Moriarty is wonderful with children's stories, she's a truly masterful writer. The world is very well built, and it's so colorful and imaginative. The story delves into more serious themes of forgiveness, parenthood, empathy and more. It's just such a brilliant read. I definitely recommend it, no matter whether the reader is an adult or a child or teen. I think everyone can take away something from it.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
What I liked about this book was that it's so steeped in the pop culture of the 80s - it's How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
What I liked about this book was that it's so steeped in the pop culture of the 80s - it's set in '87, and the author's well versed in the music that was popular back then. So much so that song names are constantly mentioned, and me being an oldie fan, it gave me a really good atmosphere. You can feel the book was really going for that older movies senior high kind of feel, I don't know how to describe it, do you know what I mean? Basically, I think it nailed the mood really well. That's probably most of the charm for this story.
But for a while I couldn't figure out if it's actually set in '87 or if it's just an alternative future or something (I'm not a fan of reading blurbs too closely and ruin all the fun for myself), cause while all the cultural detail is there and they use tapes (as opposed to other media) for their memory devices, it's still a lot more advanced than the 80s really were. For some reason I thought this was going to be a dystopian future, but it's more like a dystopian alternative past. Really ties in to us being through a two year pandemic as well, cause while they're not ill in the same sense, Memory Killer is something that plagues the entire population of the planet, and it's not hard to imagine people coping as they do, cause we've been through that now.
Apart from the setting, it's pretty much a traditional action/mystery dystopian YA novel. The prose is definitely 'rushy' in that sense that thrillers always are, and the characters are very specific archetypes of teens you always get in YA books. But I'm also not sure I liked the writing all that much because it somehow felt superficial at times. The characters weren't always believable, and it felt like there wasn't always enough depth to them, or what was going on. It's just like they were doing what they're supposed to be doing to follow the YA formula. And that's fine too, I guess, a lot of readers will enjoy that, but I wanted a little more.
I also found that the setting failed to suspend my disbelief. Apparently, this is a society that is falling apart - but all social systems seem to be working fine, supply chain has no issues, schools and government offices also work fine. Everyone clearly follows protocol, even when it doesn't make sense or seems harsh. Nobody's protesting anything (remember how it actually works? The riots about things as small as mask wearing..?) Also, how do things work outside of the US where a single company seems to be holding everyone's memories in their hands? Certainly other countries, at least some of them, haven't adopted the same technology by the same single company from US? And if they haven't, why isn't everything crashing and burning? There's only so much crash and burn that can happen elsewhere in the world before it starts reflecting on the US, and I just don't see it in the book. The world seemed normal despite all the mentions of "this horrible reality we're living in". It just seemed relatively calm and normal. (Or maybe I need to start worrying about the new normal of 2022 or something.)
I also didn't really like the mechanic that happens later in the book (that I'm not eager to spoil). Like... It just doesn't make sense. I can maybe believe artificial recall, but that other thing that they all do? Nope. A little bit too far fetched. Just as Freya's 'half memory dreams'.
I don't know, I think the book is great in terms of atmosphere, but it just fell short for me everywhere else. If it was released all at once and I was able to finish all three parts (that the book is clearly set to have) in one go, perhaps things would make sense. As it is though, by the time the next one comes out, I won't remember anything that happened in this one, nor will I want to reread it. I hope others will have liked it more than I have.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
What a strange little book - a very interesting format. I haven't seen the anime before (orHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
What a strange little book - a very interesting format. I haven't seen the anime before (or even heard about it), but the book definitely feels a little anime-ish. At first, I didn't enjoy the story very much, but I warmed to it in the end. The way it's told is meaningful, but it also has a lot of word to word repetitions, and that wasn't something I enjoyed too much. I ended up skipping passages cause I remembered them almost verbatim, but also, that was part of the point. I won't deny that I reread some of my favorite passages again and again without skipping as well.
I loved the main idea of the story though. It seems we regret too many things in life, we think that if we only did this one or other thing slightly differently, then everything would have been fine. But this book challenges the idea, because however many ways things seem to go, the main character still ends up making the same awful choices, only in a slightly different way. It's hard to say whether I completely got the message in the end, at least the way it was intended, or if there even WAS a way to understand it 'correctly' - maybe everyone just takes away something of their own from this story. But what I took away from it was that sometimes we just don't value some things we should see differently, and are stuck in our regret mindsets. Sometimes you need to look outside of your own 'four and a half tatami room'.
There is a sort of odd meaning in this, as you read it. You realize, that maybe that awfulness isn't all that bad. Maybe it's just unique and the way this person is being themselves in the world, although they don't seem to quite understand it. It's like, we keep turning in the same circles with the same people, and we do the same things over and over again. It seems we attract the same situations. It's a very interesting way to look at life. As if things could be different, but they're just dressed up a new way, while it's all the same thing, because that's apparently who you are. And maybe there's a meaning of its own there. Maybe the grass only seems to be greener on the other side, and you never bother to look at the grass where you are standing.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
You know how sometimes a dish has all the right ingredients, but still somehow tastes of nothing? It felt like that for me with this book. It honestlyYou know how sometimes a dish has all the right ingredients, but still somehow tastes of nothing? It felt like that for me with this book. It honestly had everything that when thought of separately sounds amazing, but somehow, it just didn't work. The book bored me, I had thought of DNFing it even. The lore was definitely interesting, the love interests kind of cute, it expanded on the world of Carriger's, but... It's like there was no glue and all those pieces just didn't stick.
I also didn't love the fact that in the Soulless series, we as the reader, and the narrator as well, were clearly on Alexia's side, but in this series Alexia is suddenly being portrayed as being terribly uncool, fussy and generally pretty negative? I didn't love it. I guess I get attached to my characters.
So now I'm stuck between wanting to find out more of the lore, but really not wanting to read on about these characters. I still feel like I'll cave in and get it just because of the lore, but... Meh. Kind of would love to just read recaps of the plot for every one of those books....more
I'm docking a star, because even though this is a book set in England's colonial past, it is also fantasy, and I don't think it was necessary to use tI'm docking a star, because even though this is a book set in England's colonial past, it is also fantasy, and I don't think it was necessary to use the language that was used to describe the people on the Indian colonies. If I was from India, I would be appalled reading it. Then there was all that business of stealing artefacts from other cultures. Also colonial history fact, but do we have to rub it in? Felt very tasteless.
I also found it odd that the characters referred to a woman becoming an actress as 'not being completely ruined'. Judging by the Victorian books I've read, and I've read quite a few, being an actress at the time was often thought to be pretty much a prostitute. I even remember being puzzled about it. So I was surprised to see this here.
Other than that... I love the characters, I love the overall story of the series, but this one was definitely weaker than the previous one. Nothing happened in most of the book. I thought I was in the first third based on what's going on, when I looked down into the corner of my Kindle to see that it's been 77% and nothing has happened yet. Not great. (view spoiler)[And then all of a sudden everything happened? I predicted it all as of book one, by the way. Low key surprised a lot of reviewers seem to be shocked at that ending :D (hide spoiler)]...more
Somehow you don't expect a story that's so largely about racism - in a book about Asia. Racism is mostly discussed in Western settings, and it's usualSomehow you don't expect a story that's so largely about racism - in a book about Asia. Racism is mostly discussed in Western settings, and it's usually between white and non-white groups. Not so here - it's not solely about it, but Pachinko is largely about how racism damages lives, and it's even scarier that this is racism of Asians against Asians - people who are, from a Westerner's perspective, often lumped together into one ethnicity, as opposed to white people.
In Pachinko though, we see how horribly the Japanese treat Koreans during WWII and in the decades after, and we understand how horrible and damaging racism and nationalism can be. I've always known that the Koreans and the Japanese have had a difficult history, and as I've loved both these cultures and studied their languages, I've met people on both sides who explained these things to me in their own way. And yet, knowing all this, it's still just as shocking to read about it, because it seems impossible that such things happened. It was also poignant for me, because my own country has had a similar history with another one, and I could relate to a lot of the things being said in this book. No matter what nationality or geography, people will act a certain way in these situations. Regrettably, as damaging as the labeling is, it's also incredibly human to act that way. This dark side of human nature is something I end up thinking about a lot.
Perhaps the most shocking facet of it all for me, and one that is rarely explored in Western literature, was that even if you're rich - racism against you is still racism, and it doesn't lose its power. Being rich is not armor against it. People judging you and labeling you is still stronger than money and the power it gives you. You know how we tend to think money can solve anything at all? Well, apparently not.
There is also a facet to this story where it's about belonging - kind of intersects with being mixed race/ethnicity, although most of the characters in this book are not. But what I mean is, most of these people, while being Korean, are not thought to belong in Korea anymore, neither by their compatriots, nor by themselves (not even starting with the fact that the country they left technically no longer exists and is now two separate countries which are at odds.) And yet, they do not belong in Japan either, they're loathed there as a minority. Were they to move away to the US or Europe, they would be nothing more than outsiders as well. Weirder than that, most of them can't even travel because they'd be stuck in limbo - like in that movie where Tom Hanks gets stuck in that airport - because Japan won't issue them a passport, and some of them have never been to Korea, because they were born in Japan. Were they to go visit, there would be no home to come back to. This situation is brutal and unimaginable. Having a foreigner husband myself, I have gone through some migration department trouble (the word itself often gives me panic attacks), so reading what these people have had to go through made me feel strangely... Understood. But at the same time, it made me immesurably sad, because I thought my troubles were so big they didn't let me sleep. As if appears, they were not troubles - not by a long shot. Thinking that while this story might be fictional, there were thousands if not millions of people who had this or worse happen to them, makes me sad. And even though this might not be the case in Japan right now (actually, I have no idea whether it still is or not), but it was at one point, and it was so for many decades. Perhaps it is so for other people in other countries as well, especially if they're refugees.
But Pachinko is not only about that. It's also a sprawling history of a family - one that has not had it easy. Histories of war, famine, illness - they're never easy to digest. But even more so, now that I'm reading it in early 2022, only a couple hundred kilometers away from an armed conflict that has shaken the world and that I know will be discussed even after I'm gone from this world, probably. Even only just a year ago, I think Pachinko would have read slightly differently for me. Now, everything is sharper, comes into focus more and prompts completely different ideas in my head.
This is a largely character driven story, and it doesn't attach itself to one character - more like it follows the family, sometimes a few characters at the time, and makes you wonder about how wild, unimaginable and unexpected life can truly be. I ended up being attached to most of them, and they're all so wonderfully distinct and unique. And while you know it's just a book, you also realize you're suddenly remembering all those stories your great grandmother told you that were just like this, but also happened to someone living, not fictional. This book read like life - no embellishments, sometimes even harsher than life seems to be, but... Then you think about it and wonder, maybe you've had it easier than you thought. And you shudder, not knowing what the future might bring, especially in today's context.
Pachinko was unbelievable, and white it's a very long book, I read more than a half of it in one sitting on a Saturday afternoon. I couldn't pry myself away - it's been a while since I've been sucked into a story like this. It's not an easy read, but it's certainly very worthwhile. And now I find myself wondering about the author's choice for the title of this book. Is it Pachinko because the families worked in Pachinko business? Or is it Pachinko because human lives are like those balls, dropped on the pins, where they fall wherever chances takes them, randomly, but with very different consequences for the rest of their lives?...more
The first book was amazing, but what's up with this one? It seems there is no plot at all, and everything that happens is this constant parade of expeThe first book was amazing, but what's up with this one? It seems there is no plot at all, and everything that happens is this constant parade of expensive things that gets old real fast. Kind of way too over the top for me in this one. In the previous book, the positive characters we're supposed to root for were rich of course, but they weren't vain or snobbish. In this one? I'm not sure how we're supposed to understand it, but everyone's ridiculously, stupidly vain and an incredible snob. Feels very tasteless. Feels like it's going against what the first book set up.
I was also not sure why Kitty Pong was attempted to be made a sort of secondary main character..? It felt so artificial. She was put down so much in the first book as a brainless sellout, I couldn't bring myself to even start liking her in this one. Odd choice for upgrade to main character.
All in all, this felt like it was written by a different person than the first book. I swear, the only things that felt the same were the footnotes. Really weird....more
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