Started off good (from Chapter 1-Chapter 4) Lilly’s bold behaviour at her dad’s funeral, the fresh sexual tension from a crush, the coincidence of theStarted off good (from Chapter 1-Chapter 4) Lilly’s bold behaviour at her dad’s funeral, the fresh sexual tension from a crush, the coincidence of the relatives and Lilly being all linked.
Soon as I start chapter 5, it got concerning at Ryle’s red flags! His persistence was not attractive, emotionally manipulating Lilly to have a one night stand with him; asking her to drop her dignity to put a bandaid on the fact that he has caught feelings! He is literally begging her to allow him to hurt her (use and dispose her body). It reeked of toxic behaviour! That really disgusted me about his character.
As much as I try to, I can’t hate Lily. She is a victim but doesn’t actually come across as weak; she has tried to maintain her boundaries about DV considering what she witnessed her her mother go through when she was younger. I appreciate her attempt at compromising her boundaries and trying to work together with Ryle for them both to overcome it together. I feel like Ryle’s past about shooting his brother is definitely not an excuse nor an exception for his violent behaviour, sorry but I just can’t accept that, (maybe a cognitive neuroscience explanation would be able to link his behaviour back to his past trauma idk). But let’s give Allysa a round of applause for keeping it real! For not always siding with Ryle and being biased just because he is her brother, I love how she doesn’t see her brother through tainted glasses. Marshall is kind of just there… but I actually value how in depth the feelings of a DV victim is explained and explored; it really does shut down the people that say “That could never be me” because it shows us that it’s not as black and white as people think, ESPECIALLY when there’s children involved.
Lily is so lucky to have such a good, loyal friend like Atlas, he sounds like the kind of guy I’d be interested in meet; he’s kind AND handsome (rarity). You can tell you’re surrounded by good people when they can hear your silent cry, when you don’t need to tell them something is wrong for them to know something is wrong, when they can see right through your fake happiness.
Just finished the book and wow what an ending! I LOVED IT! I literally wanted to give the book a round of applause because a part of me was expecting Lily to give in! I was expecting her to imagine happy families after labor and take him back but NO! She stood her ground! She was strong! She broke the cycle and the way she explained it to Ryle was so perfectly explained! The ending was beautifully constructed, I love how the author did not give in to the usual soppy, stupid cliche forgiveness and kept it REAL. I don't think I've ever respected a book character so much....more
I very quickly grew to detest the boyfriend (Ryan I think his name was) who was ridiculously impertinent and indolent- but I think his behaviour was fI very quickly grew to detest the boyfriend (Ryan I think his name was) who was ridiculously impertinent and indolent- but I think his behaviour was fortified by the enablers he was surrounded by. The protagonist displayed assiduous traits but clearly suffered from major insecurity issues to tolerate such a puerile boy for so long. Anyways, I am not sure which age group this book was aimed for but I found it entirely unrealistic. How old was the main character? The literature made her communication sound very young and naive. My favourite part of the book was the end; dad's smart waiting game and the convenient gift- I don't think I have ever envied someone so much. All in all, I did not enjoy the book, I just finished it with the expectancy that she'd grow some ruthless maturity and that there'd be some sort of exciting plot twist ending....more
**spoiler alert** I am currently reading The Shallows by Nicholas Carr; currently on chapter five. Learned some interesting points like the ancient hi**spoiler alert** I am currently reading The Shallows by Nicholas Carr; currently on chapter five. Learned some interesting points like the ancient history of books (from clay tablets to wax tablets) and how Alan Turin ran so Microsoft, Paul Allen could walk. Still awaiting to come across the actual main answer to the book's title- yes all physical print and individual items like clocks and calculators have been digitized, yes we digest much more information now in comparison to back in the day despite the ironic decrease of our attention span. Albeit, I am still yet to learn how the internet is changing or has changed the way we think and remember.
UPDATE: I’ve finished the book.
The Shallows is a collation of summarised research papers on cognitive neuroscience, historical experiments and various author insights on the topic. In my review I’ll be highlighting quotes that I felt resonated with myself our current generation. The book touches on “artificial memory” and how it came to be a replacement for, rather than just a supplement to personal memory. Very well said, it explains how we now rely on audio and video tapes, photocopiers, computer drives (digital memory) and calculators to ‘preserve’ our biological memory. Almost as if the Net has now taken over the role of our hippocampus. Albeit, in comparison to digital storage, the hippocampus (our biological storage department) is not restricted to how much information it can store.
On the topic of calculators, we don’t bother exercising our brain with mental maths given we have been gifted with an external machine that can replace our parietal lobe (the area in our brain central in calculating and processing numbers) . Saving us time and mental strain but also causing cobwebs to our frontal lobe, you know, that part involved in recalling knowledge and working memory. “Our tools end up numbing whatever part of our body they amplify.” When we extend some part of ourselves artificially, we also distance ourselves from the amplified part and its natural functions”
As Clive Thompson, author of ‘Wired’, stated “ I’ve almost given up making an effort to remember anything because I can instantly retrieve the information online”. I believe we’re all subtly guilty of this, just like we don’t bother remembering our friends birthday’s anymore or write it on our paper calendars because Facebook will promptly remind us!
The purpose of the Information age is that it was made to provide us with easy access to more information, but ironically, it actually enables us to absorb and retain less information biologically. “It provides us with an external cognitive servants- silicon memory systems, collaborative online filters”. - David Brooks.
“It’s no longer terribly efficient to use our brains to store information”- Peter Suderman
“Now that we can look up anything with a click on Google, memorisation is a waste of time”
Rightly worded, “We have rejected the intellectual tradition of solitary, single-minded concentration.” Most likely due to hyperlinks, swinging us from one page to another and the ability of our digital cognitive system to open multiple window tabs at once has mutated our brain to become the “Juggler’s mind”.
The book interestingly argues that although reading books chronically understimulates our senses (in contrast to the Web), this is not a drawback. “It is the very fact that book reading understimulates the brain that makes the activity so intellectually rewarding”.
In the chapter Juggler’s Brain, it unpacks the benefits of slowing down; “By allowing us to filter out distractions, to quiet the problem-solving functions of the frontal lobes, deep reading becomes a form of deep thinking”. The mind of a bibliophile is a calm mind, not a buzzing one. “When it comes to the firing of our neurone, it’s a mistake to assume that more is better.”
The book definitely enlightens us about how we’re slowly and unconsciously surrendering our humanity to the digital universe. As perfectly worded, “The brighter the software, the dimmer the user”. So if robots do take over the world eventually, we now know why, we gave them algorithm to humanity. ...more
This book is a pleasure to read, it is an easy read and it is basically about taking the time to slow down and smelling the roses. I like to turn to tThis book is a pleasure to read, it is an easy read and it is basically about taking the time to slow down and smelling the roses. I like to turn to this 'guide' when I feel stressed, anxious or speeding through life. Initially taking advantage of the complimentary library copy but will definitely look to invest in my own copy. ...more
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