Category: Book Reviews

SUMMARY

Erin Tierney has been married to her husband, Kevin for years, and for every one of them, he’s been physically and emotionally abusing her. She finally manages to escape him through careful planning. She changes her name to Katie Foreman and flees to the small town of Southport, North Carolina. Her house is shabby, and her waitress job pays little, but she isn’t complaining. Visits to the general store introduce her to Alex, a widowed father of two children. A romance forms between the two of them—but Kevin is searching for Erin.

REVIEW

I have read several Sparks books before, and this one is probably my favorite. It is not particularly stunning in any regard, especially not the romance. It can hardly be called terrible, but it isn’t a classic fairytale or anything. It’s kind of what you expect when you have four/five different plots going on in one book and one of them is romance—not the worst, but you have to squeeze it in with everything else, and in the end, you’d be lucky if it didn’t end up rushed. It’s awkward introductions, then awkward conversations, slowly warming up, and then love. Pretty much what you would expect.

The ending of the novel is actually very suspenseful, as it bounces from one character to another. Knowing Sparks’ tendency for bittersweet endings, it can definitely be concerning. And the ending actually is bittersweet, but it wraps up everything nicely enough. The thing I enjoyed best in the book was the detail and images. They were all wonderfully detailed, and though it does go overboard at points—like this one scene where a character says “let’s sit on this bench,” followed by a full paragraph describing the bench and its origin—I could imagine everything perfectly.

Something that I also praise the book for is its handling of Kevin’s character. Though we are not at all meant to sympathize with him, we are terribly reminded that he’s human. That is, his moments of actual affection for Erin, followed by his need to hurt or kill her, makes him all the scarier. The fact that he’s actually pretty smart also makes him a genuine threat.

There’s a twist in the book that is very divisive for those who have read it. Some think it’s genius and came out of nowhere, others think it was obvious and ruined almost everything. It did not ruin the whole book for me, but I can say that it was certainly unnecessary. It’s a twist for the sake of having a twist; it doesn’t further the plot, and it only has one effect. It also raises a couple of plot holes, but nothing unforgivable. The fact that this subplot is wrapped up last also kind of feels like it was a loose end that had to be tied up.

If you’re looking for a standard boy-meets-girl love story, this one will suit you just fine. It has romance, it has beautiful images, and the emotional tension that you need. I guess the most I can say is that you’d find more than you were looking for, but it may be that you can brush these things away in favor of the good of the story.

Revelation by Falnnery O’Connor published in 1964, the same year O’Connor died, explores societal hierarchy of the time period and what it would take for someone to become self aware of their judgmental thought process that made them hypocritical in the way they live their life.  This exploration mainly pertains to the 1960’s hierarchy a lot of people thought was how everything just ‘worked’, but especially the ‘good christian women’ who thought they were the ones setting the example.  It brought up a questioning of self awareness to the way people are living, and I say that in present tense to highlight the fact that it is still highly relevant today.

The story begins with Mrs. Turpin and her experience in a Doctor’s office because Mr. Turpin was thought to have had an ulcer.  There is a lot of symbolism with her being in a doctor’s office, where people get helped and healed, or atleast the beginning process of it begins.  Then on top of the setting, is the people.  There are about six other characters made relevant to the story, each of a different ‘class’as Mrs. Turpin noticed.  One was white trash, then middle class, then upper middle class.  There was a girl about the age of 18 reading a book about self help of some sort, and she was described to be a very ugly pitiful girl.  Through this girl Mrs. Turpin finally comes to the conclusion that she is wrong in her line of thinking about who is ‘in charge’ of others.  This girl is the standing figure of the ugly truth.  The girl, Mary Grace, is shown to be quite knowledgable as she is reading and attending college. She also is forceful and her eyes are described to be “lit all of a sudden with a peculiar light, an unnatural light
like night road signs give”.  Which is also an indication that she is a driving force of directon that Mrs. Turpin needs to listen to.   Mary Grace attacks Mrs. Turpin by biting and telling her she is a hog.  Hogs, well specifically wart hogs, is symbolism of vigilence and awareness.  These virtues are exactly what Mrs. Turpin needs more of, and in the end she recieves it through them.

By the end of the story, Mrs. Turpin has had a revelation to her life and how she was wrong.  She has a vision from God, and in that vision she saw all of the people she previously thought of as below her all walking up to Heaven.  They were dancing and singing while she and others alike her were all walking behind them.  She realized in this vision that they are equal to her, and she has nothing ‘over’ them.  God thinks equally of them and her and everyone.  She proceedas to walk back toward her house while thinking of what she saw.

I enjoyed this story for the complexity of it, you could either read it and go ‘what the heck’ or you could look deeper and see all of the layers put into the characters and ther growth and progression of each of them.  Now, i wish we could see more od Mrs. Turpin after her revelation to see what it is exactly that she changes, but overall it is a well written story i would recommend.

 

 

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a short story centered around the life of a well-known town woman, Emily Grierson. Set in Mississippi, the story spans over 75 years. The Griersons are well known in the town of Jefferson, and quite frankly, Emily Grierson is admired by the town. This story is written in first person but uses pronouns such as we. The narrator is the town, and I have never read a story that had this point of view, so it was cool to read and worked very well. The story is divided into five sections.

Some interesting qualities about this short story is its structure, point of view, characters, conflict, and its frame. Choosing to use “we” instead of “I” made it feel like it was written from the town as a whole’s perspective. It also felt like they were responsible to tell her story like it was their duty. The town’s attitude towards Emily and her entire family tree is obvious throughout the story.

“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years” (Faulkner).

This is the opening text of the story and instantly introduces you to the idea of the town people and Emily. It sets the foundation of the setting, a small country town where people see or claim to see everything. It also introduces that Miss Grierson is almost the town’s mystery.

There is a battle of old v new and North v South heavily present in this story. There are two interesting characters in the story and one of them is Emily Grierson. I find her to be an extremely complex and mysterious character. The town sees her as “a fallen monument” “duty.” I feel they see her this way because she represents the old ways of the setting. However, at the same time, she partially represents modern time. It talks a lot about the modern people coming in and changing things. Emily is also interesting because of her relationship with her father, which is very troubling and oppressing. He apparently ruins every relationship she’s in and is very strict and close-minded. She still loved him deeply however and depended on him. It was essentially an unhealthy relationship.

The structure of this essay works well because it introduces new information in each section. The only part I didn’t understand was where Faulkner decided to begin number two; it was very weird because it was still discussing a scene from part one.

The story begins and ends with death, hence the frame structure I mentioned earlier. The progression and changing of characters in the story is very well done. Overall, this was a nice short story. If you like twists and surprising endings, then this story is for you. Click here to read it.

This story was one of the emotionally captivating books that I have read in awhile. What starts out as a sad sob-story of a girl who lost her boyfriend in a car crash ends in a terrible search for answers that might not turn out as expected. We learn further in the story that the two main characters had broken up before he had ever “died” in the car accident.

What was never revealed is the reason why Caleb never decided to tell his mom that they had broken up. All he says is that he was going to see her, which he does many times before. The only difference is when he goes this time, somehow, he gets into a wreck that leaves everyone surprised. However, this wreck didn’t make any since. There was no way that he had wrecked into this river, it had only been raining, and the guard rail was only slightly broken. Even if he did fall off into the river, his body was never found by the police. This instance was odd to me because normally with police they have to find the body before it is ever considered a death.

In the beginning, it is also weird that they don’t really have much of a relationship. Sure, they always tend to be around each other, but they fought often. There was always something off about Caleb, especially when they went on their little trip. He acted as if it was for them to spend time together, but when the mystery man is revealed, we see that he was meeting with his father the whole time. There was also a slight romance between Caleb’s best friend and the girlfriend. It is revealed about halfway through that Caleb actually knows about this romance, but doesn’t say anything but “I know”. If he actually loved her, it would have been more of a big deal.

His mom was extra weird during the book. She wanted his girlfriend, the main character, to come and take care of all of Caleb’s belongings. During this time she somehow always pops in at random moments to be sure that she is taking care of the job and not goofing around. At first the reader must assume that it is simply because she blames her for her sons death, however, we later assume that she must think that the girlfriend/ex-girlfriend must know something. She places a tracker on the girlfriend’s phone, keeps track of every place that she goes, and even spies on her phone calls. This foreshadows the events that leads up to finding Caleb. What mother would follow an ex so closely, if she didn’t know that her son wasn’t actually dead?

The author uses so many different mystery details to account for Caleb’s disappearance. Throughout her entire time of cleaning up the room, she finds different things that show that Caleb may not be dead. In the end she finds a mysterious compartment that shows that Caleb had actually been in the house recently, and was covering up his tracks.

This story had a genius way of foreshadowing events. The author added so many details that was somewhat up to the reader to understand. If I was to read it again, I’m sure I would find more detail that I didn’t before.

Katie MacAlister’s Ain’t Myth Behaving, published in 2007, is a humorous romantic harlequin (my god, what was I thinking?). It’s divided into Norse Truly and Stag Party. Stag Party is what I read. It tells the love story of Dane, an Irish god more famously known as Cernunnos, and Megan (or is it spelled Meghan (another sign I do not care), an American author on a research trip. Dane, according to ancient mystical law has to get married every year or else he loses his godliness, becomes his actual age, and dies. Until now, he has remarried a woman who recently eloped with a Greek salsa dancer, so yeah, there is that to think about. The deadline from the time Dane meets Megan is a week. So, the conflict is whether or not he can convince her to marry him by the end of the week.

Let me just cut to the chase.

Aside from certain godawful books derived from Twilight that will go unnamed, because that train wreck is for another time, this novella is probably on of the most badly written things I have ever read.

I mean, it is just terrible. I wish I had the will to look up exactly who published this monstrosity.

See, I understand all genres have their own style of writing and all of that. Mysteries are mysterious, romances are romantic, tragedies are tragic, horrors are horrific, you get the idea.

This is the first harlequin I ever read. And for the genre’s sake, I hope this was the only one of its kind.

…but the story did have its perks. Let us get into specifics.

Why Stag Party is a Terrible Book

1: Dane is a horrible person.

Dane (last name I can’t remember because I am trying the best I can to forget this thing) is the only thing that could serve a saving grace, but even he is not enough. He is a funny guy, but unbelievably sexist. He is convinced that every woman swoons at the sight of him, and that is a bit conceited and extremely aggravating.

2. Megan is the weakest willed human being in existence, and probably the most inconsistent too.

I am not sure exactly what Katie MacAlister was going for when she wrote this character. Megan begins the story fine. When Dane starts coming onto her, which is like three microseconds after he meets her, she reacts as normal person would. She rejects his affection. She is also flattered, which is not always realistic, but it is a harlequin, so I let it slide. But the second Dane kisses her for the first time (if I am remembering correctly it was against her will, but I am so past this book, I refuse to fact check), she melts into his arm. Dane wants to sleep with her constantly, and she always says no; until she says yes. It is maddening.

3. What the heck is a tension?

You would think this book with this premise would be suspenseful, what with the protagonist’s life on the line, but nooooooooo. It’s focused on the humor a little (A LOT) too much. Even when a character is stabbed in the chest, which it supposed to be a big moment, it is robbed of its tension, when nearly no one reacts to it.

God, I’m glad it’s over. The story is only good for a quick laugh and a tutorial on how not to write a book.

0.5 Stars out of 1,000,000

THANK GOD IT’S OVER.

SUMMARY

Julia had just recently moved on from the death of her husband, Him, who left her a Great Dave named Singer in his place. Julia is attempting to get back into the dating game with Richard, who is handle and charming, but very mysterious. At the same time, she finds herself drawn to get best friend Mike, who has been there for her for years. A typical relationship turns deadly, and Julie finds herself in danger.

REVIEW
Something that has always kind of irked me about Nicholas Sparks books is that the women usually don’t have much personality. They’re just kind of shy and sweet and friendly, and Julie is the same way. Mike, however, I do applaud for being different. He’s not perfect and suave and slick. He’s kind of a clumsy dork who doesn’t know what he’s doing. He can be a little too immature, intentional or not, but he was a refreshing change from the usual Casanova. Richard is also written fairly well. You can tell something is off with him from the beginning, and it only gets worse from there.

Something that the book does well is that it knows where it’s going. It doesn’t feel like the reader is being tugged between plotlines. Even between romance and suspense, it keeps things merged well.

Julie and Mike’s romance is decent enough. Something that kind of threw me off was that they were supposed to be friends of several years. It didn’t feel like that. More like work buddies than best friends, but they work better as a couple. The fact that Julie’s husband had passed it meant to be a sort of tieback for them. She’s trying to move on now, and Mike doesn’t know if he should ask her out, etc. Though this could have been interesting, Julie being a widow is actually not that important. That is, it really didn’t feel like it mattered. It didn’t make me feel anything, and I kind of forgot at times.

Towards the end of the book, we are unedited to two new characters that we follow for a good bit. They aren’t can, but it becomes annoying to keep up with them when they aren’t really main characters. They disappear after they serve their functions, anyway. The same can be said for a side character that was set up to be quite important. She goes through the story as a woman jealous of Julie’s relationship with Richard. She doesn’t try to sabotage them or anything, but she does push the envelope a little bit. Something happens with her at the end, but afterwards, we are left a little in the dark about the outcome.

The ending managed to get me a little emotional, even though I kind of saw it coming. Overall, this book is far from the worst of Nicholas Sparks, but I wouldn’t call it his best, either. If you’re looking for a Hallmark-channel like book to read, this will work fine. Just don’t expect to be blown away by anything.

The short story “Barn Burning”, by William Faulkner is honestly a brilliantly worded and well-written story about a physically and emotionally abuse father who may be extremely crazy. There may be some spoilers in this review, but honestly, I’d recommend to go online and read a PDF file of it real quick and come back, it’s great.

So, first off, the book takes place in early 1900s, maybe 1890s, in the American South. The people there are still extremely racist, many are poor, and hard working. The main character is Sarty and the story is written in third person, but kind of told by Sarty twenty years from now. The story starts off with his father, Abner, in court because he is accused of burning somebody’s barn, which is pretty illegal. William Faulkner makes the beginning extremely easy to read and understand, but he also makes it extremely interesting and tense, making the reader wonder the entire time of what was going to happen. Sarty is then called to the stand to actually testify against his own father, Faulkner adds this conflict in brilliantly, bringing this up later to prove that Abner is physically abusive and paranoid that his own son won’t even help him.

Abner is then told to leave the city they were in, so they move for the twelfth time. Faulkner does a great job in this story of adding great information at the right time, and he gives us just enough so we could understand everything. He also establishes that Abner was in the war, he does this while they were moving from the city they just lived in, so Faulkner would not waste any time by doing this portion another time, it also gives a great transition to the next portion of the story.

They then go to Abner’s new bosse’s house. Abner steps in horse poop and kind of purposely rub his poopy shoe on a one-hundred dollar rug from France. His boss brings the rug to be cleaned to Abner, and Abner ruins it after being told by his wife to not put lye on it and rub it violently with a stone, which is what he did. His boss then tells him that he will pay him back for the rug, not with money, but with corn. Abner goes to court to get rid of the charge, but the charge is instead cut in half.

Abner does what any normal person would do, he goes home and prepares kerosene and oil to burn his bosse’s barn down. Sarty wants to stop him, but his father then commands Sarty’s mom to hold him down, or she would probably get beat, so she holds him down. Sarty escapes and tries to warn the boss, but the barn is already being burned down. The boss the gets a gun and shoots Abner. Sarty then ponders his father’s life and states that he respected him.

I recommend this story to anybody who is willing to embrace a wonderful story that showcases a father who is extremely abusive, narcissistic, impulsive liar, and might be insane. This story shows that even though you may be abused, you can still love that person, because in the end, Abner did try his best to protect his family.

“Freedom—that is what Lilly Linton wants most in life. Not marriage, not a brood of squalling brats, and certainly not love, thank you very much!
But freedom is a rare commodity in 19th-century London, where girls are expected to spend their lives sitting at home, fully occupied with looking pretty. Lilly is at her wits’ end—until a chance encounter with a dark, dangerous and powerful stranger changes her life forever…
Enter the world of Mr. Rikkard Ambrose, where the only rule is: Knowledge is power is time is money!”

This is the short detailed overview of the book Storm and Silence and within this review, I will discuss the amazing writing choices within the first few chapters of this historic masterpiece. A small bit of backstory to this book is that the author, Robert Thier, originally added this book to the well-known writing platform Wattpad, and although many people criticize Wattpad stories on this domain as cliché and poorly written, this book is clearly nothing of that nature. It is elaborately written and was acknowledged for it. The book was chosen to be published, and now is online as well as in stores for sale.

Now, onto the book itself. The storyline just as it was stated in the overview takes place in 19th-century London, and even though I know very little of London in the 19th-century, it was very easy for me to follow along with the storyline so far. The character traits that Mr. Thier gives to his characters, Lilly and Mr. Ambrose, is ironic and refreshingly clever. I am also not one to boast about writing that is written with accents nor with so much history, but this book has done a great job of providing these as well as keeping the reader engaged. The escalation of the storyline so far has been at a somewhat steady pace, and I can definitely tell that the characters each have there own bit of depth to them.

Not only do I want to just point out the progression of the story, but also the conflicts. One would presume that juggling so many conflicting social issues which are brought to light within the story would clash and cause the reader to become confused or overwhelmed, but somehow the book keeps every climax flowing accordingly. Lilly so far would have to go in my book of favorite characters alongside Mr.Ambrose because not only is she dealing with her constant need for freedom in a society that oppresses her, but also juggling the societies expectations of a lady, the issues within her family, and the responsibilities Mr. Ambrose brings along. Her quick wit and sly remarks are what keep her on top in this book, and so far I am loving it.

I encourage anyone looking for a switch up in their reading list to give Storm and Silence a look. I also encourage readers to indulge themselves in the mystery of if this book was named after the characters, which would you see as the description of the storm and which as silence; I guarantee your choice will never be set in stone.

Your Biology, Your Self?

Nature, Nurture, and Orchid Hypothesis

“Some people are more certain of everything than I am of anything.”- Robert Rubin, In an Uncertain World

In chapters four, five, six, and seven, Cane reveals that introversion and extroversion may be an inborn biological thing.  She reviews a study done by Jerome Kagan at Harvard, and the Orchid Hypothesis by David Dobbs.

Jerome Kagan is an eighty-two year old developmental psychological researcher at Harvard.  One of his many studies have been to see and follow a set of five hundred children at various ages, beginning at four months, and seeing if he can put them through a series of test and determine if they will grow up to be introverts or extroverts.  In these tests they determined the babies that reacted more to the tests, such as balloon popping and tape recorded voices, were going to be introverts.  At the beginning of reading this part I thought it was far fetched and interesting, but did not expect it to be a fruitful experiment.  Little did I know, the scientific findings of this experiment explained why these could determine this dominant trait in babies.  The amygdala of the brain in introverts is more active.  This means shocks such as balloon popping and strange un-tethered voices would be more significant to these babies for real biological reasons- their brains literally react more.  These babies made up twenty percent of the five hundred babies.  The other eighty percent were either not reactive at all,known as low reactive, or simply slightly startled and did not pay any more mind to the sound or new experience.  This means one hundred of these babies were introverts and the other four hundred were hypothesized as extroverts.  This is a pretty large difference in number, and if it is a true measurement of every five hundred only one hundred are introverts- this is a strange image of population scaling.

The Orchid Hypothesis by David Dodds:

“Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people.” – David Dobbs

So, in essence, this supports the information previously aquired through the texts of the book.  The books writing style is very factual so this was the first account using imagery or similarity charting to explain the topic better- but this was David Dodds talking and not Susan Cane.  The point of this following Kagan’s experiment is that the intro or extro-version of people are inborn.  They are predetermined, and can be as dominant or recessive as brown and blue eyes in a family.

This part in the book was a strong limb to the argument that introversion and extroversion is a trait pattern ultimately predetermined in humans.

One last quote for the road:

A shy man no doubt dreads the notice of strangers, but can hardly be said to be afraid of them. He may be as bold as a hero in battle, and yet have no self-confidence about trifles in the presence of strangers.”–Charles Darwin

Because this is a collection of stories instead of the usually collective story, this review will be different from my previous ones. Okay?

Okay.

JK Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, ‘s The Tales of Beedle the Bard are a collection of short stories, or more accurately, flash fictions, for the children of the wizarding world. Most likely, Beedle the Bard is the wizard, in-universe equivalent of Muggle,  or non-magic, storytellers, Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm.

The stories are all very silly and have a childish way of explaining good behavior in a way that would make perfect scene to its target audience: children.

Story I: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”

Short Summary:

“The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” tells the tale of a cold-hearted wizard. After his generous father, who had become town-famous for his literally magical healing concoctions, passes away, the son refuses to assist the poor and unfortunate Muggles surrounding. The wizard’s father’s magical cauldron begins stalking him, all while reflecting all of the Muggles’ troubles, being very noisy in doing so. When the wizard can’t take the racket anymore, he helps everyone and cauldron goes back to normal.

The Moral: The moral child wizards and witches are supposed to take away is, “Treat others nicely.”

My Opinions: The message is  supposed to be “Treat others nicely,” but the problem as the wizard only decides to treat the Muggles nicely  when he’s been tortured into it. As a result, children could potentially take away the message, “Only treat others nicely when it is convenient to you.”

Story II: “The Fountain of Fair Fortune”

Short Summary: In the Fountain of Fair Fortune, there is a competition to get the honor of bathing in a fountain of luck, three unhappy witches and a very unlucky knight go through trials to see who will do so. Spoiler warning: (but it’s so obvious), the knight gets to do it. Also a spoiler warning: the fountain has no magical ability whatsoever.

The Moral: The moral you’re meant to take away from this is, “You make your own luck.”

My Opinions: This was truly a story for children. There was not one bit that was unpredictable. There are terrible loopholes to get around the established rules and there is a pointless romance tossed in at the very last second that did nothing for me.

Story III: “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart”

Short Summary: “The Wizard’s Hairy Heart” is about a warlock who removes his heart and locks it away in a dungeon so that he will never become a fool in love. Years later, he overhears servants insulting his lack of a wife and begins pursuing a maid. She is flattered by his cold words, but tells him he seems heartless. The warlock shows her his heart and when she begs him to replace it, he does. The heart has basically rotted and makes him perverse and malevolent. He kills his new bride and then himself.

The Moral: I’m actually a little stumped on this one. Maybe, “You need love in your blasted life?”

My Opinions: This is the darkest of the tales and more like the Muggle Hans Christian Andersen and Brother Grimm’s stories.

Story IV: “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump”

Short Summary: “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump” is about a foolish Muggle King who declares magic treasonous, but wants to learn for himself. A conman pretends to know magic and embezzles riches from the King, while teaching him fake spells. The washerwoman, Babbitty, a real witch, sees the ridiculousness of the lesson and embarrasses the King by laughing at him. The King forces the conman to hold a ceremony at which he (the King) will perform for his subjects, else the conman will lose his head. The conman makes Babbitty do the magic behind a bush, and all is fine until Babbitty is unable to do spell. The conman accuses her of being an evil witch and she transforms into a tree. The soldiers try to chop her down, but she claims that axes cannot harm magic-wielders and tells them to chop down the conman to prove it. The conman confesses all and is presumably killed. Babbitty “curses” the land, so the King strikes the magic ban.

The Moral: “Don’t discriminate.” and “Don’t lie or steal.”

My Opinions: I thought this story was the most childish one, and I won’t read it again.

Story V: “The Tale of the Three Brothers”

Short Summary: Three brothers cheat Death. Death gives them gifts meant to kill them. Two brothers die. One brother passes his gift to his son and greets Death willingly.

The Moral: “You can’t cheat death.” or “Don’t trust strangers.”

My Opinions: I’m biased, beacause I already know this story from the Deathly Hallows and I love it.