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Quizzes & Tags |
You thought my last quiz (Find The Name Of The Authors) was easy? Well I come prepared this time. I am warning my third edition of find the famous authors from their books is gonna be tougher.
Find The Famous Authors
So are you ready for this? Let us do it.
Don’t forget to share your result with me in the comments.
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Did you do better than the last time? Was it any harder than the previous ones? Which was author was the hardest to guess from their books? Let us talk.
![Can You Find The Famous Authors: Quiz]()
Drama, review |
Have you read a book that makes you an emotional fur ball and then climaxes with an open ending? Do you love or hate such a book? Let us talk about Normal People by Sally Rooney, shall we?
About the book
Book Name: Normal People
Author: Sally Rooney
Genre: Fiction – Drama
Characters: Marienne and Alan, and their mother Denise Sheridan , Connel and Lorrainne
Setting: Ireland
The plot
Normal People begins with Marianne and Connell as teenagers who are from different social backgrounds attending the same school. Connell’s mother works in Marianne’s mansion. Connell is kind of the popular jock at school while Marianne is ostracized and is rather invisible.
They begin a sexual relationship but later puts an end to it, because Connell doesn’t want his friends to know about it. When they enter University, their roles reverse. Now Marianne’s intelligence and wit wins her friends while Connell feels so out of it and gradually slips into depression.
Their on/off romance continues and they lean on each other time and again, whatever their romantic entanglements were then. Did they end up with each other forms the rest of Normal People by Sally Rooney.
My initial thoughts
As I was saying earlier, Normal People made an emotional wreck of me. I rarely get affected so much by a book that I had to stop take catch a few breathes while I am reading. This book did that to me.
The plot as such is not anything that we have not read earlier nor very intriguing. But it is the writing and characters that made me come back for more, repeatedly. The protagonists felt so real that made me reach out to an old time friend, just to ask if they were doing fine. We all were normal people, once.
Flawed characters that are deep and emotionally broken? Sign me up. Her penchant towards self destruction and his gradual slipping into depression hurt me viscerally.
The only issue I had was not being able to understand why Marienne’s family hated her so much or some kind of background about it. Every time she felt unworthy and mistook abuse as love based on her family, especially the men, my heart broke.
I loved the social commentary parts in the book as much as inner thoughts of the characters.
What worked for me
- CHARACTERS. Such deep, flawed and real characters.
- I love plot-less plots, if you get what I mean. Character and angst driven plots are the best and Rooney did a great job at that.
- This might be a make or break thing, but for me, the open ending seemed like a perfect finish to Normal People.
What may have been better
- I wanted to know more about Marienne’s family and their treatment towards her. How and why would they?
- Some readers may have an issue with the style of Rooney’s writing. Trust me you will get used to it in a bit.
Bottom line
If you are interested to read a character driven plot that will affect you emotionally, Normal People should be your pick. Normal People by Sally Rooney deserves all the praise and accolades it has been getting. I am definitely reading more from Rooney in future.
Similar books for you
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Have you read Normal People or anything else written by Sally Rooney? Do you like character driven plots? What other books that handle emotional abuse and depression exceptionally well? Let us talk.
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Drama, review |
I picked Mrs. Everything without any idea what the general theme was about and I was pleasantly surprised that it was a historical fiction, a genre I rarely read. Let us see how it turned out for me in my book review, shall we?
About the book
Book Name: Mrs. Everything
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Genre: Fiction – Historical, Drama
Characters: Sarah, Bethie and Jo Kaufman, Harold, Dave, Shelley
Setting: Detroit, Michigan, The United States of America
The plot
Mrs. Everything follows the story of two sisters, Jo and Bethie Kaufman, right from their childhood when they move into Detroit in the 1950s. Jo, the elder one, is quite tomboyish and feels uncomfortable in skirts and frills who Bethie bonds with their mother through the pretty, girlie things.
Jo grows up edgy, socially aware/woke and outspoken while Bethie loves being the mother’s pet, pliable and the center of attention. Over the years, we see them grow into their rebellious teens alongside the political and societal changes in the USA.
As more matured adults, their roles reverse. Jo gets into the more traditional mother/wife role and Bethie becomes the free spirit and joins a woman only commune. What does it take for these sisters, and the world, to stick together despite all their flaws forms the rest of Mrs. Everything.
My initial thoughts
Mrs. Everything is pretty predictable and the plot by itself has been told countless times. The lives of Jo and Bethie can be yours, mine or any other woman – it is about the roles we play to keep the world running. It is relatable and has happened to each of us, in pieces at the least, and hence “Mrs. Everything”.
I have read a few Jennifer Weiner’s books in my late teens. I remember them being lighthearted (I may be remembering it wrong), so I was surprised Mrs. Everything being so intense with multiple themes like civil rights, women rights and LGBTQA. And she has done a great job with it.
I found Mrs. Everything a bit longer than it could have been. While I loved reading about the sister’s lives, the history part felt longer and repetitive in places.
Things that worked for me
- The plot and the characters felt relatable.
- The author has done a great job handling multiple themes.
Things that didn’t work for me
- Mrs. Everything felt a longer than it could have been.
- The history part felt repetitive in places.
Bottom-line
Mrs. Everything does a perfect job of interweaving the historical facts with the lives of ordinary women, that are so closer to every other woman. If only it were shorter it would be my go to recommend for woman fiction genre, easily.
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Have you read Mrs. Everything? Do you read historical fiction or literary fiction? Have you read any of Jennifer Weiner’s other books? Let us talk.
![Can You Find The Famous Authors: Quiz]()
Quizzes & Tags |
It is almost mother’s day and you thought I would forget about the customary post, didn’t you? Well, I have not, quite surprisingly. And without any further ado, are you ready for pop quiz in relation to mother’s day?
Try to beat your old score, if you can. Let us get on with it now.
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How many mothers did you guess correctly? How did you find the quiz – too easy or tough? You should check out my other quiz posts if you liked this one. Let us talk.
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Drama, review |
I reading about China in The Joy luck club last year without knowing that I would be spending a month in Macau (a country that is still a part of Chinese government) soon after I finished it! Has this ever happened to you? So how did it fare on my chart? Let us find out.
About the Joy luck club
Book Name: The Joy luck club
Author: Amy Tan
Genre: Fiction – Historical, Drama
Characters: Jing-mei (June) Woo, Suyuan Woo, An-mei Hsu, Rose Hsu Jordan, Lindo Jong, Waverly Jong, Ying-ying St. Clair, and Lena St. Clair
Setting: San Francisco, The United States of America and China
Plot Summary of the Joy luck club
Following her mother’s death (Suyuan Woo), Jing-mei (June) Woo replaces her in the monthly Mah jong game. Suyuan and her friends started this tradition years ago when they moved into San Francisco as way to keep in touch with their Chinese culture and history. Through the years, the four mothers share their festivals, their daughters’ birthdays and achievements during the game.
While the mothers tried to preserve the culture, their daughters chase the American dream and lifestyle. They do not have the patience or interest in knowing their mother’s history and they scoff at the Chinese superstitions. Despite living under the same roof for years, the mothers and daughters live a life separated by their culture and life experiences.
The harder their mothers are on them, the harder the daughters rebel in their own way, without realizing unwittingly they are following their mothers’ path. They also are quick to leave behind their Chinese culture just like their mothers had.
During their game, Jing-mei finds out that just before her death Suyuan had traced her two other daughters that she had to leave behind during the World war II. And her mother’s friends urge her to take her mother’s journey to meet her long lost relatives who are still in China. Did she take that journey and find her sisters forms the rest of the story in The Joy luck club.
Book review of the Joy luck club
The Joy luck club is one of those classic cult hit when it was released in 1989. While it does feel a little bit dated, her major themes on mother- daughter relationship and generational gaps, especially between the first and second generational Chinese-Americans still holds good.
The Joy luck club contains sixteen short stories narrated by four Chinese born mothers and their respective daughters who make it a point not to learn Chinese over half a century! While it was fun to try to read this structure, the truth was it was a little difficult to remember all the secondary characters.
I loved how the daughters who scoffed at their mothers and their traditions in their childhood and well into their marriages, turn around as they mature and even get closer to them. And how their mothers in turn, learn to adapt into their new roles over the years. To be honest, The Joy luck club made me stop a moment and examine my own relationship with my mother.
Things that worked for me
- I loved the friendship/co-dependency between the mothers.
- The stories about the mothers before coming to the USA were haunting and so historically rich. I loved them.
Things that didn’t work for me
- Did the author somehow help the strict, cold Asian mothers and absentee Asian fathers stereotypes? (UPDATE: upon reading other reviews -YES SHE DID, AND FACED A SEVERE BACKLASH)
- I wish the book’s structure was a bit easier to follow through.
Similar reviews you might like
Bottom-line
The Joy Luck Club is culturally and historically rich, even though it plays a bit to the stereotypes or even went to setting those stereotypes in the first place. If you are looking for a literary / historical fiction The Joy luck club by Amy Tan is a good choice.
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Have you read The Joy Luck Club by AMy Tan? Have you visited any place that you read about? Can you suggest any book that speaks of mother-daughter relationships? Let us talk.
