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Romance |
I just realized it has been a while since I reviewed a romance book and I am here today to rectify that situation. I picked up A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi with a similar motive.
That and the fact that about three billion of fellow book bloggers and bookstagrammers decided to fall in love with this book. So let us see how this works out right?
About the book
Book Name: A Very Large Expanse of Sea
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Genre: Fiction – Romance, YA
Characters: Shirin, Navid, Ocean James
Setting: The United States of America
The plot
Set in the year immediately following the 9/11, Shirin is a sixteen year old who got caught among the fear, prejudice and consequent Islamophobia prevalent in the general society in the USA.
She is used to her father’s frequent job transfers and having to switch schools, meet new people often but she is also used to the cold stares, racists comments and some times even physical violence. She accepts that as a part of her life, a consequence of her religion and her hijab that she choose to wear.
Shirin didn’t expect anything different at her new school. When her brother Navid decides to start a break dancing troop her life suddenly wasn’t that bad anymore.
Then she met Ocean James, the school’s golden boy, who wants to befriend her even when she tries to push him away. What was worse is she seems to like him as well. Can these two get a normal high school life when the whole world is spewing hatred at her? Read A Very Large Expanse of Sea to know more.
My initial thoughts
Once I picked this book, I stayed up to 3 AM to finish it because I didn’t wanna set it down. The cute romance was so adorable that I wanted them to have a positive ending. I hated those who hated them and wanted to harm them. They were so good together, you know?
I loved Navid, his friends and Shirin’s parents. Seeing an Iranian Muslim family that had to navigate in the post 9/11 USA was heartbreaking and this being an #ownvoice story, made me wonder how many more were still under pressure because of their beliefs and religion.
But at the end of the day it is a Young Adult romance, diverse representation is only a part of it. So do not pick the book with the hopes of getting more than that.
Things that worked for me
- I loved the Romance and the leads were adorable.
- The representation was on point and the characters were fully developed
- I heard this is not Tahereh Mafi’s usual style of writing, but I liked it anyway.
Things that didn’t work for me
I loved their parents but they were around for just a few scenes, I wish there were more.
Bottom-line
I loved reading A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi. I will continue reading Tahereh Mafi’s other series. If you are looking for a Young Adult romance with a Muslim representation then A Very Large Expanse of Sea should be your pick.
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Classics |
Today let us talk about a book that I have been raving about to everyone I know and their mother in the past few days. And it is a re-read too, which makes it a rarer thing, because most of my reread attempts end up badly for me. I would avoid rereading a loved book if I can help it for the same reason. And we are talking about The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
About The Bell Jar
Book Name: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Genre: Fiction – Classics, Literary, autobiography
Characters: Esther Greenwood, Mrs. Greenwood (her mother), Doreen, Jay Cee, Betsy, Constantin, Buddy Willard, Doctor Nolan, Mrs. Willard, Lenny Shepherd
Setting: Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, The United States of America
Plot summary of The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar is a semi autobiographical account of the author and her struggle with depression and suicide. Set in New York City’s 1950s before the big sexual revolution and the birth control pills, Esther works at a glamorous newspaper that takes her to the happening parties and galas. But she is lost between her worlds while her mind is on the execution of the Rosenbergs and ‘being burned alive’.
When she learns that she failed to receive the scholarship that she had been planning for all along, she falls into a bout of depression. The Bell Jar talks about her perspective as a college educated woman in a sexist world and later her struggle with her existential despair.
Between her stays in different mental asylums and the consequent electro-shock therapies, she spends her time writing a novel and planning her suicide. Can this poignant and bleak tale have a not-so-sad ending? You might be surprised if you read The Bell Jar!
Book review of The Bell Jar
I should start with saying ‘yes this book is depressing’ and you have to be prepared for that before you pick the book. In spite of having read it earlier, I was not ready for it when it hit me. It is not a long book but sure needed a bit of more of time than normally something of this size would have.
Esther’s disinterested narration felt so close to home that I had to stop more than once. She does not talk about her feelings at all but convincingly transfers her emotions to the reader.
The Bell Jar is much more than the foreshadowing of the author’s ill fate, it is a social commentary. At some point, her insanity made more sense to me than the current socio-political scenario.
Despite that fifty plus years that have passed since the book first came out, we still are chastising women for talking about their sexuality, and stigmatized about mental health issues. The conundrum of having to choose between career and having a family is somehow still a huge issue for woman of all ages. May be we have not moved ahead at all.
Things that worked for me
- I loved the poetical narration that changed pace so often, yet kept me hooked to it.
- Though the author does not introduce any character or even describe them, by the end of the book I felt like I knew each of them personally and I was trying to match them up with my real life counterparts.
- If you have been afflicted by suicidal thoughts or depression, or just the patriarchal world, you will totally relate to The Bell Jar.
- The book is full of quotes that I loved and kept highlighting until the end.
Things that may not work for you
- Being a semi-autobiography, it unsurprisingly is not plot oriented. So if you are looking for a fast paced story you might be disappointed.
- The Bell Jar deals with suicidal attempts, self harm, sexual abuse, depression and ill treatment of mental health patients. If these are your triggers, you SHOULD avoid this one.
Bottom-line
I loved this book in spite of the melancholic emptiness it left me after I finished reading it. Though I liked The bell jar when I read it the first time, I ended loving it more, understanding it better, and relating to the author deeper during my second visit.
Well, if that is not the mark of a great book I don’t know what is. Just read it.
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Thriller |
The Woman in the Window is a book that everyone I know has read and reviewed already. So when my book club chose this one as our March BOTM I knew I had to read it. And having been focusing on the classics until now this year, I loved the chance of reading a contemporary thriller. So let us check how that turned out shall we?
About the book
Book Name: The Woman in the Window
Author: Finn A J
Genre: Fiction – Thriller
Characters: Dr. Anna, Ed and Olivia Fox, Alistair, Jane and Ethan Russell, Dr Fielding
Setting: New York, The USA
The plot
Dr. Anna Fox, a child psychologist suffering from agoraphobia, has not left her house for almost a year now. Her daily routine includes drinking a lot of wine while being highly medicated, watching retro movies and peeking into her neighbours’ house through their respective windows. Her life is fairly “usual” until the Russells move into her neighbourhood.
Soon they become her new obsession, especially their young son, Ethan. But when she sees something untoward happening at her nieghbours’ she has no grounds to report about it. How she proves that she did not hallucinate and finds out the culprit form the rest of the story in The Woman in the Window.
My initial thoughts
Though a little long winded in the first half of the book, The Woman in the Window kept me fully entertained. The author takes a lot of time to get us into her world but once you get past the draggy first 100 pages, the pace fastens and the book turns unputdownable.
If you have read as many thrillers as I have done or more, you will find the twists coming a mile away. Anna is not a protagonist that I liked or related to, but I think that is what the author was going for – an unreliable narrator with ‘the whole should I believe or not’ vibe. And maybe that is why there are a lot of comparison with the Girl on the Train, and rightly so.
Things that worked for me
- Despite the predictability, The Woman in the Window kept me hooked with its short chapters and fast pace (the second part).
- Like me if you had a special interest in the unreliable narrator category, you are in for a treat.
- There are quite a number of twists to keep the readers on their toes sprinkled all through the book.
Things that didn’t work for me
- As I already mentioned, The Woman in the Window is totally predictable and it takes quite a while for something to actually happen.
- I didn’t relate to any of the characters in the story, and the narrator was borderline annoying.
Bottom-line
The Woman in the Window might be old wine in a new bottle but will keep you occupied in a pinch, and might even turn to be unputdownable. With the movie version coming before the end of the year, you might wanna read it already.
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Classics |
Though Fahrenheit 451 has been on my TBR list for a while and it took a push from both the Banned book club and Classics N Christie book club to make me pick it up in March. And guess what? Like the other books the club has picked so far, it was great and I have no idea why I was hesitating to pick it up at all. Let us get with it shall we?
About Fahrenheit 451
Book Name: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Genre: Fiction – Dystopia, Science Fiction, Classics
Characters: Guy Montag, Norman Corwin, Clarisse McClellan, Mildred Montag, Captain Beatty, Professor Faber
Setting: The USA
Plot summary of Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 is set in dystopian world where books are banned and if found in person or house firemen were set upon to burn them. This is just strategy by the government to control the minds of the masses. The people too have lost interest in reading and television screens have taken their lives.
The protoganist Montag is a fireman who takes his job seriously and follows the rules to the T without any remorse until he meets his young neighbour Clarisse. Clarisse questions everything in life and doesn’t hide her enthusiasm from Montag. Her suspicious disappearance sparks something in Montag and he starts reading bits of books that he had stolen whilst on his job.
The little knowledge he gains from the books changes not only his idea of life and to know how it does read Fahrenheit 451 right now!
Book review of Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 talks about censorship but it was more about the technological growth and how people can get dependent on them. It is also about political autocracy and the controlling the masses. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which the paper burns but it is also about what makes the human mind tick and engaged. Reading does it. Period.
The first thing that happened when I finished the book was talk to everyone else who has read the book about its relevancy even today. The book is full of metaphor and I can’t believe how foresighted the author was, given the book was written in the early 1950s.
Of course the book was banned, and I would not be surprised if it were banned today had it been released now. I cannot emphasis on how powerful the book is, especially for the current global political scenario.
Things that worked for me
- The book is full of metaphors and you can’t stop reading if you started matching it with real world.
- The story and the plot are simple and direct, which helps it becoming the powerful book he is.
- The book is filled with quotes and if you hoard quotes, you are in for a treat.
- Fahrenheit 451 is still (or more) relevant to the current scenario.
Things that didn’t work for me
It was really hard to get into initially, like most other classics.
Bottom-line
Fahrenheit 451 is for all the bookworms out there. If you are look for a book, any book, PICK THIS. If you want to read just one book in a year Fahrenheit 451 is the one for you. It will change your world and thoughts about books and reading.
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Drama |
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is one of those books that have been on my TBR for a long time and when Evalinah and Simant asked me for a buddy read I just jumped at the chance. So shall we get on with it?
About the book
Book Name: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Genre: Fiction – Drama
Characters: Eleanor Oliphant, Raymond Gibbons, Laura, Sammy
Setting: Glasgow, Scotland, The UK
Plot Summary of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Eleanor Oliphant is a twenty nine year old blunt and has not mastered the social etiquette yet. She has been living alone for a long time and barely speaks to people. She has had a difficult relationship with her mother, her only relative always but now she sees a light in the form of a guy, a musician apparently.
She has it all planned. All she had to meet him, he will realize she is the one for him, they will fall in love and a happily ever after was destined. But she was not ready to bump into Raymond, a office coworker nor meeting his mother.
What happened in her past that affected her so much? How did Raymond’s presence alter her path? You will have to read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine to know more.
Book review of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
I am nowhere like Eleanor in real life but somehow I could relate to her thoughts. And that is where the author shines. She has written a character who is full of flaws and is annoying, unlikable, yet believable and relatable.
Things that worked for me
- I think the strength of the book was its well developed characters.
- I liked how the tension and suspense about Eleanor’s past was maintained till the end.
- There are lots of funny moments that had me chuckling loud in the public.
Things that didn’t work for me
The plot is character driven so if you are waiting for that plot twist, it isn’t coming.
As part of our buddy-reading, Evalinah, Simant and I exchanged some questions for each of us to answer. You can hop to their blogs and check out their answers.
Evalinah’s questions
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine has some bigger than life concepts and ideas. What’s the biggest lesson you took away from it? Has it affected how you view things in life at least a little bit?
I loved how Eleanor was a go-getter and was never afraid to push her limits. Be it the makeover or the bikini wax, she was ready to try them because she needed to. She is a strong woman not because of her circumstances but despite them.
Since Eleanor is a very unreliable narrator, the first things we hear about Raymond are somewhat repulsive because she sees him very negatively at first. But then we indirectly learn that he basically has a heart of gold. What was your “reader’s journey” in regards to Raymond? Did you start seeing him as a “book boyfriend” eventually, or..?
Raymond reminded me of Roy from the IT crowd, right from the beginning. I loved how he wasn’t portrayed as just another guy and we all fell in love with him directly.
What did you think of the writing style? Namely, the way we were always given Eleanor’s sometimes ridiculous opinions first, and only then learned the truth indirectly through actual events? What do you think this gave to the story, especially when it comes to how we see Eleanor and her changes?
I remember us updating each other (while reading) about the mystery about the ‘past’. She had us hooked right where we wanted and even though we were able to kinda predict we stuck through it to see how it panned out.
And I think that is where the author won as a writer.
Check out her post here
Simant’s questions
Eleanor is an unlikable character in the beginning. It’s not that we generally meet such people in daily life. She is one of the oddest characters I’ve ever read. But as the story progresses, we start connecting with her and understanding her better.
Why do you think it is so? Why we felt connected to her though we don’t relate to her on so many levels? Or if you do resemble her in some way, share your experience may be?
I think at some level we all relate to her because she says aloud things that we all think. I think those rough edges helped Eleanor win us over.
Throughout the book, there is a mystery about Eleanor’s mother. Off course, in the end, the mystery is resolved. Do you think this twist was necessary for the overall growth of the story? The ending we expected for Eleanor arrives eventually, so don’t you think this mystery angle was tiresome to stretch out till the very end?
I kinda guessed what it have been (more or less) but I think without that mystery I don’t think I would have enjoyed the book as much.
It made us (the reader) keep thinking about it even though Eleanor was not ready to deal with it yet. I Like I said before, this book is not about the plot twist, it is more about the characters.
This novel is a mix of humour and a darker plot. There were some thought-provoking sections, like Eleanor’s relationship with money. She was always highly conscious about how much she spends and is not willing to pay for social occasions etc. But since she had no one else to take care, I think it made sense that she was keen on safeguarding her personal finances.
What do you think about this? Also, do you think Raymond’s introduction in her life changed her views on lots of things?
I think Raymond opened up Eleanor to a whole lot of things and emotions that she didn’t understand earlier. She obviously didn’t have a normal childhood nor adult life, and she definitely needed someone to guide her through these social etiquette.
Bottom-line
As someone who avoids series, I rarely say this but I wish there was a sequel coming up to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I have not got enough of Eleanor Oliphant.
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