A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

It has been a while since a book made me laugh, cry and then root for the characters so hard that you forget they are fictitious. But then, if we get that book every time I read it won’t as special right? So A Quiet Kind of Thunder will be one of those special books. 

About A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Quiet Kind of Thunder

Book Name: A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Author: Sara Barnard

Genre: Fiction – Romance, YA

Characters: Steffi Brons, Rhys Gold, September “Tem” 

Setting: Bedfordshire, England, The United Kingdom

Plot Summary of A Quiet Kind of Thunder

Steffi has been a selective mute since her childhood. But when her parents assume she may not be able to pursue her studies in a University, she decides things has to change. With her best friend, Tem moving off to another school she realizes she has to do this alone.

Or so she thought.

Rhys is deaf and entirely relies on the sign language to communicate. Since Steffi knows a bit of British Sign Language (BSL) she is introduced to him to help him out. She is mute and he is deaf and her rusty BSL is all they have to communicate and it also means they have an entire language just for them, more or less.

But when her parents decide college would be too much for her, she rebels and she rebels with Rhys. You need to read A Quiet Kind of Thunder to know how that goes.

Book review of A Quiet Kind of Thunder

As I might have already mentioned I loved A Quiet Kind of Thunder. 

The romance didn’t make me roll eyes. Yes there were cutesy moments but they fit so perfectly into the story. Even when they do the typical teenage-y things it worked. 

But again, they were typical teenagers who had physical disabilities and that is a point that A Quiet Kind of Thunder never failed to remind us. They can’t be much different from the other teens, can they? Well almost. And that is where the author and her research shine through.

What worked for me

  • A Quiet Kind of Thunder has a great diverse representation with people of color, mental illness and physical disabilities, and none of them felt forced. 
  • Not everything is pink. There are people who do not understand them, there are ones who behave around them like they walk on egg shells. But I loved how real that made the story.
  • Of late I have been ranting a lot about how much I dislike the ‘love solves everything’ trope. And I am happy to say this one defies that. 
  • The YA parents are THERE the whole time and they are protective as they should be and even too much at times.

What could have been better

  • It is a typical teenage romance without a stronger conflict. 

Bottom-line

I would recommend this to anyone who loves YA romance and want to read books with great diverse representation. 

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Have you read A Quiet Kind of Thunder? Do you look for books with diverse representation or they just a bonus to a good story? Let us discuss.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

Review Shots: It is all about family and friendships

It has been a while since I posted these review shots but here I am. I will be posting these mini reviews on the first Monday of every month, as per my old schedule. And I have a huge review backlog so I will utilizing this chance perfectly. 

This week I have three books that everyone, well almost everyone, I know has read already and everything that is to be said about them has been said. So I am gonna make them short and quick, a.k.a bite sized mine reviews. 


elgeewrites Review Shots: It is all about family and friendships SImon

Book Name: Simon and the homo sapiens agenda

Series: Creekwood #1

Author:  Becky Albertalli

Genre: Fiction – Romance, LGBTQAYoung Adult

Characters: Simon Spier, Martin Addison, Abby Suso, Nick Eisner, Leah Burke

Setting: Shady Creek, Georgia, The USA

This book put a smile on my face. I started to read the book just before I watched the movie, as per my usual rule. And I didn’t want to end at all.

Every character was freaking adorable and well adorable. It is a simple boy meets boy story with a hint of mystery angle in it. The writing was so perfect that I read another one of the author’s books. Everyone should read this one. 

I loved that the book asked the correct questions about LGBTQA, without being too preachy about it. It also spoke about friendship and family support.


elgeewrites Review Shots: It is all about family and friendships TAtbilb

Book Name: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

Genre: Fiction – Romance, Young Adult

Characters: Lara Jean, Peter Kavinsky, Kitty, Margot, Josh

Setting: Charlottesville, Virginia, The USA

I will be reviewing the whole series than each book, as I read them in one shot without stopping between them. I usually don’t love book series but this one bowled me over.

The story revolves around Lara Jean, an introvert who writes letters to her crushes to get it out of her system. Unexpectedly those get delivered to all those boys and hilarity ensues. The leads are so relatable and again family relationships and friendships form a big role in the series. 

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a a cute story that was converted to a Netflix film just a while ago due to the hype it created. And I assure you the film does not disappoint as well.


elgeewrites Review Shots: It is all about family and friendships Nordic king

Book Name: Nordic King

Author: Karina Halle

Genre: Fiction – Romance, Contemporary

Characters: Aurora, King Askel, Clara and Freja

Setting: Copenhagen, Denmark

Aurora is selected to be the new nanny for the Nordic royal family. She is from the Australian outbacks and is no way considered fit to be teaching the royal princess or to be the King’s new girl friend – or is she? 

Even though the plot is kinda predictable I enjoyed reading this one. I liked the family dynamics and the friendship between the kids and their nanny. Perfect for a cold afternoon read with cup of coffee. 

So how did you like these books? Do you do mini reviews on your blog? Do you like reading them? Let us talk about it.

Family

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

Book review: Kitchen

There is something with South East Asian Literature that I can’t put my finger to, they always leave me confused whether I like them or not. I picked Kitchen by Yoshimoto worrying if I will get it, especially seeing that it has several raving reviews on Goodreads.

I didn’t want to read the blurb and jumped directly into the book. Read on to know how that went.

About the book

Kitchen


Book Name: Kitchen

Author: Banana Yoshimoto

Genre: Fiction – Modern Classic, Literary,

Characters: Mikage Sakurai, Yuichi and Eriko Tanabe

Setting: Tokyo, Japan

Plot


Kitchen begins with Mikage Sakurai grieving the death of her grandmother, in their kitchen. Yuichi and his mother Eriko takes her in as she has no other family left. Mikage throws herself into cooking and food, which becomes part of her heart and dreams.

Eriko is a transvestite, who runs a gay night club and lives with her son Yuichi who studies at Uni. He was a man for a long time until his wife died and then he changes ‘her face and her everything’ with the help of operations. The busy mother – son gets closer to Miakge through her home cooked dinners, until Mikage moves away to pursue her culinary dreams. 

A few months later Eriko is murdered by a smitten man. Tides change and it is now Yuichi that has to face the loss and grief. How Mikage helps Yuichi to cope with the loss and how her passion for food keeps the friends sane forms the rest of the story in Kitchen. 

Kitchen is followed by a shorter tale named Moonlight Shadow in which the theme of grief and loss of beloved ones continue. Satsuki lost her boy friend Hitsohi to an unforeseen road accident. She picks up running to push her sorrows away. Hitoshi’s brother who lost his girlfriend in the same accident dresses in her favorite costume as a cope up mechanism.

Satsuki meets Urara who tells her a way that can help her find a closure. Read the story to know if they find what they seek. 

My initial thoughts

Yoshimoto’s Kitchen is full of eccentric characters and I can’t think of a better word than weird right now to describe the plot. 

The leads in both the tales attempt to seek hope and overcoming of their destitution after the death. But how they attain that is way different.

Though both the stories are very minimal and to the point, I loved them like a fresh breath of air. Some stories make us long for more but Kitchen in all its incompleteness felt complete. I don’t want to know what Satsuki or Yuichi, who stayed in my mind long after I finished reading, did anymore because I know (and hope) they will be better. 

Here is where I am lost. I dunno if I love or hate Yoshimoto’s writing. There were places when the writing felt right and there were places that were just off. I might have to read more of Yoshimoto’s to conclude whether it was the writing or the translation that failed to make me love it. Or maybe that was how the book was intended to be. 

Things that worked for me

  • The simplistic narration talks about ordinary people leading a mundane life but had profound effect on me. 
  • Yoshimoto’s writing is not polished or lyrical, in fact it does not even mince words (but that might be just the translation), yet the simple prose hits the point at most places. 
  • I loved the usage of Kitchen as a metaphor and letting it play a character in the story.

Things that didn’t work for me

  • Kitchen is not a plot driven novel. And if you are looking for one with lots of twists and turns, you will be severely disappointed. 
  • I felt the translation seemed off at places but I am not sure if it was intentional.
  • I am still not sure if the usage of transvestite and transgender is accurate. I think they were used interchangeably in the book, I might be wrong.

Bottom-line

If you liked The Vegetarian by Han Kang, you might like Kitchen as well.  You may like this one or not, but I am sure it will leave a lasting memory either way, just like it did for me.

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Kitchen

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Have you read this or anything from Japan? Do you like books that are not plot oriented? What other countries do you like me to read about? Let us talk. 

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

The Unexpected Everything: A Book review

Do you believe in the Murphy’s Law that says ‘there is no perfect plan‘? I do. And I do it with such vigor that I dread making plans. And reading about Type A personalities that have all their plans fail does no good to me at all. Yet the things we do for the love of reading. Read about one such summer plan in The Unexpected Everything and find how it turns out.

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About The Unexpected Everything

Unexpected everything

Book Name: The Unexpected Everything

Author: Morgan Matson

Genre: Fiction – Young Adult, Drama

Characters: Alexandra Walker (Andie), Palmer Alden, Sabrina Choudhury (Bri), Tobyhanna Mlynarczyk (Toby), Alexander Walker.

Setting: Connecticut, The USA

Plot Summary of The Unexpected Everything

Andie is the type A daughter of the Congressman, Alexander Walker. She has been told what to talk, when to smile and how to live. She has a close knit group of friends who are supposed to be together forever. Her love life is designed to last for three weeks and without much heart break. This summer everything changes. 

Her father takes a leave from his office due to some political scandal and her pre- pre -med internship falls through and all the good spots are taken. Her on-off relationship with Topher is getting dangerous and even he has an internship at his father’s office. And to make matters worse her friends are fighting over a boy. 

But there are a few good things as well. First she meets a very cute and nerdy guy, Clark. Then she get to be a dig walker (Trust me it is good). And her relationship with her father improves or they at least try to. You need to read the book to know more. 

Book review of The Unexpected Everything

I had seen The Unexpected Everything being raved by so many of my favorite bloggers for a while now, so I was excited to read it for my A-Z 2018 reading challenge. So I knew I was not going to disappointed by this one.  And I wasn’t.

On the positive side, it has all the ingredients of a perfect read – a group of smart girls who are best friends, a lot of dogs, and a super nerdy male lead, who is an author. Sounds perfect right? Sadly, it took me a lot longer than I thought it would take and I don’t think it is a good thing.

Things that worked for me

  • I loved Morgan Matson’s writing. The dialogues are witty yet very realistic. 
  • Andie’s friends are super normal (and that is a rare thing these days) and the author makes sure we are engrossed by their tale right on.
  • The chemistry between Clark and Tom was just perfect. They are “cool guy friends” and it didn’t feel forced. Usually I hate how forced the friendship is between the boyfriends of besties. 
  • I also liked that Andie and Clark were not all consumed with love. I mean I liked the romance but it is just part of the whole story. 
  • The scavenger hunt theme was awesome. Why are my friends not having one?

Things that didn’t work for me

  • The book is sooooo long. It is a YA contemporary, it need not be over 400 pages. At times I just wanted to give up. 
  • There were places where the pace of the story fell and I just couldn’t keep myself awake. And then all of a sudden it ends. Sigh. 
  • The story line is super predictable and there is nothing that you have not read elsewhere. 
  • I never got how the father – daughter dynamic improved. I mean they did have years of strained relationship, and a couple of dinners made it all good? Hmm. maybe I am over thinking this. 

Bottom – line

Despite its flaws, The Unexpected Everything is definitely a cool YA contemporary that glorifies friendship and is perfect for a summer beach read or a snuggled up read on a rainy afternoon. I will definitely read Morgan Matson’s other books, if they were a tad shorter than this one.

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Have you read The Unexpected Everything? Have you found any other book of the author’s and liked them? Do you believe in Murphy’s law? Let us chat.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard: A Book Review

Book review: Jellicoe Road

I picked up Jellicoe Road on a whim as the title started with J for my A- Z reading Challenge. I had not then realized that it was written by Melina Marchetta, who has been on my radar for a while as I wanted to read ‘Looking For Alibrandi’.

By the time I realized Jellicoe Road was written by the one and only, I had already fallen deep into it and it didn’t matter. Had I known it was her maybe I would not have contemplated quitting it (I will explain). All is well, I guess. Let us get on to the book, shall we?

Jellicoe Road

Book Name: Jellicoe Road

Author: Melina Marchetta

Genre: Fiction – Young Adult, Mystery

Characters: Taylor Markham, Jonah Griggs, Chaz Santangelo, Hannah

Setting: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Before I proceed I want to warn you, I strive to write a spoiler free review. But here is what happened; I didn’t understand what was going on in the book until I was in the middle of it. I even thought of abandoning the book but the writing was beautiful and kept me going. And when it started making sense, it was worth all the chaos. 

If you want to enjoy the book that way, you should skip the (spoiler-free) blurb of Jellicoe Road here and jump into the review and then maybe the book. Otherwise, go ahead. 

Plot:

Taylor Markham, a 17 year old loner, is now the leader of the boarders of a school in Sydney. She has to lead the ‘fight for territory’ with the townies and the cadets, who camp near their town for a few weeks every year. To make things worse the new leader of the cadets Jonah Griggs and Taylor share some complicated history. 

Amidst all the kiddish territorial wars, Taylor’s caretaker Hannah goes missing and no one at the school would take Taylor’s complaint seriously nor would tell her what was going on. All that is left of Hannah is her unfinished manuscript about five kids set in 1980s, which become Taylor’s only clue to finding Hannah. 

Did Taylor win the trust of her fellow boarders? What was so important about the tree-house that both the Townies and the Cadets will do anything for it? Where did Hannah go? To find the answers to these questions and more you will have to read Jellicoe Road. 

Things that I loved:

  • As I mentioned earlier Jellicoe Road is definitely tough to get into but Melina Marchetta’s writing will suck into this strange world where kids learn to protect theirs and take over others’ land. 

  • I loved that all the characters had multiple layers and a deeper story. I loved that even before I understood the plot I got deeply invested into the lives of these kids that I couldn’t stop reading.I am totally in love with the kids from 80s in the manuscript.

  • The characters in Jellicoe Road deal with death, grief, abandonment, drugs addiction and suicide and I am sure for a Young Adult book this is too heavy. I am still confused whether to tag this one as Young Adult or contemporary or even a mystery. 

Things that didn’t work for me:

  • I am finally getting used to not searching for responsible adults in YA and you wouldn’t find them in Jellicoe Road. 

  • And I am not gonna lie, it did feel like it took ages to understand who they were and what happened to them. Though I kinda guessed it about three-fourth into the story, but I am not going to complain. 

  • While I am happy at how things turned out for the three factions, I also am kinda annoyed that the story took huge diversion from that part of the story. 

  • There were times when the teenage angst and the whiny female lead got to me, but I am glad I chose to eye-roll and ignore them. 

Bottomline:

If you are ready for a roller coaster ride that may or not end up in happy tears Jellicoe Road is the perfect YA for you.

elgeewrites Book review: Jellicoe Road JRP

Have you read this one or from this author earlier? What are you thoughts about the writing style? How many pages would you read before you will decide to quit a book? Let us chat.