Emily
In short, this novel is simple yet touching story which follows four young protagonists as they try and get to Royal Observatory in London to name a star.
Onjali Q. Raúf is like the Jodi Picoult of the kids' world. She does an incredible job of tackling tricky issues in a way that kids can easily access. In this book, she looks at the impact of domestic violence and children being put into the foster system. At the end of the novel, an author's note tells the reader about Raúf's personal experience with this: she had an aunt who was killed by her husband. As a result, Raúf has set up a women's rights organisation called Making Herstory. And wrote this book, obviously.
If I'm totally honest, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as The Boy at the Back of the Class. Despite the different context, the plot seemed fairly similar, with a young girl travelling into London with a group of friends to try and talk to ‘people in charge'.
I also feel like things wrap up just a bit too neatly in her books. I understand that they're for children, but the fact that the people in charge always give the main character exactly what they want seems like it's going to give kids an unrealistic view of the way the world works.
Despite this, I enjoyed the book and will definitely take to school as I think my class will love it. 3.75/5
George Saunders is a genius - he reflects on these seven stories so beautifully and uses analogies perfectly to explain his ideas and I would give it 6 stars if I could.
Well I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority here, but I just found The Silent Patient a little bit average
The information in this book is very good (and quite terrifying) but the writing is so wordy and pretentious.
“The moonlight chose an unexpected path through the pines, laying shadows about in rhymes. She strolled like a sleepwalker as the moon pulled herself naked from the waters and climbed limb by limb through the oaks.”
How beautiful is this writing? Every word is so precisely and perfectly chosen. It's like reading poetry.
As far as I'm concerned, Brandon Sanderson can do no wrong - which probably doesn't make me the best person to be writing a review
I listened to the audible version of this book.
The narrator (it was read by Joanne Froggart) was outstanding. Her performance was easy to listen to and kept me interested throughout. 5 stars.
The actual story and text I felt was weaker. The writing felt a little forced at times and there were a couple of plot holes. 3 stars.
If you want to try this book, I definitely recommend listening to the audio version.
A stunning collection of short stories, most gritty and some supernatural but all painting a vivid picture of Buenos Aires: beauty and culture alongside poverty, violence, drugs and corruption.
The writing is poetic and eminently readable and every story holds its own in the collection. ⭐️5/5⭐️
I was really enjoying this book but the ending was so sudden that it completely ruined it for me. There were so many loose ends!
Why did Grey scoop up the phone with the confession recorded on it and suggest they dealt with it themselves instead of going to parents/the authorities?! I felt sure there was going to be some sort of twist linked to this but it was never mentioned again.
Were they even close to the forty-eight hour mark?! How can you have a book entirely about counting down time and not mention the time that's passed?
What was the aftermath of the whole thing?! The characters kept mentioning how hard it would be to explain, then the author didn't even bother.
I read another review that said that they thought the author had just reached their word count and finished the book in two sentences and I think they're spot on! But there were plenty of fairly repetitive parts that could have been cut down to finish the book properly.
Just a really lazy and unsatisfying ending. It infuriated me! I don't recommend based on this alone. ⭐️ 2/5 ⭐️
I LOVE a good magical fantasy but this book has been sitting on my tbr shelf since Christmas 2018
