Heidi
This book is not what I was expecting. It does give the basic scientific background necessary to understand the story, and a little more than basics are presented so that someone who isn't a biologist but already gets the basics can still enjoy it and learn from it. It's got a lot of info about the family and how they have been affected by the cells, also. This is a very interesting true story presented in a very readable manner. It's a story I think everyone should know, especially because there are countless others like it that no one has written a book about. This one is pretty monumental for medicine, though.
Big vibes book.
At first I thought the translation might have been a little off, but the more I read, I realized it was likely intentional, probably minimally due to translation. The whole story is relayed like a dream. I can't say I fully understand what it was about.
Very good writing, but I didn't really like the story, it skipped around a lot and was hard to follow until about the last third or so. I hate to give it two stars because her writing is really very good, but I just didn't like this book.
I know that after the first two books showing different connections to Amelia for each character there wasn't a lot left for Hayley, but if you're going to write about someone being possessed by a ghost, you're going to have to convince me Hayley feels genuinely violated. Or, make Hayley have past experience as a medium to explain why she takes it so well. Anyone else would have probably lost their mind, started questioning reality. But Hayley is just spooked enough to sleep with the lights on (actually happens). I also think they could have kept the dreams/visions/ethereal attacks the first two books had, I don't think that would have been too repetitive the story. Lastly, Harper. He kisses women he has history with, because they're good friends, and she's supposed to accept that? Idk if that's some southern bs or what, but I don't think I've ever heard of that as a custom that anyone should be accepting from their partner. And his dynamic with Hayley is a little bit little woman/domineering “you'll do what I say” man, and not in a kinky way, just a toxic way.
Loved it, the setting really helped make the story. However, the ending seems a little rushed, as Roberts seems to do often with her romance novels.
Good tips, some are a little dated because it was written in 2007, but overall it has some very applicable tips. Be sure to read it before you graduate, and not after; it is still valuable knowledge but I wish I'd have known about it before graduating.
This book just became one of my top favorites. I was literally speechless (funny, considering) at that ending, I loved it. Still having a hard time describing it, but wow. I love this book.
The last chapter was such a perfect conclusion to this story. It has many of my favorite quotes from this book. But that would be spoilers, so for lack of better review, here are a couple non-spoiler quotes I have highlighted:
“...translation was impossible , that the realm of pure meaning they captured and manifested would and could not ever be known”
“That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world and hoping someone else understands.”
Pinker is pedantic, hypocritical, and passes judgement in ways I wouldn't think someone so well-versed in anthropology and linguistics would. He complains about and belittles the slang talk of teens and “valley girls”, and then at the end of the book goes on to say he is all for slang. Clearly he has a type of slang in mind that he considers valid. He understands that the next generation to use a language shapes it slightly differently than those who came before them, so why is he hating on so many of them? While also saying they're valid? And then again insulting them! Convoluted and confusing.
This book is also very, very dry. He says in 448 pages what he could have said in 200. And I am still not quite sure, after all this, what arguments he is trying to use to say that language is an instinct. I have some guesses, but for claiming to prove that language is an instinct, he does not iterate his points well enough to combat the sea of wordy tangents you have to wade through.
But hey, this guy can diagram a word and a sentence like nobody's business, so I guess I am convinced.
She keeps mentioning how Cain's car is parked here or there in Cambridge or Back Bay, and I find myself asking, WHERE THE F*** ARE THESE PARKING SPOTS AND WHY IS NO ONE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE T??
Also. What was the meaning of the last paragraph???? Why does that person show up?? Not sure I get that bit.
Loved it, read it multiple times. I enjoyed the relationship between Kostos and Lena, even as it became sad.
I expected this book to be good, but damn. The story really sucked me in. I am going to be thinking about it for a while.
I could not bring myself to finish this book.
First, it feels suspiciously like a Fifty Shades knockoff. Right down to the “girl in a situation with a guy she doesn't want, big Dom man happens to be there under totally normal and not stalking circumstances after to take care of her”.
Second, while the writing is not terrible, it does not go deep enough into any situation characters thoughts to make me feel connected to them or understand them or care at all about them.
Third, she is a weak-willed idiot. Kind of an offensive sub stereotype. I'm sure she eventually gains some sort of agency, I mean I'd hope, but a wilting violet isn't the poster child for a submissive. Not that all subs have to be ultra-powerful girl-bosses in control of their emotions by day or w/e, but she's clearly a sub stereotype of the worst kind. Either way, I don't have the time to continue reading and find out if she does gain agency, I have too many more-promising books to spend my time on.
All things considered, it lost me around the part after a man tries to force himself on her and as she's walking home she thinks to herself, regarding the tank top and mini skirt and heels she's wearing, “ugh look at me, no wonder he thought that's what I wanted”.
A good, entertaining story, and well written. But some parts, particularly the way that he tells the backstory, felt a little too obvious. Like, here's something this character needs to work on in this scene, and suddenly here's the explanation/backstory. Not a terrible way of doing it, and makes sense for the story, but feels a little clunky. Also, (I say this as a technical person who enjoys reading technical nerd shit) the parts where science and/or engineering happens feel appropriately realistic but dry at times.
Heartwarming and odd and appropriately paced.
Also, I am pretty sure Wes Anderson directed this book.
From the part that New Hampshire plays in this story, it is very clear the author is from Massachusetts lmao
In more seriousness though, this book was very uncomfortable to read.
And a big fat TW that I wish I'd been given: yes, every damn dog, caterpillar, and creature between meets a sad and/or horrible, and usually intentional end, for nothing else than to illustrate the depravity of nearly every single character. It's not gratuitous, but it's clear and it's disturbing.
That said, it was interesting and the writing was very well done.
Even with my issues with the book, I did really like it. It took me a bit to warm up to this book. It starts kind of slow and doesn't quite have a clear point until a while in. The main character's arc doesn't seem to have a very strong motive, and that kind of bothers me. It did keep me interested though, and as always, I like his writing style a lot.
It's hard to review this book, as I am not familiar with all the stories that inspired it. There are a few blurbs with backstory based in old folk legends and the like that kind of help but I think it would be better to know them before reading this book. I got the feeling there were subtle nuances that I wouldn't get not having.known the back stories. That said, I did enjoy the book.
I feel like both the Then and Now stories could have benefitted from more development. They were both interesting and each could have been their own separate pieces, woven together as they are or totally separate, but I would have liked more development for each.
Wow. This book took some surprising turns and I loved it. You think you know what it's about but you just don't. At least I didn't.
Maybe it'll make more sense why he took this direction when I read the next one, but until then I give this one 2 stars. It completely veers off the track of the original story and the end is so deus ex machina and is a bit confusing. If the next one is like this, I'm done with the series.
A Hallmark romance movie disguised as a ghost story. Was expecting much more haunting and much less poor character-building.
A good story, a nice peaceful interlude probably designed to close the Feyra/Rhys circle and set up the next book. Probably all stuff that could have been explained along the way in the next book (haven't read yet). Was it necessary to the story? No. But, it was enjoyable, and her writing was still solid, so 4 stars.
