Marina
Adichie, you did it again.
In a really short book, you explain a plurality of concepts that anyone who wants to raise their children in the best way posible should read.
And it's hard. I won't deny it. Reading some parts of this was hard af. Because realizing some behaviors your parents, your teachers, adults in general implanted on you since you were born are actually really problematic, and detaching from those behaviors, is difficult.
But it is posible, I truly believe from the bottom of my heart, that overcoming patriarchy is posible, even if it means that I'll have to discard and change my behaviors and the misogynist culture I was thrown in without asking.
I'll leave some qoutes that resume what a great book this is:
‘You might think that Chudi will not bathe her exactly as you'd like, that he might not wipe her bum as perfectly as you do. But so what? What is the worst that can happen? She won't die at the hands of her father. Seriously. He loves her. It's good for her to be cared for by her father. So look away, arrest your perfectionism, still your socially conditioned sense of duty. Share child care equally.'‘And please reject the language of help. Chudi is not “helping” you by caring for his child. He is doing what he should.'‘There are people who say “Well, your name is also about patriarchy because it is your father's name.” Indeed. But the point is simply this: Whether it came from my father or from the moon, it is the name that I have had since I was born, the name with which I traveled my life's milestones, the name I have answered to since that first day I went to kindergarten on a hazy morning and my teacher said, “Answer ‘present' if you hear your name. Number one: Adichie!”'‘Never, ever link Chizalum's appearance with morality. Never tell her that a short skirt is “immoral.” Make dressing a question of taste and attractiveness instead of a question of morality. If you clash over what she wants to wear, never say things like “You look like a prostitute,” as I know your mother once told you. Instead, say, “That dress doesn't flatter you like this other one.” Or doesn't fit as well. Or doesn't look as attractive. Or is simply ugly. But never “immoral.” Because clothes have absolutely nothing to do with morality.'
Did this book need to be in three parts? No.
Was this anyway really enjoyable? Hell yeah.
''i want to apologize to all the women i have called pretty before i've called them intelligent or brave i am sorry i made it sound as though something as simple as what you're born with is the most you have to be proud of when your spirit has crushed mountains from now on i will say things like you are resilient or you are extraordinary not because i don't think you're pretty but because you are so much more than that''
I want to a start the review with this quote, beacuse I think it sets perfectly the tone of this book.
Kaur's poetry is meaningful, simple -yet so beautiful- and above it all, it is loud. Yes, so loud, you have to listen to what she says. Because she won't shut up, and I love it.
I hope her voice is NEVER silenced beacuse I need her to keep writing stuff like this.
I feel like I know her so well now... ‘cause she is not going to sugar coat ANYTHING. She talks about rape, body image, loving yourself, being confident, love, learning to move on, body hair, periods, and I love it.
The poetry is accompanied by gorgeous illustrations that make the experience of reading this book even more engaging. The writing style is quite simple, but that doesn't mean it isn't whimsical, and well, poetical. The simplicity of this book made me feel more, I don't know... familiar, you can say? Made me feel closer to Rupi and to her experiences, and sometimes I felt them like my own, and I loved that.
So, If you didn't already guess it, I really loved this book, and is now very deep in my heart.
Please if you have the opportunity to pick this book, don't give it a second thought!
Even tho the book has some amazing poems, some of them felt like meh...
Sometimes I wanted the poems to be longer, because ir felt like a waste for a one-sentence-long one to occupy a whole page.
Overall it was a good read, some of the poems really hit close to home.
OK... I'll start by warning that this review may contain topics that could trigger you, such as anorexia, diets, binging and purging, and being in the closet for many years. So, if any of this topics make you feel triggered I recommend you skip reading this review.
I've read books about anorexia, I've seen it in TV and in movies. I know it's a terrible illness and that is really hard to overcome. But this... being in the mind of an anorexic person, this deep into her mind... it's a totally different experience. It became harder and harder to read, so I could assure you it's not a pleasant read, not at all.
This book is, in all senses, brutal. It doesn't sugarcoat ANYTHING. Portia tells everything that she's been through, and sometimes it was painful to read, how this mental disease takes over your life and ruins you from the inside till it shows on the outside. We can see how an unhealthy diet full of restrictions can quickly develop into a food obsession ,and it's all you can think about.
This book show us little Portia at the age of twelve years old, entering the modeling world, and not feeling enough-not thin enough, not pretty enough-, and with her we see the illness inside her growing stronger and stronger, till her adult life, where she lives prisoner of anorexia.
What this woman suffered it's just unberable. The littlest of the things would make her anxious, she was worried all the time that she wasn't burning enough calories. She satrted lying to her family because things started getting complicated when she got too thin to notice something was wrong. I can't even begin to explain how exhausting this life must been. I leave a few quotes so you can understand what I'm talking about:
‘I just worked out a little harder in the hotel gym and stopped brushing my teeth with toothpaste. It wasn't that I was crazy thinking that I could get fat from accidentally swallowing toothpaste; I was just ensuring that I cut out those incidental calories wherever I could. I ate less chewing gum and I didn't use toothpaste. It was a compromise that worked for me.'‘I needed to stand anyway. Standing burns more calories than sitting.'''I'm not eating lunch today. I had a big meal already.” Why I had to tell her about having a big meal I don't know. I hate it when I do things like that.'‘Chopsticks were useful for obvious reasons. I'm not Asian, nor am I coordinated. They were unnatural and awkward for me and as a result, the food fell through the little obtuse triangles making me eat slower. If I ate slowly, I didn't eat as much.'‘My obsession with weight loss had made me neglectful of the things I cared about.'
So now let's get to the writing part of the review:
Though it was a well written book, there were a lot of chunks of descriptions of, for ex. people that were passing by, and that didn't add anything to the story Portia was telling, so there were parts of the book when I wasn't that compelled to keep reading.
Aside from that, I think this is a must read if you really wanna know how anorexia affects a life, and the struggles an anorexic person must front.
4.5.
Not as good as the first one, but a great volume still!
Those cliffhangers are going to kill me!
Can't wait for the next volume .
Loved that Iris is a super well-rounded character! her mind doesn't focus solely on a love interest, she has present family, friendship, and career topics. Never expected what this book would be about just by reading the synopsis. It's a super recommend to me!
Be aware that this reads more like a magic realism book for the most part, there aren't a LOT of fantasy elements until the end.
Finished reading 7/11/15.
Crying in tears of happiness
“I let myself slip away... Just to stay sane. Just to get through it. And when I felt myself slipping too far, I held on to the one thing I'm always sure of - Blue eyes. Bronze curls. The fact that Simon Snow is the most powerful magician alive. That nothing can hurt him, not even me. That Simon Snow is alive. And I'm hopelessly in love with him.”
Actual review 7/12/15.
This is for sure one of the best books I've read this year and it's up there with Jane Eyre, Mistborn and A Thousand Splendid Suns. This is the second best book by her I've read, having read Fangirl, Landline and Eleanor&Park-i think I liked E&P a little more- and it was just so beautiful.
I don't know how she can make me feel so many emotions with just words but she does. You have made me fall in love again with you beatiful writing, Rainbow.
The magic system was just fascinating:“Magic words are tricky. Sometimes to reveal something hidden, you have to use the language of the time it was stashed away. And sometimes an old phrase stops working when the reat of the world is sick os saying it” “And they become more powerful the more that they're said and read and written, in specific, consistent combinations” By the way the magic works, the spells are always evolving with the language and it's just so freaking cool!
Characters I loved: BAZ BAZ BAZ BAZ BAZ FREAKING BAZ:
He was all that I wanted in a character, and I would marry him if I could.
Penelope: she's totally a character of her own, not just a Hermione's copy. Her skills are out of this world and when she cast her spells I was just cracking up xD
I hated Agatha, the Mage and Simon so much, like I REALLY DESPISE them. No kidding.
Such a beautiful book. Thank you Rowell.
When I was reading this series, the more I read, the more flaws I found. At first they didn't othered me, but in this books there were so many to ignore them.
The problems started with Isla: she doesn't have any real personality, and i we analize the book, we realize that she is all the time talking about other people sorrunding her and looking at what they do, shenever talks about herself, what she likes and dislikes, her passions, NOTHING AT ALL. So, all that I have to say about her is that she was an annoying 12-year-old girl who didn't care about anyone but herself.
The only parts that I ‘enjoyed' where the ones with Josh in them. I can see that Perkins is better at writing boys than girls. I loved Josh, but that's not enough to give this book a good rating.
Las únicas partes que disfrutaba eran en las que estaba Josh.
The only part of this book that I really enjoyed was the finale. See all together broke my heart in tiny pieces, and this scene is the only reason I'm onot giving it 1 star.
So yeah, this book was bad. Sorry Steph, but you dissapointed me so bad.
EXTREME MIND BLOW. I have no words.
QUEEN CHRISTIE.
Actual review 26/2:
This book was not what I expected at all. This was thrilling and hilarious . A must-read for everyone.
The mystery develops flawlessly and it's pretty satisfying. The personality of Mr. Hercule Poirot complemented the plot so well!
If someone told me the final reveal when I was 20 pages in, I would've never believed them! It was totally unexpcted for me.
In conclusion, this book was pretty fantastic, and I totally will be reading more of my friend Poirot.
I grew really attached to Marjane and I can say that now I even consider her one of the best people I've ever know. Such a beautiful read!
This graphic novel was just so fun! Just what I needed to go back on track with my reading.
