that nerd
A little slow to start but almost impossible to put down after the first 50 or so pages. I regret that I took so long to actually read through the beginning and get into the book. Fantastic read.
I won this as part of a Goodreads First Reads giveaway, but that has in no way influenced my review.
This was a wonderful book. The amount of research Debbie Nathan put into her book is staggering. I can't help but shake my head at how Shirley a.k.a. Sybil, Dr. Wilbur and Flora managed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes with the story. Shirley may have been mentally ill, but I certainly don't believe she was a multiple. I believe Dr. Wilbur wanted her fame and recognition in this field as a psychiatrist so she latched onto Shirley and ran with her problems. She drugged and manipulated the woman and took advantage of Shirley's loneliness and attachment to her. Then together, they roped Flora into writing Sybil. Flora had her doubts, but she too wanted her fame and recognition, and she was conned with the fake diary that Shirley and Dr. Wilbur gave her. These three women all needed something: Shirley needed attention from Dr. Wilbur, Dr. Wilbur, as a woman, needed recognition as a woman in her field of psychiatry, and Flora needed fame and riches from a bestseller. They kept this lie under wraps and deceived the world and the disservice that Dr. Wilbur did not only to her patient(s) but to the field of psychiatry is shameful. Debbie Nathan has done a great job of breaking down the stories of all three women and exposing the lies and each woman for what they were.
I'd read this once before, quite a long time ago, but, I have to admit when I read it this time, I remembered nothing of the story. It's a good read and I will be reading more of the books in this series.
When I was a child, my mother took me to a pediatrician that had a plaque hanging on his wall that said “Kids Are People Too.” Quite a few characters in this book seem to have forgotten that - or never seemed to have realized it at all. The complete disregard that society has for these teenagers is unreal. That they can “unwind” them and justify it by saying they are not dead but simply going on living in a “divided state” is astounding. Unwinding just shows how far people are willing to go to get the parts they need, how far man will go when science has advanced too far, and how far the pro-life/pro-choice zealots can take their feud.
It took a little while, but I came to feel for these characters in the book. Connor and Risa, I wanted nothing more than for the two of them to escape to their freedom. Lev, there's a love/hate relationship with that kid all through the book. He just came across to me as being so conflicted. Roland, I just loathed, but wouldn't you know that HE is the one the author chooses for unwinding? Reading through the unwinding process, knowing it was happening to Roland, a character that I despised, I still found myself feeling terribly sorry for him. It was not a pleasant thing to read.
All in all, this book was amazing. Shusterman definitely knows how to write a page turner. Even though I purchased this book out of the Young Adult section, I have to say, this is definitely a book for ALL ages. It's been a little while since I've enjoyed a book this much. I'd give it more stars if I could.
It was an okay read. Certainly not the best V.C. Andrews book, but good enough I'll read the next book in the series.
It seems like it took forever to finish this book. I've only read one other book by Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale), so I decided to check out some more of her writings. I was very disappointed in this one. I thought it was poorly written & the ending was just terrible.
I loved this book. It was very hard to put down and the characters I thought were very well written. There was non-stop action throughout and it was hard to predict what would happen next. I will surely be reading more books by this author.
I didn't really enjoy this book. The author just seemed to drag the story out, especially in the beginning, with too many unnecessary details (at least for my taste).
The only thing that keeps me from giving this book 5 stars is that I thought the ending felt rushed. Other than that, this book was wonderful. There's even quite a few little tidbits of wisdom from August throughout the pages that are worth remembering.
I've never been so GLAD to see the end of a book. I wanted to just quit several times, but I stuck with it, hoping it would get better. Sadly, it did not. Needless to say, I will NOT be reading the other two books in the trilogy.
I laughed & I cried while reading this book. There were a few parts that did irritate me, like when Marley was ill and Grogan was talking about the cost of treatment, etc. All in all, though, I think this book was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.
I saw this book on the shelf at the library and thought that this might well be a very interesting read. But I was wrong. The book was nothing more than a ton of babble. The author inserts himself and his experiences entirely too much in the book. The cases he writes about though, are interesting if you research them yourself on the net. Interesting subject, poorly written book.
Just as brilliant as the first in the series. Awesome read. I don't normally read this type of book, but these books are fantastic.
I found it hard to put this book down. I loved the main character. I loved how the story was told, how it was written, everything about the book. An excellent novel.
This book was okay, but could have been SO much better. It was hard to get into because of the way it was written. I think that had the book been told from the eyes of only one narrator, perhaps just Mike, then it would have been better. The potential for a good plot is there, the author just didn't take advantage. Mike and Anna's affair came out of the blue, even though it was integral to the story and what happened to Silas. The cameraman remained a mystery until the end, even tho he too was important to the story. I'm all for giving Anita Shreve a “do-over” for this book and letting her write it again and tell the story better.
This only gets two stars because it's part of one of my favorite series. Otherwise, one it would be. I don't know what happened with this book. Did she just write this one because she HAD to? I was happy to be done with this. Hopefully when I get around to reading the next one, it will be better.
I definitely enjoyed this one more than I have the past few in the series. It was more exciting and fast paced.
Amazing book! Some parts were a bit hard to follow for me (where certain parts of the weaving were explained, for example), but what an amazing read!
What a fantastic read! This book exceeded every single expectation I had for it. It was nice to have a book like this with something other than vampires and werewolves. This was a beautiful story with awesome characters. I had a hard time putting it down. I hope the second book is as great as this one.
This was a witty, well-written book with characters that I absolutely adored. I'd had my eye on this book for a while, and when Barnes & Noble spotlighted Gail Carriger and offered the e-book of Soulless up for $0.99, I jumped all over it. My only complaint about the book (and Ms. Carriger's writing) is that she seemed to be a bit too wordy, especially at the beginning of the book. The dictionary on my nook has never been used so much. This seems to have tapered off as the book wore on, though. All-in-all, she's written a fantastic book with a likeable, smart, witty, independent heroine.
These books just keep better. I wanted to take a break from the series and read a few other books, but it doesn't look as if I'll be able to do that.
I enjoyed this book the most so far out of any of the previous ones in the series. The series is really picking up now and I'm finding myself really caring about what happens to the main characters.
I didn't like this book quite as much as the other two I've read in the series. It just felt like there was too much going on in this book and that it took forever to get through. It was not a bad read, however.