Tag: 4 stars

Book Review | The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Posted January 17, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 3 Comments

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets–an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #50: Set in the 1940s)

The Reason

It was a buddy read and a reread, and I remember loving it before.

The Quotes

“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”

“Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”

“People tend to complicate their own lives, as if living weren’t already complicated enough.”

“I could tell you it’s the heart, but what is really killing him is loneliness. Memories are worse than bullets.”

The Narrator(s)

Jonathan Davis. I have no complaints about the narrator. He was very good and I loved the listening experience. I do have a bone to pick about the production though! Throughout the whole book at certain points at the end of chapters, there were music playing that made it very difficult to hear the narration. At the end of the book in the credits, we learn that they were original music composed by the author. Which is great, the music sounds good! It just really made the narration difficult to hear, and I want to iterate that this is an issue with the sound engineering and not the music itself. The audiobook I listened to is produced by Penguin Audio.

My Thoughts

Okay, this book. It’s very meta, it’s very drama, it’s very thrilling, and I’m here for it! However, I have to admit that I find it a little melodramatic at times, and I find it really hard to relate to the characters. This is also a reread, and I remember loving it the first time and rating it 5 stars. This time I feel like I’m only going to give it 4 stars.

To be fair, it is a very good book, written very well with an incredible plot. I love how meta it is; the story within the story, the parallel lives of the characters. There’s a lot of excitement and thrill of trying to figure out the mystery and wanting to know what happens next, and although I didn’t like the characters, I found them very interesting. I also think the intricate plot was done masterfully and the way everything ties together was very satisfying.

It’s just, the characters and the drama feels very “reality-tv-ish”. They are childish and toxic and make a big deal out of everything, holding grudges and getting offended over every little thing instead of just talking things out, ffs. It makes for good tv, lots of drama, and let’s be honest, we hate the villains on reality tv but we also know they bring the most drama, which brings the viewers in!

The stakes in the book are much higher than in reality tv, and the atrocities that happen are a lot more serious, but it still feels like it could all have been prevented if they only talked to each other, find better solutions, and didn’t immediately go scorched earth on everything! They essentially brought it on themselves and blamed everyone else for their misfortunes.

I can appreciate the mastery of the author’s plotting and storytelling. And I can even appreciate the character-building because of how interesting and vibrant they are, but I can’t relate, so it’s 4 stars for me this time. Still a very good book, and well worth reading!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Posted January 12, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #3: Title starts with the letter “M”)

The Reason

I’m not kidding, I just found it in my borrowed books on Libby one day. I didn’t click on this book, I didn’t even know about this book, it was just there. Then I saw the narrator was Julia Whelan and I love her so I thought I’d give it a try.

The Quotes

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. That makes it hard to plan the day.”

“The great American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.’ You don’t need a long lifetime to make an impact on this world. You just need the will to do so.”

“Once you know something, you forget what it was like to not know it.”

“We segment ourselves based on race or class or religion or whatever fucking distinctions we decide to make up, and then we insist on treating each other differently.”

The Narrator(s)

Julia Whelan. The only reason I read this book without knowing a single thing about it. And I’m glad I did!

My Thoughts

This book has such an interesting premise; people all around the world are receiving a special box with a string inside that supposedly measures their lives. They start to separate themselves based on their short or long strings, they start Other-ing each other, a lot of philosophical questions are asked and discussed. We see the stories of a select few people whose lives intersect, and we come to care about them.

Coming into this story with zero expectations, I ended up really enjoying it. It felt so dystopian and sci-fi, but also down-to-earth in a way, and horrifying in other ways. I love that it explores the value of a person’s life regardless of how long or short that life is. I hate that the Other-ing and fear-mongering is so true to life. The first part of the book was really intense and exciting, but the ending seemed a little flat, like the author wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen. It was still a very well-written book, and a fine exploration of the premise, and I enjoyed it overall.

In a way, it also tracks that ending wasn’t clear-cut and tied up nicely in a bow. It fits the theme that we don’t know what happens next and that it’s up to us what we want to make of the story, what we want to get from it and what we want to make of our own lives from here on out.

I mostly find it curious that I found this book on my borrowed list without ever hearing about it or clicking on it. It’s almost like the characters having those boxes of string just appear out of nowhere. It’s spooky and weird and it’s very possible that aliens have sent this book to me as a gift. 😂 Still, I’m grateful for it because it turned out to be a great story and I really enjoyed it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Dear Enemy by Jean Webster

Posted December 3, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Dear Enemy by Jean Webster

Dear Enemy is the sequel to Jean Webster’s novel Daddy-Long-Legs. First published in 1915, it was among the top ten best sellers in the US in 1916.

The story is presented in a series of letters written by Sallie McBride, Judy Abbott’s classmate and best friend in Daddy-Long-Legs. Among the recipients of the letters are Judy; Jervis Pendleton, Judy’s husband and the president of the orphanage where Sallie is filling in until a new superintendent can be installed; Gordon Hallock, a wealthy Congressman and Sallie’s later fiancé; and the orphanage’s doctor, embittered Scotsman Robin ‘Sandy’ MacRae (to whom Sallie addresses her letters: “Dear Enemy”).

Webster employs the epistolary structure to good effect; Sallie’s choices of what to recount to each of her correspondents reveal a lot about her relationships with them.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Classics Club

The Reason

I loved Daddy-Long-Legs by the author, and although I’ve read this sequel before, it’s been a long time and I thought it might be time to revisit.

The Quotes

“The more I study men, the more I realize that they are nothing in the world but boys grown too big to be spankable.”

“The awful thing about a vacation is that the moment it begins your happiness is already clouded by its approaching end.”

“We all have a collection of memories that we would happily lose, but somehow those are just the ones that insist upon sticking.”

My Thoughts

I didn’t love this as much as Daddy-Long-Legs because I think Judy is so much more relatable and perhaps also it was her carefree nature that got me. Sallie wasn’t as fun, but to be fair, they have grown up a bit since college, and she’s handling an orphanage which obviously requires a lot more responsibility than college kids normally think about.

I think the romance with this book is cute though! With a title like Dear Enemy, and the enemies to lovers trope being so popular now. The ending did seem a little abrupt to me, I feel like I need a little more romance than that!

We don’t see a lot of Judy at all, but at least we see her through Sallie’s letters and we know that she’s happy and well! I feel like this book is a different tone than what we got with Daddy-Long-Legs and talks about some serious topics. I was also surprised with some of the more “modern” takes – simply because I have no concept of history and when some ideas were introduced to the world, but I do feel like Sallie was progressive for the time and I liked that.

I read this book before and I think I didn’t care very much for it then, maybe because I was also expecting more of Judy and the same vibes I got from Daddy-Long-Legs, but managing my expectations this time, I enjoyed it a lot more for what it is and I think it’s a good read on its own merit.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Posted October 25, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

In these nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.

In “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and second chances. In “Exhalation,” an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom,” the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.

Including stories being published for the first time as well as some of his rare and classic uncollected work, Exhalation is Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic—revelatory.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’ve read Ted Chiang’s short story, “Arrival” and really loved it. This book was a buddy read so I decided to read it too.

The Quotes

“The universe began as an enormous breath being held. Who knows why, but whatever the reason, I am glad that it did, because I owe my existence to that fact.”

“I hope that you were motivated by a desire for knowledge, a yearning to see what can arise from a universe’s exhalation. Because even if a universe’s life span is calculable, the variety of life that is generated within it is not. The buildings we have erected, the art and music and verse we have composed, the very lives we’ve led: none of them could have been predicted, because none of them was inevitable”

“Our memories are not the impartial accumulation of every second we’ve lived; they’re the narrative that we assembled out of selected moments.”

The Narrator(s)

Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, Ted Chiang. No complaints about any of them, I enjoyed the narration for all the stories.

My Thoughts

I loved the stories and they gave me a lot of food for thought. I listened to the audiobook and there was an author’s note at the end of each of the stories that gave extra insight into the stories. There were nine stories in the book and they were all good, but I liked some more than others, of course. My personal favorites were The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Omphalos, and The Truth of Fact The Truth of Feeling. They were all very thought-provoking, but the last one was also very emotion-provoking for me. I speak more about my thoughts on each individual story in my spoiler-filled post for the book; Notes & Reactions | Exhalation by Ted Chiang.

For more discussion on the book – with SPOILERS – check out Notes & Reactions | Exhalation by Ted Chiang. This post has SPOILERS and assumes you have already finished the book. It is password-protected to prevent accidental spoiling. Password is “SPOILME0005”. Proceed at your own risk.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Posted October 11, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

We are coming apart. We’re a rope, breaking, a single strand at a time.

America is a place of chaos, where violence rules and only the rich and powerful are safe. Lauren Olamina, a young woman with the extraordinary power to feel the pain of others as her own, records everything she sees of this broken world in her journal.

Then, one terrible night, everything alters beyond recognition, and Lauren must make her voice heard for the sake of those she loves.

Soon, her vision becomes reality and her dreams of a better way to live gain the power to change humanity forever.

All that you touch,
You Change.
All that you Change,
Changes you.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Diversity Reading Challenge

The Reason

I’ve been wanting to read Octavia E. Butler and this was a buddy read!

The Quotes

“The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes it seems as though there aren’t any other kind and yet I found myself thinking how beautiful that glint of water was through the trees.”

“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.”

“Freedom is dangerous but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it away or let it slip away. You can’t sell it for bread and pottage.”

“We’ll have to be very careful how we allow our needs to shape us.”

The Narrator(s)

Lynne Thigpen. No complaints, I enjoyed the narration.

My Thoughts

I am conflicted on what I think about this book. On the one hand, it was a really great story and so well-written. I’m also discovering that I love on-the-road stories. I also love that it was first published in 1993 but set in our current times. It’s so interesting to see what the author thought 2024 would look like, and frankly she wasn’t far off. I loved most of the story, I loved the characters, I love seeing how everyone and everything changed as they went, to the theme of the story. It was brilliant!

On the other hand, it went into preachy territory for me and I don’t like that. To be clear, I have no issues with the beliefs presented in the book, in fact, I agree with a lot of them. I also have no issues with religious and spiritual preaching being a part of the story for the purpose of the story, but I don’t like when it feels like the story was written for the purpose of the preaching, unless the story is upfront about it, that is. As it is, it feels like a bait and switch; promise me a good story but preach me a sermon instead.

As mentioned earlier, it is still a good story and I have to give it props, and to be fair, this book isn’t the worst offender for preachiness – it just barely straddles the line – but that makes me conflicted and I guess I don’t like it enough to overlook the preaching and continue with the next book.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. It’s a good story and well-written.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Posted September 27, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 3 Comments

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

A missing God.
A library with the secrets to the universe.
A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.

Carolyn’s not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts. After all, she was a normal American herself once.  

That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father. In the years since then, Carolyn hasn’t had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father’s ancient customs. They’ve studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they’ve wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.  Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation.

As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own. But Carolyn has accounted for this. And Carolyn has a plan. The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she’s forgotten to protect the things that make her human.

Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Bookish Books Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge

The Reason

I’ve heard so much about this book and I’ve been curious. Also, it’s a bookish book and I’m doing a bookish book challenge.

The Quotes

“Peace of mind is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”

“The only real escape from hell is to conquer it.”

“It’s the notion that the universe is structured in such a way that no matter how many mysteries you solve, there is always a deeper mystery behind it.”

“She knew every word that had ever been spoken, but she could think of nothing to say that might ease his grief.”

The Narrator(s)

Hillary Huber. She was great for the time that I listened on audio.

My Thoughts

It might not be fair to count this book in my audiobook challenge, to be honest. I only listened about 50% on audio on and off in the beginning, and ended up switching over to the print copy for good towards the end. There was nothing wrong with the narration, but it was because there were some made-up words for a lot of specific concepts in the book, some dialogue in different languages, as well as the purposely confusing plot. They made it difficult to follow on audio, so I switched over to print when it got really exciting.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I loved it all the way I was reading it, up until the ending. I loved the pace, the storytelling, the plot, the characters, but I really hate the message and I feel like it might have ruined the whole book for me. I’m quite conflicted. I talk about it in more detail in Notes & Discussion | The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins at the end of the post. If you’ve already read the book, please feel free to head on over to the post and let me know what you think, otherwise, please be warned that it’s a spoiler-filled post!

For more discussion on the book – with SPOILERS – check out Notes & Discussion | The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. This post has SPOILERS and assumes you have already finished the book. It is password-protected to prevent accidental spoiling. Password is “SPOILME0004”. Proceed at your own risk.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. Giving credit where credit is due, it’s a really well-written book!

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

Posted September 27, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies―good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates―The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!―it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone―much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script―it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter―even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules―and comes true?

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

I love Katherine Center and I’m probably going to be reading everything she writes.

The Quotes

“I had a theory that we gravitate toward the stories we need in life. Whatever we are looking for- adventure, excitement, emotion, connection-we turn to stories that help us find it. Whatever questions we’re struggling with- sometimes ones so deep, we don’t even really know we’re asking them- we look for answers in stories.”

“Well, you’re lucky. Because love is something you can learn. Love is something you can practice. It’s something you can choose to get good at. And here’s how you do it. Appreciate your person.
That’s it.”

“Whatever story you tell yourself about your life, that’s the one that’ll be true.”

“Humanity at its worst is an easy story to tell – but it’s not the only story. Because the more we can imagine our better selves, the more we can become them.”

The Narrator(s)

Patti Murin. Loved it! There was such a natural flow to the storytelling and I was engrossed.

My Thoughts

First of all; tropes! I love them, but only if they’re done well and not overly cliched, and I love them here in this book. We’ve got close proximity, enemies to lovers, miscommunication, and more! There’s also a little bit of cheesiness, but come on, this is a romance; cheese is an essential part of the recipe, otherwise why are you even reading romance?

Having said all that, I loved the story! I love how well-written it was and how emotional I got at the end. There were a couple of scenes that were difficult to read about, specifically one with the FMC, Emma, and her sister. And while I don’t necessarily like that it happened, I feel like it’s true to real life and real family dynamics.

As for the romance itself, I really love how the relationship developed between Emma and Charlie. I love the conversations they had, the way they got to know each other and started respecting one another. It was a bumpy ride, and again, so emotional, but well-worth it in the end.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Posted September 13, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
The Classics Club

The Reason

I’d been wanting to read more classics, hence the reason I joined The Classics Club, and I’d been wanting to read Dostoevsky, and this happened to be one of the buddy reads in my online bookclub, so it all worked out and made me read a book I would’ve otherwise kept putting off.

The Quotes

“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”

“Existence alone had never been enough for him; he had always wanted more. Perhaps it was only from the force of his desires that he had regarded himself as a man to whom more was permitted than to others.”

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.”

“What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?”

The Narrator(s)

Will Poulter. I was very pleasantly surprised by his narration. I loved that his narration was so clear and easily understandable, and I was surprised with his voices for the characters. It was really easy to listen to because of his narration. And I say this after sampling a couple of other narrators for this book.

My Thoughts

I had been intimidated by this book for ages and thought it would be difficult to get through, but it’s surprisingly easy – maybe because I listened on audiobook with Will Poulter narrating, but whatever helps is good, right? I did get confused with the names and nicknames, as is normal for Russian literature and fantasy novels with made-up names and places, but I was mostly able to follow along with the story and characters. I did have to refer occasionally to the physical book to clear some of the confusion though.

As for the story itself, I have to say that I don’t really connect to the characters and their motivations. A lot of it didn’t make sense to me; why they do the things they did, why they talked so much and did so little, a lot of things happened in their head and in conversations. There were a lot of thinking, and wondering, and existential crises.

However, there were discussions in the buddy read for this book that helped me understand some things better in regards to how the story relates to the beliefs and values of the time and place, and while I’m still not sure that I like the book, I can absolutely see why it’s considered a masterpiece. I also intend to reread this book again because I’m sure that I’ll get more out of it every time I read it, so maybe I’ll have more to say next time.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. 4 stars because I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook, participating in the discussions for the book, and because I think it’s really well-written despite my disconnect to the characters.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Posted September 6, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she has been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben’s innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother’s? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day… especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.

Who did massacre the Day family?

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Reading Challenge

The Reason

It’s a buddy read and I enjoyed Gillian Flynn’s other books!

The Quotes

“I was not a lovable child, and I’d grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it’d be a scribble with fangs.”

“You think you know the answer, you’re going to find peace? Like knowing is somehow going to fix you? You think after what happened there’s any peace for you, sweetheart? How about this. Instead of asking yourself what happened, just accept that it happened.”

“Don’t be discouraged – every relationship you have is a failure, until you find the right one.”

“I appreciate a straightforward apology the way a tone-deaf person enjoys a fine piece of music. I can’t do it, but I can applaud it in others.”

The Narrator(s)

Rebecca Lowman, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins, Robertson Dean. They were all great, I loved listening to the audiobook!

My Thoughts

Funny story; apparently I read this book before in 2016 and forgot that I read it. I forgot pretty much everything about it, to the point that the final reveal at the end didn’t even occur to me and surprised me all over again! Which is pretty great, tbh, because I got to experience it all over again for a second time.

This was another buddy read and as always, I loved the experience of reading it with other readers and reading their comments about the book. One of the things I love most about Gillian Flynn is her ability to write flawed and unlikeable characters and yet make you root for them, understand them, put yourself in their shoes.

Libby is very flawed, but I love that she’s also very self-aware about her flaws. She’s not as self-aware about her strengths but that’s a lot of us. She’s relatable that way. Once things started getting into motion, I felt her compulsion to find out more about what happened to her family. I would feel the same way too. I would need answers. It’s such a painful thing to have happened at all, and I get that having answers don’t erase that bad things happened, but it does help to have questions answered.

Completely worth reading/rereading!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

Posted September 6, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep-sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah is not the same. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home.

Moving through something that only resembles normal life, Miri comes to realize that the life that they had before might be gone. Though Leah is still there, Miri can feel the woman she loves slipping from her grasp.

Our Wives Under The Sea is the debut novel from Julia Armfield, the critically acclaimed author of Salt Slow. It’s a story of falling in love, loss, grief, and what life there is in the deep deep sea.

The Reason

This has been on my TBR forever! I’ve heard so much about it and it intrigued me because the plot sounds a little like an old favorite book of mine, The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike. I finally read it because it was a buddy read and that gives me motivation!

The Quotes

“I used to think there was such a thing as emptiness, that there were places in the world one could go and be alone. This, I think, is still true, but the error in my reasoning was to assume that alone was somewhere you could go, rather than somewhere you had to be left.”

“I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her, but the problem with this is that loving is something we all do alone and through different sets of eyes.”

“To know the ocean, I have always felt, is to recognize the teeth it keeps half hidden.”

“When something bad is actually happening, it’s easy to underreact, because a part of you is wired to assume it isn’t real. When you stop underreacting, the horror is unique because it is, unfortunately, endless.”

My Thoughts

This is a gorgeous book with so many quotable quotes. It’s beautifully written, so lyrical and emotional. It’s not what I initially expected, but I did end up loving it, especially since it was a buddy read and reading everyone else’s thoughts added a lot to my own reading experience.

It’s listed as horror and I expected some tangible sea monster kind of story, but some of the other readers mentioned the horror of losing a loved one, or watching as bad things happen and there’s nothing you can do about it. I loved that take on it. I also love that the book was divided into sections corresponding to the zones of the ocean, and the deeper you go into the zones, the deeper you go into uncharted territory of the mind as well.

It’s so haunting and beautiful, and I’m glad I finally read it.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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