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Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume Two: Everything She Wants: Volume two
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The sensational second volume of Charles Moore's bestselling authorized biography of the Iron Lady...
Margaret Thatcher: Volume Two: The Authorized Biography : Everything She Wants
Book
The sensational second volume of Charles Moore's bestselling authorized biography of the Iron Lady...
50 Museums to Blow Your Mind
Lonely Planet and Ben Handicott
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Thank the stars for the world's eccentric collectors; hoarders of objects beautiful, strange or...
Global Air Quality - Real Time Air Quality Indices
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Real-time air quality indices for over 3800 cities in 69 countries and regions. Currently, English,...
World's Best Drinks
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Travel the world from the comfort of your own living room! From the people who have been delivering...
BookInspector (124 KP) rated Leopard at the Door in Books
Sep 24, 2020
More reviews at https://bbookinspector.wordpress.com
My favourite genre to read normally is mystery, crime or thrillers, but I try to choose different genres from time to time. I need to rest from investigations and murders, that’s where historical fiction, YA and other books come in. This book is no exception; I needed something to clear my mind, and it really done the job.
Let me begin by saying, that I loved the environment used in this book. Author portrayed the surroundings and places in this book with great detail, and made me actually feel the African spirit. So, all her travels through Africa, really helped her to describe what she felt to the reader.
The main character in this book was Rachel, and she was the one to share her life with a reader. This novel had a huge variety of very diverse characters, some of them positive and dear to the heart, and some of them really negative, which made me really angry about them. Unfortunately, I did not have any favourite character in this book, as I felt they were not fully developed and opened up to the reader. I would’ve liked to read different perspectives and have more insight into different personalities. Even though I really tried to like Rachel’s rebellious views and kind heart, I think some of her decisions were really silly and disappointing.
The narrative of this novel starts in 1952, when British Empire is on a verge of collapsing, and Kenya wishes its independence. I absolutely adored all the details about Mau Mau, their ideology and ways of action. I loved Michael’s thoughts about war and his country’s independence. I think, this book was really well researched and the whole spirit of the book was shared just gorgeously. The whole story was flowing very smoothly, with some turns and twists, which kept me interested. There was a great love story going on in this book, but I would’ve liked it to be a bit more passionate than it was. Author discussed some interesting topics in this book, such as: Life after mother’s death and relationship with a stepmother; feelings, when you don’t have anyone to turn to; love and betrayal.
The writing style of this novel was not difficult to read, but it contains some African words, which were explained at the end of the book. (If you read it on Kindle, it’s not very helpful) The chapters of this book have decent length, but it might drag a little, because there is not much action going on in this novel. The ending was quite interesting and done the justice to the book and Rachel, but still left me questioning about “What happened to Michael?” So, overall, I actually enjoyed this story of wish for independence, unexpected love, family difficulties and betrayal, and I would recommend immersing yourself into this beautiful Kenyan setting.
Was given this book by publisher and NetGalley for honest review.
My favourite genre to read normally is mystery, crime or thrillers, but I try to choose different genres from time to time. I need to rest from investigations and murders, that’s where historical fiction, YA and other books come in. This book is no exception; I needed something to clear my mind, and it really done the job.
Let me begin by saying, that I loved the environment used in this book. Author portrayed the surroundings and places in this book with great detail, and made me actually feel the African spirit. So, all her travels through Africa, really helped her to describe what she felt to the reader.
The main character in this book was Rachel, and she was the one to share her life with a reader. This novel had a huge variety of very diverse characters, some of them positive and dear to the heart, and some of them really negative, which made me really angry about them. Unfortunately, I did not have any favourite character in this book, as I felt they were not fully developed and opened up to the reader. I would’ve liked to read different perspectives and have more insight into different personalities. Even though I really tried to like Rachel’s rebellious views and kind heart, I think some of her decisions were really silly and disappointing.
The narrative of this novel starts in 1952, when British Empire is on a verge of collapsing, and Kenya wishes its independence. I absolutely adored all the details about Mau Mau, their ideology and ways of action. I loved Michael’s thoughts about war and his country’s independence. I think, this book was really well researched and the whole spirit of the book was shared just gorgeously. The whole story was flowing very smoothly, with some turns and twists, which kept me interested. There was a great love story going on in this book, but I would’ve liked it to be a bit more passionate than it was. Author discussed some interesting topics in this book, such as: Life after mother’s death and relationship with a stepmother; feelings, when you don’t have anyone to turn to; love and betrayal.
The writing style of this novel was not difficult to read, but it contains some African words, which were explained at the end of the book. (If you read it on Kindle, it’s not very helpful) The chapters of this book have decent length, but it might drag a little, because there is not much action going on in this novel. The ending was quite interesting and done the justice to the book and Rachel, but still left me questioning about “What happened to Michael?” So, overall, I actually enjoyed this story of wish for independence, unexpected love, family difficulties and betrayal, and I would recommend immersing yourself into this beautiful Kenyan setting.
Was given this book by publisher and NetGalley for honest review.
The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated Lilac Girls in Books
Oct 5, 2020
This novel is very nicely written, with interesting characters. In particular, the protagonist Caroline is beautifully formed, with a life that is fascinating for those who know little about how Americans tried to help those who became unwitting refugees in the US after Hitler invaded their homelands. However, we must remember that Holocaust novels are a dime a dozen. This is why I was hoping that this novel would be different, particularly since the blurb for this book talks about Christine and her helping two survivors of the women's camp Ravensbruck. Unfortunately, the detailed information about the two other women in this story, and their introduction to Ravensbruck was, in my opinion, too much back-story. Although retelling the grim and gory ways that the Nazis treated their prisoners is a necessary evil, I somehow felt that this book included these scenes only to evoke pity for these characters. I don't want to pity characters, I want to have empathy for them, to care about them, and the author let me down with this.
In addition - and I hope this doesn't sound racist or snobbish - as a Jew, I have a hard time with Holocaust novels that seem to outwardly ignore how the Nazis treated the Jews, and only focuses on the other "undesirables." I realize that the Nazis didn't only kill Jews, but they were their primary target, and to avoid that altogether was disingenuous, to say the least. However, I was glad that this book didn't focus on any overtly Christian themes, even though I believe that there is a market for Holocaust stories within the Christian Fiction genre (see my review of the novel The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron here http://drchazan.blogspot.com/2014/07/beauty-out-of-ugliness.html for more on my feelings about this).
Furthermore, the only Jewish reference I found in this novel was a passing reference to visiting the Ghetto and a remembrance of eating a Hanukkah delicacy. Unfortunately, the author didn't do her research properly, and the character said she remembered eating a type of doughnut that the Jewish bakers made for the holiday. Those doughnuts - known as "sufganiot" were never part of any Eastern European Hanukkah celebration at that time. In fact, sufganiot that are popular among Jews today, come from the Jews of North Africa and Arab countries. The word, sufganiot, comes from the Arabic and Hebrew words that mean sponge. While Jews in Poland did make something similar, their popularity as a particularly Hanukkah delicacy among Easter European Jews only coincided after Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews came together in Israel (i.e., post-1948). All of this is why I cannot give this book a rating of more than two and a half stars out of five, but I'm certain that it will find a much more sympathetic audience among non-Jewish readers.
In addition - and I hope this doesn't sound racist or snobbish - as a Jew, I have a hard time with Holocaust novels that seem to outwardly ignore how the Nazis treated the Jews, and only focuses on the other "undesirables." I realize that the Nazis didn't only kill Jews, but they were their primary target, and to avoid that altogether was disingenuous, to say the least. However, I was glad that this book didn't focus on any overtly Christian themes, even though I believe that there is a market for Holocaust stories within the Christian Fiction genre (see my review of the novel The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron here http://drchazan.blogspot.com/2014/07/beauty-out-of-ugliness.html for more on my feelings about this).
Furthermore, the only Jewish reference I found in this novel was a passing reference to visiting the Ghetto and a remembrance of eating a Hanukkah delicacy. Unfortunately, the author didn't do her research properly, and the character said she remembered eating a type of doughnut that the Jewish bakers made for the holiday. Those doughnuts - known as "sufganiot" were never part of any Eastern European Hanukkah celebration at that time. In fact, sufganiot that are popular among Jews today, come from the Jews of North Africa and Arab countries. The word, sufganiot, comes from the Arabic and Hebrew words that mean sponge. While Jews in Poland did make something similar, their popularity as a particularly Hanukkah delicacy among Easter European Jews only coincided after Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews came together in Israel (i.e., post-1948). All of this is why I cannot give this book a rating of more than two and a half stars out of five, but I'm certain that it will find a much more sympathetic audience among non-Jewish readers.
Darren (1599 KP) rated The Furnace (2019) in Movies
Oct 14, 2019
Characters – Mary starts this film married and about to go on a honeymoon the pair had been dreaming off, this goes in an instant, leaving her needing an oxygen tank to get through the day, with any hopes of running dashed. Angry at the world, she starts to close off, finding any attempts at returning to her passion ending in hospital trips, until she meets Coffin, here she learns about faith and new technology to overcome her odds to compete in the race that was her honeymoon plan, one that is a test for even the toughest runners in the world. Coffin is a gravedigger in America, even though he is trained as a doctor back in Africa, he offers to help Mary get back to her former self, teaching her to pace herself, preparing her for the impossible sounding race. He must watch from the side lines, with hope that she will make it through each stage of the race. Raphaella is a fellow runner that Mary meets along the way, one to help support her over the course of the journey.
Performances – Jamie Bernadette steps away from the action horror roles we have seen her in recently for a much more serious role, one that does play into her strengths, she deals with the athletic demand of the performance with ease, while bringing the emotional impact of her character’s journey through the film. Luthuli Dlamini does a wonderful job in his role too bringing the calmness to help make Mary strong through the film.
Story – The story here follows one woman that loses everything she had a dreamt off until she finds her faith and pushes herself to get back on the track and complete the race she was meant to do with her husband. This is a story that shows the inspiration of wanting to overcome tragedy and finding a way to achieve this in a world you wouldn’t normal consider. We do get a normal montage of training, while a large part of the story follows the race being competed in. we do get to see just how much needed to be overcome, though it could have given us more of a time frame and just what the injury Mary had, like how likely it is to overcome, or would it be something she was meant to be living with for the rest of her life.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show us just how her life changes in America, while it does get the beauty shots of the African wild reserve seeing the different animals around area.
Scene of the Movie – The race final leg.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not getting a full look at the time frame.
Final Thoughts – This is an inspiring story of overcoming tragedy to get back to the former strength, with powerful performances throughout.
Overall: Inspiring Throughout.
Performances – Jamie Bernadette steps away from the action horror roles we have seen her in recently for a much more serious role, one that does play into her strengths, she deals with the athletic demand of the performance with ease, while bringing the emotional impact of her character’s journey through the film. Luthuli Dlamini does a wonderful job in his role too bringing the calmness to help make Mary strong through the film.
Story – The story here follows one woman that loses everything she had a dreamt off until she finds her faith and pushes herself to get back on the track and complete the race she was meant to do with her husband. This is a story that shows the inspiration of wanting to overcome tragedy and finding a way to achieve this in a world you wouldn’t normal consider. We do get a normal montage of training, while a large part of the story follows the race being competed in. we do get to see just how much needed to be overcome, though it could have given us more of a time frame and just what the injury Mary had, like how likely it is to overcome, or would it be something she was meant to be living with for the rest of her life.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show us just how her life changes in America, while it does get the beauty shots of the African wild reserve seeing the different animals around area.
Scene of the Movie – The race final leg.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not getting a full look at the time frame.
Final Thoughts – This is an inspiring story of overcoming tragedy to get back to the former strength, with powerful performances throughout.
Overall: Inspiring Throughout.
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