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The Silent Sister

Shalini Boland

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

‘You don't deserve a sister…’ When Lizzy Beresford discovers a threatening letter addressed...

Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition

Cedric J. Robinson

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In this ambitious work, first published in 1983, Cedric Robinson demonstrates that efforts to...

Rodney Barnes (472 KP) rated Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in Movies

Mar 5, 2019

Story, Characters and soundtrack (0 more)

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The Finale..Part 1

Contains spoilers, click to show

Thanos did what? Yes this is what MCU was building up to.....A final battle with our favorite heroes and Thanos. This movie was well done and well balanced. It had so many heroes in this movie but it wasn't all cluttered up and all run together. That being said, the combined might of the Avengers, Black Panther, Dr. Strange and The Guardians of the Galaxy was not enough to stop Thanos. Thanos had a strong resolve to bring balance to the universe. A villain with a resolve like that of our heroes is a dangerous one. His argument is so convincing that it will have you almost agreeing with him. In the end, Thanos' resolve makes him victorious as he gets all of the Infinity Stones and wipes out half of the universe, including some of our favorite heroes. Will there be anyway the remaining Avengers can undo Thanos' Decimation? We have to wait till the next movie.

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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Lost Connections in Books

Mar 19, 2018

Lost Connections

Johann Hari | 2018 | Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Sentiment is worthy but not cohesive

Johann Hari has delved into the world of depression and psychiatry, revealing his own battles with the condition and attempting to debunk approaches towards mental health. His intentions are worthy as it is a dense topic of discussion, and absolutely essential, but unfortunately Hari only focuses on one side.

His views on overprescription are completely accurate as many mental health professionals have a tendency to equate behaviour as a science, therefore looking towards traditional methods of treatment. However, his views that depression is totally reactive to environment is incorrect as many with other serious conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar, would have "endogenous" depression ie. where something goes wrong in the brain.

Much of this book concentrates on the disconnection from vital human requirements such as neighbourliness, professional fulfillment, acknowledgement of trauma and so on. His approach suggests that reconnecting may help the malaise. While I agree with half of his argument, others may find it oversimplified. But no doubt we do need a more compassionate attitude towards mental health.

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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Mad Love in Books

Jul 5, 2018

Mad Love

Nick Spalding | 2016 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

8.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Funny and pretty realistic

I'm not really one for romantic novels, even funny, modern ones like this - mainly because they're ridiculously predictable. Mad Love does fall into this category, but it gets away with it because it's so realistic and funny to go along with it.

The two main characters Adam and Jess are endearing and flawed, they're not perfect. Reading about their impromptu marriage from both side is both humorous and very true. Anyone who's had an argument or gotten in a huff with a loved one will surely recognise a lot of this book. It's full of pop culture too and very modern, with its take on dating websites and reality stars. Of course this has already been done on a tv show, but its still an interesting read.

The one thing it's lacking is a little bit of sentimentality and heart warming emotions. It gets there towards the end, but its a long time coming and I could feel myself getting very frustrated at how situations turned out.

But still, it's a very fun, quick and entertaining read.

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David McK (3425 KP) rated The Magic of Recluce (The Saga of Recluce #1) in Books

Jan 30, 2019

If ever there was an argument for Goodreads to expand beyond a 5-star rating system, this is it: better than some other books I've rated 1 star, but not as good as some others I've rated as 2 stars.

The first book in what has become known as The Saga of Recluce, I found this to be quite unusual in that (in this world world), it equates the White Wizards with evil (or chaos) and Black Wizards with good (or order). In many respects, this is also a coming-of-age tale, with the central protaganist maturing throughout the course of the story: a story that, I felt, could have been told in about 1/2 the number of pages if the author didn't insist on detailing each and every little iota of noise - who wants to read about (roughly, and all told) a page or two per chapter of Wheee-urrrggg (stomach noises) or caw-caw (bird noises) or thrum-thrum-thrum (hoof-beats)?!?