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The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby
Ellery Lloyd | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is a complex, clever and thoroughly enjoyable mystery set over three timelines and three destinations: Paris, Cambridge and Dubai.
I haven’t read Ellery Lloyds second book, The Club, but I have read People Like Her - and its completely different stylistically and thematically to that.
This starts in Paris in 1938, when artist and heiress Juliette Willoughby dies in a fire in her Parisian apartment/ art studio. We then jump 50 years in to the future to Cambridge where two art students discover that the fire appears not to have been an accident, and indeed is linked in some way to a murder in present day Dubai.
This is so complex that there is no way that I could try and describe the storyline beyond this - and I wouldn’t want to. It’s for the reader to find out what happens and how - and what a ride it is! I was carried along by the fantastic narration of the three voice actors, and the journey to the end was exciting and wholly surprising. I didn’t see it coming at all. Great characters (even the unlikeable ones!), interesting destinations and a riveting mystery. Recommended!
  
    Jewish Dating

    Jewish Dating

    Dating, Lifestyle and Social Networking

    1.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

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    FREE DATING SERVICE FOR JEWISH SINGLES HAS ARRIVED ON THE iPHONE! With no on-going fees or...

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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Moonglow in Books

Nov 9, 2017  
Moonglow
Moonglow
Michael Chabon | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Beautifully written
This biography of Michael Chabon's 'grandfather' is a stunning piece of whimsy, the tale of a cranky, old genius that grips and surprises throughout. It is a long, meandering novel masquerading as a memoir, flitting around time and place so that the chapters don't follow consecutively and it's only gradually that we build up a picture of the narrator's family history via the stories told to him by his grandfather.

Despite the fragmented narrative and some aspects considered to be fictional truth, there's real heart and soul here which lifts this novel beyond merely the clever construction, giving it a haunting, poignant undertone.

For me the book is less about the grandfather, but the beautiful, damaged woman with whom he falls in love with. Profoundly affected by her experiences during the Second World War, the narrator's grandmother tells stories to shore up her own sense of self and to hold herself together in the wake of trauma.

While at times it can seem tedious, the author's writing carries it through, moving effortlessly from rambunctious humour to distressing scenes. It is a meditation on families and what constitutes a family when it's not based on blood, histories and accurate memories. A big-hearted and beautifully-written novel.
  
12 Years a Slave (2013)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
2013 | Biography, Drama, History
Cast and acting is spectacular (1 more)
Fantastic direction by Steve McQueen
Harrowing, disturbing beyond belief
It's taken me four years to watch this film out of fear I'd be seriously disturbed by the end of it. And no doubt it is disturbing.

The story of Solomon Northrup entails a free black man in America being kidnapped and then sold into slavery. He is gifted and educated, on top of having led a free life with his wife and children, hence in many ways it can be seen as even more traumatic knowing what is already out there.

What's interesting is the complicity of others involved, including other African Americans who have had to turn the other cheek in order to survive. The white men are despicable in this film, the brutality is truly horrifying.

It goes without saying Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic as Solomon, he's understated which makes his acting all the more moving. Michael Fassbender is particularly gratuitous in his role as a slave owner. Lupita Nyong'o is absolutely outstanding, playing a woman brutalized by the master for his own disgusting needs. The women go through a particular hell in this horrid period of history. You'll need a strong countenance to watch this.
  
Show all 5 comments.
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) Sep 7, 2017

This is quite different as one it's based on a true story and two, slavery is a horrific time in history. So it's brutal.

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Lindsay (1812 KP) Sep 7, 2017

I believe that.

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b.Young (97 KP) rated The Wordsmith in Books

May 15, 2018  
The Wordsmith
The Wordsmith
Alan Ayer | 2017 | Horror, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Unique plot (0 more)
Horrifying in a good way
Have you ever wondered how famous authors pump out great book after great book? Well, it's probably not quite how Walt Erickson does it...or is it???

I read this book because I found it offered for free in the Amazon Kindle store. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. Y'all! I was wrong to set my expectations so low!
This was a truly horrifying glimpse into what one famous author does to keep writing those best-selling books of his. And (spoiler): He's. Not. Writing. Them.
So who is? How does he keep from being found out?
My first thought was that his typewriter is bewitched and doing the writing for him.
My second thought was that he had a ghost writer that he pays very handsomely to keep quiet.
I had some other thoughts about it, but they were just too PG.
Let me just tell you, that NONE of my thoughts were what was actually going on and I was beyond freaked out when I discovered the truth!
This story reminded me a little of Secret Garden and a little of some episode of The Twilight Zone I saw when I was like 10.
If you read this and you will think you entered The Twilight Zone.
  
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Stormi (105 KP) May 15, 2018

Thanks for the review!!! I went and grabbed it. Hope to get to it soon!!!