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ClareR (5667 KP) rated Madam in Books

Jan 13, 2023  
Madam
Madam
Phoebe Wynne | 2021 | Gender Studies, LGBTQ+
7
6.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rose Christie is a young Classics teacher who gets a teaching post at an elite public boarding school in Scotland: Caldonbrae Hall.

But this school isn’t as it first appears. Rose loves her subject and wants to share that love: the girls don’t want to learn, and they frankly can’t see the point. Frustration radiates off the page - or perhaps as an ex-teacher I was just projecting! Honestly, this part nearly made me stop reading! I was so angry with the students behaviour!

It would seem that the senior management team at the school very much agree with the girls though, and want Rose to become more like them.

Not likely!

And then there was Rose’s predecessor and her strange disappearance, which of course Rose has to find out more about.

I’m so glad that I read beyond my 3 chapter cut off, because I did enjoy this. I will say that there’s a fair bit of age-inappropriate sexual behaviour, so if you find this problematic, it may be best to steer clear. But it was all in keeping with the ethos of the school - I KNOW!!
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Broken Girls in Books

Mar 20, 2018  
The Broken Girls
The Broken Girls
Simone St. James | 2018 | Horror, Thriller
8
8.5 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Captivating, ghostly thriller
Idlewild Hall has been abandoned since 1979. Until then, it was a boarding school of last resort, where parents sent the daughters they'd sooner rather forget. Now someone is looking to restore it, bringing back all of journalist Fiona Sheridan's memories of her teenage sister, Deb. Deb was murdered and her body left in the fields of Idlewild. A rich teen--her sister's boyfriend--named Tim Christopher was charged with Deb's murder. But it never seemed quite right to Fiona. So, she decides to write a story about the restoration, but encounters more than she bargained for as she begins to uncover years of long-buried secrets.

This is a wonderful, captivating book that drew me in immediately. I've never read anything by Simone St. James, so this was a welcome surprise. The novel alternates between two time periods: 1950 and 2014. In 1950, we hear from four girls attending Idlewild Hall--Katie, CeCe, Sonia, and Roberta. One of the girls soon goes missing and her disappearance ties to 2014, where Fiona is both searching for more information about her sister's death and, eventually, more knowledge about the missing Idlewild student. It's incredibly well-done and extremely suspenseful, drawing you quickly into the narrative and the two separate but related worlds.

The book plays on the boarding school mystique and offers up more supernatural elements than I was expecting, but they somehow work here. The novel is creepy and not one I always wanted to be reading alone in the dark! Like some of my favorites, Jennifer McMahon and Carol Goodman, St. James has a flair for the eerie and the ghostly, and it works well in this context. The boarding school stands stark and haunting in the book-terrifying at times-and you feel the fear ooze across the pages from the various characters.

Indeed, St. James does a great job capturing her characters, whom practically come to life before your very eyes. The group from boarding school are excellent--each different in their own way--and Fiona is an excellent, complicated character as well. While the two eras stood alone, I enjoyed how the stories intermingled and slowly tangled together, making the book quite fascinating and a real page-turner. This one wasn't what I expected; at times, it could be quite heartbreaking and touching.

Overall, this is an incredibly well-done thriller. It's quite captivating with lovely characters. A great discovery. I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. More at http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com.
  
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Aiden Gillen recommended L'Atalante (1934) in Movies (curated)

 
L'Atalante (1934)
L'Atalante (1934)
1934 | Romance
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I recently picked up Jean Vigo's dreamy 1934 story of a honeymoon couple heading to Paris on a barge. It's still startling and would have been way out on its own in 1934. Also included on the Artificial Eye DVD is his earlier short Zéro de conduite which was banned for years in France. An anarchic tale of kids taking over a boarding school. You can see how much Truffaut picked up from here and it was a direct influence on the 60s Lindsay Anderson film If. Vigo died young and L'Atalante was his only complete feature."

Source
  
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ClareR (5667 KP) rated Blessings in Books

Aug 22, 2024  
Blessings
Blessings
Chukwuebuka Ibeh | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the heart wrenching story of Obiefuna, and how his father sends him to a strict religious boarding school after he catches him kissing another boy. He basically cuts him off from his family and especially from his beloved mother.

Obiefuna has to keep his sexuality hidden as Nigeria moves to criminalise homosexuality, and he finds himself living a lie at school, and even participating in another boys brutal beating.

This could just be an emotionally devastating story of an ostracised boy, but there is love in this, from Obi’s mother and those he meets when he leaves school. He is a resilient boy and man who does find love.

I listened to this on audiobook (from Xigxag) and it was read so well by Fejiro Emasiobi and Tariye Peterside. This added much to the story itself - even just by teaching me how to pronounce the characters names properly. They also ramped up the emotion for me, especially when Obi is a boy.

This is a stunning debut and well worth a read (or a listen!!).