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All the Bright Places
All the Bright Places
Jennifer Niven | 2015 | Children, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.8 (24 Ratings)
Book Rating
Theodore is a quirky teen whose life has been troubled by sadness. His parents are divorced and Theo's recent past has been marked by dark patches, what he thinks of as a deep sleep, where he zones out from depression and sadness. He finds himself thinking often of suicide. One day, while on the ledge of their school's Bell Tower, Theo comes across Violet. Violet's life has changed drastically since the death of her older sister in a car accident. She's not so sure about life lately, either. So Theo lets everyone at school think Violet "saved" him on that Tower, when it's really him who talks her down. The two form an unlikely friendship and embark on a school project, documenting the "natural wonders" of their home state of Indiana. But do Violet and Finch realize the sadness each is dealing with?

Oh how I wanted to like this book. I'd heard so many good things about it, and it was compared to [b:Eleanor & Park|15745753|Eleanor & Park|Rainbow Rowell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341952742s/15745753.jpg|17225055], which I adore. But whereas Eleanor and Park each felt so real, these characters didn't always come across as true, versus caricatures. I did find myself caring, often deeply, for Violet, and I liked Finch, but he changed his personality types so often -- it was hard to relate to his character. I'm glad the book covered the topic of mental illness, but its portrayal was odd sometimes. I almost worry that it glorified mental illness and suicidal thoughts somehow (hard to explain without too many spoilers).

Also, Theo and Violet seem to fall for each other awfully quickly. Why does this happen so often in YA novels? Am I just a jaded adult now (entirely possible)? Also a huge issue - where are the freaking adults in this book, and why don't they help Violet and Finch? Kids and teens shouldn't feel that mental illness is something they need to deal with alone. I also think truly portraying Finch's "deep sleep" and how that affected him could have done wonders for showing the effects and ills of mental illness on teens.

Overall, this book certainly had its lovely moments. Violet and Finch are touching characters in many ways. As I said, I really liked Violet - her character really grows on you. Niven's writing is beautiful at times, and the teens' school project is an interesting touch. This was also hard for me to read, having experienced mental illness and suicide in my family. I think it was worth reading, but it didn't completely live up to my expectations.
  
1922 (2017)
1922 (2017)
2017 | Crime, Horror
Old Movie Revisited: 1922. Another sweet Netflix made Stephen King movie, within less than a month of Gerald's Game, another awesome sauce flick. This one brings back Thomas Jane into the King fold for at least the third time, a trend I hope he continues, seems to fit in well... a roll in the Dark Tower perhaps, well, isn't he already... In this one, taking place sometime before WW2 ;) we have farmer Wilfred James and his wife, Arlette, and son Henry. Now Arlette wants out of the midwest farm crap fest and move to the big city, sell the farm, get a divorce... Wilfred, well doesnt really seem to care about the divorce part, but losing the farm and Henry, cause of course the boy will go off with mommy, isnt going to happen. So what is a dad to do, duh, convince your 14 year old son to help murder your wife, invent a tale she ran off and expect everything to go well. You may have guessed, it doesn't... Hell, even little Henry becomes a outlaw. Good flick, bringing in some old Stephen King landmarks to tie in his universe a little tighter, takes place near Hemingford Home, where a few well known King characters hail from, big one being Abagail Freemantle, of The Stand... But more recently in theatres... IT, one little fat boy named Ben Hanscom also once roved it roads! Thomas Jane was awesome, if a Shining remake was ever in the works to be more true to the book, I'd love to see Mr. Jane as Jack, i think he'd be insane :) Filmbufftim on FB
  
    The Long Siege

    The Long Siege

    Games and Entertainment

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    Guardians: Royal Journey

    Guardians: Royal Journey

    Games, Entertainment and Stickers

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    Guardians: Royal Journey is a fun and addictive strategy tower defense game brought to you by Haypi...

It: Chapter Two (2019)
It: Chapter Two (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
a bit long (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
IT, Chapter two

The Losers are all grown up and living their own lives when they each receive a call to return to Derry, the town they all grew up in. The problem is none of them remember their childhoods or why they need to return.
IT Chapter Two picks up 27 years after the first film, the main cast have all moved on with their lives when Pennywise re-appears in Derry and so they all have to return to try to stop the creature once and for all.
There is a lot going on in the film, first off, it is a lot more like the original mini-series as it predominantly follows the losers as adults but also flashes back to them as children. The flashbacks show each of the young losers having separate meetings with Pennywise and none of these are shown in the first film. We also find out more about where Pennywise came from although the film does give us two possibilities’ (Kind of) although only one is real. There is also details of a group of native Americans who encountered and (Supposedly) defeated Pennywise, although he was not in clown form then. We also get more of a glimpse of Pennywise’s shape changing ability’s which include the spider form that is seen in the original mini-series.
IT Chapter two also plays homage to a lot of other films, the most obvious are the thing, the shining and poltergeist. There is also a recurring theme where it is mentioned by a number of different characters (one played by Stephen King) that Bill does not know how to finish a story, this is a complaint that Stephen King has received more than once, some people found a scene at the end of the IT novel wrong and a lot of people didn’t like the ending of the seventh and final (At the time) ‘Dark Tower’ book.
All of this leads to the film being just under three hours long, but honestly you don’t notice it.