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Hazel (1853 KP) rated In a Kingdom by the Sea in Books

Jul 31, 2019

In a Kingdom by the Sea

Sara Macdonald | 2019 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine how it must feel to live in a country that is nearly always depicted negatively? How does it feel to have your country's natural beauty and landscape usurped by the violence of a small percentage of people? This is what Gabriella discovers the majority of the population of Pakistan face when she accompanies her husband Mike to Karachi where he works for Pakistan Atlantic Airways.

Gabriella and her sons have been used to Mike disappearing for months at a time on various jobs abroad, however, she is beginning to feel she and her husband are drifting apart. When Mike suggests she come and stay with him in Pakistan, she jumps at the chance, however, instead of strengthing the relationship, Gabriella feels further away than ever. Constantly left behind in a hotel while Mike attends numerous conferences, Gabriella is virtually housebound; it being too dangerous to venture outside. Not only that, she suspects Mike is having an affair and to top it all off, her half-sister Dominique reveals a devastating secret about their childhood in Cornwall.

In a Kingdom by the Sea by Sara MacDonald is essentially a contemporary love story, exploring the woes of a nearly fifty-year-old coming to the end of a long relationship. With underlying elements of mystery, for instance, what happened to Dominique in the early 1970s and what exactly is Mike up to, the novel also explores the hidden truths of a country stereotyped by violence and terrorism.

Gabriella meets dozens of kind and caring people in Pakistan who have her best interests at heart. These people are not dangerous or violent as the media often leads the western world to believe. Whilst some groups of people are content to cause death and destruction, leaving the cities a minefield to navigate, there are plenty more who wish to live peaceful lives. Gabriella is captivated by the beautiful, enchanting landscapes, unlike anything back home in England.

As the story progresses, Gabriella learns more about the lives of women in Pakistan. They are unable to live as they please, having to bow to the commands of their husbands, parents and brothers instead. The more Gabriella speaks to these women, the more she realises that cooped up in the hotel most of the day, she is in a similar situation, under the thumb of her own husband. So, she stops. Thinks. Is this the life she wants?

In a Kingdom by the Sea is a slightly long-winded but eye-opening story. Not everyone will be able to relate to the lives of Pakistani women, however, their plight will resonate with those who relish freedom. Whilst it is difficult to compare Gabriella's life with the women she meets in Karachi, readers will also be rooting for Gabriella's happy-ever-after.

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) in Movies

Aug 6, 2019

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

2016 | Action, Sci-Fi

6.6

(72 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Full disclosure, I grew up a huge X-Men fan. As a kid it was one of the few comics that I would try read as often as I could. I would borrow my friends books, convince my mom to buy me an issue every chance I got and like so many growing up in the early 90s, never miss a Saturday morning episode of the fantastic X-Men cartoon.

As such, I have been waiting for the films to capture the X-Men team dynamic while creating interesting fleshed out characters for the mass audiences to appreciate. I felt the franchise was headed in that direction with the last two films, X-Men: First class and X-Men: Days of Futures Past. Unfortunately, X-Men: Apocalypse takes a bit of a stumble in this department when it tries to introduce several fan favorite characters to this X-Men Universe. However it sacrifices solid character development in order to introduce them all in this one story. That’s not to say that this decision makes a bad film, it’s just that the characters are somewhat hollow and we never really connect with any of them. Not even the older characters who we already know. In the 2016 landscape of superhero/comic movies, when you have too many hollow characters the film often feels like we are just going through the motions of fan service, rather than telling a good story though film. This shallow character development makes me wish that instead of making more X-Men movies, Fox would team up with Netflix and produce an episodic series that can really dig down into the story of these characters and the missions they go on to help all of humanity…sigh…one can hope.

As for the rest of this film, it is safe to say that it is a fun popcorn adventure just in time for the summer blockbuster season. The first act suffers from a bit of pacing issues, but once the film starts to pick up steam, it becomes a full action packed adventure filled with all the mutant powers you would expect from an X-Men film. We receive excellent performances we have come to expect from James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the standard cast. As far as the new characters added to this film, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) is the stand out as Jean Gery. She delivers one of the few nuanced performances of the whole film and I look forward to her continuing to build on the roll in future X-Men films.
X-Men: Apocalypse is more of what you would expect from the X-Men series. Not terrible but not all that great either. Fans will be exited and enjoy this entry to the series while casual viewers will enjoy the blockbuster elements.