Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2582)

Content

Amy Curtis (49 KP) rated The Grapes of Wrath in Books

Dec 31, 2018

Cutting edge (0 more)

Felt like it wasn't going anywhere (0 more)

Still waiting for the rest of the story

Contains spoilers, click to show

I can't decide how I feel about this book. I must admit that it is heavy going and you really have to get used to the speech in the book. The novel is based around poor farmers that have had to borrow money from the bank in order to survive during a rough harvest. However when they can't pay the bank back, they are driven from their home along with many other families. Steinbeck explored the hardship of poor farming life as we transition into a modern era with machinery that is replacing jobs. Throughout the novel, it is very cutting to see their struggles to be able to find work and afford to feed their family. I did find that at time the book felt like it wasn't going anywhere but I guess that is the point of it. Steinbeck is describing a mundane hard life where finding work is a struggle. I did enjoy the book but at times found it very difficult to perservere with it. The ending was also a bit confusing and left me with a lot of questions as to what happened to the Joads family. I would recommend for you to read this book but proceed with caution because it is hard work!

Kudos

RavenclawPrincess913 (253 KP) rated Feud of Four Houses in Books

Jul 24, 2019

In Feud of Four Houses: Curse of The Fairy Kingdom by Chrishel Smith; Since the beginning of the Alaire and Dagen family lines there has been a Feud going on between the families struggling to gain one another's power the Goddess gifted them or so they thought. This all begins to change when Amara Alaire goes to her family library to do research on the family feud. There she finds a picture of her and her enemy, Tristan Dagen. But, it turns out not to be them and that there was a curse placed upon their house which started with the people in the photo. Throughout the book they go off and try to break the Curse overcoming obstacles on the way. Who are the people in the photo? And what does that have to do with them? And why was the curse placed upon their houses? To find this out you will have to read the book.

This book has a twist on fantasy and romance like none I have read before, and many unexpected plot twists. The book also starts off slow but starts to pick up a few chapters in. I honestly loved it. The book made me feel as though I was there with them feeling all their emotions and struggles. The ending was unexpected and very emotional.

Kudos

ClareR (5784 KP) rated Anna K in Books

Mar 5, 2020 (Updated Mar 5, 2020)

Anna K

Jenny Lee | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

A great debut!

I really enjoyed this reworking of Anna Karenina. I have to admit, 60 or so pages in, I wasn’t sure I was going to stick with it, but I’m glad I did. A majority of the characters in this story come from a privileged background, where money is not something that they or their families need to worry about, and they can have anything (materially) that they want. Anna K seems to live in a different city to the rest of her family, with her Newfoundland dogs and horses, and attends a private school there. She doesn’t hesitate when her brother asks her to come to his rescue and help sort out his love life. She drops everything and gets to work, trying to convince his girlfriend that he has made a huge mistake when he cheated on her. It works. Everyone loves Anna K, after all.
I’m not about to write a synopsis of the whole book, but these characters are really put through the wringer, keeping closely to the ethos of the original Russian author! It’s a really bittersweet ending too.
I should add that whilst it’s a YA book, it’s definitely for the more mature end of the age range. There’s a lot of alcohol, drugs and sex involved.
Many thanks to Readers First for my copy of this book.