ClareR (5996 KP) rated The Woman in the Wallpaper in Books
Oct 14, 2025
Sofie and Lara Thibault, along with their mother, move from Marseille to work in a wallpaper factory near Paris after he violent death of their father. The Oberst factory provides them all with a job and Josef Oberst becomes friends with the sisters.
A marriage and the Revolution see an end to the friendship.
I loved all the historical details around the Revolution, what it was like to work in a wallpaper factory, and the differences between the workers and the aristocracy. I could feel the tension radiating off the page, building to its incendiary, and very sad conclusion. I thought the character- and world-building were excellent, and I even felt some sympathy for the awful, aristo wife of Josef.
It’s a fabulous addition to stories set during the French Revolution.
False Start (Big Bend Bears #3)
8.0
Rate It
Book
Vaughn Montgomery High school is almost over, and I’m more than ready. Not because I don’t...
Contemporary MM Romance Small Town
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated Killbox (Sirantha Jax, #4) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
I really love Sirantha Jax's strength and complexity. She has grown and changed a great deal over the four books of the series, and reflects on the changes in herself during this book. Her relationship with March has deepened, as well. The depiction of a mature relationship being tested, rather than one that is fresh and new, is a nice switch from most of the books I've read recently.
The friendship between Velith and Jax is also a treasure. It is rare to see a pure friendship between a male and a female in fiction, without any sexual tension entering the picture. We're reminded that while he is an alien, Velith has had a human lover in the past, so it isn't as if that is impossible between the two — it just doesn't occur.
The book isn't solely about relationships, of course — I just appreciate how well Aguirre depicts relationships in and around the excellent plot. That's the part that you need background to understand.
The Morgut keep coming, a bigger threat than ever: they're colonizing instead of raiding. Jax secured a treaty with the Ithiss-Tor (Velith's people), but there's no help from them coming yet. Humanity's survival is on the line. Aguirre depicts battle believably, giving a sense of the horror without dwelling too much on gore.
Lovers are torn apart, established characters die, new ones come on stage. It's impossible to know at any given moment whether anyone, including Jax, will survive from scene to scene. That certainly kept me reading, and I think it will engage you, as well.
Two Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark
Sam Shepard, Johnny Dark and Chad Hammett
Book
Sam Shepard is arguably America's finest working dramatist, as well as an accomplished screenwriter,...
The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: The Restless Soul of the World's Most Notorious Atheist
Book
At the time of his death, Christopher Hitchens was the most notorious atheist in the world. And yet,...
My Glory Was I Had Such Friends: A Memoir
Book
In this moving memoir about the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit, Amy...
The 1,000-year-old Boy
Book
The astonishing, beautiful new story for all readers of 10 and over from the bestselling and...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Monster Trucks (2016) in Movies
Jul 12, 2019
Set in a small oil drilling town in North Dakota, Tripp (Lucas Till), a troubled high school student, befriends an extraterrestrial squid-like creature that takes up residence in the hood of Tripp’s truck. After an accident occurs at a nearby drilling site displacing this creature, it doesn’t take long for the oil company to realize if they don’t locate this creature, they will have to cease drilling which affects their bottom line. With the help of his friend Meredith (Jane Levy), Tripp realizes he must take his new friend back to his home before the villainous oil company CEO ( Rob Lowe) catches them.
If you take the movie for what it is: trucks, monsters, friends, and good guy/bad guys-it’s an entertaining film with some great laugh out loud moments that also attempts to tug at the heartstrings from a pair of unlikely friends. Dig deeper and try to analyze every piece of the movie, you’ll only see the outlandish, unrealistic, and far fetch concept with underdeveloped character relationships. All in all, I enjoyed the film. The friendship between Tripp and the creature he named Creech was similar to that of Elliott and E.T. with less drama. It brought me back to my childhood. It taught my son the meaning of friendship, sacrifice, and loyalty.
The Platypus’ Search
Games and Book
App
A moving story about the diversity and prejudice, about the values of friendship and respect. In...
The Island of Sea Women
Book
A new novel from Lisa See, the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird...