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Kevin Phillipson (10021 KP) rated Babylon (2023) in Movies

Jan 21, 2023 (Updated Jan 21, 2023)  
Babylon (2023)
Babylon (2023)
2023 | Comedy, Drama
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Brad Pitt (1 more)
Margot robbie
Too long (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
Third movie this week and the longest movie I've seen this year so far run time of over 3 hours long. Anyway the film its basically a love letter to 1920s hollywood and the beginnings of talkies actors getting used to speaking for the first time in between the partying which takes up the first half hour of the this movie is about Brad Pitts and margot robbies characters and there up and downs in Hollywood and their friendship with Manuel played by Diego calva overall my favourite movie of the year so far
  
Beautiful Broken Things
Beautiful Broken Things
Sara Barnard | 2017 | Children
8
7.7 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is Sara Barnard's debut novel and a good one at that! Beautiful broken things is an emotional rollercoaster, you are literally up and down on this suspenseful ride, With friendship, self discovery, school, family and abuse this novel certainly packs a punch!

Caddy has been best friends with Rosie for over 10 years despite attending different schools. Calling each other throughout the week and spending the weekends together they couldn't be closer, until Caddy is introduced to Suzanne a new girl from Rosie's school. Jealous of Rosie's new friendship she doesn't instantly take to her, Suzanne is pretty, bold, exciting and totally different from what Caddy is used to. Slowly Suzanne starts to reveal things about herself and the issues that she is hiding from her friends. With this new found knowledge Caddy suddenly sees Suzanne in a different light and wants to help her but also be involved in this interesting girls life and so their friendship blossoms but threatens to break them all apart for good.

Caddy goes to Esther's which is an all girls private school, she is on a tight leash with her parents, paying thousands of pounds per term for her education they are expecting A grades. With all work and no play nothing significant has happened in Caddy's life, she makes a vow for that to end this year and Suzanne is there to help. People around caddy don't think their friendship is a good idea as Suzanne is 'troubled' and leading her astray. Caddy is very naive and hasn't really be involved with boys or been to house parties but with her new-found friend and wanting to fit in she gets more involved and really comes out of her shell.

Suzanne is beautiful, funny and also a "troubled" teenager, living with her aunt starts speculation as to why this is. With a history of abuse, Suzanne is broken and is what people would call a bad influence, she drinks, she goes around with any boy who will have her and when things get tough she runs away. As she becomes friends with Caddy she is pulling her towards her way of life. Caddy would never have dreamt of climbing out of her window in the middle of the night or randomly catching a train without knowing the destination. But in her bid to help Suzanne she feels she has to be with her every step of the way.

This book explores the true meaning of friendship and love between teenage girls. This is a coming of age story with no romance involved and scarily realistic. It portrays mental health and teenagers sensitively and honest.


I loved that this book was set in the UK it felt so more relatable and exciting when your hometown gets referenced in the book.

There things that let down the book for me were the details of the abuser, there wasn't really any detail whether the abuser had been arrested or why Suzanne had or hadn't reported the abuser. It was sort of just glimpsed over this and neither Caddy nor Rosie questioned it which I thought was a little odd. Caddy was very annoying at points and was making some stupid decisions,I felt like shaking her and telling her to stop! JUST STOP!

I definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a realistic portrayal of mental health in young adults.

I rated this 4 out of 5 stars
  
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Merissa (12069 KP) rated Summer Heat in Books

Jun 21, 2017  
Summer Heat
Summer Heat
Jay Northcote | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Summer Heat by Jay Northcote
Summer Heat is the perfect summer read, complete with sun, sea, and sex! After getting dumped by his older man, Adam seeks shelter from his BFF Finn. Both of them feel a hint of attraction, but have never acted upon it, fearing to ruin their friendship. When they go on a week's holiday that Adam had booked for him and his ex, things take a different turn to what they expected.

This is an easy-read book that will immediately take you to the shores of Spain. Adam and Finn are understandably nervous about making any changes to their friendship, but neither of them want to continue on as they are. They just need 'something' to give them the boost, the courage, to make them speak - whether that is a person or event.

Very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow, the story is told from both Adam and Finn's perspective, giving the reader a well rounded view of both them and their feelings. It is low angst, but still with a hint of tension and uncertainty. I have no hesitation in recommending this.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!