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James Koppert (2698 KP) rated When I Hit You: Or, a Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife in Books
Nov 13, 2019
This book hit me
The writer searched for a tender embrace and found rape and punches. Kandasamy is a poet and beautifully she uses words to punch back or to make sense of a horrific and unimaginable monstrosity of a situation. However, when I say poetic please don't assume this is pretentious for it is not. you sometimes feel terrible for enjoying the words as a thing of beauty,and it is a beautiful piece of writing, but it is there to mind meaning in the inexcusable. It is a wonderful cathartic explosion of finding sense where there is none. of finding hope where there was only hatred in the name of love. My hope is it may give another legs to run or an abuser a reflection into their monstrosity. This may be listed as a feminist book but is fighting against evil cruelty, bullying and rape feminist or is it a struggle to be more human?
Awix (3310 KP) rated Blade Runner (1982) in Movies
Nov 25, 2019 (Updated Nov 26, 2019)
Cult thriller from Ridley Scott. In present-day Los Angeles, investigator Harrison Ford finds himself obliged to hunt down and destroy four androids who have illegally returned to Earth from colonies in outer space. Yes, yes: I know it's a timeless classic and a visionary piece of science fiction (if not a particularly accurate piece of prognostication), but it's not a film I've ever found myself able to particularly warm to.
One of the prettiest and most visually dense films you will ever see, of course, but Ridley Scott seems much more interested in the film's visual impact than the actual story (even so, much of the imagery is rather clunky). Harrison Ford doesn't get much to do in his drab and perfunctory section of the plot - the film only really comes to life when it concerns Rutger Hauer's oddly sympathetic homicidal android, who ends up dominating the movie. Most of the book's quirky sense of melancholy disappears, though. For all its strengths it just feels rather superficial and hollow to me.
One of the prettiest and most visually dense films you will ever see, of course, but Ridley Scott seems much more interested in the film's visual impact than the actual story (even so, much of the imagery is rather clunky). Harrison Ford doesn't get much to do in his drab and perfunctory section of the plot - the film only really comes to life when it concerns Rutger Hauer's oddly sympathetic homicidal android, who ends up dominating the movie. Most of the book's quirky sense of melancholy disappears, though. For all its strengths it just feels rather superficial and hollow to me.
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Balls in a Sandwich
Book
Over 850,000 people suffer from dementia in the UK today. A brutally honest story of love, pain and...
Being Me (Inside Out #2)
5.5
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The sexy second installment in the Inside Out erotic romance trilogy, following If I Were You—in...
P.S. I Miss You
8.0
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In this epistolary middle-grade debut novel, a girl who's questioning her sexual orientation writes...
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) in Movies
Dec 15, 2017
A disappointment
After such a good comeback with The Force Awakens and a fantastic prequel in Rogue One, my expectations for The Last Jedi were high and sadly it comes as a bit of a disappointment.
To me this just seems like a filler film. There isn't a massive amount achieved in the nearly 3 hour run time, to the point where I found most of it to be verging on boring. Until the final part, there was no excitement or tension or intrigue. The comedy too was surprisingly illfitted - where's K-2S0 when you need him? Even Luke coming back didn't feel quite right and some of the other characters too were severely underused.
Maybe The Force Awakens felt better because it was the first (good) Star Wars film in a long time, whereas this is the third in as many years with yet more to come. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad film and it was enjoyable to a point. It just wasnt as good as it could've been and it just came across as sadly lacking.
To me this just seems like a filler film. There isn't a massive amount achieved in the nearly 3 hour run time, to the point where I found most of it to be verging on boring. Until the final part, there was no excitement or tension or intrigue. The comedy too was surprisingly illfitted - where's K-2S0 when you need him? Even Luke coming back didn't feel quite right and some of the other characters too were severely underused.
Maybe The Force Awakens felt better because it was the first (good) Star Wars film in a long time, whereas this is the third in as many years with yet more to come. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad film and it was enjoyable to a point. It just wasnt as good as it could've been and it just came across as sadly lacking.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Fall [Audiobook] in Books
Apr 30, 2023
![The Fall [Audiobook]](/uploads/profile_image/9c3/727e33aa-e44e-4df8-8acc-1a9bf4ad09c3.jpg?m=1682868403)
This was an enjoyable book to listen to partly because of the mystery surrounding who pushed Caily off the bridge but also because of the excellent narration.
There are lots of elements and sub-stories to this book which created additional mystery to an already intriguing story. There are a lot of characters and the book is told from multiple points of view however, whilst you might think this would be confusing, it is anything but ... the narrator does an excellent job of being able to distinguish between each of the characters with subtle changes.
Louise Jenson managed to create a lot of tension and some great plot twists that caught me off guard. The pace worked well for me and I found myself looking for reasons to listen for a bit longer ... even hoping for a traffic jam!!!
Overall, a really good book to read/listen to with loads to hold your interest and my thanks go to HQ an imprint of HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of The Fall.
There are lots of elements and sub-stories to this book which created additional mystery to an already intriguing story. There are a lot of characters and the book is told from multiple points of view however, whilst you might think this would be confusing, it is anything but ... the narrator does an excellent job of being able to distinguish between each of the characters with subtle changes.
Louise Jenson managed to create a lot of tension and some great plot twists that caught me off guard. The pace worked well for me and I found myself looking for reasons to listen for a bit longer ... even hoping for a traffic jam!!!
Overall, a really good book to read/listen to with loads to hold your interest and my thanks go to HQ an imprint of HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of The Fall.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2353 KP) rated Fatal Fudge Swirl in Books
Jun 29, 2023
The Bride’s a Corpse
Ice cream shop manager Riley Rhodes has been asked to create an ice cream cake for the upcoming wedding of Diantha Collins, the head of a prominent family in Penniman, Connecticut. However, the morning of the wedding, Diantha is found dead in her bed. Something about the scene seems off to Riley. Can she figure out how Diantha died?
The how done it in this book is a strong element of the plot, and I loved the creative murder method. Of course, Riley also has to figure out the who and why, and those also kept me guessing until the end. The suspects are all strong, and the series regulars are a lot of fun as always. A storyline involving a movie being filmed in town leads to a sub-plot with some great laughs. Meanwhile, the Halloween setting is used well for the mystery. Add in a couple of hot fudge recipes at the end, and you have a winner. Grab a dish of your favorite ice cream and enjoy this book today.
The how done it in this book is a strong element of the plot, and I loved the creative murder method. Of course, Riley also has to figure out the who and why, and those also kept me guessing until the end. The suspects are all strong, and the series regulars are a lot of fun as always. A storyline involving a movie being filmed in town leads to a sub-plot with some great laughs. Meanwhile, the Halloween setting is used well for the mystery. Add in a couple of hot fudge recipes at the end, and you have a winner. Grab a dish of your favorite ice cream and enjoy this book today.
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Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Sing Me to Sleep in Books
Apr 27, 2018
My Summary: Beth is a ridiculously tall, horribly ugly girl suffering though high school. Her nickname is “the Beast.” She is bullied by everyone. Her face is scared and pimply and messed up, she was born that way and nothing works to get rid of it. The only people in the world that she has are her mother—who loves her fiercely—and her best friend since pre-school, Scott.
But then through the course of several unexpected events, Beth ends up with the solo in her choir. She goes from ugly and in the back rows to re-made, re-styled, and re-“faced” after laser surgery. Her choir gets a chance to go to a competition in Switzerland.
And she meets Derek. Derek is on one of the other teams, the biggest, best, most famous choir. He’s the hottest guy she’s ever met. And he’s in love with her.
But there’s something wrong with Derek. He won’t tell her what it is, and she’s scared to ask because every time she brings it up, he runs away.
And the fact that Scott has admitted that he’s in love with her—and she’s pretty sure she loves him too—isn’t making anything less complicated…
Review:
I enjoyed Sing Me To Sleep. Please realize and remember that. It kept me reading, it moved quickly. But there were a few things that drove me crazy while I read this and took away from the overall enjoyment.
The first was the writing. There’s a difference between a writing style, and writing crappy. 75% of the “sentences” in this book were fragments. No, I did not count the sentences and take a literal percentage, but that’s what it felt like. There were a lot of two or three word phrases stacked next to each other. That does not count as a writing style, it’s poor grammar. It was so distracting that I found myself annoyed and wanting to put it down.
The second was the romance. In the beginning, the romance between Derek and Beth was just too rushed. There were no meaningful conversations, there wasn’t much plot, there wasn’t much talking. There was a lot of “I love you’s” and a lot of tension and a lot of kissing (hot kissing, but just kissing none the less). Beth was convinced she was in love with him—and he with her—but their relationship was so shallow, that I expected him to dump her any minute (or vice versa). It didn’t feel real.
Near the end, it became a little more real after Derek’s secret came out and Beth began to feel a little different about him. For the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free, I won’t say much more than that. However because their “love” was built on such shaky ground in the first place, most of the end didn’t feel very real either. Beth didn’t know what love really meant until the very end of the book. Poor girl.
The third… sadly, the characters. I didn’t feel much of a connection to them. Believe it or not, the one character I related to most was Scott. He wasn’t even in most of the book—most of it was Beth and Derek—but Scott was the most realistic character (and I’m totally in love with him) and the character that I could understand the best. But Beth and Derek both… I just didn’t connect.
I feel really bad that I’ve complained so much. I also feel really sad that I didn’t love this one. But as a reviewer I promise to be honest, and this is how I feel. Again, as I said at the top, I enjoyed the book, it kept me reading though it wasn’t a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of page-turner. But it was a bit of a let-down after all the 5-star or A+ reviews I’ve read for it. Don’t listen to just one opinion. Check out some other reviews for this one before you decide to believe me.
But then through the course of several unexpected events, Beth ends up with the solo in her choir. She goes from ugly and in the back rows to re-made, re-styled, and re-“faced” after laser surgery. Her choir gets a chance to go to a competition in Switzerland.
And she meets Derek. Derek is on one of the other teams, the biggest, best, most famous choir. He’s the hottest guy she’s ever met. And he’s in love with her.
But there’s something wrong with Derek. He won’t tell her what it is, and she’s scared to ask because every time she brings it up, he runs away.
And the fact that Scott has admitted that he’s in love with her—and she’s pretty sure she loves him too—isn’t making anything less complicated…
Review:
I enjoyed Sing Me To Sleep. Please realize and remember that. It kept me reading, it moved quickly. But there were a few things that drove me crazy while I read this and took away from the overall enjoyment.
The first was the writing. There’s a difference between a writing style, and writing crappy. 75% of the “sentences” in this book were fragments. No, I did not count the sentences and take a literal percentage, but that’s what it felt like. There were a lot of two or three word phrases stacked next to each other. That does not count as a writing style, it’s poor grammar. It was so distracting that I found myself annoyed and wanting to put it down.
The second was the romance. In the beginning, the romance between Derek and Beth was just too rushed. There were no meaningful conversations, there wasn’t much plot, there wasn’t much talking. There was a lot of “I love you’s” and a lot of tension and a lot of kissing (hot kissing, but just kissing none the less). Beth was convinced she was in love with him—and he with her—but their relationship was so shallow, that I expected him to dump her any minute (or vice versa). It didn’t feel real.
Near the end, it became a little more real after Derek’s secret came out and Beth began to feel a little different about him. For the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free, I won’t say much more than that. However because their “love” was built on such shaky ground in the first place, most of the end didn’t feel very real either. Beth didn’t know what love really meant until the very end of the book. Poor girl.
The third… sadly, the characters. I didn’t feel much of a connection to them. Believe it or not, the one character I related to most was Scott. He wasn’t even in most of the book—most of it was Beth and Derek—but Scott was the most realistic character (and I’m totally in love with him) and the character that I could understand the best. But Beth and Derek both… I just didn’t connect.
I feel really bad that I’ve complained so much. I also feel really sad that I didn’t love this one. But as a reviewer I promise to be honest, and this is how I feel. Again, as I said at the top, I enjoyed the book, it kept me reading though it wasn’t a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of page-turner. But it was a bit of a let-down after all the 5-star or A+ reviews I’ve read for it. Don’t listen to just one opinion. Check out some other reviews for this one before you decide to believe me.