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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Fall in Books

Jan 23, 2020  
The Fall
The Fall
Bethany Griffin | 2014 | Young Adult (YA)
4
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
*puts on best announcer voice* Ahem.

I'd like to present to you the <b>most confusing book of the year</b>, <i>The Fall</i> by Bethany Griffin. It's a <b>very odd and peculiar book </b>based on Edgar Allen Poe's short story, <i>The Fall of the House of Usher</i>. In Griffin's retelling, Madeline Usher believes that she can break the curse on the Ushers, but then she wakes up in a fabulously claustrophobic box called a coffin.

In all seriousness, <i>The Fall</i> is actually <b>a retelling on one of Poe's stories </b>that I didn't actually read, but watched instead (so bad, it was good). From reading the synopsis of Griffin's retelling, <b>it sounded like Madeline Usher had spent most of her life trying to break free from the curse.</b>

I ended up with something different. At least, that's what I would probably end up with if I actually made it to the end of the book, which I chose not to. I totally admit I peeked at the last few pages just to see what would happen, and it was nothing special.

<b>Griffin starts us out right when Madeline wakes up in a coffin. The rest of the book, however, is all flashback from Madeline's childhood, starting from when she was nine. It's a little out of order, but has a pattern to it in a way</b> – one chapter is nine, the next is fifteen, and occasionally there's a diary/journal entry from Lisbeth Usher. I'm no fan of chapters being even remotely out of order (they can get confusing when you're busy and come back to the story a few days later), but <b>at least Griffin had a pattern.</b>

At least, until about page 150. <b>WHERE IS THIRTEEN AND WHY ARE YOU SKIPPED.</b>

Of course, we go back to thirteen in the next chapter and continue the pattern. In my little game of peek-ahead, I found out <b>there <i>is</i> no particular pattern. My hypothesis to all this is Griffin portraying Madeline's madness increasing as her age increases. As Madeline grows older, she becomes madder. </b>How's that for implementing science?

Anyways, about 50 pages later, I'm pretty much going, "Your point is..?" in a very uninterested mental voice that may or may not include a mental eye roll or two in the process. Here's all that I've found out from what I read:
<ol>
  <li>Madeline wakes up in a coffin – Go figure.</li>
  <li>She and her brother Roderick is cursed – Knew that.</li>
  <li>The House of Usher is, well, alive – Knew that.</li>
  <li>The House of Usher is malicious – Knew that, but this was ten times creepier from the cheesy short film.</li>
  <li>Madeline has a desire to break the curse on her family – It's very subtle.</li>
</ol>
In the long run, <b><i>The Fall</i> is written in a scattered format (see my hypothesis!) to emphasize the fact that the House of Usher is alive, malicious, and will do <i>anything</i> to keep an Usher within its walls for all eternity. It's nothing remotely impressive if you read or watched the original.</b>

And this is when the book club kills me.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/dnf-review-the-fall-by-bethany-griffin/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
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SunnyD (6 KP) rated Lady Bird (2017) in Movies

Jun 19, 2018  
Lady Bird (2017)
Lady Bird (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Drama
7
7.7 (53 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Not extraordinary
If you love the starting actress, Saoirse Ronan, and indie films, then this is a fairly good watch. Lady Bird's relationship with her mother is the main theme here. The two continuously butt heads. At first, Lady Bird says that her mother is hard on her because she loves her so much, but it later gets harder for Lady Bird to accept their rough relationship as she questions whether her mother loves her because she has to or if she actually likes Lady Bird as a person. Her mother struggles to maintain their relationship while keeping their household afloat financially, especially after her father is laid off from his job.

I liked that, in addition to the mother-daughter theme, Lady Bird goes through a journey of selfdiscovery that starts when she dates her first crush at her Catholic high school. Lady Bird learns more about herself and those closest to her with every decision that she makes.

The quality of the ending might be up for some debate. If you're looking for real closure here, you won't be getting one. Ultimately, what happens after Lady Bird gets to college is up to your interpretation. The only thing that leaves your mind at some peace is that Lady Bird seems to learn to be grateful for what she has been given in life.
  
    Taliban

    Taliban

    James Fergusson

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    Fifteen years ago, southern Afghanistan was in even greater chaos than it is now. The Russians, who...

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Andy Bell recommended Definitely Maybe by Oasis in Music (curated)

 
Definitely Maybe by Oasis
Definitely Maybe by Oasis
1994 | Pop, Rock
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Oasis definitely did change my life when I first heard them! [Bell later played bass and rhythm guitar in Oasis, 1999-2009.] They were like a breath of fresh air. To put it into context, Ride were working on the third album, Carnival Of Light, and we were taking a bit of a break. We were starting to get a bit frayed at the edges and we were starting to pull in different directions musically, too. “We were really shooting for a kind of West Coast Byrdsy California sound mixed with a little bit of Led Zeppelin and a little bit of classic rock. I think we were also subconsciously trying to make a cleaner record, because we’d stopped getting played on the radio… but then along comes Oasis sounding like the Jesus And Mary Chain meets the Sex Pistols and just completely blew everything out of the water! “As we’re talking about guitars, I should just say that I think Noel’s really underrated as a lead guitar player. His playing is like a John Squire-y thing, but there’s a lot more muscle behind it. He kind of trademarked his own style, which has become something that everyone uses now – that massively overdriven sound with quite a lot of delay on it. [His playing] just sounded epic."

Source
  
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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated The Sky Is Everywhere in Books

Jan 7, 2021  
The Sky Is Everywhere
The Sky Is Everywhere
Jandy Nelson | 2010 | Young Adult (YA)
4
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
So I finally knuckled down to finish this since it's been two weeks since I started it...and I wasn't all that impressed.

The writing was so...poetically pretty? It wasn't how I'd have expected a 16/17 year old girl to think, although now that I think about it Wuthering Heights is her favourite book and her family life seems a little boho-y/care free. And her vocabulary? Stultifyingly? Dildonic? Ornery? Messessentialist? I think she must eat a dictionary for breakfast or something because I had no idea what any of those words meant at that age, and I'm still not sure about three of them now.

Getting the writing out of the way, I wanted her to be happy with Joe but I didn't understand the whole Toby thing either. And I kind of agree with Grams that Lennie was a little selfish. You'd all lost Bailey, it wasn't just you and Toby.

The bit I liked most was probably the bit near the middle where she described herself/her love as being like a flower that bloomed in 15 seconds, and then a few paragraphs later in 3 seconds. It was a really nice picture and I can imagine Lennon doing that.<br/><br/>I don't think I'll be reading more of this authors books.