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Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) in Movies

Jul 2, 2019

Home Run

Spiderman Far From Home while more like add on dlc to the far superior Homecoming is packed with enough breathtaking moments & genuinely touching character moments to make is a top notch Spidey road trip. I cant deny Im a sucker for anything Spiderman related so please take my review as possibly slightly bias. At first Far from home had me extremely worried as some of the writing is borderline awful, some acting felt extremely off & its strange offbeat comedy is thrown at us so thick & fast I was eeeessshing more than I was laughing. However about half an hour in something changed & all the things I hated started to come together & I really felt my self becoming really involved with it all. I think what the movie had actually managed to do was not only remind me of the 90s animated show but almost recreate its feel in live action form too. Full of exposition & plot twists I saw coming a mile off Far from home still managed to keep me invested in its characters & raise the stakes/tension constantly as the film went on. What started off as a silly predictable romp actually ended up being a thrilling adrenaline rush filled with pulse pounding busy action scenes that utilised slow motion & unique camera tracking brilliantly as well as a finally thats heartfelt & extremely touching. Themes of new love & the rush it brings as well as its beautiful awkwardness are so relatable & believable & its darker themes of how the worlds gullibility/naivety/social media can be used against us as a weapon are scarily current also. Jake gyllenhaal is literally of the chain as mysterio & I would go as far as saying brings THE best acting I've ever seen in any marvel film so far. Seriously his performance is next level especially when you compare how his character behaves in the first half of the film against in the second half going from quiet, bland, weak & emotionless to unstable, intelligent, overconfident & tactical with some intense/harrowing use of his powers too. One of the most comic like comic book superhero films we've had so far its dorky, full of awesome action, twists/turns & a kickass villain so sit back & take it for what it is pure enjoyment.

Kudos

ClareR (5916 KP) rated The Girl with the Louding Voice in Books

Mar 10, 2020

The Girl with the Louding Voice

Abi Daré | 2020 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The story of a courageous girl.

The Girl with the Louding Voice is about the courage of a Nigerian girl. I finished reading this on International Women’s Day, and this book tells a story of WHY we need such a day!

All Adunni wants is an education and a way out of the poverty that she was born in to. This dream however, seems to be brought to an abrupt end with the death of her mother. Adunni’s father has relied on his wife’s wages (he doesn’t seem to work) and has managed to rack up debts that he can’t pay off. So he sells 14 year old Adunni in to marriage with a man who is far older than her, who already has two wives. Adunni is supposed to swap her ambitions from education and a career, to bearing male children to a man she can’t bring herself to look at (and I don’t blame her). She has a horrible life, made marginally better by her friendship with the heavily pregnant second wife. However, Adunni tries to help the second wife see a midwife because of pregnancy complications and something goes very wrong. Adunni runs away, knowing that if she is caught, it could mean her death.

She then finds herself working at a house in the city as a house girl: she’s basically a slave, working from 5am to midnight, for no wages. Big Madam, her ‘employer’ beats her for the slightest things. Reading these scenes was upsetting - that a child should be treated in such a way, that she should be raped by a man who should never have married her (it IS illegal in Nigeria), and then be beaten to unconsciousness by her ‘owner’ (because without wages, surely that’s what Big Madam is?). And then there are Adunni’s saviours: the chef who lives and works in the house, and a neighbour who is a doctors wife, Tia.

This book will probably break your heart, but you’ll also marvel at the strength, perseverance and bravery of Adunni. She never gives up. She knows what she wants, and she grabs her opportunities where she can. This is a book that everyone should read - it’s really that good.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book to read and honestly review.