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This Raging Light
This Raging Light
Estelle Laure | 2016 | Children
8
6.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hard to put down
This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This Raging Light is a contemporary young adult debut novel by Estelle Laure. It is a fast paced story of family, friendship and first love. Seventeen-year-old Lucille should be worrying about her senior year at school, spending time with her best friend Eden and admiring Eden’s twin brother, Digby. Instead both parents have disappeared, leaving 9-year-old Wren and a pile of bills in Lucille’s unprepared hands.

Whilst trying to keep up appearances so that no one finds out what is going on at home, Lucille struggles to maintain her friendship with words-of-wisdom-quoting Eden and curb her ever-growing fascination with Digby.

Laure’s writing style instantly connects the reader with Lucille’s personality and circumstance. Lucille is an admirable character who has already been through so much before the story even began. Her father had a mental breakdown and then disappeared from the hospital with no word of where he was going. At a time in their life when they needed as much support as possible, Lucille and Wren’s mother takes off as well. It is unfathomable how Lucille managed to cope and keep it secret for so long; readers are sure to question how they would cope in the same situation.

Toward the beginning of the book the phrases used to describe Lucille’s father and his mental health problems were a bit stigmatic. This almost made mental illness appear to be a negative problem to be avoided and shunned. Hopefully this will not fuel any reader’s prejudices about the mental ill.

Lucille and Digby’s relationship was a little confusing. It was not delved into deep enough to create any climax within the storyline. The key theme was about Lucille surviving on her own rather than her romantic experiences.

Overall, This Raging Light is so easy to read that many people will find it difficult to put down. Lucille is such a lovely character that you will want to see through to the very end to make sure she is okay and looked after.
  
This Raging Light
This Raging Light
Estelle Laure | 2016 | Children
8
6.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This Raging Light</i> is a contemporary young adult debut novel by Estelle Laure. It is a fast paced story of family, friendship and first love. Seventeen-year-old Lucille should be worrying about her senior year at school, spending time with her best friend Eden and admiring Eden’s twin brother, Digby. Instead both parents have disappeared, leaving 9-year-old Wren and a pile of bills in Lucille’s unprepared hands.

Whilst trying to keep up appearances so that no one finds out what is going on at home, Lucille struggles to maintain her friendship with words-of-wisdom-quoting Eden and curb her ever-growing fascination with Digby.

Laure’s writing style instantly connects the reader with Lucille’s personality and circumstance. Lucille is an admirable character who has already been through so much before the story even began. Her father had a mental breakdown and then disappeared from the hospital with no word of where he was going. At a time in their life when they needed as much support as possible, Lucille and Wren’s mother takes off as well. It is unfathomable how Lucille managed to cope and keep it secret for so long; readers are sure to question how they would cope in the same situation.

Toward the beginning of the book the phrases used to describe Lucille’s father and his mental health problems were a bit stigmatic. This almost made mental illness appear to be a negative problem to be avoided and shunned. Hopefully this will not fuel any reader’s prejudices about the mental ill.

Lucille and Digby’s relationship was a little confusing. It was not delved into deep enough to create any climax within the storyline. The key theme was about Lucille surviving on her own rather than her romantic experiences.

Overall, <i>This Raging Light</i> is so easy to read that many people will find it difficult to put down. Lucille is such a lovely character that you will want to see through to the very end to make sure she is okay and looked after.
  
Naïve. Super
Naïve. Super
Erlend Loe | 2005 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Can't empathise with main character, seems a bit pointless
This is one of those random quirky Scandinavian books that leaves you scratching your head, asking what was the real point of it. The book called "Super naive" pretty much sums up the main character, a 25-year-old university dropout who is contemplating the meaning of life. He seems to have some difficulty grasping his existence and time, coping by playing ball and using a hammering toy to stay calm. I felt his sense of privilege made him slightly irritating, jetsetting, buying cars on a whim - you can't really sympathise with his plight, he just seems like a layabout. But I think he had some underlying mental health issue that was never explored. There could be a translation issue causing it to lose its original tone.
  
Where She Went (If I Stay, #2)
Where She Went (If I Stay, #2)
Gayle Forman | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.0 (20 Ratings)
Book Rating
Another amazing piece by Gayle Forman. Instead of following the life and thoughts of Mia, as the first book did, Where She Went follows Adam and his spiraling journey after the accident, gaining fame and his struggle with the lost connection with his dreams and the love of his life. As relatable as If I Stay in the realistic emotional and physical turmoil of mental health, waning friendships, exhaustion and so much more. Three years have passed since Adam saw Mia and their connection was seemingly destroyed. A chance of fate brings the two back together for one day to face the demons that brought their relationship a halt as their lives skyrocketed away from them both. Highly recommend a read, especially if Where She Went pulled at your heart strings and kept you turning page after page, as it did to me.
  
Mockingjay
Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins | 2012 | Young Adult (YA)
7
8.1 (174 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ending (0 more)
Build up (0 more)
Surprising ending
I really liked that there were a few curve balls thrown into the ending and that it built upon the mental health of the characters but it just seemed very stilted, with over a half of the book very slow paced and then all the action thrown into the last quarter or so of the book. I felt that some of the things that were in the book didn't really need to be in there and I'm not 100% happy with what happened to Prim in the end as it really defeated the whole purpose of all three books and without explaining the significance of the outcome, it just seemed overly harsh on top of everything else that had happened to Katniss.

Overall it was a nice twisty ending but just wasn't as good as the first two.
  
Joker (2019)
Joker (2019)
2019 | Crime, Drama
Joaquin Phoenix (0 more)
Ledger who ?
Ledger who ? Might be a bit strong but after watching Pheonix play out this role it is nice to see that this role can be played and leave us at a point where we can appreciate how good the acting was by both men.

The story is extremely well scripted and played out. Watching somebody struggle with their own mental health, you can see that isn't that far fetched a story as you feel for the character and the demons he faces.

The cast around Phoenix are excellent and understated enough to showcase the performance by Phoenix.

I came out of this movie instantly wanting to watch it again and left me and my buddies still talking about it days later. It has been a long long time since a film had that effect on me. !