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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Defy the Night in Books

Jan 12, 2018

[Defy the Night] by [Heather and Lydia Munn] was a very telling coming of age story. In fact throughout most of the book I really did not like the main character, Magali. I thought she was selfish and egotistical. I guess that was the point though.

The setting of "free" France during early World War II is something most people are not aware of because it was when most of the world was in denial. The people there fought on silently doing what they could for whom they could. This was not the Resistance as most people know of but perhaps it's predecessor.

The book was very well written and as I stated before the characters definitely had their own personalities. I will be adding this book to my classroom library and recommending it to the school library.

Kudos

Jennifer Daniell (108 KP) rated Mistress of the Ritz in Books

Jun 9, 2019

Mistress of the Ritz

Melanie Benjamin | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

9.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

After marrying Claude, Blanche quickly settled into her role as Mistress of the Ritz, dressing in only the
most fashionable clothing, befriending the elite and living in a beautiful suite at the hotel. But now the Nazis have taken over Paris and the Ritz has become their headquarters. Claude and Blanche now spend their days catering to and rubbing elbows with their conquerors, and their nights doing their part for the resistance. Living in such close quarters with the enemy Blanche finds a false sense of security, and grows more reckless as she becomes more restless.

A story of switching perspectives, this one is different in that it stays in a tight timeline, between a married couple instead of strangers. I really enjoyed this book and was delighted to find that Claude and Blanche were real people.

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) rated The Zookeeper's Wife (2017) in Movies

Oct 13, 2018

Duller than it should be

For such for such an interesting true story, this film should really be fascinating and interesting too, but sadly it isn’t. Instead of focusing on the efforts of the husband or of the resistance in general, this film instead chooses to focus on the wife. Whilst she most definitely was involved, to me her role didn’t seem as pivotal as others and this made the film a little dull. It is undoubtedly a harrowing tale, but this didn’t come cross in the film whatsoever. The script wasn’t great and even Jessica Chastain, who I usually quite like, couldn’t make this any better. In fact I think she made it worse... and I know it’s a true story, but all this film did was made me worry about all of the animals that died during the war ?

Kudos

Erika (17789 KP) rated Black Spire (Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge) in Books

Nov 2, 2019 (Updated Nov 2, 2019)

In general, Disney is making reading the books essential to the overall Skywalker Saga. I learned that the hard way after the Last Jedi.
The beginning of the book picks up right after the sub-standard book Phasma book, also by Dawson. Vi Moradi is the main character in this book, and I didn't really like her previously. The rest of the book picks up after the Resistance was basically destroyed. Vi goes with another character from Phasma, Cardinal (or whatever his real name is) to Bantuu, which is the planet featured at Disney Parks' Galaxy's Edge.

Again, this is filling time in between the Last Jedi and the impending Rise of Skywalker. So, it is useful to read, to know what exactly is going on. This is the only reason I rated this as 'ok'.