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ClareR (5885 KP) rated The Museum of Broken Promises in Books
Sep 8, 2019
I would absolutely visit this museum!
This is a story about a museum that contains the physical objects that symbolise a broken promise or a betrayal to those who have donated them (and this is SUCH a good idea for a museum!). The Museum of Broken Promises is in Paris, and its owner Laure chooses the items that go in to the museum after she either speaks to the donator, or simply reads the note that is sent with the item. Laure has experience in these matters: her own object sits in the museum.
I don’t know what I was expecting from this novel, but I was so surprised by the way this story progressed. Laure as a young woman becomes an au pair for a Czech family in Paris after her father dies. She then realises that she needs a break from university to grieve and get away from her life for a while. So when the family return to Prague for the summer, Laure goes with them. And so begins her life behind the iron curtain.
What follows is a love story between Laure and a musician and political activist, Tomas. We see how restricted people and their thoughts were, and we see why Laure becomes the woman she is in present day Paris.
I really liked the way we moved back and forth through time with Laure, and got to see Prague before its Velvet Revolution, Germany just after the Wall comes down and Paris in the present day. Laure is far more complex a character than I expected her to be at first.
I adored this book. It’s a sad story told so well - and I warn you that the end should be read with tissues to hand.
Many thanks to the publisher Corvus and NetGalley for my copy of this book, and to Pigeonhole for actually making me read it on time (I love my Pigeonhole gang!)!
I don’t know what I was expecting from this novel, but I was so surprised by the way this story progressed. Laure as a young woman becomes an au pair for a Czech family in Paris after her father dies. She then realises that she needs a break from university to grieve and get away from her life for a while. So when the family return to Prague for the summer, Laure goes with them. And so begins her life behind the iron curtain.
What follows is a love story between Laure and a musician and political activist, Tomas. We see how restricted people and their thoughts were, and we see why Laure becomes the woman she is in present day Paris.
I really liked the way we moved back and forth through time with Laure, and got to see Prague before its Velvet Revolution, Germany just after the Wall comes down and Paris in the present day. Laure is far more complex a character than I expected her to be at first.
I adored this book. It’s a sad story told so well - and I warn you that the end should be read with tissues to hand.
Many thanks to the publisher Corvus and NetGalley for my copy of this book, and to Pigeonhole for actually making me read it on time (I love my Pigeonhole gang!)!
Darren (1599 KP) rated The Ghoul (2016) in Movies
Sep 13, 2019
Characters – Chris is an undercover detective that starts seeing a psychotherapist to help solve the latest case, but the more time he spends in therapy the thinner the line between reality and the truth come from. Kathleen is an old friend from university that supports Chris, while also having him when she needs help. We have other characters that come into the life of Chris, the therapists trying to help him, the fellow patient trying to warn him, the film does keep the character numbers down with each posing a potential end of the investigation for Chris.
Performances – Tom Meeten appears in every scene and his performances needs to be great to carry the film, he is wonderful through the film as we feel his confusion through it all. Going into the supporting cast, we do have good performances for Tom to bounce off too.
Story – The story is the hardest thing to describe, it will keep you guessing from start to finish as you wait to see where the film will go next. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, because you will need to give the film 100% attention to make sure you don’t miss anything and even if you blink you might miss an important clue.
Thriller – This has tension driven through the film as we can see how thing could end up becoming something shocking.
Settings – The film is set in London which helps us se the busy street feel to the busy lives that the people are living.
Scene of the Movie – The final reveal.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is slightly too confusing.
Final Thoughts – This is a real mind bender, I always enjoy seeing film makers push things to the limits even if I don’t personally enjoy the film as much as I should have.
Overall: Real mind bender for all.
Performances – Tom Meeten appears in every scene and his performances needs to be great to carry the film, he is wonderful through the film as we feel his confusion through it all. Going into the supporting cast, we do have good performances for Tom to bounce off too.
Story – The story is the hardest thing to describe, it will keep you guessing from start to finish as you wait to see where the film will go next. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, because you will need to give the film 100% attention to make sure you don’t miss anything and even if you blink you might miss an important clue.
Thriller – This has tension driven through the film as we can see how thing could end up becoming something shocking.
Settings – The film is set in London which helps us se the busy street feel to the busy lives that the people are living.
Scene of the Movie – The final reveal.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is slightly too confusing.
Final Thoughts – This is a real mind bender, I always enjoy seeing film makers push things to the limits even if I don’t personally enjoy the film as much as I should have.
Overall: Real mind bender for all.
Ross (3284 KP) rated A Not So Dead Man's Journey in Books
Sep 20, 2019
Needs a good edit/proof-read
The first book in this new author's series immediately throws the reader into an exciting Indiana Jones-style ruined temple where the main character, Alden, is searching for ancient magical texts.
From the end of this scene, however, the tone changes dramatically as Alden returns home to a painfully dull and twee life with his wife and daughter. This section is laboured and very dull, going way beyond setting the scene and embedding the characters.
Alden is then thrown into a new quest as he is kidnapped by pirates and taken far away to take part in a magical ritual. From here, where the story should be hooking you and growing, the pace is all wrong and I felt like I was the one taken prisoner by this book.
Alden goes through something of a transformation (which is not explained in any way, but that is largely fine) and having been away for 10 years he travels home.
A number of things about the story are just absolutely implausible, and inconsistent. Characters who have barely met, let alone like each other are suddenly best friends with so many fond memories. Magical abilities are suddenly revealed which would have been very useful earlier in the story. And the underlying plot needs a lot of work to thrash out the details and character motivations.
The author's narrative tone is quite charming, but a little twee for some of the darker sections of the story, and the character's thoughts are quite irritatingly thrown in and generally add little of substance.
The writing needs a lot of work, there are so many spelling errors and grammar crimes. And the punctuation is all wrong as well, which may sound pedantic but at times it does throw the reader off and make them question what the sentence meant (see "helping your uncle jack off his horse").
I am convinced there is a good story in here somewhere but it needs a really thorough proof-read and substantial editing.
From the end of this scene, however, the tone changes dramatically as Alden returns home to a painfully dull and twee life with his wife and daughter. This section is laboured and very dull, going way beyond setting the scene and embedding the characters.
Alden is then thrown into a new quest as he is kidnapped by pirates and taken far away to take part in a magical ritual. From here, where the story should be hooking you and growing, the pace is all wrong and I felt like I was the one taken prisoner by this book.
Alden goes through something of a transformation (which is not explained in any way, but that is largely fine) and having been away for 10 years he travels home.
A number of things about the story are just absolutely implausible, and inconsistent. Characters who have barely met, let alone like each other are suddenly best friends with so many fond memories. Magical abilities are suddenly revealed which would have been very useful earlier in the story. And the underlying plot needs a lot of work to thrash out the details and character motivations.
The author's narrative tone is quite charming, but a little twee for some of the darker sections of the story, and the character's thoughts are quite irritatingly thrown in and generally add little of substance.
The writing needs a lot of work, there are so many spelling errors and grammar crimes. And the punctuation is all wrong as well, which may sound pedantic but at times it does throw the reader off and make them question what the sentence meant (see "helping your uncle jack off his horse").
I am convinced there is a good story in here somewhere but it needs a really thorough proof-read and substantial editing.
Darren (1599 KP) rated The Blackcoat's Daughter (February) (2015) in Movies
Oct 14, 2019
Characters – Joan is a lost girl that is trying to return home from a hospital which brings along a couple that want to help her to make up for the fact they lost their daughter, Kat is the emotionless quiet girl at the school who hasn’t heard from her parents before winter break and must stay there with Rose. Rose is the other girl that got left at the home, I feel she is older and expected to be the one to look after Kat.
Performance – The three girls Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton are all good through the film, they each create their own personality for their characters which does make us care what they are up to however confusing it all gets.
Story – The story here is very confusing, we follow two seemingly different story arcs about girls that find themselves becoming possessed by an evil spirit, we don’t get to focus on either of them enough and they don’t seem to meet up at any point to explain why we need to watch two different stories unfold. I do feel this does end up coming off attempting to be too smart for its own good leaving us with nothing important happening.
Horror – This tries to play into the psycological horror but ends up falling slightly short because it ends up being confusing.
Settings – The settings don’t help here either because we follow the two stories one is on the road while the other is around the middle of the home the girls are staying.
Special Effects – The effects are good without being overused and mostly used for gore effects.
Scene of the Movie – Stop here, because it is shocking.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It was just too confusing.
Tagline – She Returns.
Final Thoughts – This film is just too confusing really, it makes everything hard to follow which didn’t make it enjoyable to follow.
Overall: Too Confusing.
Rating
Performance – The three girls Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton are all good through the film, they each create their own personality for their characters which does make us care what they are up to however confusing it all gets.
Story – The story here is very confusing, we follow two seemingly different story arcs about girls that find themselves becoming possessed by an evil spirit, we don’t get to focus on either of them enough and they don’t seem to meet up at any point to explain why we need to watch two different stories unfold. I do feel this does end up coming off attempting to be too smart for its own good leaving us with nothing important happening.
Horror – This tries to play into the psycological horror but ends up falling slightly short because it ends up being confusing.
Settings – The settings don’t help here either because we follow the two stories one is on the road while the other is around the middle of the home the girls are staying.
Special Effects – The effects are good without being overused and mostly used for gore effects.
Scene of the Movie – Stop here, because it is shocking.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It was just too confusing.
Tagline – She Returns.
Final Thoughts – This film is just too confusing really, it makes everything hard to follow which didn’t make it enjoyable to follow.
Overall: Too Confusing.
Rating
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