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Cori June (3033 KP) rated Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (Tristan Strong #1) in Books

Feb 19, 2022

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (Tristan Strong #1)

Kwame Mbalia | 2019 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

8.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

the characters (2 more)

the story

Good read for anyone

This is a great middle grade book. The story is compelling and deep. Tristan is a boy who is struggling with growing up, figuring out how to deal with losing his best friend, and feeling like a disappointment to his parents and grandparents. It's a rollercoaster of feelings and a great story.
If you don't know anything or much about African American or African folktales or mythology, it's ok. I really know only two (John Henry the reason why I bought the book.) and have only a passing knowledge of some of the characters and others I didn't know at all. And that didn't distract from the story. I will be looking the stories up because I want to know more about them. That kind of curiosity is something that I feel makes a great book.
I look forward to reading the next story.

Kudos

Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century

Jessica Bruder

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

From the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon’s...

Memoir social issues

Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Complete Persepolis in Books

Apr 20, 2020

The Complete Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi | 2003 | Biography, Comics & Graphic Novels

8.8

(5 Ratings)

Book Rating

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The Complete Persepolis is a graphic novel written by Marjane Satrapi that covers her life. This is a memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran.

This is a story of Satrap's childhood; growing up in a loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. We also follow Marjane in her high school years in Vienna. It is an interesting journey of a young girl becoming an independent woman.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed the graphic novel style. It is an interesting concept of telling a story and I really liked it. It was easy to read and quick to engage with.

Even though I liked Marjane’s story, I didn’t like Marjane as a character. She seems a bit too arrogant. She seemed to always need to prove to the world who she is and what she is about. I have met a few people like that in my life and found them annoying.

It was really interesting to read about the culture and history of Iran and I loved the places in the book where they showed us the major differences in culture and beliefs. Growing up in Macedonia, I am no stranger to this culture, nor the beliefs, as Macedonia is a country with many different nationalities and religions living together. I have seen things, and I have heard things.

The writing was very humorous and the story plot was quite interesting. I didn't really feel any emotions during the book, but the sad ending really got me. What a way to finish a book.

In conclusion, I have mixed feelings about The Complete Persepolis, only due to the way the character was set up and her attributes. However, I loved the representation of Iran, the way we are thrown into the culture and mindset, and how this book made me think twice.

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Kudos

Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated The Blessings in Books

Mar 15, 2018

I had been hearing some positive things about this book around the library and so I decided to give it a read, not knowing what to really expect. It wound up being a very relatable and enjoyable book. There isn't really much by way of a plot, rather each chapter winds up being basically a short story about one member of a very close, extended Irish Catholic Philadelphia family over the course of several decades. They are all connected, and so answers that aren't necessarily provided during the course of one person's "story" wind up being provided during someone else's. Each character is both different enough from the others and fully fleshed-out enough to keep things interesting, and the choice to follow different people in each chapter makes it hard to guess where things may be heading next. There are certainly some surprises in store for members of the family throughout. Growing up with a large family that was very close makes many of the moments immediately resonate with me, and some of the problems faced throughout the course of the novel strike close to home as well. Still, the aforementioned lack of plot makes it feel somewhat uneventful when all is said and done. The Blessings do wind up being a great cast of characters though, and the family's unwavering love for and faith in each other no matter how much life throws at them is a joy to behold, and that alone makes this one of the better works of fiction you might run across this Summer.