Kristy H (1252 KP) rated People We Meet on Vacation in Books
May 27, 2021
"On vacation, you can be anyone you want. Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself."
Like most people, I adored Emily Henry's book BEACH READ and was quite excited to read PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION. She's back with another unique romance. I'm not sure I enjoyed this one quite as much as BEACH READ, but I still loved it. This book is intense and emotional yet hilarious at times. A section on Poppy helping Alex rework his Tinder profile had me actually laughing out loud.
"I know right away when when I was last truly happy. Two years ago, in Croatia, with Alex Nilsen. But there's no finding my way back to that, because we haven't spoken since."
VACATION has a small cast of characters, which means the spotlight is focused on Alex and Poppy throughout. It's incredibly easy to get swept up in their story. I flew through this book in a day (on vacation, ironically). It goes back and forth in time, with some chapters revolving around "this summer," which tells us about Poppy's trip and her attempt to save her friendship with Alex. Past chapters look at other summers and their other trips. We know something happened on their Croatia vacation, but don't find out until we get to that chapter. That melodrama was a bit much for the actual "big" reveal, but that was my only major issue with the book.
This is a slow burn, with Poppy and Alex's story unfurling in bits and pieces, thanks to the back-in time-format. However, it was incredibly effortless to become lost in the plot and become part of this book. Henry is an amazing storyteller, and I felt like I was a piece of Alex and Poppy's journey and their trips. I was invested in their friendship from the start. Henry's romances are different, but the lust, passion, and intensity just ooze from the pages nonetheless.
Overall, this is a different and intense story. Our main characters are complete opposites, and it's fun being a part of their journey. 4 stars.
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Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Eden Summer in Books
Jun 24, 2019
I'm going to put in a trigger warning as there are mentions of substance abuse, physical abuse, death, adoption and suicide.
Jess's best friend has gone missing. Through interviews with the police and Jess's personal recollections, we begin to build up a picture of Eden's life before her disappearance. Her sister had recently been killed in a car accident, and her seemingly perfect relationship with Liam was more complicated than anyone realised. Bit by bit, Jess - and we - begin to piece things together and discover where Eden has gone.
The girls are only young - 15 I think? - and very much have the all-consuming passion that young teens feel. As in, every little issue feels huge, and things feel far more serious than they might to an older person. I remember feeling this way. I think it was portrayed so accurately, the way fighting with your best friend feels like the end of the world and a family argument overwhelms you with guilt. It was a bit annoying in some ways, though; no fault of the author, of course, I just get a bit annoyed at kids taking things too seriously. I look back at myself and think how stupid it was to get so caught up in such little issues. So the things that Jess gets so worked up over just seemed a bit trivial to me, like she was exaggerating too much. But as I said, this creates the teenage voice really well in my opinion.
The things that both these girls have gone through are massive, though - Jess was attacked and Eden's sister killed. That's pretty hard for a young girl to deal with, and these are not the problems I'm saying are trivial. These are hugely important and emotional issues and I think it's great to talk about. I love books with these real, albeit sad, events. I think it is so good to discuss all the feelings and situations that follow, and also emphasise how it is not the end of the world if something bad happens. life will continue. Eden says how she feels her sister's death becoming more distant, more bearable, and how she doesn't want that to happen. She feels guilty, as if she's forgetting her and moving on. This is so important. She also thinks about killing herself due to guilt - which I won't ruin too much - but then realises how she shouldn't take life for granted. Her sister would've given anything to be alive still, and she shouldn't be throwing that away.
It was a really good read and I found myself wondering what was going to be revealed next. It was wel written and perfectly captured the young voice of Jess. If I read this when I was younger, I think I would've adored it. I would've understood it and connected to Jess more than I did now I'm older. 4 stars, definitely worth a read.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Buffalo '66 (1998) in Movies
Sep 26, 2019
Performances – Vincent Gallo doesn’t bring us a very interesting character, it isn’t written well or directed to make us interested in him, he just can’t make this character work. Christina Ricci was trying to break out of the child star roles by now, this is different to what we had seen before, though she does look bored through the film. the rest of the cast struggle too, it is just poorly written to give the actors a chance.
Story – The story follows a gambler that had paid the price for his addiction and now is free, he wants revenge only he spends the time with his kidnap victim as we get to see the difficult life he has had which led him to the life of crime. Well I think that is what we are meant to be seeing, the story does drag along at an awfully slow pace with nothing much happening, trying to make us believe the two could be falling in love, though he is abusive with his actions and spends more time running around looking for a toilet than showing any sort of emotion.
Comedy/Crime/Romance – If this is meant to be a comedy, the jokes miss big time as you will struggle to get a laugh out of this film, while the crime only seems to focus on the kidnapping, which she could have escaped from with ease plenty of times, so that never feels like a threat, the romance just feels awkward for the most part of the film because there is zero chemistry between the two.
Settings – The film is set in the Buffalo area, which is meant to be about the passion of the locals, it could easily be any town with a big American football team.
Scene of the Movie – The first look at the dinner table makes it a clever shot, until it gets boring.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We spend more time looking for a toilet.
Final Thoughts – This is just a dreadfully dull movie that has no direction in anyway, it fails to capture any attention from the audience with a truly unlikeable main character.
Overall: Dreadfully boring.
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