Smashbomb

Walter is stick in limbo in the interim, a period of afterlife where you remain until everyone who knew him dies. All his loved ones have moved to yhe final stage of afterlife and he wants to go with them but a book of poems he wrote has been found by a stranger. Now she knows his name he is stuck for longer.

The story follows him and the women who found the book, Letty. She is a sad character who you want things to turn out good for.

The theory of the afterlife is fabulous and made me question whether I would want to stay there forever and be remembered or if I would want to risk moving into the final afterlife.

The characters made me want to shake them into being braver at times but are endearing. The plot is a bit crazy but there are lots of laughs and it is very creative.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Monster House (2006) in Movies

Dec 19, 2019 (Updated Jan 14, 2020)

Monster House (2006)

2006 | Action, Animation, Family

7.2

(16 Ratings)

Movie Rating

A horror film for children - is what Monster House is marketed as, and it's pretty much just that.

The animation style is different, looks a little ropey by todays standard but is still pretty charming.
The narrative really drags to begin with, with characters who are hard to get on board with (accept the grumpy old man, that guys speaks to me...)
The halfway mark is a turning point. When it becomes clearly obvious that the kids are being terrorized by a living house intent on eating them, it feels like a crazy episode of Scooby Doo.

The final 15 minutes or so are great, and where the animation is at its best. It also packs in a genuinely sad plot point that lends the movie an emotional edge, and it's the exact kind of thing that makes these kind of films good.

There are certainly better animated films out there, but it's not the worst way to spend an hour and a half.

Kudos

saheffernan (157 KP) rated Such a Fun Age in Books

Mar 24, 2020

Such a Fun Age

Kiley Reid | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry

7.2

(5 Ratings)

Book Rating

Contains spoilers, click to show

This book had a topic that had drawn me in and I had high hopes for. Halfway through the book it seemed as if I had started reading an almost entirely different book. The dialogue and parts of the story had seemed to fall apart.

The only character I cared about only partially was Emira and her charge Briar. They had a cute relationship that did seem to grow. That however is the only part of the story that had growth. Alix had a white savior complex that was shown again and again leaving me feel disgusted while reading. After accusing her ex boyfriend from high school and Emira's current boyfriend of fetishizing black people and culture. The story then became about a successful women throwing everything away to get back at her high school boyfriend instead of the topic in which the book started out with.

In the end it just left me feeling gross, and sad for how these people had acted.

Kudos

Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Boy From The Woods in Books

Feb 23, 2020

The Boy From The Woods

Harlan Coben | 2020 | Crime, Thriller

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Oh dear, I am sad to say that once again, I am in the minority with this one as it has received many 4 and 5* reviews but not for me unfortunately.

I have to say that I am a fan of Harlen's work so this one won't put me off reading more in the future but after starting off really well, it struggled to keep my attention and I found myself skimming large sections which is never a good sign. I was unable to get into the story as I found it fragmented and the characters just didn't do it for me at all; Wilde is interesting and Hester has some great one-liners but that's about it.

My mum always says "you can't please everyone all of the time" so don't take my word for it and give it a go.

Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for my advance copy in return for an honest review.