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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated The Blind Assassin in Books

Mar 4, 2018

The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood | 2001 | Fiction & Poetry

7.8

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

Novel within a novel with great twists

Once again, literary maestro Margaret Atwood has produced another creative mega-feat. Her novel in a novel reminds me of her other work Hagseed, also exploring the theme of revenge.

However, there is very little to laugh about in this story in which narrator Iris, at the end of her life, describes the mysterious circumstances that her sister, husband and lover all died in. Younger sibling Laura is said to have been killed after her car edged off a cliff, all the while leaving the world with a controversial novel that describes a racy affair.

Iris reveals the truth about the incidents from her perspective, which means we always see Laura as child-like and naive, while her husband Richard and his sister Winifred are portrayed as cardboard villains. With that in mind, Atwood's characters are realistic because they are all just points of view from one person. Great twists in this book.

Kudos

Scott Tostik (389 KP) rated Malevolent (2018) in Movies

Nov 2, 2018

Malevolent (2018)

2018 | Horror

6.3

(8 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Netflix.... Fuck off

Brother and sister team in the 80s try and make a quick buck by faking paranormal activity in "clients" houses...
The sister is allegedly a psychic and all of the activity appears to be EVP related.
I watch paranormal shows... Do i believe in them??? Sometimes..
But this... Is a hard sell.
I get it Netflix, i really do... But stop putting out every little indie horror flick that catches your eye and leave the scares to the pros.
I can honestly say i think ive only seen one Netflix horror movie that i actually enjoyed. And thats because it was written by Stephen King.
I get it, cash in on what people enjoy... Horror... But expecting fans of the genre to be happy with any slapped together piece of dog vomit is insulting to fans.
While this movie had great potential... It just didn't deliver in the finished product.
Back to the drawing board Netflix...

Kudos

Jamie (57 KP) rated Parenting From the Inside Out in Books

Nov 28, 2018

Finally finished! Took me 8 months to read it, but was so worth the read. The reason it took me a long time was all the processing through the valuable information this book presented. Yes, it's a parenting book, since I am not a parent, I initially started reading it with my sister in law Kris and sister Carri for the soul purpose of learning to build healthier relationships with the people in my life.
The last chapter a new door opened up for me, a chance to help a 12 year old girl and the last chapter gave me some relevant reading material and journaling opportunities for me to work with her and myself. It's amazing how God does that. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn about how our brains develop in children, ourselves, and how we relate to each other. AWESOME! is all I have to say about "Parenting From The Inside Out" By Daniel J Siegel and Mary Hartzell.

Kudos

Eleanor (1463 KP) rated Arrowood in Books

Jun 18, 2019

Arrowood

Laura McHugh | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Atmospheric mystery

Arrowood is a grand old house that was used as part of the underground railway network in Iowa. It is the family home for generations of Arrowoods, the home that Arden grew up in and the home from which her twin sister disappeared from twenty years ago.

When Arden inherits Arrowood and returns to the now deteriorating town of her childhood; Keokuk, she is met with some faces from her past. Arden opens old wounds by digging around the unsolved disappearance of her sister, and has to ask herself some difficult questions about what really happened all those years ago at Arrowood.

This book had a great build up in it. The atmosphere created around the house and town was eerie and haunting. There was some delightfully suspenseful moments and overall the feel of this book was intense. The ending went a bit off the rails for me and I'd already guessed roughly the deal but still would strongly recommend for the ride.

Kudos

Deborah (162 KP) rated Lady Drusilla's Road to Ruin (Ladies in Disgrace, #2) in Books

Dec 21, 2018

This novel by Christine Merrill does feature as it's hero a character who first appeared in a previous book, but I hadn't read that and it really doesn't matter as Lady D stands quite well alone!

The Lady Driscilla of the title is the responsible older sister who is on her way to Scotland to save her flighty younger sister from a great deal om imprudence and probably a great big scandal! When Druscilla is harassed by an oily, unpleasant merchant on her journey, our hero's gentlemanly side takes over and he ends up assisting Druscilla - in more ways than one!

This was a fun romance with believable characters and understandable objections and misunderstandings to be overcome. Even getting near the end of the book I couldn't quite see how everything could be resolved satisfactorily - but of course it is! In fact I would have liked to have 'seen' a little more of our hero and heroine's adventure!