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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Chronicle of the Mound Builders in Books

Jan 12, 2018

[Chronicle of the Mound Builders] by [Elle Marie] is a fast paced, thought provoking ride. The tie between the past and the present using a female archaeologist as one of the main protagonists is a different take on a mystery.

As someone who if familiar with the Cahokia Mounds and the mystery that surrounds them I personally found the plot of this story intriguing. The characters were believable even in some of the more fantastic elements. It all fit together.

I could have done without the sex scene because it seemed gratuitous but I get that is common in fiction today. The story could stand very well on its own without that though.

I have recommended this book to my sister who is an anthropologist and a big [Elizabeth Peters] fan.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Amazing Johnathan Documentary (2019) in Movies

Nov 19, 2019 (Updated Nov 19, 2019)

Impossible to categorise documentary turns out to be impossible to predict, too. Starts off looking like a fairly conventional documentary, complete with celebrity interviewees (Penn Jilette, Weird Al Yankovich, etc) and archive footage, but very soon the narrative of the documentary takes a hard left turn and becomes something totally unexpected.

Sort of a commentary on and deconstruction of the current golden age of documentary feature film making, but also a genuinely intriguing puzzle box of a film. It stops being about the putative subject and becomes a documentary about what it means to make documentaries. The director starts to question everything that's going on and I did, too. Maybe it doesn't have the big reveal at the end I was expecting, but it's still fascinating, thought-provoking, and often very funny.

Kudos

lurkykitty (3 KP) rated The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly in Books

Mar 26, 2020

A powerful story of two sisters

The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly hooked me from the first chapter. The sisters Ivy and Autumn lost their mother to cancer three years ago, and their father has remarried. Ivy is a nerd girl band geek and Autumn is the “bad girl”, dealing drugs and getting into trouble. They barely communicate, but when Autumn is kidnapped, Ivy knows something is very wrong and does not give up on Autumn despite others assuming that Autumn’s disappearance is just due to her own bad behavior. This book is a well written thriller with excellent characters, and skillfully explores the bond between the sisters, friendships, and families. The author also examines how girls’ lives are valued less than those of boys. It was hard to put down and thought provoking.