bonitazivot's reviews
72 reviews

This year, I wanted to get into classics and I thought: what better way than to read the book my favorite Disney movie was based off of? I regret that choice now, as the book was not nearly as interesting as the movie. 

The book can be rather confusing, and if I hadn't found the audiobook by AudiobookLord on Youtube, I think I wouldn't have finished reading it at all. I'll have to rate it a 6/10 for nostalgia, but really it's not worth that much..

Update: rating 2/5 instead of 3/5 cause I just couldn’t justify such a high rating

Een fantastisch boek van Tim Krabbé, onmogelijk om weg te leggen! Heb ‘m nu al een paar keer gelezen en verslind ‘m elke keer binnen een paar uur zonder ademhalen.

Ik raad aan dit boek te lezen zonder ook maar enige voorkennis, dat maakt het des te meer interessant. 

I read this book for the first time around 2007, as a mere 13-year-old, and instantly fell in love with Edward and Bella. I remember obsessing over their relationship, and wanting an Edward of my own. Their love seemed so real, so genuine. It was such a fun time, growing up as a fangirl and discussing the books with my friends. If only I knew the misery that was to come in the next few books... I'm sure back then I would've rated it a million/10.

Having re-read it now, as an actual adult, I'm left a bit creeped out by this book. Boy meets girl and seems genuinely disgusted by her. Girl gets obsessed with boy, then it turns out boy was a bit more than obsessed with girl (he watched her sleep, really?!) Suddenly they're in world's most intense relationship, she forgets about all of her friends and then keeps nearly dying. I think we, as readers, tend to forget the fact that Bella was about 16 (17?), and just ship the relationship cause it sounded so damn cute in our heads, where really Edward is nothing but a manipulative stalker. I mean... he IS a vampire after all and admitted his weapon is being attractive to humans.

Despite me being weirded out, I still read this book faster than Edward can run. The storyline was so bizarre, but somehow I loved it. Let's just say I live for the drama. I'll rate it a 7.5/10. 

 This book was definitely interesting, but could use some improvements. I rate it a 3/5.

Firstly, there’s the texts between the writers. I see how they think it’d add comedic value, but honestly it doesn’t add anything.

Then there’s the text boxes in every chapter, which add additional information or fun facts about subjects. Those are definitely interesting but the problem is with the placement of them. They’re often in the middle of paragraphs or even sentences so then you either have to stop reading what you were reading, or come back to the textbox. It’s just not very convenient.

Lastly, some chapters were more interesting than others. The interstellar chapter nearly put me to sleep!

Overall I did really enjoy the book and if you’d ask me if I’d read a follow-up? Yes. Yes I would. 

 This is one of those books that didn’t blow my mind but kinda changed it anyway.

Technically I knew everything they told me. I know change happens, I know I need to embrace it, I know I need to get out of my comfort zone. However seeing it laid out in story format and seeing the options I have, made me realize I didn’t wanna be a Haw. I want to be happy, and better myself.

Happy I read this book. It gave me some things to think about and for that, they get 3 stars. 

 I had a hard time getting through this book, and an even harder time rating it because how can you objectively rate a book about such horrible events?

The pianist is graphic, to the point and spared no details. It described how his home, Warsaw, was torn apart and turned into a ghetto. How his family, friends and strangers struggled to survive. How every day, they wondered if it was safe to go out on the streets. How the street was filled with dead bodies and smelled of decay.

Wladyslaw’s story was absolutely heartbreaking, and hard to read. I had many times where I felt at unease, and wanted to put the book down, but it’s such an important story that I made myself get through it.

My one critique is that somehow I felt like the writing was rushed. In 3 sentences you could suddenly be months into the future, or even the next year. It’s rare that I ask for a book to be longer, but I think for a story of such importance, it would have made sense not to rush through the years.

So, on to the rating: First off, I’d like to give a million stars to our writer, and his courage to write of the horrible unimaginable time he went through. His book however, gets a 2.5 out of 5, purely based on the writing style and pace.

Ps if you haven’t seen the movie: I’d highly recommend it, it’s a great representation of the book!