curiouslykatt's reviews
1087 reviews

David could have been a horrible story teller and writer (re: Britney Spears memoir) and this would have still been an amazing read. Lucky for us readers, David in fact is an excellent writer, he is engaging, funny, sarcastic, blunt, messy, and willing to share his personal journey in reconciliation and understanding.

David’s wife, Jaime, was badly injured in a 2002 terrorist bombing at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His wife was fortunate to survive, their friends were not so lucky. A surgeon gave David a piece of shrapnel that was removed from her body, a small broken nut. This small piece of metal changed his life and that of his wife’s forever. David being an academic by nature and a “forever student” had many unanswered questions after the bombing, mainly: Why? His goal now is to meet the man, and his family, who left the backpack with the bomb in the crowded cafeteria in July. Not out of revenge, but out of desperation to heal and understand.

This memoir is told in a non-linear story telling at the beginning. We jump around between how David and Jamie met and decided to move to Israel which is broken up by the days leading up to the bombing as well as the initial days after the bombing.

David will take some time to dive into the history of Israel and Palestine. There are chapters devoted to the political failings, broken promises for peace, unfair double standards, outright hostilities, among the plethora of issues which have caused and maintained the tension.

We finish the memoir with David going to East Jerusalem and sitting down to talk to people who he is now bound to by violence.

At the end of it you won’t have the answers to the questions you wanted but you’ll come out with hope and a new understanding.

Confessions by Kanae Minato

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vol. 10 by Haro Aso

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Goodbye, Eri by Tatsuki Fujimoto

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challenging dark sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Confessions in B-Flat by Donna Hill

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Confessions in B-Flat take us to Harlem, New York in 1963. We have Anita Hopkins who is following the teachings of Malcolm X, meanwhile Jason is pulling up roots from Atlanta and moving to New York to help spread the gospel of Martin Luther King Jr. Knowing this you can see where this story might be going. You have a “by any means necessary” approach versus a passive resistance approach. Ultimately striving for the same goal, but two very different paths.

This was probably a bad timing read for me and I even mentioned to our bookclub host I’ll be actively picking up some other books because ya girl needs a reprieve. With that being said I don’t know how to review this one. I’m not mad I read it. I’m not happy I read it. I just read it. I can see a lot of the bookclub readers really enjoying this one.

I will say the historical inaccuracies were a bit of a miss for me, but I don’t think a lot of readers will actually pick up on the minutiae the same way. Like how many people are going to notice that answering machines weren’t common until the 80s but a poor beat poet/waitress has one? How many people will screech halt when Anita and Jason take a plane ride and she’s shocked he’s never been on a plane... In the 1960s... How many people will reflect on bell bottoms, which weren’t common until the later 60s/ early 70s.

I’ll be honest it was probably my brain focusing on these acting as a padded wall for my sanity.

I read the book. I got it off my shelf. We’ll call it a win.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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curiouslykatt's reviews 1087 reviews

curiouslykatt's reviews
1087 reviews