isabelthearcher's reviews
167 reviews

interesting book.
boring at points.
would recommend if you're totally socially incapable.

ok so objectively this was a really good book. it was enjoyable and in my opinion you cared about the plot of Lydia’s death therefore you continued to read. the character developed throughout and during the book there were flashbacks to explain the family’s dynamics. it explored grief in an interesting and delicate way. it definitely shows all the different ways people try to cope and cope with it.
my only little annoyance is that (spoilers) I guessed that jack was gay, there was a little clue and I guessed it. it was a better twist than having him as a 2d fuckboy but still...
however I was really satisfied with the reason Lydia drowned, she was trying to prove herself and thought she could kick through the difficulties and the water yet she couldn’t. it acted as a comfort in a way to know it wasn’t suicide. furthermore it was an act very close to her character.
the writing style was a m a z i n g and i will definitely be picking up Little Fires Everywhere. it’s a very short book and very useful for an emotional yet driven book.

I liked this book, it was really interesting. As a woman with no primary education her prose very beautifully written! Very inspiring and a grounding book - makes you fe grateful.

so this took me 5 month to read on and off which describes my experience with this book.
the first 150 pages were quite good and I really felt for Thomas and questioning your sexuality hit close to home for my friends.
my main problem was the Leteo institute and the whole procedures of losing memories. I don't think it was necessary for the exploration of losing your memory and wanting to forget things.
I also found Aaron very annoying, I understood how he had been through a lot and had issues but everytime he had an internal monologue about something happening he would reference his abusive father, his suicide attempt, his sexuality. I understand that this is a real problem of course but it was talked about it an annoying look at me kind of way. Aaron did messed up things but always blamed it as you deserved it or I felt this way or blah blah blah.
However I did come away with the interesting view on sexuality that a lot of people have like they're wrong - and I think this book did tackle important issues and in the end I did sort of come away with, they just needed to be executed better.

This was ok, it had some cute parts but overall was not good.
It didn't really follow the Cinderella story at all which was the only thing I was reading for the last 100 pages. My problem was that everything seemed to have stupid or convenient endings.
From the start everyone was spoon fed information which was very irritating to read from. Two sub-plot points which I thought could have been interesting was Iko's death which wasn't explored at all from Cinder and Cinder building the gasoline car. These could have moments of character development, but instead Cinder and the rest of the characters stayed 2-dimensional. Dr. Erland was an interesting character however cinder.was.spoon.fed.information and he told her the most important thing in the last pages.
The bit that made me laugh out loud with how stupid this book was, was when Levana and Sybil were trying to take Kai away for the wedding and Cinder screams "WHY WOULD SHE MARRY YOU WHEN YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH ME" The ENTIRE book she is dismissing her feelings and we only get the 'I'm cyborg he would hate me' crap and then we get this? It doesn't fit in with her personality at all and it felt as though Meyer was doing this merely for the plot point.
Overall I was pretty sad to have not liked this book, mainly because it has been a recommendation for about 2 years. I don't think I will be continuing on with the series as Iko is dead and there is no chance of seeing Kai again. This book would definitely be good for younger readers, but my critical nature now doesn't let poorly written characters and sub plots go past me!

This book was ok. The first 150 pages were B.O.R.I.N.G, however once we got past discovering mainly the backstory of Lincoln that I didn't really care about - it was so good. The whole concept was really cool and I liked how y2k was incorporated into the story. Overall it was fun but not a book I would read again.

2nd Read - yeah I still completely adore this book

1st Read - Absolutely stunning.

Just as it said on the cover I completely devoured this book. I felt as though I was sitting there interviewing their story of their band.
What was so interesting was how Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote about singing songs and even the song lyrics at the back of the book! I am dying for them to be turned into real songs because the way in which she describes them is unlike anything I have ever read before.
I'll be honest I started crying when the news came in that Teddy had died. It was like then that even though I knew they were going to break up from the start, the realisation made it like I hadn't seen it coming.
I have to say definite favourite character would be Camila, the way in which she described her love and trust for Billy was unlike anything I have ever heard of in a book before. This made more sense at the end, when we're shown that Julia (Billy and Camila's oldest kid) was the one interviewing everyone throughout the book. This made sense as it felt as though Billy, Camila and Daisy really dove into the deep parts of their characteristics and it was because it was Julia.
The unspoken romance between Daisy and Billy was enchanting. Daisy knew it was off bounds and even though they made nothing official not even a little slit between Daisy and Billy, this just made it as though they had had a little affair as they both knew it but no one said it.
What's so remarkable about this book, is that all we get is the dialogues between the characters, years after the band was together. Yet through this all the tensions, romances and plain platonic friendships were so easy to see.
The chapters were pretty long, but I felt as though when I was reading it, definitely because it's done like a script I was right there as they said things. Also especially in the way Graham and Karen revealed certain details about each other, you could tell in that scene that it was an interview not just everything happened as it was happening. It was so cool to have those two contrasting bits of storytelling in the same chapter as each other.
Of course there was the 70s rock n' roll mention of drugs, sex and partying but it made this book more authentic I feel. The writing about Billy almost going off the rails but then getting better mostly for Camila's sake was so refreshing to read about. Daisy's addiction with drugs and alcohol was also pretty interesting to read about, as there are so many artists even now who have to deal with addiction at the beginnning and even throughout their music careers.
That point moves nicely on to the fact that every character had flaws. They were jealous, in love with the wrong person, had different desires compared to their partner, addictions, sadness, guilt, depression. Every single character in this book had two sides to them and the interactions they had with family and friends made them so intriguing to read about.
If anything I would have liked a little bit more to Simone, Daisy's friend. She played a key part in the beginning, in Daisy's first way to success but from then on it was only in times of desperate need that Daisy would call on her. It made it supportive for the reader to read knowing that Daisy did have someone to fall back on, but Simone didn't have a huge backstory compared to everyone else and I feel as though Simone could have had more depth to her.
Anyways overall, this book was breathtaking. It was my first book written in an oral history and I loved it despite feeling a little out of my comfort zone. I also LOVED Taylor Jenkins Reid's style of writing and I will definitely be picking up some of her other works soon!
--- also there's supposed to be an American TV show coming out and I am SUPER hyped even if we have to wait forever. This story was so intense, part of me thought it was real and I went on a google hunt for the real Daisy Jones.

This book is everything ahhhhhhh

I really enjoyed this book it was informative, well-written and gave good advice.
I would really recommend this as a beginner psychology book.