kristinabrune_author's reviews
1001 reviews

Every time I read a synopsis of a John Green book, I inevitably think, "Meh. I don't know if I'll like that or not." But damn, John Green. He gets me every single freaking time. I laughed out loud, I did the ugly cry, I fell in love with all the characters. His books, although intended for young adults, resonate with me in a way that few books do. This one had some very personal significance for me, but even if it hadn't I would have loved it just as much. Just like with The Fault in Our Stars, I will be buying a copy of this and highlighting the crap out of it.

Sigh ... I was disappointed in this book. There were lots of good things about it: I'm a sucker for historical fiction, so I liked that. I liked the way the book flipped between past and present. I loved all the characters and felt very invested in their well-being. Also, having known nothing about the Armenian genocide, I was fascinated by that.

But. The whole time I felt like I was just waiting for something to happen. Which is weird, because a lot did happen. It wasn't boring. But I was waiting for that WOW moment and it never came. In fact, I read this on my Kindle and I usually pay attention to how far along I am and for some reason this time I didn't. When I got to the end, I couldn't believe it. I had to double check that I was 99% done. I don't feel like there was every really a climax.

However, I would totally recommend it. It's worth the read, simply for the wonderful characters and historical knowledge.

I loved this. LOVED THIS. I am a sucker for historical fiction anyway, but this was particularly well done. It was such a wonderful, touching glimpse into not only everyday life in the late 1800s, but also into the myriad of ways human interaction has changed. This book shows us what 1800s culture was like - what people considered risky or scandalous, how they interacted with each other, how they grieved, how they fell in love, how they raised children, and so much more. It was just so incredibly moving and engrossing. Can't recommend it enough.

I finished this book two days ago. I tried to write a review yesterday but felt like I had to continue processing. Today, I'm still not 100% sure how I feel, so I don't know how much sense this review is going to make.

Here's the thing - as far as the story, the pace of the novel, and the characters go, I loved it. It was a a page-turner and I identified with the characters. Yes, some of it felt forced and rushed, but overall, I think the story and the way the author painted it was great.

It was, by far, the most realistic dystopian society I've read about. As in, I could actually imagine it happening. Which brings me to the reason I think I'm having such a difficult time writing the review. I feel like I should have something profound to say - about the separation of church and state, about the way we treat criminals in our society, about what the future has in store for America. And I DO have things to say about all of that, it's just that in today's political climate, with the election months away and both parties raging at each other, I'm not even sure how I feel about some current political issues, not to mention the issues raised in this book. So I think my problem is a dissapointment in my ability to articulate exactly how this book made me feel.

Bottom line, is it will make you think long and hard about many hot-button issues, but it is also a great story.

John Green gets teenagers in a way that I think few adult authors do. His characters feel real to me and not at all forced or conjured. I just love his writing.

Having said that, An Abundance of Katherines was nowhere near as strong as Looking for Alaska or The Fault in Our Stars. I did love Hassan and all of Gutshot, TN. And while still endearing, Colin was a bit too whiny for me. And I guess it's because LFA and TFIOS touched on such deep topics and AAOK did not, but this one didn't leave me thinking about the characters long after I was finished, as LFA and TFIOS did. So I think the three-star review comes simply from my comparison of this book to his other ones that I loved so freaking much. Still a great read.

This is a terrible, awful, no good book.

Ok, not really. It's just incredibly sad. It is also beautifully written and incredibly creepy. The only thing preventing me from giving it four stars is that I wish there were more scary parts and less focus on the main character's every little move. Because the parts that were scary were REALLY scary.

This was near-perfect historical fiction. It sucked me in and I couldn't finish it fast enough. I knew very little about Russia as it was under Stalin and I'm appalled. Although it's fiction, the stories of survival were heartbreaking and inspiring. Also, never before have I gone from hatred of a main character to caring deeply about them like in this book. Highly recommend.

There is no doubt that Jenny Lawson is freaking hilarious. I laughed out loud and I really enjoyed listening to it.

But. I know she qualified this books as a "mostly" true memoir so I'm not saying I have a problem with her sincerity or that she lied or anything like that. But I get annoyed when things are deliberately exaggerated just for comic effect and I feel like there was a lot of that here. I think her stories would have been funny and endearing enough all on their own without an attempt to make them funnier. I don't know if listening to the audio version exacerbated this - sometimes I felt just by the tone of her voice that certain parts were supposed to be punchline moments.

But overall, highly entertaining and worth the read. I just wish I hand spent so much of it wondering which parts were true and which were exaggerated.