mjenae's reviews
249 reviews

"Timshel." Thou mayest. You can.
You can overcome your past.
You can conquer your evil.
You can override history.
You are not the blueprint of your ancestry. As much as people mold you in their mind, as much as you threaten yourself, you always hold the capacity to change. Stop lying to yourself—any moment you can turn around and take that initiative. It's there. Sometimes you have to search, and sometimes it's hidden underneath sorrow or hatred or piles of failure, but it's there. As long as you're alive, so is hope.
I was afraid the message of this book would be sad. It wasn't. Yes, the story was painful in its beauty, but it was not hopeless. It was about redemption. Thou mayest. And it's still blossoming.
It makes me joyful—I want everyone to know it.

I was going to rate it at 4, because towards the end the book takes a political turn which made me slightly uncomfortable, but I had to give it at least an extra quarter star for that last chapter. What an exit. I think I underlined nearly half of it.

Unsurprisingly, this book is channeled towards the business world. A lot of the examples it uses are from an office. But it wasn't slow and boring; it moved along at a good pace, giving me all the important material without losing my attention or wasting my time. And even though it wasn't a direct fit for my situation, it provided a lot of helpful tips to implement even in my life.
If you love "let's put what we learned to work" exercises (as I do—surprise!), you'll have a blast at the end of the first few chapters. At first I thought they might be boring and not coordinate well with me personally, but they were actually fun and tactful. Toward the end, when it began talking about organizing meetings and other such things that did not pertain to me, I didn't complete every exercise. But I was still able to take something away from every chapter.

Random things I liked:
1. The British turns-of-phrases. How he said "communication is king" instead of "key." How he called the "telephone" game "Chinese Whispers." It made me grin over and over. (I do like those Brits.)
2. It read very smoothly. Graham's sentences moved along like a ship over calm waters. Easy to read and actually quite relaxing.
3. The last chapter. I loved how he called our procrastination "the resistance." It made it sound like a mighty army we're collectively battling against with physical weapons—which is basically exactly what it is.

TLDR: Geared towards CEOs, but it has a lot of useful advice—and it's fun, if you're the type who likes to read psychology for pleasure.

Reasons this book is amazing:

1. The "small country town" feel. Front porches, gardens, sandwiches from the icebox, run-down cemeteries, main street, treehouses, springs, summer freedom—and of course everyone knows everyone.
2. Abilene, Shady, Jinx, Miss Sadie, and all the other unique characters of Manifest. 3D and (for the most part) very hard not to love.
3. The variety of narrative devices—flashbacks, newspaper articles, letters. Ms. Vanderpool knows how to reveal the backstory of a town.
4. The diversity. Manifest is packed with people of many nationalities. (Sure, it may be a bit cliche at times, but it's an admirable element.)
5. The ending—of course I'm going to give a good ending five stars. It was slow and steady and strong, a careful settling of peace.

Entrancing theology, but I expected nothing less from Mr. Lewis. Deeper than the science—true, based on the biggest Truth of all, and full of wisdom. I believe I may like this one better than the Letters.

(For the curious: yes, it made me cry. Twice.)

My sister and I listened to this book together, and we both loved it from the beginning.
I could talk all about the plot and prose and sensitive topics, but it's the characters that really make this book. The  lighthouse keeper Augustus, an alcoholic, and his brave daughter Lampie; Edward (Fish), the "monster" in the tower; Martha, the cook, and her intellectually disabled son, Lenny; Nick, the protective carpenter in the garden (our favorite character); and of course all the anomalies in the Strange tent at the circus. Even the antagonists are interesting: Miss Omalia, the school teacher in love with the admiral; the admiral himself, with his complicated backstory; and Earl, the... idiot. (He works at the circus and has a practically nonexistent moral compass.) I can't expound because spoilers, so just go meet them yourself.
If you do, I highly recommend the audiobook. The narrator is phenomenal.

Things I loved about this book:

1. Addiction awareness. I always get enthused about mental-health-centered middle grade stories, and I thought this one did a good job of portraying substance abuse.
2. Tyler. He's funny, accepting, open, caring, and just so real. I'm so glad Emma found him as a friend.
3. The way the friendship drama concluded. Yes, it was a mess throughout the book, but it didn't end in ashes. It worked out perfectly for the story—realistic but still happy and hopeful.
4. Art. Art, art, art. I love all the creativity that spills out through the voices of the main character and her friends. Emma's shadow boxes intrigue me—I may just have to try it myself.
5. Metaphors. The whole story is full of double meaning. And not only metaphors, but nature metaphors. Bravo, Jenn Bishop.

Come on, just read it.
I won't raise your expectations—that will make it more interesting when they're blown away.

(PS: if nothing else, read it for  the narrator. Hoid is such a charmer.)