watermelleon's reviews
250 reviews

Used as an audiobook to help me sleep so will pass on a rating! 

This was a childhood favourite of mine, it does feel a bit younger but a good replacement for another well known wizard boy series. I will also add that I easily read through and enjoyed these as a child when I couldn't with the latter after a number of attempts. So they are definitely better written too! 

If I have to be reallyyy picky I do think I  love Nimmo's "the snow spider" series a little bit more :) 

Edit: changed from 3.5 to 2*

Tldr review: "Its a book for teenagers/children/babies/young people" is not a good enough excuse for bad writing. Everyone should have the right to good fiction regardless of ages, and it already exists in the world.  

I'll be the one to say I'm disappointed in this book. So much potential that fell at my feet. So many promising moments that immediately disintegrated into pure frustration. I wasn't expecting a 5 star read, but I also wasnt expecting to feel so insulted.

The Good Bits!

 
The issues:

Tbc! 

Pleasantly surprised by this one!

This was a book club suggestion - someone discovered that my work is being used as a filming location for a police station (exciting!). It has only just been commissioned, but quite excited to be ahead of the curve and looking forward to watching the adaptation to see how it stands up!

In not knowing much about the book beforehand, my internal biases were at play with this one. a child abduction story written by a man was not filling me with great confidence in capturing a mother's emotions accurately, and I was expecting at best a cheap american holiday thriller. Within the first few pages I dive into the deep nordic setting (written by a woman!) and knew I had missed a trick. That showed me!

Note I wanted to raise: It is easy to wonder how this kidnapping could even happen - to a non-scandinavian reader it feels so negligent! I would advise all readers to consider the culture context of this book first before pulling judgement - Dahl wrote a fascinating article about the "surprising scandinvian approaches to child-rearing" here: https://www.frostmagazine.com/2020/10/the-surprising-scandinavian-approaches-to-child-rearing-by-alex-dahl/

Things I loved about this book: 

Did I guess the mystery correctly? I guessed everything that was revealed- but there were some wacky theories that were completely wrong! In the end everything ties together in a wonderful way.

Spoiler question about this: 

I guessed that Elisa was the one who killed the baby and husband- while this was revealed to be marcus driving, I am still unsure if this is correct as I felt Elisa kept stressing she had too much to lose by admitting the truth. We also do not see a chapter in her perspective after the final interview with Selma, and so I wonder with Elisa's history of lying if she was actually the one in the vehicle driving after all and Marcus took the fall as he was so in love with her?

 

Questions for Reading Club: 

Another "book that I couldn't bear to finish so I left it 90% read for months" 

There are so many things I love about this book: the detailed characters and their morally grey complexities, luscious and rich descriptions oozing with depth, complex commentary on difficult subjects from white saviours to colonialism. 

Writing this makes me want to bump up the score! It's a deeply emotional yet darkly funny read, that has taught me so much about the plight of Sri Lanka. Shehan made a strong case throughout that this was an expertly researched book, very thoughtfully structured and layered with careful and intelligent literary influence (including my beloved favourite book- cloud atlas). You can feel the time and care and passion he took into writing this book. 

I read the last of this via audiobook, which immediately made me sad that I had not chosen that route to begin with. the audiobook is INCREDIBLY performed, and added such a strong and emotive voice which in my opinion connected the reader even more to the country the events took place. 

I find I'm wanting to bump up the score again, but I'll restrain myself. The main dilemma is one of personal opinion: I am not thoroughly convinced that the writing style is 100% to my specific tastes. But this is a flaw on no ones part, and I wouldn't choose to change it. This is absolutely a book I would put on everyone's bucket list. 

Struggling to follow the story via audio book, I'll return to this at some point  but definitely liked the initial vibe of what was going on! 💕

The best revenge story I have ever read 😭😭 anyone with literally any trauma should read this

Twists at every corner, incredible characters... And the ending?? 😭😭

I have been tempted many times to spend coins on a comic but this one took the cake tbh. 

I kept thinking "this can't possibly be it, there has to be something more sinister afoot",  but this is what it is. It is not out to trick you, but to give the good guys the most perfect ending for them. As for the bad guys... 

It has taken me a long time to find the right time to read this.

I watched the film when it came out, so already knew what to expect. I have never ever cried so much in a cinema. I initially watched it at a time of crisis, hoping for an answer on a long resolved question. Reading this now felt very cathartic, and in some ways more painful than before as I continue on in the world. 

Edward is so much more horrible than I remember him. He represented to me all of the things I hate about the attitudes of men that I have come to know since, especially those that are raised by emotionally illiterate parents. 

Florence seemed more empowered than I remembered her. Absolutely, she is naive and absorbed the messages that the world will push into young women, but she knows what she wants and ultimately gets it.  Not in a girl-queen boss way, but in a silently marching on and smiling way. 

We meet these two all too real characters on their wedding night. This is not a happy story, but a cautionary tale on the importance of communication, and the inability to communicate in a time on the cusp of an era of freedom, that still witholds all of the previous guilt and oppression of the generation before. 

I was very impressed by mcewan's writing throughout, his gross metaphors integrated into everything that could make you feel uncomfortable about the topic yourself. It felt very much that he understood both Florence and Edward extremely well, with incredible anxiety ridden pacing which felt like a sequence of events unfolding in real time. 

Its a short book, and just like the marriage of Florence and Edward there is so much more to say. 

This book wins the record for the highest percentage read before I put it to rest. Woo. 

91 percent in, I gave up the ghost. This has been an up and down read, the positive parts being excellent. I have learned so much about sleep science, which has reconsolidated and improved lessons learned during my psychology degree. This book has convinced me fully of the importance of sleep and has convinced me it is something I really need to work on within my own life. How to do that however, is still a question that needs answering elsewhere. 

Why I dnf'd - two things

1) How do we have better sleep? 

The author talks of cutting age techniques, but in describing who lack of sleep affects most (people in short who are heaviest affected by the plight of capitalism) he touches on societal causes but not the importance of dismantling of capitalism as a solution. In fact, many solutions are probably not accessible to the groups he is describing as most in need of them.

2) Neurodiversity and sleep

There was a section mid way where the author talked about how Neurodiversity was impacted by sleep. He took care to not outright say lack of sleep caused adhd and autism, but pointed out that some studies suggested as such. 
91% in, I hear him refer to adhd as a rising epidemic. I honestly don't care for what is next, what devil's advocate reasonings he may have for this not actually being the case. Others likely could read this and add further fuel to the difficulties neurodiverse people are having to be heard right now. He is clearly not an expert on Neurodiversity and it showed. 

Oh I'll add a third:
Weird use of accents when talking as people from other countries left a weird taste in my mouth as well. 


Tldr:; I feel a teetering around topics of things he wishes to say but others would find too controversial (adhd probably caused by sleep deprivation), or doesn't want to (capitalism is the problem). Learned a lot but have very few answers due to the issue being so systemic (which he refuses to acknowledge) 

If I met this author in life, I feel we would not get along, despite his clear passion in the subject and some very intriguing information that he presents. 

It is official: Elif Shafak has made it onto my prestigious favourite authors list!

I expected this to be a short read, but it was packed densely with beautiful prose, that forced me to pause and reflect on every other page. This book is EXTREMELY well written on all fronts.

This book is a beautiful journey, with an adventurous structure that I welcomed with open arms. Firstly, you start at the end: the death of tequila leila, reliving her life as it flashes before her eyes. Then, the book explores everyone (yes everyone!) who is affected by her untimely passing. You hear about her dearest friends in her own words and why she values them, and then you experience their own perspectives, emotions and lives without her. 

Leila's friends (referred to as the five) are each living on the fringes of society in their own ways, all individuals with differing opinions and life experiences. They come together through the one certainty that they all have in common - their one mutual friend who unites them all in grief. It is a strong group of characters, who together are able to highlight the city they reside in through a perspective most important. Not the wealthy, but the refugees, the disabled, sex workers, trans women who make the city what it is.

Island of missing trees definitely had more of a direct personal link for me- but reading something so far away from my own experiences was fascinating, and this was informative in the most beautiful and creative way. This is a wonderful fictional tale with a sprinkling of truth- exploring grief, friendship, and chosen family, embedded in the background buzz of Istanbul.