emilyusuallyreading's reviews
746 reviews

What I Liked
The writing in Mao II is powerful, stunning, and lovely. Each sentence is structured with care and perfection. Descriptions of mass events and roaring crowds are immersing. I don't know if I've ever rated something so low that was written so well, but I could never get into this book. I did not enjoy this read. And I will not come away a changed person from reading it. The profound message that DeLillo labored to pound into the reader didn't wash over me.

What I Didn't Like
I hated the dialogue in this book. Every character's voice sounded the same, all extensions of DeLillo's own voice and opinions. There were almost no dialogue tags to the point where, when four or five people are talking at once, it's difficult and frustrating to gather who is saying what.

The novel was boring. The characters, dialogue, and storyline were all incredibly dull. The only thing enjoyable about the book was the pretty writing, which can only carry a book so far. I struggled painfully to make it through to the end. I would not have finished if the book was not a mandated read for my literature class.

This is one of the cleverest structures of a book that perhaps I've ever read. However, I'll admit that when I sit down to read fiction, there is a part of me that wants to become transported into a new world entirely. When I am flipping back and forth from the poem to the commentary (I could not read this book cover-to-cover), I am anything but immersed.

What I Liked
I love the way that Toni Morrison brings African heritage into the center of her books.

Magical realism isn't usually my thing, but it fits perfectly within this story. It's just realistic enough to be believable and just magical enough to capture my sense of wonder.

What I Didn't Like
One of my biggest pet peeves is when I don't like a single character in the book. While there was some vague part of me that liked Pilate, I despised the protagonist, Guitar, Hagar, Macon, and basically every other character who made an appearance in Song of Solomon. Milkman's self-pitying, apathetic nature drove me mad.

While I am a fan of Toni Morrison, this wasn't my favorite of her novels. I can't fully explain why. The storyline was a little dense and slow for my taste.

This novel is X-Men meets the year 1940.

What I Liked
The old photographs were eery and exciting. They added a mysticism and originality to the story I haven't encountered in a book before.

I like Jacob as a character. His relationship with his grandfather evokes sympathy.

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His power is unique and fascinating.

His relationship with his parents is also realistic. I appreciate the deviation from the majority of YA plots where the parents have absolutely no say in what their child does (which doesn't make sense). The fact that Jacob has involved parents in his life is a breath of fresh air in YA fiction.

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When the psychiatrist turned out to be the wight, I was thrilled. What a great plot twist! I didn't see it coming at all.

What I Didn't Like
At times, the plot was weak. It seemed structured solely around vintage photographs that Ransom Riggs liked, above the story's quality. Chekhov's Gun comes to mind (if you see a gun in the beginning of the story, it had better be shot sometime before the end). There were so many photographs and plot points that weren't important or even fleshed out.

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The twins that fed each other ribbons, for example (there were two pictures of them). The dog with the head of a boy. The girl trapped in a bottle that was mentioned several times. The girl with two reflections.

At the very least, why didn't Riggs have these children attend the school as minor characters? Why weren't they introduced to Jacob at some point, since he discussed and examined their photographs for a substantial amount of the novel? These photographs existed solely for the artistic effect, but they lacked impact on the story itself. Some of the photographs that are supposed to be of the same person but obviously aren't also frustrated me. The two photographs of Emma are of clearly different people. Basically, having neat old photos scattered throughout the book is a fantastic concept, but it thinned out the plot and even created some gaping holes.

One plot hole that bothered me was the tension built up around the idea that if you leave the time loop for more than a couple of hours, you will age quickly and die. After seeing the apple shrivel and turn to ash, I felt a thrilling anxiety as Emma and the others left the loop and adventured (I won't spoil any more than that) for several hours

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and then their loop is destroyed

, but shriveling up and dying never seems to be a deep concern of theirs by the end of the story

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even as an entire night passes with the children outside of the loop

. It was a conflict created by the author that was left to fade into disappointment.

What I Liked
This story is so fast-paced. I can't think of a single scene or page that wasn't essential. My attention was caught the entire read and I had trouble putting the book down. The characters are clever and witty. June's observational skills are fascinating, as is the structure of the government

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and their experimentation on poor people in order to create bio-weapons for their enemy

.

I appreciated the powerful female characters in this book. Kaede, Tess, June, and female antagonists are fully capable, articulate, intelligent, and physically strong as they maneuver throughout Legend.

At first, I thought Legend was going to offer social commentary on how standardized testing does not always show the strengths of special children, but this changes towards the end of the book

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when it turns out that Day, an obviously brilliant young man, did actually excel in the Trial and it was only the big bad government that changed his score

. Regardless, I thought the Trial was a fascinating addition to this world. I loved the use of prodigies as main characters. According to the acknowledgements at the back of the book, it seems that Marie Lu began writing Legend as a 14-year-old, which would make her some kind of prodigy as well.

Overall, Legend is absorbing, fast-paced, and clever. The characters are likable and entertaining. I enjoyed this read.

What I Didn't Like
I find it problematic when the author tries so hard to give her two narrating protagonists separate voices that she must give them different fonts and even change the color of the fonts. Day and June would have, or should have, stood apart separately without the necessity and the distraction of changing up their fonts. Each time Day's narration began, I found myself become distracted and bothered by his brown, not-Times New Roman font. Maybe this is a nitpicky thing to say, but it bothered me. These characters should have been strong enough through the writing alone to stand separately from each other.

The romance between June and Day happens fast and is based almost solely on initial physical attraction instead of personality and banter. The descriptions of characters at times seemed a little bizarre. Example: Day is an Asian boy with white blonde hair and startling blue eyes.

While I realize this is a YA novel, the ages seemed often shockingly and unbelievably young. Day began his life of crime at only 10 years old. Tess is 13 and has medical skills that would take most people years in college to gain. There are multiple teenagers in the military and in working positions in this world

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in Tess's case, she is embraced into the Patriots as a medic at 13

, which I had trouble believing. Would a realistic government give a 15-year-old, no matter how smart, the responsibility of tracking down the country's greatest criminal? Especially immediately after the death of her guardian/older brother? These were a few things that I struggled to embrace about this story's world.

Again, this is picky, but I found a misspelled word in the book! "Capital" used instead of "capitol," and someone in the editing process should have caught that.

What I Liked
I read this book for the first time a few weeks after I read The Hunger Games. Instead of being brought into the plagiarism debate that I encountered later, I was introduced to Battle Royale when a friend of mine said, "You like the Hunger Games trilogy? You'll like this one too." And that's how I prefer to see the two books: complementary, but different.

While The Hunger Games is about the consequences of war with a focus on character relationships, Battle Royale is almost exclusively about the psychology behind what could cause a bunch of children to slaughter each other. The big, bad government is explored much less than the reactions of each student to the Program. Another difference from THG is that the children in BR aren't strangers. They are all friends from the same class in school. BR is in third person omniscient, and while some characters are sympathetic, the reader is given a significant distance from them. Leaving the novel, I felt little sorrow over almost every character's death, while in THG, there are strong emotional ties to the main characters (and a much greater difference between the "bad guys" and the "good guys"). The concept of young people fighting to the death is haunting, but Koushun Takami takes it on in unforgettable style.

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The most similar scene to The Hunger Games, in my opinion, was: "'Whether you meet Kayoko Kotohiki or not,' Shogo said, 'if you want to see us, make a fire somewhere and burn raw wood to get some smoke going. Make two fires. Of course, leave as soon as you make them because you'll only attract attention. And make sure you don't cause a fire. Once we see that, we'll make this call every fifteen minutes, say, for fifteen seconds. Try to find us by following this sound.' He pointed to the bird call." So similar to Rue, her whistle, and the attempt to distract the others with a fire. I'm not saying it's plagiarism. It's probably coincidence, but I found the two scenes strikingly similar.

The ending was fantastic. I was completely blown away.

What I Didn't Like
I can understand why Battle Royale was so controversial. Most of the violence is justified. Why read a book about children fighting to the death if you aren't prepared to read about children dying? However, at times I had to put the book down because the gore made me feel so squeamish. Mentions of rape became borderline exploitative at certain points.

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An example would be the scene with Takako, as well as this quote: "Well, like Mr. Hayashida, she was very uncooperative. They both didn't accept your assignment, so in order to silence her, well, I had to..." Sakamochi said calmly," ...rape her. Oh, don't worry. It's not like she's dead."

The novel has been translated into English from Japanese, so there were obviously some awkward transitions between the two languages. There were some cultural differences that I had trouble understanding, and the dialogue often came across as cheesy. The similar Japanese names also made it even harder to juggle the 42 students. (One scene had a Yukie, Yuko, and Yuka!) Due to these things, I had trouble getting into the book, but it is a captivating read if one puts the effort into reading it.

There were a few world-building issues that bothered me. Again, this is a big difference between Battle Royale and The Hunger Games. There is talk in Battle Royale about a population shortage in the country. However, they kill something like 2,000 junior high students each year from the Program. No wonder the country is dying out. It doesn't make sense to systematically slaughter twenty thousand young citizens each decade in a country that is actively trying to repopulate itself. Surely it would be just as effective to hold only a few Programs each year.

What I Liked
If You Find Me is incredibly readable. I finished it in a single setting and was unable to put it down without finding out what happened to two lovable sisters. Their story is compelling, and Emily Murdoch is an excellent wordsmith. Her writing is beautiful.

What I Didn't Like
The only reason I'm giving this book four stars is because I had trouble envisioning Carey as a believable, real person. She has no flaws. She is "model" beautiful, a "prodigy" on the violin, always respectful, almost always kind to the people who are mean to her, and consistently self-sacrificing. A typical abused, displaced child would lash out viciously, even if there was a honeymoon phase towards the beginning, and especially if she spent most of her childhood without a present authority figure. Even though Carey grew up surrounded by abusive drug addicts, she doesn't cuss (and is somewhat shocked when her friend Pixie swears) and she doesn't know what marijuana is. Carey's high level of education is also too good to be true. After Carey teaches herself how to read and write with whatever garage sale books their mother brings home (and without even knowing what a pencil is), both Carey and her sister are two grades ahead.

Overall, I enjoyed If You Find Me, even though I had some problems with its believability. Emily Murdoch is a lovely writer, and I look forward to reading what she publishes in the future.

What I Liked
A damaged world without enough oxygen for mankind to survive is a perfectly horrifying post-apocalyptic setting. Some parts of the world-building are very applicable to American teens' view of society. Abuse of capitalism, for example, by taxing people for the very air they breathe. The concept of Breathe is brilliant. The moment I heard about the book, I was eager to read and explore the idea about people struggling to survive on a ruined world almost devoid of oxygen.

What I Didn't Like
The points of view in the book switch between Alina, Bea, and Quinn. Alina is a firecracker resistance member, Bea is an auxiliary who is secretly in love, and Quinn is the only male narrator and a premium. However, all three voices sound the same. I had significant trouble remembering in a given chapter who was talking, except for when the other two characters were mentioned by name. They didn't seem to have strong goals or motives.

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Quinn's entire focus for the first half is to chase after Alina like a lovesick puppy, and then his goal is to follow after Bea like a lovesick puppy. And then he suddenly decides to rebel against his entire family and everything he's known to start a war.

The supporting characters also fell flat for me. Petra was fascinating, but she was never fully explored as a character. The Pod Minister and Quinn's father seemed forced instead of sympathetic or believable.

The lack of characterization made it difficult for me as the reader to deeply care what happened to any of the characters. The tension faded away for me and I struggled to keep my interest throughout the story.

What I Liked
Room at its core is a love story between a mother and her child. Both characters are beautifully written. Although the narration comes from the voice of a child, it powerfully reflects the strength of "Ma" and her fight to survive.

Although Jack is carefully sheltered from Old Nick's abuse, tension builds within the novel through his perception of his mother, a woman who is struggling desperately under the trauma of rape, confinement, and kidnapping. The lack of social interaction with the outside world also takes its toll on Jack.

Donoghue gracefully is able to avoid sensationalism as she touches on heavy topics like rape, abuse, and kidnapping. Jack's childlike voice helps to keep the focus of the novel off of the "gory" details and instead places the spotlight on the relationship between mother and son. Room reminds me of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, although Jack's extreme innocence makes more sense than Bruno's.

I was deeply affected by this novel, and I will be thinking over it for many more days.

What I Didn't Like
The story is quite difficult to get into at first. It's written in the rambling language of a 5-year-old child with his own names and references to everything in his life. For the first chapter or so, I found myself re-reading paragraphs four or five times over in an attempt to understand what Jack is trying to describe.

Example (one paragraph): "Ma switches Lamp off now and we lie down, first we say the shepherd prayer about green pastures, I think they're like Duvet but fluffy and green instead of white and flat. (The cup overflowing must make an awful mess.) I have some now, the right because the left hasn't much in it. When I was three I still had lots anytime, but since I was four I'm so busy doing stuff I only have some a few times in the day and the night. I wish I could talk and have some at the same time but I only have one mouth."

What I Liked
Humanity is corrupt. Lord of the Flies explores the capacity for evil and murder within the heart of every person, civilized or savage, white or dark, child or adult. I read this book for the first time for a school assignment when I was in the 9th grade, and looking back, I think I was too young to understand the dark, haunting message of Lord of the Flies. Perhaps it would have made a heavier impact the first time if I had read it in 12th grade instead.

This novel lingers and burrows its way into your thoughts. There are frightening and harrowing moments, from the first murmurings of a beast to the very last scene.

The ending is brilliant.

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The naval officer comes to rescue the boys, end their man hunt, and bring them back to civilization. In reality, he and his men are on a very similar man hunt in times of war, and there is no one older or wiser to stop them.

What I Didn't Like
If one is prepared to read a gritty, scary book about the wickedness of humanity, there is little not to like. I wish there was more available about the world around them. There is mention of a terrible war, an atom bomb, everyone at home being dead, and something that caused their plane to crash down in flames. Although the English boys seem to come from a well-structured and civilized world, it is in reality as brutal and murderous as the society they create on the island. I wish for a little more explanation of the war going on at home during this time, to reflect on a larger scale the evil that is found lurking within the hearts of children.