emilyusuallyreading's reviews
746 reviews

This book stabbed me in the gut, but it healed more than it hurt. Donald Miller is strikingly honest in this narrative described as "nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality." Personally one of the most significant learning experiences I took from Blue Like Jazz was the story of when Donald Miller watched a woman purchase her groceries with food stamps. He pitied her and wished he could buy her groceries for her so she would not have to face the humiliation of buying anything with the brightly-colored currency. As she walked away with her shoulders sagging, Miller realized that the reason she was humiliated was because he was judging her. As he imagined how he would feel to accept use food steps, he imagined telling everyone around him, "Don't worry. I work hard. I'm doing my best to get out of this slump." Our hearts are proud. Americans like to give charity, but we don't like to be charity; this is why it can be so difficult to embrace the fullness of God's grace. Accepting what Christ done for us is falling to our knees in our brokenness and humiliation accepting charity with absolutely nothing to give in return.

Blue Like Jazz is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Definitely a new favorite.

This book was breathtaking. It was written in a style that reminded me of Khaled Hosseini (one of my favorite authors). In fact, I thought this book was fiction until I read the back cover about halfway through and realized that it was journalistic reporting.

Katherine Boo is brutally honest in her depictions of life in the Annawadi slum, but she also shares the stories of individuals in a way that does not victimize them. So many stories about poverty makes the reader simply feel bad for those who are trapped within that bitter cycle; it makes it audience pity a distant and faceless "them." And while Boo shows clearly how the human beings in her book are trapped in poverty and struggling to find any change at all, she also shows them as they are: strong, innovative, resilient, intelligent, courageous.

I strongly encourage anyone to read Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Excellent narrative.

The is one of the most powerful books I have read in a long time. After reading The Ragamuffin Gospel, I have a deeper awareness of my own need for God's grace and my own brokenness. The American Church likes to sing about the word "grace," but it can be difficult to truly understand that no good works, no perfect life, no balancing of the scales can even make a dent in the magnitude of what Christ has done for us. This book makes me desire to each day be more and more like Mary Magdalene as she wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair than like the Pharisees that proclaimed their own goodness from the street corners. Read this book.

What I Liked
Water Walker reminds me of some of Ted Dekker's earlier novels. I loved Eden's character, her story, and everything about her and the people around her. The story was captivating from start to finish; I read the entire thing in a matter of hours.

What I Didn't Like
My biggest concern would be that new readers would struggle picking up Water Walker and relating to it quite as much as I did without having first read the Showdown trilogy and Outlaw.

I honestly didn't know what to expect when I opened this book. There was a picture of a slightly angsty-looking teenage girl on the front cover, and since I judge books by their covers, I was skeptical. However, I love Carrie Ryan's style of writing. She emphasizes the setting so clearly that it's easy to picture oneself in the story completely. Ryan is constantly describing textures and senses and gut feelings. I almost never like stories that contain love triangles, which did occur in this book, but I enjoyed the unique zombie-apocalyptic setting, the legalistic portrayal of the Cathedral and Sisterhood (and the discovery that there might be faith in God outside of rules), and the storyline in general. This was a quick, fascinating read.

I bought this book on a whim and I kind of regret the read. I didn't realize what it was about before I began. I lost a friend to suicide, so I can understand some of the experiences of the protagonist and supporting characters. However, I couldn't stand this book. The book made a huge joke out of the seriousness of depression and self-harm and eating disorders and suicide, as if they were infections to be caught (although the book never made it clear about what that actually meant). I felt like the protagonist was extremely angsty and self-pitying. While she had been through several traumatic events, her depression didn't usually linger on, "I miss my brother and friends," but instead on, "Wow, adults expect so much from me and I just can't feel happy in this awful high school."

Sloane's romantic relationships with the boys in her life were each so incredibly unhealthy and co-dependent. "You are the only reason I can make it through life" and "I absolutely need you to tell me I'm okay because I can't be okay on my own" are frightening messages to give young girls. In order to survive life without self-destruction, Sloane needs James. In order to survive The Program without self-destruction, she needs Realm. She cannot function or survive on her own in life without a man to protect her and provide her with emotional security. So unhealthy.

While erasing the memories of minors is certainly not okay (and how could this possibly cure the chemical imbalance or infections in their brains? What? Or keep them from catching the experiential "infection" again when their friends continued to die), I still found myself relating to Sloane's parents more than I did to Sloane. When their daughter is sinking into depression and suicidal thoughts, of course they're going to be worried. Of course they're going to want to get her help. The books driving hatred for the Program makes sense; the driving hatred for Sloane's parents does not at all. They simply don't want their daughter to commit suicide.

Overall, I felt like "The Program" was meant to make teenagers identify with the "we're alone against the world and grown-ups will never understand" mentality, as well as this sick belief that relationships, sex, and friends are the only things that can prevent someone from inevitable teenage depression and self-harm/suicide. Not a healthy, remarkable, or enjoyable read for anyone.

What I Liked
The Fifth Wave rises far above the genre of cheesy, oversimplified, "dystopian" Young Adult fiction, which is a very good thing. Yancey does not dumb his writing down for the sake of appealing to teenagers. He does not hesitate to depict horror in realistic, graphic ways. Never in my life have I enjoyed a book about aliens (I didn't realize this book was about aliens when I bought it), but I really did enjoy The Fifth Wave.

Cassie's character was strikingly real. Her voice was clear and had the right tones of child and individual forced into early adulthood. The childish memories of her past, the rugged determination to find her brother, the mixture of characteristics that would and should belong to a young adult whose life has been torn apart by a war before her very eyes. I really liked her character.

What I Didn't Like
I do have a few critiques about The Fifth Wave, which is why I'm not giving it 5 stars. There is a romantic relationship that takes place about a third of the way into the novel that reminds me quite a lot of Twilight (not a book I'd like to be reminded of). Honestly, I hated every "love interest" relationship in this book, except for perhaps whatever was going on between Ringer and Zombie.

Overall
Yancey's writing: excellent. The descriptions of the Waves, character development, backstories: excellent. Weird forbidden love: no, no no.

A world has been created in The Handmaid's Tale where women's entire beings are reduced to gender-specific roles. There are the Wives (subservient partners of the men), Aunts (teachers of young women), Marthas (domestics), and Handmaids (read Genesis 30 for an idea of what this means). Men have taken complete control of Offred's world, claiming the need to protect women from violence while at the same time repopulate their struggling society.

What I Liked
There were some powerful scenes from Offred's previous life, such as when she was a little girl and feminists were burning magazines that featured provocative images of women. "I threw the magazine into the flames. It riffled open in the wind of its burning; big flakes of paper came loose, sailed into the air, still on fire, parts of women's bodies, turning to black ash, in the air, before my eyes." While I believe that pornography is harmful and exploitative of women, this scene emphasized what extreme legalism had done to Offred's world. The veil, heavy layers of clothing, and even gloves for her hands hid her body and femininity to such a degree that she was reduced to an object instead of a human being.

While a male-dominated society greatly harmed Offred and other women, The Handmaid's Tale also showed the damage done by extreme, militant feminists. Anyone who was willing to suppress truth and freedom to make a political statement ultimately oppressed women. Religion is also a huge component of The Handmaid's Tale, but the novels makes it clear that Christianity has been twisted out of context in order to fulfill totalitarian, political intentions. For example, Aunt Lydia teaches Offred the Scripture verse "blessed are the meek" so that she will learn a woman's subservient role, but she leaves out "for they will inherit the earth."

What I Didn't Like
One of the biggest issues for me is the extreme culture shift that takes place within Offred's young adulthood. As a married woman with a daughter, she lived in a society that was much more sexually liberated than ours is today. In a span of only 2 or 3 years, everything had changed to the extent that even basic conversation, greetings (May the Lord open, Praise be), clothing, and titles were completely foreign to ours. Offred was college-educated, had a good job, and viewed herself as an equal partner in her marriage. In an instant, even the right to read was stripped from her and nobody seemed to argue with the new totalitarian regime. The rights of women eroded seemingly overnight instead of over an extended period of time, and this is what I found unbelievable.

I loved this book. It's the third in a trilogy, but I think it is my favorite of the three. The first chapter of The Dark and Hollow Places, where Annah is introduced as the protagonist surviving in the Dark City

Spoiler

New York City

, was stunningly written. I love the way Carrie Ryan sets each scene. She uses all 5 of her senses beautifully and strikingly. Annah's character is so much more of a fighter than that of her sister in The Dead-Tossed Waves, and I found myself admiring Catcher so much more than I had before.

Spoiler

The depictions of the city crumbling left me haunted.

Carrie Ryan is not afraid to dive into the violent, frightening, and shocking scenes that would be found in a zombie-laden world. This was one of the best young adult stories I've read in a while.

What I Liked
This is a great book series for young adults. It's appropriate and still offers some heavy, thought-provoking issues.

I love Carrie Ryan's writing style. She has an excellent grasp on her five senses. She describes Gabry's world with such clarity that it is easy for the reader to feel completely immersed in the forest of hands and teeth. Ryan writes with beautiful metaphors and striking perception.

What I Didn't Like
I liked the first book in the series, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, significantly more than I liked The Dead-Tossed Waves.

I'm not a fan of purposeless teenage angst, of which this book contained quite a bit. Mary, the main character in The Forest of Hands and Teeth grieved for appropriate reasons, but she was also strong, inventive, and determined. Gabry of The Dead-Tossed Waves blamed herself for every single bad thing that happened around her... and Elias blamed himself for the rest. An example of this angst, taken from page 353:

Spoiler

Catcher will never be better. ...Elias will always be elusive. Even my mother now has Harry. This stupid world keeps spinning and there is nothing I can do. And so I sit in the middle of the path and sob while the Mudo push against the fences moaning at me.

. Sometimes all I wanted to do was shake Gabry and demand, "How could any of this be your fault? Stop whining, stop over-analyzing every male relationship in your life, and start actually fighting to survive."