oomilyreads's reviews
163 reviews

Amazing book!!!

My daughter loves this book!

Into The Water written by Paula Hawkins (author of The Girl on the Train) is about the death of a woman that no one seems to care for. She leaves behind an estranged sister who hasn't spoken to her in 15 years and a sullen teenager. But she's not the only woman to recently die.
There is a mysterious attraction to the Drowning Pool where women are committing suicide.... Hawkins novel is gripping and if you aren't paying attention you'll get confused because there's at least 11 POVs. .
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I am left with a few unanswered questions but overall had a hard time putting it down. It may have been better if there were less POVs and kept it to the characters most intimate to the plot

Jodi Picoult is a white author who writes a story that protrays the social injustice, racism and discrimination in America against Black Americans. The book starts off with a very obvious racist premise. A white supremacist family refusing care from a black nurse, Ruth and after their child dies, blames the nurse. Ruth ends up as a defendant in a criminal case in which she was not protected by her hospital and her white colleagues who she called friends and even felt let down by her lawyer. This story launches into the backstory of each character but really within the stories shows that racism is deeply rooted and systematic. It's not just the blalant racism but the much less obvious actions or inactions as well. Jodi has wanted to write about racism in America for decades and finally with research and speaking with many BIPOC and former white supremacists, Jodi writes her book which mostly speaks to a white audience. Her intention was not to tell a black person their story. They already know their story.
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I highly recommend this book to read alone or as part of a book club. We started off with certain connotations but many of us changed our thoughts by the end. It coincided with what what's going on in the States right now. I highly, highly recommend reading the authors note at the end. One part resounded with me, Jodi asked how many white mothers talk to their children about racism? Not often or at all. There's just no need. It can be put off completely or until later. But black mothers talk about it every single day. They have to. As a POC but is not black, I realize my privilege as well. While I've encountered racism towards myself countless times, I am not black and I do not face systematic racism for centuries the way a black person does. Ignorance is a privilege and we must start the conversation, listen and act

This sci-fi thriller is set in the near future where fully automated driving cars are close to mandatory and non-autonomous vehicles are expected to be banned within the decade. Will you trust your car fully? You know the argument that AI can be quite dangerous.  The government has information on you, but how much and how will they use this information? What if that info falls into the wrong hands? What if the government IS the wrong hands?
8 passengers are in their own cars when suddenly they are no longer traveling to the destination they expected. Doors are locked, blacked out windows and a stranger’s voice comes on to tell them that they will die in the next 2.5 hours.  5 jurors are expected to determine who lives and dies in that group and this is broadcast to the rest of the world who turns out to be the 6th juror. This easily leads to mob mentality: “When people are part of a mob, they stop being individuals…”
You’ll question your own morals and the morals of others around you.  Can you decide who lives or dies? With limited information, can you decide if one person’s value is worthy over another? If you don’t decide soon, everyone will die. People will portray themselves a certain way and hide their secrets when their lives are on the line.
This book is fast paced, exciting and fascinating. I read it within 24 hrs and immediately I want to dive into Marrs other books, The One and The Lies Between Us right away. He alludes a few times to his 2018 book, The One several times. I really MUST know if Marrs is going to be one of my new favorite thrillers author!
 

Just could not relate to these characters. Unrealistic.

“In love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.”

Kristin Hannah is a brilliant & talented writer. This is an incredibly captivating & atmospheric historical fiction. It is about 2 French sisters during WWII and their inaction, action and reaction to the war in order to survive and protect those they love.

Vianne is reserved, patient and has an inner courage she was not aware of. Her husband mobilized to be a soldier in the war and becomes a war prisoner while her intimate home is occupied by a Nazi officer and later a brutal SS officer. Her younger sister, Isabelle is angry, rash, brave, passionate ….a rebel who ultimately finds her calling in the French Resistance. The lengths a parent will go through to save their children. The heros they find inside themselves in order to persevere.

Hannah’s writing is extraordinarily vivid and gorgeous. The first 80 or so pages were a bit slow but once the story got going, I was entirely invested. I lost my soul and my heart was wrecked end. This story will stay with me for a long time. I cannot fathom the horror and torture people, families, children went through during WWII. Often the unspoken stories of women in wars are left in the shadows while we praise and remember the men’s hardships and bravery. Hannah brings to the forefront two strong women protagonists (and other strong women and girls as well) and let us not forget that women have also endured, sacrificed, fought and loved during these extremely dark and horrific times. From the deepest darkness comes love…because it is the only thing that can prevail.

“I know now what matters, and it is not what I have lost. It is my memories. Wounds heal. Love lasts. We remain."