sonia_reppe's reviews
1293 reviews

I wanted to read all of this because I hardly ever get to write bad reviews, as I don't finish books I don't like. But I'm abandoning this 3/4 of the way through. It's disappointing because I liked Love Invents Us when I read it a few years ago. But I'm more than disappointed. Disgusted, I would say, of the trashiness of this book. In Love Invents Us, the sex had a point, it changed the character, it was wrapped up in feelings. This historical fiction novel, Away, is so superficial in every way. It's just one vulgar scene after another, and in case we don't get it, half-way through the book, a train porter tells the main character Lillian, "you must keep sharp. The world is a terrible place." This is a terrible book and I'm warning you! Whether you read for characters, plot, good writing, historical settings, or smart dialogue or to gain knowledge, this book has nothing to offer. Lillian just meets a slew of shady characters with selfish, impure motives. The one man who helped her ended up killing himself. Why? It added nothing except to prove the thesis of this book about the world's terribleness. I should be fair and skim through the end. Zero stars.

I really liked the stories "Blight" and "Pet Milk." "Chopin in Winter" was good too. I disliked "Hot Ice"+"Nighthawks," and Bijou I could've done without. The others were short shorts.

Part 1 is about her relationship with an older sophisticated mysterious man, which sounds great, but I was disappointed with him. She wasn't even in love with him—her parents were crazy about him—and she didn't even describe the sex scenes because she tells us they were quick and boring. So why do I want to read this? I picked this up because the cover said it was the inspiration for the new movie of the same name. I'm sure Nick hornby (screen-writer) made it into a much better and altogether different story and I will definitely see the movie.

Picked this up at a garage sale. Published thirteen years ago. Even though it's for pre-teens, I really enjoyed the writing.

I was tempted to give this five stars just because he seems like such a great guy. No really—he and his wife of 17 years (he married when he was only twenty) do all this ministry and charity. They run a camp for terminally ill children and they have adopted kids (along with two birth kids). His life is really beautiful so five stars for that but as far as this memoir goes, probably only four stars. I really like it.

This clever, fun story would be five stars except for the mistake of the publisher: two pages have the same picture, an obvious mistake. That aside, this imaginative, well-paced story is about what happens when pet peeves get out of hand. This one in particular is big, green, and growing. Yes, he's Ophelia's pet. Adults will enjoy the play on words, kids will enjoy the monster-sized pet and the color pencil sketches which call to mind Charlie Brown drawings.

John Arguello lives in Oak Park, IL.

Writing about various episodes in his youth, including peer harassment, family craziness and his relationship with his trumpet, Poole concocts a fairly entertaining read. A competent writer, he was able to conjure up humor in almost every sentence, yet so many punchy lines made it seem facetious. The best humor for me is when truth is revealed, not covered up and twisted into something goofy. I didn't know what to believe. I felt like I didn't get the whole picture and it didn't feel like memoir writing. Some parts even seemed mean-spirited. I would've liked to read more about his life as a budding trumpeter, which he presents as the only area where he had success and confidence. He makes light of it. I would've like to read how much he gained from it and from playing solos in band, instead he uses the word magical a lot. Mainly, the reason I only gave it two stars is that it never made me laugh out loud.