sonia_reppe's reviews
1293 reviews

I really liked this when she talked about her life-long love of animals, but then her personal life got crazy. I couldn't even keep track of her marriages. This memoir was really similar to Georgia Durante's. They were both models who married young and immediately had a daughter; later they both became estranged to their daughters and both daughters were molested by their step-dad.

This was a good adventure.

This is told in three alternating voices. I liked Gilad's voice the best; there was good writing in Gilad's parts.
Marie's voice was kind of annoying.
Will, the teacher, was developed slowly; what I came to understand from him is that he thought life was meaningless, so I didn't really care for him; yet I was glad at the end when he didn't apologize. Of course I would've preferred the love affair to be more passionate (and for him to actually be in love) but what we have here is realistic, so OK.

*This is the first recommendation from Goodreads Recommendations that I actually liked. Thanks, goodreads, finally.
This starts in 1946 in a college town in Pennsylvania, where a matron of the home economics department falls in love with one of her practice babies (students "practiced" child-rearing on babies from the orphanage). This was interesting as you saw the result this had on Henry, the practice baby. I really like the first half of this book. I didn't know whether Henry was going to end up damaged or going nuts because of his unstable early years (being passed from one "mother" to the other,) and/or because of the smothering way the matron, Martha, handled him once she adopted him.

The story switches focus to Henry, through his high school years and then his early adult years. The writing was good through-out, but the story lost focus, as Henry goes through many different episodes, and women, in his life. It got Forrest-Gump syndrome: too many things happening, meeting famous people, traveling all around. I thought the story should've ended when Martha dies (not a spoiler, she got old), but it just went on and on, and some readers will criticize this. I really liked it though, due to the good writing and developed characters.

My third grade teacher read this to our class (back in 1986) and I remember liking it and laughing at parts. When I saw that the Jim Carrey movie was coming out, I wanted to read it again, this time with Lindsey. So, we just finished reading it and watching the movie.

At first this seemed like the guy equivalent to chic-lit: relationship problem, boss/work problem, a fabulous gay guy enters a scene; and all narrated first-person with a witty snarkiness and self-deprecating humor. So I put it down, not really interested in the main character, but then I picked it back up and at one point it made me laugh, so I kept reading. It was ok for me. 2.5 stars.

I went into this knowing (from reviews) that the protagonist is an unlikable selfish slacker, but I really liked it because of the well-executed point of view, and because while reading I laughed out loud so many times. It gets really zany.

The book is titled after the classic adventure book because the protagonist likes to quote from it. She uses parts of Treasure Island to back up her actions, but the book is not really a catalyst for the trouble that happens, the protagonist's own obnoxiousness is what does it. The Treasure Island quotes just add humor.

By the way, I think the idea of a pet library (where you check out pets) is a horrible idea!!!

Many readers think this third book in the HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY isn't as good as the first two. As I was reading this, I didn't agree...at first. The first two parts were really good, (Mockingjay is sectioned into 3 parts) and I was into it. The third part is when it lost something. The screen-writer adapters are definitely going to change the ending, and I'll tell you how. (spoiler alert if I have to say it).

When it comes to the battle outside the president's mansion, everything is going to climax there and Katniss will probably shoot Snow at that moment, (I think the audience will want that) and in the same scene where she comes to conflict with Coin. Big climax. I'm not saying that's what I wanted, but I am saying the ending of Mockingjay didn't work for me because the action was stopped twice. Once because Katniss got wounded and then spent time recovering; then in the scene where the rebels and Coin are officially taking over the capitol, she is wisked away again and we have to hear about the climax and the death of Snow second-hand!
Second-hand?!

For the climax of the story our first-person narrator was in a bedroom alone, and she is later told what happened. Katniss should've been in on the action. I actually thought that she would die, but I'm glad she didn't.

I should say that I really liked the Hanging Tree song.

A really good read about a 14 yr-old girl and her friendships, babysitting adventures, boys, and other rites of passage that a 9th grader in a small midwestern middle-class town would encounter in the late 1970's. Beard captures this age perfectly with good observations and subtle humor. (I find that I repeat myself a lot as I write about these quality coming-of-age stories but that's because they all have some aspects in common, like the ones I just mentioned). The story starts with a house on fire; the house is where the protagonist and her best friend are babysitting. Yeah...maybe these two are not mature enough to babysit a brood of kids. This opening scene is a good introduction to these girls, as we continue to see how these two friends switch between childish moments and entering adult-hood moments. The momentum to the end didn't build, and I was dissatisfied with the ending because it was kind of abrupt, although I like that the falling-out between the two girls was realistic in that it was small, awkward moments that cracked their friendship. I would love if Jo Ann Beard wrote a sequel to this and we can see the protagonist at 16.

I did read Boys of My Youth a long time ago but I liked this better.