sonia_reppe's reviews
1293 reviews

I had a problem believing this 1st person historical fiction. She, the narrator, sounded too proper and formal when describing the harshness of being lost at sea in a lifeboat. I was ready to suspend my disbelief, but most of it was just ridiculous--not in an over-the-top way, but like "really? That's all?" and the climax was stupid, and then there was a long anti-climax.
I would believe maybe one person jumping over, but over and over people just dove into the water and disappeared.

If this manages to keep your interest, you can find one or two points to agree with, like: ones personal stuggles shape the person they become and can make them a better person. But good fiction can get this across and you don't have to wade through this sludge. This book, written by a dyslexic guy who graduated from Brown, is just so boring and serious. I don't want to read a treatise on learning disabilities and their social conceptualizations (his words—see how boring?) through-out history. He's very concerned with how society views things. I thought some of it was supposed to be about his "trauma" of having dyslexia, the "psychological damage" of being told he's "not normal," and his overcoming it. O.K. It sucks that he had to ride the short bus, but he loses credibility for me when he reveals he was a popular soccer player, talented enough to be given a scholarship to college. Yet in this book he compares himself (a popular soccer player with a "shameful" secret) to a deaf/blind girl and a boy with brain injury. (Because they're not normal either). Another thing I didn't like was that he tries to justify—and even glorify—devient behavior and lack of self-control as being creativity-inducing. All this could be overlooked if he were an engaging writer, but he rambles and he tries to cover everything from dyslexia to severe handicaps to transgenders. By the way, he went on this journey in 2000 and it took six years for his editor to make his ramblings into this book. This book GIVES me ADD!

This is Lindsey's new favorite book. The prince calls up, "Rapunzel, do you have a ladder?"
Rapunzel, not able to hear him clearly, throws down pancake batter.
And so goes this delightfully wacky rhyme book.

Kim and I chose this for book club because we were Judy Blume fans as kids; BUT we expected her "adult novel" to be more sophisticated than her middle-school/teen books; it's not. This reads just like one of those teeny-bopper books, except there is a lot more sexual content. Michelle thought it was hilarious that there was a character named Star. Personally, I felt really bad for Bru. We all agreed that Victoria and Caitlyn were not likable characters.

I just love Anais Nin, but the depravity in this book prevents it from being one of my favorites.

For learning about Obama, this book is great. But I felt that this book couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a memoir or didactic essay. The first part of the book (his childhood)is interesting, even though his writing is a little flowery, like someone trying to be a good writer. It really slows down in when he's in Chicago, and was hard to get through after that.