Sunday, November 25, 2018

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah


Born a Crime: Stories From a South African ChildhoodBorn a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of stories from Trevor Noah's growing up under apartheid (and after) in South Africa. I went into this book having no idea who Trevor Noah is (I now know he's a comedian, a pretty successful one) but have heard from others how amazing this book is. So I was disappointed to not enjoy it as much as they all did. I did learn and have my eyes opened to some issues that just weren't on my radar before. But I really disliked the organization of the book as a whole, and I think that affected my appreciation of the content. There really was no rhyme or reason to how the different mini memoirs were organized. So in one section I'd be reading a piece about Trevor's high school, then the next section would jump back to elementary school, then after high school. Which also led to some redundancies.
I would like to meet his mother though. She seems like an amazing woman.

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Thursday, November 15, 2018

Mini Reviews


Dark MatterDark Matter by Blake Crouch
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Jason, a science professor, is abducted by a masked man, knocked out, and wakes up in a world not much like the one he's used to. This is the tale of him trying to find his way back home.

I really liked about the first quarter of the book. Then there was a point that I was just over it and reading to be done. I didn't like any of the characters, even Jason. The box and its doors got confusing, as did Jason's choices as far as entering doors. A lot of the science had holes in it for me. I could suspend my disbelief but not to that extent.

Probably 1.5 for me.

View all my reviews The Hate U GiveThe Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Relevant.

Starr Carter lives in the ghetto but goes to an elite private school. She feels like she can never be fully herself but that there is a "home Starr" and a "school Starr." Then her worlds collide when she is the witness to her friend's murder.

This book. I found myself thinking about it and the ideas and characters presented even when I wasn't reading it. I have a feeling it will be one of those that sticks with me.

One of my favorite lines is when Starr's mother tells her what a nurse once told her: Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.

This was a hard read. A lot of tough issues tackled like police brutality, gangs, racism, etc. But an important read as another part of the dialogue needed for what's wrong in our country and some ways to start fixing things.

Trigger warning is there is A LOT of language in this book and a couple of make out sessions. As a result, I haven't tagged it as YA; I wouldn't want my teen reading it without my knowledge and discussion through it. However, I didn't bump it down a star in my rating because I don't think the language was gratuitous in any way; I just prefer not to read it.



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Friday, November 9, 2018

The One and Only Ivan - Katherine Applegate


The One and Only IvanThe One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Ivan charmed me from page 2 with "his" steller human insight. He's funny. And the short, stream of consciousness chapters were just what I was needing for my reading life right now.
Love that it was based on a true story too.

**See more of my reviews at mommyreadsbooks.blogspot.com

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Wednesday, November 7, 2018

The Orphan's Tale - Pam Jenoff


The Orphan's Tale: A NovelThe Orphan's Tale: A Novel by Pam Jenoff
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

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This is the tale of two circus performers. Astrid/Ingrid grew up flying trapeze in her family's circus. She is tasked with training Noa, a teen who has been thrown out of her phone and finds refuge for herself and a Jewish baby she rescued from a boxcar. This is the story of their relationships - with each other, with others, and with the circus itself.

I know I am the unpopular opinion on this book. And I'm okay with that. Perhaps I was expecting too much. I like to read WWII books as there are so many facets of that time period beyond just the Holocaust (no offense meant as that was horrific and should be written about and discussed prolifically to keep it at the forefront of our public consciousness). And the idea that circuses helped hide Jews during the war was interesting. I've yet to read a book about circuses in that time frame. I hadn't even considered they'd existed in a time of war.

I think I would have loved the main story of Astrid. However, I had very little patience for Noa and her continued poor decision making, it seems like at almost every turn. Seriously. Love at first site and soul mates and sacrifice everything and everyone around you? Girl, get your priorities straight and be just a little aware of the potential consequences of your actions! She "thinks" all the time about the loyalty and protection she owes Astrid; yet most of her choices disregard that. The ancillary characters of Herr Neuhoff and even Peter I could sympathize with more than Noa.

Also, I found the title to be a bit of a misnomer. Who is the orphan that it is the tale of? I mean, maybe Astrid? Theo? The circus as a whole?

I didn't fully buy into Astrid's reason to visit the circus display in the prologue and epilogue. To just check the box? I would have bought into it more if she was wanting to be there for pure nostalgia.

From a historical standpoint, it was lacking some key details, I felt. For example, the only gypsy (Roma) mentioned is a fortune teller who only shows up at the circus during the peak season. I would think in a circus environment gypsies would have as much of a shelter as Jews would. Especially since they were rounded up, sent to camps, and murdered as well. But perhaps I'm wrong in my connection of gypsy and circus.

My even bigger issues were all the discrepancies. I will outline just a few of the more glaring ones below (hence marking the review as having spoilers). Most were at the beginning of chapters.
--Ch. 11: In the second paragraph, it says Astrid's mind goes back to the previous night's performance when a colleague of her ex-husband attended the show "at its very first performance." But the start of Ch. 10 said it has been two days since their first show.
--Ch. 13: Paragraph 3 starts with "The previous night when Noa had gone in the ring without me." Which was the same night that the police arrested the dad. However, on the next page it says the police interrupted their show a few days earlier.
--Ch. 16: Astrid starts to walk from the train car, not looking in the mirror, to head to the meeting. Dose she then stop? Because it doesn't mention that at all. But all of a sudden she's pulling out her valise to put on some makeup before the meeting. Then it says she starts out from the train again.
--There's some general confusion around the timing of the wedding. it was on a Sunday afternoon according to Ch. 16. Noa sneaks off to be with Luc during the wedding festivities. They return to the wedding festivities turned arrest - so assuming it's still that night. In fact, at the end of Ch. 19 Noa tells Luc's father that Herr N. had died that night. Ch. 20 starts with the funeral being the next day. So the day after Sunday is Monday. There's also mention at some point of the circus being cancelled that night, but they don't perform on Sundays and it was already the middle of the night when they were saying to cancel. So would that have been Monday night, and now it's Tuesday that the funeral is actually on Tuesday? Somehow we lost a whole day then.
--Ch. 20 starts with, as mentioned, the funeral taking place the "next day" after the wedding. But then the next page said that Astrid was starting her life with Peter a few days ago. The page after that has Noa lamenting that she hasn't seen Luc since the night of Peter's arrest...which was just the night before!
--Ch. 24: A lot of remorse from Noa about her plan to leave and not telling Astrid. But what would be the point of telling Astrid since Astrid was to leave first?
--Luc tells Noa to meet him at the far side ravine on the far side of the quarry. After two close readings, it seems to me she waits for Luc in the quarry as she mentions walking down in and looking at the brush at the far en of the quarry.
--The epilogue implies that Noa & Luc used the belly box to exchange notes on multiple occasions instead of just once.

This book would have benefited from a better editor. I honestly checked my copy more than once to insure it wasn't an ARC (not fully edited advanced review copy). A small part of me thinks maybe the author was trying for an unreliable narrator (or two in this case), but I really don't think so.

All in all, a disappointing read for me. It's more of a 1.5 stars for me.



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Friday, November 2, 2018

Artemis - Andy Weir


ArtemisArtemis by Andy Weir
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Jazz grew up on Artemis, the moon colony. She is a smuggler of goods, hoping to get rich and move up in both housing and food choice. She's smart and smart-alecky. Soon she's commissioned for a job that just might be more than she bargained for.
I listened to the audio book for The Martian and remember really enjoying it. So, I already had this book on my TBR when the library sci-fi book club chose it for November's book. And I didn't love it. I waffled between 1 and 2 stars. I think I would have really liked the story if I wouldn't have been continually distracted by all. the. language. So much. Excessive to what was needed for the character. A lot of sex mentioning as well that I didn't feel like added to the story line.
This book seemed less science and more fiction/fantasy than The Martian. But I could be wrong there as I'm not well-versed in moon science.
The narrative got bogged down in description of the lunar colony, and I just didn't really care for any of the characters.
Not a fan.

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