Uncategorized – Page 2 – TwoNightStands

These Are A Few Of My DNF Titles…

6 Sep 2021 twonightstands

I recently shared on our Instagram how I was struggling with two titles that I was looking forward to. Animal by Lisa Taddeo and One Two Three by Laurie Frankel. They recently joined my DNF list. Leggy helped me in stopping hate-read habit. I recognize that sometimes your response to a book is dependent on your headspace at the time but honestly sometimes despite all the hype by everyone, some books just don’t work for you…and that’s okay.

We are closer to the end of the year and I am still not sure how I would define my 2021 reading year. I have read 0-1 great books, a lot good books, a few meh books and books that I did not bother finishing. Those are the books that I will be sharing with you today. I think a part of why I am sharing is that I am curious to see what other people think of the books – if they liked it and why they liked it.

As Leggy always says, art is subjective so please remember that by no means am I saying that these books are terrible books, they are just books that I wasn’t into when I read them and I may or may not go back to. You can also find Leggy’s DNF titles here.

The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories - Kindle edition by Evans, Danielle. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans: I know I don’t like short stories but every now and then I am surprised. I started this on audio and by the third or fourth story, I realized nothing was connecting with me. My friend tried to get me to keep reading but I tapped out.

2. The Best of Me by David Sedaris: Yes I know it’s another short story collection and you are probably wondering why I bother at all. Well David Sedaris is different. He has written a couple of memoirs in this format and I have enjoyed them in the past. They have been funny. I don’t know what it was but I couldn’t get into it and I didn’t chuckle two chapters in, so I let it go 😦

3. Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev: This is a popular one and I have seen nothing but good things about it. There have been many Pride and Prejudice retellings and this caught my eye because it had a gender swap and an Indian infusion and I was curious to see how it would be. I’ll admit that I didn’t give this enough time to marinate. I have an idea of what the story will be but as soon as I started getting to the will they/won’t they parts my interest waned and I did not proceed with it. I will say that this is a book that I think I plan to revisit some day.

4. The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor: Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I had confused it with another premise but I hadn’t. I dropped the book because it was so tedious. I like to get lost in a book and enjoy it but I felt like I was having to concentrate really hard and do homework and I didn’t want that reading experience.

What do you think? Are there any of these books (including Animal and One Two Three) that you liked and think I should give another chance? Let me know in the comments.

Taynement

Uncategorized

We Chit Chat – The Wreckage of my Presence by Casey Wilson

9 Aug 2021 twonightstands

Taynement: Hi, Leggy. Why does it always take us this long to do this? We really should do this more often.

Leggy: I know! We’re just always reading different things.

Taynement: Our book of choice for this Chit Chat is different from our past choices. What made you read this?

Leggy: I really like Casey Wilson. I listen to her Bitch Sesh podcast, that’s why I read it. I didn’t know it was a collection of essays, thought it was a memoir.

Taynement: Same here. I’ve listened to her podcast for years now and for those who don’t know, it’s a podcast that talks about the Housewives franchise. She did heavy promo on there and my curiosity was piqued enough to want to read it. I thought it was a memoir too and the essays were an interesting way to talk about her life. What did you think of the book?

Leggy: I loved it. I’ve listened to it in its entirety, 4 times. I loved Casey’s narration. The first time I listened to it, I gave it 3 stars but upon subsequent listens, I upgraded it to 4 stars.

Taynement: Wow, 4 times? That’s impressive. I liked it enough but I don’t know that I loved it. Mostly because I don’t know that I learned many new things. It felt like listening to a collection of the intro stories from her podcast.

Leggy: I just really enjoyed her narration. I also quite enjoyed hearing a celebrity have a normal home life where they actually like their family. I can also see the intro stories part. I quite enjoy the intro stories so maybe this book was especially made for me.

Taynement: As a former SNL cast member, I fully expected her narration to be top notch. Also, I meant the intro stories she has shared before on her podcast.

Leggy: I didn’t know she used to be on SNL.

Taynement: Yep, she was. She talks a lot about her one season before getting fired. What were your favorite stories?

Leggy: The one about how she loves her husband more (My Husband’s Just Not that into Me; or, Afrin: A Love Story) and the one about her child’s gluten allergy (What Dis). You?

Taynement: Ah, I remember her child’s allergy issues – that was another story that I had followed via the podcast. I can’t think of one particular story but what I enjoyed the most was hearing about her mum when she was alive. To explain, she started the podcast after her mom passed so most of what we hear of her is as of her as a dead person. Hearing stories of her alive as a living breathing person was refreshing and I thought it was a pretty cool way to remember her mom. It will always be in print (or audio).

Leggy: That makes sense. I could still feel her pain that she lost her mom at the point where they were transitioning from mother-daughter to friends. Also, hearing all the things her mother fought for in regards to women’s rights was very inspiring.

Taynement: Yes, agreed. Another thing I enjoyed about the book were the transitions. For example, connecting her depression when her mom died to discovering the Housewives, which is now a huge part of her life. Was there anything you didn’t particularly enjoy?

Leggy: Yes, that was very well done. I didn’t enjoy all the white guilt. All the acknowledgement of white privilege was too much for me. I was like girl, please. That’s why I gave her 3 stars the first time. I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes but the second time I listened to it, I guess I knew they were coming so they just kind of rolled off me.

Taynement: I agree. It was very heavy handed. I feel like I’ve always known she was cooky or a little lost but this book confirmed it with all the things she spends her money on. Example – the flywheel stories and comparing it to a cult. But I will say, the stories of her parents provide context as to her kookiness.

Leggy: Lmaooo. All the things she believes in and spends money on, I was like girl, you’re a scammer’s dream.

Taynement: Absolutely. Even though I didn’t love it as much as you do, I think it was interesting enough but I do wonder if anyone who has no prior knowledge of Casey Wilson would be interested?

Leggy: I don’t know how they would be, to be honest. I do follow someone on bookstagram who loved the book even though she had never listened to her podcast, so who knows?

Taynement: To be fair, she does have a niche following especially if you loved Happy Endings or her current show Black Monday.

Leggy: Happy Endings was my introduction to her. You’re the one who introduced me to Bitch Sesh!

Taynement: I know!

Leggy: Would you recommend this to someone who knows Casey?

Taynement: I’m honestly not sure. I don’t think I found it riveting. I have a friend who knows her, listens to her podcast but has no interest in the book and she is an avid reader. Gun to my head, I’ll probably say no. There was nothing extraordinary about it.

Leggy: Oh wow. I feel like my enjoyment of this book is pretty personal. If I was asked why I loved it so much I think a big part would be the performance of it. It’s very well read. Would I have had the same experience if I had read this one on paper? I don’t know.

Taynement: If anyone who has no Casey Wilson background reads this or has read this let us know your thoughts on the book!

Leggy & Taynement.

Book Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

12 Jul 2021 twonightstands

“I penetrated the outer cell membrane with a nanosyringe.”
“You poked it with a stick?”
“No!” I said. “Well. Yes. But it was a scientific poke with a very scientific stick.”

The Martian was one of my favorite books the year it was released. It was the only science fiction book that had ever made me cry until this one. Ryland Grace wakes up from a coma and realizes that he’s in a spaceship but he doesn’t know why or how he got on one. He’s in what looks like a hospital room with two other people who are dead. He doesn’t even remember his own name and doesn’t know what he does for a living. As his memories fuzzily return, he pieces together what he’s doing on a spaceship.

The sun is dying because an organism (astrophage) is feasting on its energy. On one hand, the scientific community is excited at the discovery of an actual live organism in space but on the other hand, if astrophage keeps up its activities, earth is going to go back into another ice age which will result in the immediate death of 50% of the population plus multiple wars for the earth’s remaining resources. Alone on this ship that has been built with the resources of every country on earth, by the best minds the earth has to offer and staffed with volunteers that know that they’re going on a suicide journey to save earth, Grace has to figure out why this organism is affecting the earth’s star but not affecting Venus’.

Project Hail Mary is ridiculously imaginative and funny with amazing emotional payoff that you wouldn’t expect to get from a science fiction book. I think the best thing about Weir’s writing is because he’s an actual scientist and was for years before he ever wrote The Martian, his science writing always sounds plausible. I’m not an astronaut and yes, a lot of things in this book obviously hasn’t been invented but I think he creates enough of a situation where this would be the ideal ecosystem for the ramping up of science inventions and discoveries. If humans were to actually make this journey, it’d have to be pretty close. Also, you don’t have to pay attention to the actual science. As long as you get the gist of the stakes, you can relax and enjoy your reading experience. All you need to know is the world would be doomed if Grace doesn’t figure out how to get rid of the organism and spare the world another ice age.

Even if you do not enjoy science fiction, I still implore you to pick up this book. It is so much more than imaginative science. It’s about hope, friendship, humanity and realising how much we’re capable of when we give ourselves a chance to be great. Grace learns so much about himself on this suicide mission to save earth even though he isn’t scheduled to live more than a couple months after he sends back information to earth on how to save 7 billion people. Weir makes an unexpected and unbelievable contact when he thinks he’s well and truly alone but i’m determined to keep this review spoiler free. We also grapple with the ethics of suicide missions, while Grace’s memories keep coming back in spurts throughout the book, we’re confronted with a looming question of how he actually came to be a member of this team – was it really his choice and is he really a brave volunteer?

Weir’s enthusiasm for science is very infectious and you’re going to get sucked into caring about what happens to these amazing characters. Please ignore the science fiction tag and give this book a chance. The author has created an amazing world in less than 500 pages which had me sobbing at the end. I gave this one 5 stars on Goodreads.

Have you read this one? Did you love it as much as I did?

Leggy

Book Review: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

21 Jun 2021 twonightstands

“Destiny could also be a choice, she realized. To believe or not, to be vulnerable or not, to go all in or not.”

Jess Davis is a freelance data scientist and a single mother who is juggling a lot of financial responsibilities while trying to be the perfect granddaughter and mother. Raised by her grandparents and raising her own daughter alone, she knows too much about being left by people she loves and is hesistant to venture back into the dating world. Her recent brushes with dating apps has left her even more convinced that dating is not for her in anyway but she is lonely and tired of being alone. Jess hears about Genetically – a company that claims to be able to match people based on a spit test. They claim to be able to determine who people are compatible with just by certain genetic markers and on a whim one day, she sends in her sample.

Jess understands numbers and believes that Genetically has the right objectivity needed, to find her soulmate. But tables turn when she is matched with Genetically’s founder, Dr. River Pena with a 98% match, something that has never happened in the history of Genetically. Jess has met Pena before and it was not a positive meeting. She sees him at the coffee shop she goes to every morning and he never tips, never smiles and is just grumpy.

Jess does not believe that he is her soulmate and refuses to go along with the process of getting to know him until the board of directors offer her $10, 000 to get to know Pena and bring publicity to their company ahead of the looming IPO. Despite her skepticism, Jess needs the money so she agrees to get to know him and go on a few interviews to help the company out, but she finds that she has signed up for way more than she bargained for.

This is hands down my favorite Christina Lauren book. I’ve read a couple and they always fall short of my expectations but this one was so much fun and heartwarming. The characters were completely loveable and made choices that even when I didn’t agree with them, I completely understood why. It was charming, funny and completely predictable but I didn’t care because it was srill fun to read. I finished this book in one seating. I love fake dating tropes and even though this is technically not one, it read that way and was delightful to read them fall in love and get to know each other while navigating the publicity that came with being such a high never before seen match percentage.

The usual end conflict in every romance book did not work for me. I thought the resolution was great but how it was handled was a bit wonky for me which is why this book only got 3 stars from me. I still really liked it and I definitely recommend it. I’ve been on a romance kick lately in a bid to get away from the real life problems and this one definitely pulled me in and kept my attention. I’ve heard people say this one had a slow beginning. I didn’t think so but just a heads up to stick with it if you fall in that category.

Have you guys read this one? Did you like it? Let me know in the comment section!

Leggy

african author, african stories, Book Related Topics, Fantasy, Fiction, literary fiction, race, romance, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Book Review: The Gilded Ones (Deathless #1) by Namina Forna

17 May 2021 twonightstands

“Like all the rest, giving us impossibilities and calling them choices.”

Deka is finally 16 and is ready to go through the blood oath ceremony that she hopes will declare her pure and make her one of the other girls. She has been othered all her life by her dark skin and tight curls but Deka is convinced that the blood oath ceremony will finally prove her worth and fetch her a husband.

What is the blood oath ceremony, you ask? Well, this deeply patriarchal society believes that on a woman’s 16th birthday, in preparation for her life as a man’s faceless and silent companion, she has to be tested for purity right before she is fitted with the mask she must wear for the rest of her life. You step into the temple, the priest cuts you. If your blood runs red, you’re pure. If it runs gold, you’re impure and the consequence is death. If you’re extremely lucky your first death will be your last. But on the day of Deka’s ceremony, her blood runs gold and changes her life forever.

As Deka struggles with her fate, a mysterious woman pops up and offers her a way out – come to the capital, be trained as a warrior and get absolution after her service or submit to her death. Of course, this is no choice at all. The Emperor is building an army filled with people like Deka (Alaka, as they’re called in the book) to fight against the Deathshrieks – monsters that attack the city and whose screams can blow out a human’s ear drums.

“Every girl knows it by heart. We recite it whenever we enter a temple – a constant reminder that women were created to be helpmeets to men, subservient to their desires and commands.”

This book starts with a bang. Forna apparently does not believe in easing her readers into the world and letting them settle. Within the first 10 pages of this book, the blood oath happened and it never let up after that. Hearing about the tenets of the religion practiced in Deka’s world made me think we were being set up for some priest conspiracy but when Deka’s blood actually ran gold I was like oh wow! I didn’t expect that to be literal at all.

The world building in this YA fantasy is very unique. I enjoyed seeing how the various villages and fractions interpreted the religion. Racism and colorism is also rampant in this world. Forna does a great job of establishing a baseline for what this world is supposed to be and its norms and rules.

“Are we girls or are we demons?”

I love a training fantasy book. Any fantasy book where a school or a training facility is involved has my heart. Once Deka gets to the Capital and the training commences, seeing her struggle to discard all that she had heard about women being second class citizens (a concept that was driven primarily by her religion) was interesting. Women aren’t allowed to run or even walk in a hurry, a woman must be demure and quiet at all times. Hearing that every day of her life, accepting that as a truth and then being forced to train as a warrior must have been quite the challenge.

The life ordinary women in Deka’s village were forced to live was simply insane. Every time the author dropped another detail, it made me get so mad at a world that isn’t even real!

“Never forget: the same gift they praise you for now, they will kill you for later.”

I think it’s common knowledge by now that I hate romance in my fantasy. It completely takes me out of the story. The romance in this book was not different. I think it added nothing to the plot and could have been completely left out. Also, this book is very obviously a debut novel. The writing is really great in some areas and extremely clunky in others. It needed to be tightened up a little. I hope this installment does well so she can get a better editor.

All in all, I quite enjoyed this one. If you liked Children of Blood and Bone, you’ll like this one. Even if you didn’t like it but are looking for a good YA fantasy book, this one is so much better and the author has great potential to be even better. I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads and I’m looking forward to the next two books which promises to be even better. I tried really hard not to drop any obvious spoilers about the ending.

Have you read this one? Let me know in the comments!

Leggy

Reading Rut Woes – 5 Books That Made My DNF List

12 Apr 2021 twonightstands

I haven’t read anything new in three weeks because nothing has been able to keep my attention. I’ve picked up a ton of books and dropped it after the first few chapters. I’m behind on my Goodreads reading challenge, something that has never happened to me since I started tracking my reading on that website. I always get one reading rut a year but it’s always in the fall so this is such a new feeling for me.

Anyway, this is a list of 5 books that I picked up during my reading rut that I will definitely go back to now that I’m out of it.

Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson: I’ve mentioned quite often on our Instagram page (@nightstands2, follow us!) that Sanderson is my all time favorite fantasy writer and I’ve been saving this book for the perfect time. I’ve read every one of his books and this one came out last December. I finally downloaded it but I just couldn’t get into it. I read the first chapter and gave up. This is the 4th book in the Stormlight Archive series. This is an amazing series and I wholeheartedly recommend it! I guess I’ll have to pick this one up another time.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro: I actually read 70% of this one before I put it down. I didn’t hate it. I was actually enjoying it but I just put it down one day and never picked it back up again. Ishiguro is one author I really want to read everything he’s ever written because I think his writing is so versatile and intriguing. Will definitely finish this one before the month runs out.

Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winters: I raved about the first book in this series here. I really loved it and the second book finally came out late last year. I read two chapters, asked my friend to read it and tell me if it will be worth it and never picked it back up again!

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw: I got this one on audio because I decided that an audio book would be the exact thing to get me out of my funk but I never picked it up. I always go for podcasts when I work out instead of picking it up (I’m looking at you, Altarcall!) but I’ve heard so many good things about it and it’s also about to be turned into a TV show!

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart: This has been on my TBR list and I finally got it from the library. Will definitely be going back to this because this is the one that actually kept my attention for a while there! The world building is so fascinating and the type of magic practiced in this world is unlike any I’ve ever read about. The emperor requires every child to give him a piece of their bone in other to power the constructs that protect the kingdom. I will definitely write a full book review either on here or our Instagram whenever I’m done with it.

How did I get out of my reading rut? I re-read Harry Potter! I re-read Harry Potter every year anyway, but I moved it up to this month. Having a comforting and familiar read was what finally did the trick. I read the entire first book in the Harry Potter series in one day and when I was done, I immediately picked up Girl X by Abigail Dean. Really happy to go back to my regular reading schedule! How do you usually get out of a reading rut? Let me know in the comments!

I hope you all have an amazing reading week!

Leggy

Book Review: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

22 Mar 2021 twonightstands

“Healing by way of vengeance … no such thing existed; it never had. Hurting others had only injured me further.”

A female Apothecary, Nella, dispenses poisons in secret, to women who have been wronged by men. She only has two rules – none of her poisons can ever be used to harm a woman and she must record the name of the procurer and the person they intend to kill in her book, for safekeeping and insurance. On a cold February evening, a young 12 year old, Eliza comes to Nella to procure a poison to kill her master courtesy of her beloved mistress. The relationship between Eliza and Nella sets them on a dangerous path. In present day London, Caroline finds a vial near the Thames river as she tries to forget the recent reveal of her husband’s infidelity. This ancient vial leads her down a path of discovery and investigation into the lives of these women that lived 200 years before her.

Sounds like an amazing and intriguing premise for a book right? So why was a book about an apothecary killer so freaking dull?! This book started out with such great promise. I was instantly grabbed by the blurb. This was my Book of the Month pick for March and because of the number of people who picked this particular book there was a delay in delivery as they tried to procure more. I chose this book on the first of March and it only just arrived this week which even made me more excited to crack it open. To say that this story is slow is an understatement. I kept waiting for something to happen but nothing really happens. This book is written in dual timelines. One in the 1700s and the other in present day London. None of these stories intrigued me and frankly, the connection between the women in different timelines was forced at best.

Caroline comes to London to escape, after finding out her husband had an affair. She stumbles across a group of people mud larking and decides to participate. She finds an apothecary bottle inscribed with a picture of a bear and decides to investigate the bottle and I just didn’t understand why she even had the urge to do it. It just seemed so ridiculous. All the ‘conflicts’ in this book were tenuous at best and were always those conflicts arising from misunderstandings and which could have been fixed with a single sentence and I just found that to be lazy writing. I found Caroline’s story entirely pointless and would have preferred if this book focused entirely on Eliza and Nella. Caroline was entirely a caricature of a one dimensional character who put all her dreams on hold in order to get married and cater to a cheating, manipulative husband.

I expected magical realism and a deep look into the lives of women in the 1700s but this book offers nothing of the sort. I also expected mystery and more of a plot and I am so tired of all women’s back stories being about men. The author never even explored the moral ambiguity of making a career out of murdering men just because a man betrayed you in the past. There wasn’t enough character development in this book for me to even justify the lack of a juicy plot by saying it was character driven. The women in this book were all bland and one dimensional. I found it hard to like anyone even when given their back story.

I did not enjoy this book. It was filled with implausible situations, unrealistic emotions and characters that were contrived. The author did a terrible job connecting the present to the past, probably because there was literally nothing connecting the women and her trying to create a connection was unsuccessful. Caroline was boring, one dimensional and frankly, I don’t see how she could have had even a prayer of getting into Cambridge. What kind of history major does not know how to search a library’s historical archives?

Anyways, I gave this 2 stars on Goodreads because I really do think the premise is fantastic. The cover art is gorgeous and it had so much potential. I’m off to apply to Cambridge since everyone can apparently get in!

Leggy

Book Review: The Push by Ashley Audrain

8 Mar 2021 twonightstands

“You used to care about me as a person—my happiness, the things that made me thrive. Now I was a service provider. You didn’t see me as a woman. I was just the mother of your child.”

Blythe is determined to be a better mother than her own mother was to her and her grandmother was to her mother. Her and her husband, Fox, have had a fairytale romance from college to real life, gotten married and are now ready to start their family. But when baby Violet comes Blythe is convinced that there is something wrong with her but only her can see it. She finds it very hard to bond with Violet and doesn’t think she is as sweet as everyone seems to think she is. Her husband thinks she’s imagining things and the unspoken thought in his head is that she doesn’t have a maternal instinct because of her situation with her mother. Is it all in Blythe’s head? Are the women in her family just not cut out for motherhood?

“Marriages can float apart. Sometimes we don’t notice how far we’ve gone until all of a sudden, the water meets the horizon and it feels like we’ll never make it back.”

This book is written in the first person narrative. This is Blythe’s version of the story. This story she’s telling us is tense and mysterious and had me at the edge of my seat. Is she a reliable narrative? Are we supposed to believe this insane story she’s telling us? Why is she the only person who feels this way? Even though we’re fully prepped for the tragedy that unfolds in the book, waiting for it felt like torture and when it finally happened my heart absolutely broke for this family. Blythe’s version of events sounds outrageous and insane and after awhile just like her audience, she too starts doubting her memories too.

“Before we were conceived, we existed in part as an egg in our mother’s ovary. All the eggs a woman will ever carry form in her ovaries while she is a four-month-old fetus in the womb of her mother. This means our cellular life as an egg begins in the womb of our grandmother. “

Even though this is a psychological thriller, at its core, this book is about motherhood and all the stress that comes with it but don’t go gifting this book to your friends who are mothers! It’s a raw look at how our society views mothers and how mothers come to see themselves. The way we view women’s bodies as vessels to bring forth life, the way women are rendered invisible still by this amazing and dangerous process and then the way we expect them to perform motherhood for us.

This book is also a multigenerational story. We read about Blythe’s mother, Cecilia and her grandmother, Etta. We read about the different women who have brought her to this point. At some point in the book, Blythe’s mother, Cecilia, tells her that the women in their family aren’t cut out for motherhood but Blythe is determined to forge her own path. This is a very complex portrait of a woman presented to us in her own words and we are asked over and over to judge her sanity. Is she just a product of her childhood, unable to bond with her child? Is she so deep in postpartum depression that she becomes an unreliable narrator in the relationship between her and her daughter? Or are we dismissing her as hysterical because she’s a woman and we don’t trust women in our society?

“we had both morphed into a version of ourselves that didn’t feel as good as had been advertised.”

This book is amazing because it doesn’t matter if you figure out which question is correct. It doesn’t matter if you can decide who to believe. Every possible path available to us is heartbreaking and devastating and the end will knock your wind out regardless. This book is so well written, the author writes with such a clarity that a lot of people will not expect from a thriller. Every character is well explored and never a caricature. Even though the entire book is in first person we see a full picture of everybody involved and somehow know exactly who they are. Audrain writes a riveting and tense drama that documents the terrors of a family disintegrating in the most horrific way possible and this story is going to stay with me for a very long time. There are so many trigger worthy issues in this book, so be warned! I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads. Please read this one and talk to me about it! I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Leggy

Uncategorized

Book Review: Monogamy by Sue Miller

1 Mar 2021 twonightstands

Monogamy' by Sue Miller book review - The Washington Post

“Just, that we read fiction because it suggests that life has a shape, and we feel . . . consoled, I think he said, by that notion. Consoled to think that life isn’t just one damned thing after another. That it has sequence and consequence.” She smiled at Edith. “I think it was more or less the idea that fictional narrative made life seem to matter, that it pushed away the meaninglessness of death.”

A second marriage for both, Annie and Graham have been married for 30 years. Graham is an outgoing, charming big guy who owns a bookstore while Annie is the reserved one of the two and a photographer. They have a daughter, Sarah while Graham has a son, Lucas with his ex-wife, Frieda. Frieda and Graham are still on friendly terms and Annie, quite comfortable in her relationship with Graham, is also friends with Frieda.

When Graham dies suddenly, Annie’s world is rocked and she is plunged into deep grief. As she tries to adjust to her new life without Graham, she finds out that he had been unfaithful to her and she finds her grief journey derailed as she looks back on their years together and wonders how real it was.

This book was boring.

I am not opposed to character-driven books, which this book was, but this was just not compelling. I absolutely got the idea of what this book was meant to be. It was supposed to be a character’s introspective look into their life as they go through the journey of life’s complicated experiences – love, loss, friendships etc. Annie has a full life or so it seems but after Graham’s death, she questions if her life was full or if it was full because of Graham’s life. I think the life experiences and journey Annie went through were authentic and relatable.

“Love isn’t just what two people have together, it’s what two people make together, so of course, it’s never the same.”

Now the problem was the author tried to pack in ALL of the experiences in this story and it just ended up jumbled. Starting from the repressed memory that was awakened by Graham’s death, the complicated relationship with her daughter, wondering about her career and many more. Granted, she was going through inventory of her life, it was hard to keep track of what was Annie’s bone of contention of the day.

The book was mostly from Annie’s perspective but every now and then it would take a detour and be told from other people’s perspectives like Sarah, Lucas and Frieda. This would have been great if their sections were fully fleshed out but it was like we were told a bit and that was it. I wasn’t quite sure what the purpose of that was. And also, we don’t figure out the time period of the book until much later.

I gradually lost interest as the book went on. As mentioned earlier, I think it was all over the place and I didn’t know where to put my focus on. I will say that this actually worked in helping the reader understand how complicated Annie must have been feeling. You could feel the shift when Annie moved from sadness to anger. The last minute addition of a person from Annie’s past was the final thing that made me sure that I did not like this book.

As you have probably guessed, I don’t think I would recommend this book. I am surprised that I even finished this book because it very much felt like a boring conversation I could not get out of. If you do take the chance to read this book, you can’t say you haven’t been warned.

Taynement

Book Review: The Survivors by Jane Harper

22 Feb 2021 twonightstands

Kieran comes home to help his mother pack up his childhood home when his father’s dementia gets really bad. He returns home with his girlfriend and their new child, 12 years after an accident changed the community forever. He still has a lot of guilt around what occurred on the day his brother and his best friend died. During his visit, a body washes up on the beach and a can of worms is opened all over again. What connection could this have, to what happened 12 years ago?

Harper is known for her well written atmospheric mysteries. If you’ve read The Dry, then you’d know exactly what to expect. Survivors is set in a small coastal community that is losing its industries. The tourists aren’t coming as they used to, shops are closing up earlier and during the summer, more people are heading up for greener pastures. When Harper describes the caves in the book and how they behave at high tide, it’s incredibly eerie to imagine.

Ultimately though, this book fell completely flat to me. The mystery was not gripping at all because, the only person the book made me care about was Kieran and I knew it was also not him who committed the murder so I was not at all invested in the mystery. It took me a long time to get into this book, there was a lot of padding and a lot of insinuations before the author finally revealed what happened 12 years ago and it was underwhelming. Also, the more the author tried to plant red herrings to lead us away from the actual murderer, the more I didn’t care. I’m usually really on the alert when reading mystery books and always trying to guess who did it but I just didn’t care with this book.

Harper is usually great with slow burns but this one just seemed so repetitive. I don’t think this book is an accurate representation of how good her mysteries usually are. The end fell flat for me. The murderer is revealed and then the book just abruptly ends. We don’t get an epilogue talking about the community’s reaction to who it was. The book just ends! In fact, it really just fizzled out like the author suddenly got tired of the characters and just couldn’t bear to write another word about these people ever again.

Anyway, even though this review doesn’t sound like it, I read this book in one sitting and thought it was okay. I think you should give her other books a try (The Dry, The Lost Man) though before you get to this one because this is definitely not her best work. Maybe if you read it with a lower expectation than I did, then you’d like it better. Also, I recognize that I’m in the minority with how I felt about this book but that’s okay. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads mainly because it is well written even if the story fell flat.

Leggy