Favorite quotes: “She cried before she slept. I reached out to touch the ends of her hair. She didn't notice. I didn't know what to do. Listening to her made me ache. I felt tears stream down my face too. And when I accidentally brushed Eli with my arm his face was wet where his tears ran down. We have all been carved out by our sorrow. Cut deep like canyon walls.”
AND
“Because in the end you can't always choose what to keep. You can only choose how you let it go.”
Like I said in a previous post, I've read this book before. I needed to reread the first two of the series before I read the conclusion (listed below).
I enjoyed this book so much more the second time.
The story progresses through the alternating viewpoints of Cassia and Ky (which, as I side note, I found very confusing. Their voices were not "distinct" enough to tell who was speaking. It was often disorienting). Cassia is working to find Ky, who has been banished to the outer provinces for disobedience. As they work to find each other, a lot of back story of Ky's life is introduced. We get to know each character a little bit better.
The story picks up it's dystopian theme as Cassia is introduced to the idea of rebelling against the Society that has raised her. She sees first hand the way of life of people who have chosen to leave the Society.
What I like about these books is their underlying theme of agency. Would you choose to live free from sickness, fear, poverty, crime and danger if it meant you didn't have any freedom at all?
There are opposites in all things, and that is how God made the universe. How can we be expected to know true joy unless we have experienced loss? Do we want to live our life or do we want to REALLY live?
2) 
Reached (Matched Trilogy Book 3) by Ally Condie / YA / ***
Reached (Matched Trilogy Book 3) by Ally Condie / YA / ***
Favorite quote:
“There is ebb and flow. Leaving and coming. Flight and fall. Sing and silent. Reaching and reached.”
Cassia and Ky have joined "The Rising" which is working in rebellion of "The Society". The story makes an abrupt story change as the Rising infects the populace with a virus of which only it has the cure. I thought it curious that while this was an effective way to topple the Society, there was not a lot of discussion of the awareness that really this is an inhumane way to treat people.
The Rising gets it's come-uppance when the virus mutates, which leaves everyone scrambling to find a new cure.
The story is again told from the point of view of Cassia and Ky, but this time Xander's voice is added to the narrative.
To me even though the virus and impending chaos that ensued was part of the storyline of taking down the Society, I thought the arc of the story changed enough that it felt like I was reading an entirely different story. The characters all of a sudden had skills and knowledge that really they wouldn't have had from living as they did and would not have gained from the experiences shared in the book. I found it all a bit disappointing.
3) 
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster / YA / ****
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster / YA / ****
Favorite quote: “The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way.”
I read this book as a young teen and was excited to remake my acquaintance. It is a sweet story of a 17 year old orphan whose further education is sponsored by a wealthy trustee of her orphanage. The only payment in return for the assistance is a monthly letter. The book consists of a delightful series of letters outlining her adventures, blunders, delights, and worries as she enters the "real world" outside the institution. I highly recommend this book. E3 is reading it now and is loving it.
Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard / YA / ***
Favorite quote: “Read to your heart’s content. Though if you are a reader, the heart is never content.”
This book tells the story of Alex and how he attempts to deal with his emotions after he is involved in the accidental drowning of a classmate at his boarding school during an initiation involving alcohol. Alex and the other classmates lie about their involvement in order to avoid expulsion. The story is not as simple as it seems, and truth comes to light through a series of flashbacks, insights, and revealed truths.
I ended up highlighting several passages of the book, and felt the narrative was very well written. Alex does a lot of writing, particularly poetry, in order to work through his emotions. The included poems were really excellent. Overall however I felt like Alex didn't stand up for his ideals which made the journey of self-realization fall a little short. The book was also very melancholy.
Angel Sister: A Novel by Ann H. Gabhart / A / **
Can't believe I read this. I didn't realize it when I borrowed it that it was Christian Literature (which of all genres is probably my least favorite). It was touted as the story of a family living during the Great Depression that pulls together when a foundling appears on their doorstep. Instead it was a "come to Jesus" book that felt false and preachy.
Favorite quote:
“It is the story that lies around the edges of the photographs, or at the end of newspaper account. It's about the lies we tell others to protect them, and about the lies we tell ourselves in order not to acknowledge what we can't bear: that we are alive, for instance, and eating lunch, while bombs are falling, and refugees are crammed into camps, and the news comes toward us every hour of the day. And what, in the end, do we do?”
.
Oh I liked this one. It was set in WWII which is a time period I love to read about. The story is a bit improbable in that it tells the story of a small town doctor and his new who live in a small town on the Cape. America has not yet entered the war. They listen each night to the radio, especially to the broadcasts made from London by one of the few women reporters, Frankie Bard. After one of his patients dies, the doctor feels the need to make amends by going to London to work in the hospitals there. He leaves a final letter for his bride with the Postmistress in case he does not return.
While in London, during an air raid, he meets Frankie Bard. He dies soon after, and she takes possession of another letter to his wife that had been in his pocket waiting for delivery. The story continues as Frankie travels through Europe reporting on the war and finding out that while the conditions in London are tough, they are much worse elsewhere.
Other stories are told and intertwine with the main story... that of the Postmistress and her boyfriend and an immigrant from Austria living in the small beach town.
I thought the first chapter was so strange that I almost did not continue reading it, but once I was into the story I really enjoyed it. This one was a keeper.
No comments:
Post a Comment