22 November 2014

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Author: John Green
Pages: 308
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Book Description:
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both of them legions of faithful fans.






My Opinion: 
Another fabulous novel from John Green. It was humorous and lighthearted and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After reading The Fault in out Stars and Looking for Alaska, I was expecting this to be another amazing but sad novel. This was not the case! Will Grayson X2 was funny and relatable and showed the life of teenagers clearly and accurately. The novel was filled with passionate and true quotes and I was very sad to finish it.

My favourite part had the be the ending. It was so caring and I felt like everything added up. I liked the second Will Grayson the best just because I could relate to him more and I see myself in him a lot! Tiny was another really lovely character and I felt them come alive in the pages (wow how cheesy...)

The only thing I didn't like, was the grammar for the second Will Grayson. There were no capital letters (it was meant to be that way!) and I understand it defined the two Will's but that is just something that gets on my nerves a lot. There was nothing wrong with the plot or the characters, they were all really well written, it was just the punctuation hahaa :)

Altogether this was another amazing book by one of my favourite authors. He never fails to let me down :) I would recommend this is anyone, whatever age, because it puts you in the mind of boys which is funny (if you'e a girl) and shows the true struggle and happiness of teenagers. Anyone can relate to this.
The last book I have to read by him is an Abundance of Katherine's so I'll definitely be picking that up soon.


Favourite Quotes: 

why is it upset? shouldn't it be downset?

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His problems are so huge that your can hide behind them

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i am constantly torn between killing myself and killing everyone around me.

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Some people have lives. Some people have music.
And some people have neither

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If you don't say the honest thing, it never becomes true



 Rating ★ 
 4 out of 5 stars 

 Next book I'm going to review:
Perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

10 November 2014

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Title: Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Pages: 115
Genre: Political, History, Classic
Book Description: 
Tired of their servitude to man, a group of farm animals revolt and establish their own society, only to be betrayed into worse servitude by their leaders, the pigs, whose slogan becomes: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." This 1945 satire addresses the socialist/ communist philosophy of Stalin in the Soviet Union.





My Opinion:

I really really enjoyed this book. I've been wanting to read it for such a long time now and I'm so pleased I've finally got round to it. It was actually quite a short novel so I read it in less than a week!
I think this book was really well written. I loved the story line and seeing how everything began to change and crumble. The characters were really creative and funny and I enjoyed finding out what happened to them as the story continued.

The only problem I had with this book was the amount of characters addressed on the second page. Only a few of them were really important and I found it difficult to keep up with which animal had which name etc. However this could just be me...

I knew the background of this novel before reading it; about how it was like a metaphor for the politics in Russia. I don't find politics very interested and I don't know much about it so I tried to keep this in mind as I was reading but didn't get that aspect until the end.

Linking to this, I really enjoyed the ending. It was so well written and the last quote was really powerful! A wonderful end to a wonderful book.

Overall I would recommend this to anyone. Preferably older people just because you might not understand some of the language and terms but generally it's great for all ages. I felt like I learned a lot by reading this book and everyone should read this classic at least once :)
I'm certainly going to be picking up 1984 and reading that soon!


Favourite Quotes:

All men are enemies. All animals are comrades

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Four legs good, two legs bad

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The only good human being is a dead one

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All men are enemies. All animals are comrades

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others

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The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which



Rating 
4 out of 5 stars

Next book I'm going to review:
Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green

2 November 2014

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Title: Orphan Train
Author: Christina Baker Kline
Pages: 273
Genre: Contemporary, Historical
Book Description:
The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.
Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.
Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.




My Opinion: 
Before I start can we all take a moment to appreciate how lovely this cover is?! I love the bars on the left side because it gives the effect of a train door and it just looks amazing! Plus the copy I have is hardback so it actually feels like I'm opening a train door omg it's beautiful >.<
Anyway...

I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I enjoyed the story-line and how each chapter switched between Molly and Vivian. I felt like this book was a real eye-opener and I feel like I've learned a lot. This book made me realise how lucky I am and how cruel the world can be sometimes... But it does have a lovely ending! There's a lot of history weaved in these pages and I enjoyed that since I like history anyway.

However the book was a little heavy and overall, not much happened. I didn't want to put the book down however there was not much to the story. I found this book quite slow... although a lot happened and I did read it quickly. The chapters were long but not a lot happened in them.
I liked how the narrator changed between the characters, but I didn't like how the tense changed between third person and first person. (See what I am... Love-hate relationship here!)

This novel started off really well. The beginning was powerful and upsetting but made me want to read on. But as I got nearer the middle of the book I felt that curiousness disappear and I didn't really want to read on... But I also didn't want to stop reading...

Overall I think this book had its ups and downs. The writing didn't keep me intrigued yet the story was powerful. I think the idea of this book was probably better than it is written down. I wouldn't recommend it but if you're just looking for a new and unique book to read, this is it :)


Favourite Quotes: 

My entire life has felt like chance. Random moments of loss and connection. This is the first one that feels, instead, like fate

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Sitting in the empty classroom after school one day, Molly stares at that face for a long time, looking for answers to questions she doesn't know how to ask

~~~~

So I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside

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I feel abandoned and forgotten, dropped into misery worse than my own

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They're the ones who haunt us. The ones who have left us behind




 Rating ★ 
3 out of 5 stars 

 Next book I'm going to review:
Animal Farm by George Orwell