Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

20:20 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: Her Fearful Symmetry
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Source: Rowden White Library, Melbourne
Synopsis:

When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers--with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.


The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including--perhaps--their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

Review: DNF - ⋆⋆

“He thanked her and left the house in the mood of a shipwrecked man who has allowed the rescue ship to pass him by.”

I didn't finish this book for two reasons. One - I had to return it to the library and it wasn't possible to borrow it again, and two - I wasn't interested in continuing. After one point, I could tell it was heading for tragedy and I just didn't want to read on.

I borrowed this because the title and the plot intrigued me, and I still really like the basic idea of the story. I like ghost stories where it's less about horror and poltergeist, more focused on the emotions behind why spirit refuses to move on. The relationship between Julia and Valentina, and the mystery of what happened to Elspeth and Edie kept me reading. Niffenegger's description brought the scenes to live, and there are scenes and sentences in the book that I loved.


The problem is, I feel like there was this cloud of melancholy hanging over the story since the start, and it hardly ever let up. Given my emotions at the time of reading, it became too difficult to read. Also, I just couldn't love or root for the characters. Julia irritates me, Valentina and Robert frustrate me. The only ones I wanted to read more of were Martin and Marijke, but even then it wasn't enough to keep me going.

Review: Cress

11:01 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: Cress
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: Readings, Carlton, Australia
Synopsis:

In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.


When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

“I promise, I will not let you die without being kissed.” 

As always, I love the characters that populate this series. At first glance, Cress isn't the kick-ass lady that Scarlet and Cinder are, but I enjoyed the fact that she was romantic and happy to be the damsel-in-distress. I also enjoyed her growth over the course of the book. I hope she'll remain romantic and dreamy at heart though, as much as I want her to be able to match Thorne's wit a bit more. (This is the point where I have to admit I secretly shipped Thorne/Cinder). Meyer has all sort of leading ladies in this series, and I love them because they are each so different; each has her own strengths and weaknesses. Speaking of Thorne - he shone for me in this book. His gesture for Iko sealed my love for him.

The plot feels a little slower here. There was a lot of journey-ing and waiting and searching, but it is necessary before we start the revolution (!!). I love that we got a glimpse of Luna here though, and I'm looking forward to see more of it. I have one question though: the summary on the back of my copy says the man Levana loves is plotting her downfall, but I couldn't find any mention of him anywhere? Unless it meant Kai, but Levana doesn't love him? I feel like I missed something.

In any case, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a series so much and so completely since Harry Potter, and I can't wait to see where this group of fugitives head to next.

Top Five Characters That Would Be On My Syllabus If I Taught Character Development 101

23:02 Cilla 6 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is an original meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Click here for information.

To me, characters are the most important part of a story. I want to read about growth and change, and characters with layers to them. These are the books that I would refer to if anyone asks me about great characters:

1. Queen Levana - Fairest by Marissa Meyer. From the beginning of the series, Queen Levana has been painted as a menacing villain. Her ruthlessness is subtle, there's a touch of mystery to her that speaks of great power, and she's intelligent. In short, she's scary. Then Fairest came along, and we learn about her - the family she's been raised in, the way her logic works, and her desperation for love - and then she's not just a villain. I sympathized with her and understood why she turned out the way she did, and yet I didn't quite forget the fact that she's made choices that caused pain to a lot of people. In my opinion, that's quite a feat to pull off and something a lot of authors should aim to do when creating a villain.


2. Josef Weber - The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. Josef is everyone's favourite retired teacher and coach, a pillar of society. Then he confesses that he was a Nazi SS guard. Trying to reconcile this image of a frail, beloved old man with someone who has done some heinous crime was a struggle, but that was the point. Josef's character was difficult to understand, and I flip-flopped between being appalled at his past and sympathetic of his atonement. Then just when I thought I understood him, Picoult dropped a twist at the end that made me question everything about Josef all over again.

3. Severus Snape - Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. I don't love Snape as a person. To me, his devotion to Lily is not necessarily what I'd call true love, and he's an awful teacher. Still, I can appreciate how complex he is as a character. He's not a hero, but the things he does require a lot of bravery. He had a terrible childhood and was bullied throughout Hogwarts, so I could understand why he'd be drawn to Death Eaters and the promise of power. Does that excuse the reflex with which he threw what's basically a racial slur at his best friend? I'm not sure.

4. Cassie - Animorphs by K.A. Applegate. So the Animorphs series goes up and down in terms of quality, but at its better points, the characters are put through difficult questions that test and reveal their true colours. Cassie's development, in particular, has always been interesting to follow. Here is this pacifist who's always saving injured animals, stuck in a war, making decisions about how to best eliminate her enemies. Reading her struggle with her idealism and how she adapts to making morally gray calls is often really compelling.

5. Emma Morley - One Day by David Nicholls. So this one may be on this list purely because of my emotional connection to her, but that's a mark of a solid character, isn't it? She flourished in university and graduated brimming with potentials, only to face struggle after struggle as an adult. She doesn't deal with those disappointments well, but she picks herself up in the end. In short, Emma feels so real, it's almost painful to read sometimes.

My Current Book Affairs

14:20 Cilla 0 Comments

Unfortunately I haven't been reading much these past few weeks. Being an adult has been ridiculously stressful, and I did a little bit of travelling that sapped the last of my energy. Thankfully, after a relaxing weekend and some time for myself, I'm feeling like my life is back on track. So, I'm hoping to get this blog back on track as well! Starting with a little update on my reading life:


1. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

I gave up on this reread. The story never quite held my attention this time around. Maybe in the future I'll give it another shot.

2. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

This was one of the books my mother and I bought years ago, when the local bookshop was selling a lot of English classics for really cheap. I'm not really sure how I feel about this story so far. It can be hard work to read at times, but every time I'm ready to give up on it, the story gets interesting. I'm about halfway through though, and I intend to finish it.

3. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

I sort of started on this series backward. I saw the movie, liked it, then bought Beautiful Chaos because it happened to be really cheap. My mother, the enabler, told me to go for it and that I could always buy the rest of the series during another sale. So when Beautiful Creatures went on sale, I got a copy. So far, it's an easy read and interesting enough, but the characters are sort of flat for me.

Here's hoping I have more time to read in the upcoming weeks!