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Well I promised that the next book would be something you can get your teeth into, and I am certainly hoping that's the case with this month's choice, winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and New York Times bestseller All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
I first came across this book on the Waterstones website under the bookseller recommendation section. Having done a little more research, more than one source has said that fans of The Book Thief should enjoy this, and I LOVE that book. I guess the two are being linked because of the similar backdrop of World War II. In All The Light We Cannot See two children cross paths in occupied France; Marie-Laure a blind French girl and Werner, a German orphan. From what I can gather (I don't like reading too many reviews in case of spoilers) we follow their journeys over a 10 year period intertwined with a mystery connected to a cursed jewel.
Amazon reviewers have given the book 4.5 out of 5 and you can buy the kindle or paperback edition here. Or head on over to Waterstones, where it gets 4 out of 5 from the solo reviewer, who describes it as "Magnificent. An all time great."
So there we go. Who's in?
Look away now if you haven't finished the book or want to avoid spoilers!
If I had to sum up this month's book I would say that it is an easy read thriller, enjoyable but not ground breaking. Overall I liked it despite it not setting the world alight; it was well written and engaging, and I can understand why it is currently so popular. Like with last month's book however I wasn't overly enamoured with the characters, and this wasn't a read which I kept thinking about afterwards. If asked for a score out of 10 I would go for 6 (in a very far reaching and general book category) or 7 (in its genre). Here's why:
The biggest plus point of the book is that it hooks you in immediately. No slow build up here, the reader is introduced to the main character Rachel and all her flaws from the outset, as well as the couple she has become somewhat obsessed with as her daily commute (which we soon learn is contrived) passes the back of their house each day. A few doors down lives Rachel's ex and his new wife and daughter, who add to the intrigue. There is no arguing that the writing leaves you wanting to know more, this is the kind of book that you will stay up late for even when you don't think it's worth it!
The array of characters' secrets adds to the overall success of the book and keeps you fairly on your toes for the majority of the story as to how things will pan out. I say the majority as I suspect many people will have guessed the twist and/or outcome around 3/4 of the way in which is when I did. This didn't ruin the book for me though, as I thought the conclusion of the story was well handled and didn't feel as rushed as some thrillers do. It also made sense and didn't leave me wanting to punch the author in the face like a certain similar title did. Most of the characters (Rachel's housemate aside) had a hint of darkness about them, and the story flowed well from one narrator to another as well as from one timeframe to the next.
I also thought that having such a flawed main character was a bold move and one which made the book more interesting than many of its counterparts. Obviously towards the end we learn that many of Rachel's shortcomings are the after-effect of an abusive relationship, but for the most part we are dealing with a character whose lonlieness and excessive drinking are described in all their (anti) glory and which appear at times to be self inflicted. I found that I did engage with Rachel and was willing her not to open that bottle of wine at 10am in the morning. Equally I was cringing for her when she wakes to her housemate discovering the pile of vomit at the bottom of the stairs, which I put down to the effective writing and refreshingly realistic descriptions of how bleak living in such circumstances must be.
On the downside, I found there was some repetition within the story and that it lacked depth. I guess it doesn't set out to be the sort of book that will change your life though so can't complain too much about that! The character of Scott, Megan's husband was an obvious cliche for me, and I found it pretty hard to believe that he and Rachel would have struck up the shortlived friendship that they did without him asking a few more questions about her relationship with Megan. There were also a number of characters introduced but not explored fully enough for me, like Anna and Dr Abdic.
I am trying to think of other shortcomings of the book given that I only think it is a 6/7 but am actually finding it difficult so maybe I have been a bit harsh! My main issue is simply that it's not a book that will stay with you or effect you emotionally, but for a thriller read which keeps you guessing and makes you want to race to the end (which isn't a difficult task) you can't go too far wrong with The Girl on the Train.
What did you think folks?! Please share your thoughts! They are probably more insightful than mine!
Come back tomorrow for May's book club choice x
I rarely go into or look at Gap online for clothes for myself. When it comes to baby and kid's clothes though, they are up there with the best in my opinion. They currently have an interesting offer on whereby the more items you buy, the more discount you get. If you purchase one item a 20% discount will be applied, if you purchase 3 or more items the discount is 25% and if you have a blow out and go for 5 or more you'll get a 30% reduction. The code is LOVEGAP and ends today!
Here are some of my kiddie favourites. Head on over there now!
Americana flutter star one-piece £14.95 before any discount
Whale one-piece £12.95 before any discount
Flutter ladybug one-piece £17.95 before any discount
Americana star slip-on sneakers £8.95 before any discount
Ant tunnel banded pants £7.95 before any discount
Have a great weekend! And if you haven't finished reading this month's book club read then get a move on :-)
We have a crawler! I said in my last monthly milestones post that Teddy was almost there, and a couple of weeks after posting that he figured out how to cross the rug to reach his favourite toy and since then there has been no stopping him! It has been so amazing to watch, as you can see him working out in his head where he wants to go and the determination he uses to get there. He does sometimes still alternate the crawl with the bum shuffle, and prefers carpets to wooden floors but I suspect that we will be needing that stair-gate very soon! After the first time Teddy crawled he didn't do it again for 24 hours, and I think he hadn't realised that he had cracked it, but now as soon as we put him on the floor he is on the move. Pablo is less enthused about this than the rest of us :-)
Crawling hasn't been the only major milestone this month, we also took Teddy on his first holiday! I will write a detailed post about both the destination (Tallinn) and tips on travelling with a 9 month old very soon but the short story is that he was a little star and we found the whole trip to be much less stressful than anticipated. I would definitely recommend a city break with a baby around this age; Teddy seemed fascinated by the new surroundings and was more than happy to be pushed around in the buggy we borrowed. It also turns out that menus are his new favourite thing! He was happiest with one of those in his hand (and not one of the carefully selected toys I had packed) whilst Chris and I had a beer. You can't argue with that! It was lovely having time together as a family, we didn't cram too much in so had plenty of time to chill out just the three of us. I just wish we could have had a bit longer!
Over the last month Teddy's sleeping pattern hasn't changed much but one new development is that he now sleeps on his tummy rather than his back, sometimes with his bottom in the air as demonstrated beautifully below! When he first did this I would turn him back over but having consulted fellow mums I learnt that it is a safe way for babies to sleep once they are strong enough to turn themselves over, so I leave him be. Unless of course he decides to fall asleep sitting up which he has now done twice. How this is even possible I don't know, the boy has some serious sleeping skills.
Food wise, Teddy continues to eat most of what he is given. Given being the operative word however - he has decided that feeding himself is too much hassle so now tends to drop whatever I hand to him on the floor and opens his mouth expecting me to do it for him. Of course this never seems to apply when he is given a baby biscuit, the little monkey. It is a good job we didn't go for solely baby led weaning as it would be a nightmare right about now! I am not worrying about it yet as I am hoping it is just a phase, and I am sure that if he gets hungry enough he will miraculously start to feed himself finger food again. On holiday we discovered that he LOVES spaghetti carbonara and pizza (I gave him a tiny bit of mine) so he clearly takes after his mum when it comes to a weakness for Italian food. I suspect that he has put on a fair few pounds recently!
I think that is all for now, quite a month it has been for the little man! I will leave you with a few more pictures from the last few weeks and will see you in a months time!
I almost didn't pick this as April's book because of the title and it's similarity to last month's. I promise that not all the featured books will begin with The Girl...! I am hearing about this book everywhere though so I thought let's keep it topical and go with the current number one bestseller (in the Waterstone's UK chart and Amazon books); The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Plus it is on offer at the moment to download to kindles for only £1.79 which you can't really argue with. Click here for the link.
The book is being compared to Gone Girl, but from what I have read only in the sense that both are thrillers and have risen to popularity quickly. I started reading this last night, as did Chris, as it is VERY easy to read. This does make me think it may not be the most intellectually challenging book ever, but I will make up for this next month with a serious read!
You can read a synopsis of the book's premise here. It seems to be about a women called Rachel, in her mid 30s and a heavy drinker, who rides the same train everyday to London. During this journey the train slows or stops at a particular signal, from where Rachel can see into a number of houses, including one belonging to a couple she names Jason and Jess. I already want to know more about Rachel, whose loneliness and hints of a past life are immediately engaging. One day Rachel sees something which apparently "changes everything". Intrigued? Me too! In terms of reviews it has 5 out of 5 on the Waterstones website, 4 out of 5 on Amazon and the Guardian describes it as "inescapable tension, superbly handled".
I hope you join me in reading this book and that you find it enjoyable. We'll compare thoughts in a month!
It's quite hard to write a book review when you don't really know how you feel about the book! When I finished The Girl with all the Gifts Chris asked what I thought, to which I answered "I'm not sure". I think what this means is that I didn't love the book, but I did like it. I am torn as to whether this indifference is because of the quality of the book, or its genre.
As I said in my original post, I hardly knew a thing about this book when I picked it as the first book to review. This is quite unusual for me as I generally know the vague concept of a book I am about to read or at least what section of a bookstore it would be found in! It isn't a bad thing though, as if I had known in advance that this was essentially a zombie story (despite never using the Z word) with a hint of science fiction I probably would have steered clear. I have since learnt that the book is being made into a film starring Glenn Close and Gemma Arteton and that, judging from twitter especially, some people really bloody love it! So here's what I thought... look away now if you don't want to read any spoilers!
The book is well written, I don't think you can argue with that. It has a great opening which gets you interested straight away, and I enjoyed the fact that there wasn't a large build up to finding out what was going on in the outside world. The first narrator of the book (told in the third person which I think works well) is Melanie, a 10 year old 'Hungry' who lives in a secure facility which we discover houses some of the few people remaining in England after what is referred to as the Breakdown. I have read a couple of dystopian stories like the Hunger Games and the Divergent series but this was a level darker, probably because it was not written for a teenage audience. The Breakdown is described here and there throughout the book, and much of it from the point of view of Dr Caldwell who largely speaks in an overly technical and scientific rhetoric. In summary, a virus wipes out much of the population by turning them into Hungries who live in a zombie like state until they smell or hear human movement, which then inevitably leads to attack. The victims of these attacks then become Hungries themselves and so the cycle continues.
Melanie, and about 20 other children living in the facility with her, are different however, and it is only revealed towards the end of the story in what way they are different, and why. We lean early on that Melanie is very intelligent, and has conscious thought so we know she isn't an ordinary Hungry. We are also told about her fondness of a certain teacher, Miss Justineau, who initially seems to be the only staff member of the facility who has a moral conscience. Melanie and her counterparts are kept locked up in cells overseen by Sergeant Parks, except for when they attend school-like lessons, or for weekly trips to the chemical showers and grub factory. Trust me, that bit is gross.
The characters are well developed and the story only revolves around 4 or 5 of them so you get to know them pretty well, but ultimately I didn't feel that I could identify with any of them nor was I emotionally attached to them at all, even Melanie. To me this is one of the main downfalls of the book, as I am sure the author did not intend for a reader to be so ambivelent to their characters, especially the protagonist. Maybe this was because the story was so removed from reality, or maybe I am just heartless! Another downside of the book was how graphically it described Dr Caldwell's work in her lab, which involved operating on live specimens. I don't have a stomach for this kind of thing at the best of times, but the detailed description of amputating a human head was to me unnecessary and indulgent.
I found the ending to be pretty dark and depressing, but it wasn't something that I predicted which is a good thing. For one character in particular things concluded in an interesting way, and the book definitely leaves you with a lot to think about in terms of this person and their future, or lack thereof. I did find it unconvincing how Melanie asserts authority over the other Hungry children who feature towards the end of the book, and I felt that the author having her save Miss Justineau in the way she did a little too convenient and that maybe the ending was rushed.
What I did like about the book was that it was more than a story of the Breakdown, or the zombies left in its wake, it was about how the people left to deal with all of this developed relationships in forced circumstances, the most effective relationship being the one between Melanie and her favourite teacher. I also enjoyed the pace of the book, and its variety of narrators. It was also pretty clever to be honest, the guy who came up with this original concept knows their science! The book was very descriptive and I found that as I was reading I had a very clear (and weird) picture in my head of what the landscape looked like, so I will definitely see the film when it is out to see if the two match up.
Ultimately I think that The Girl with all the Gifts is probably one of the best books of its genre, it's just a shame that that genre doesn't do it for me!
What did you think? I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read it too!
Also, come back tomorrow to see what April's book of the month will be! x
Less than a week to go until the long weekend folks! If, like me (yay!) you are jetting off somewhere over Easter then you may be on the lookout for the perfect travel companion and Accessorize may well be able to help with a number of reductions on their bags, in particular their 'weekenders' which currently have at least £10 off. If you are sorted for an overnight bag then you might be brave enough to try a backpack which I keep reading/seeing are having a bit of a moment. For me many of the patterned versions remind me too much of high school, but these plain leather or leather look ones have caught my eye. Failing that you can't go wrong with a cross over for a city break or a pretty tote for just about anything!
Neon Print Weekender Bag £29 (was £39)
Ikat Print Weekender Bag £24 (was £39)
Sophie Sporty Backpack £25 (was £35)
Leather Backpack £65 (was £85) Also available in tan
Verity Tote Bag £30 (was £45)
Soft Satchel Across Body Bag £22 (was £32)
Happy Weekend! x
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