I just felt like re-reading this marvellous novel, this time around I had Nicolette McKenzie and Thomas Judd read it to me, they did a great job. LiveI just felt like re-reading this marvellous novel, this time around I had Nicolette McKenzie and Thomas Judd read it to me, they did a great job. Lively's writing is sumptuous and exquisite. Claudia Hamilton is hands down my favourite female character in literature and this novel is among my most loved books.
If you recall from Pride and Prejudice, one sister didn't get to marry. Her name is Mary.
The Other Bennet Sister continues where Austen's novel left uIf you recall from Pride and Prejudice, one sister didn't get to marry. Her name is Mary.
The Other Bennet Sister continues where Austen's novel left us, focusing on Mary's life , from when she was still at home with her sisters and following her four sisters' marriages. Mary is rather plain looking especially when compared to her beautiful sisters. Her dear mother criticised and dismissed her all her life, so Mary believes she's unworthy. She's a loner, dressing not to attract attention. She does find comfort in reading and playing the piano, but nobody cares. Besides, no man likes an intelligent, well-read woman, especially when they could have their pick of charming, pretty and smiley young women.
Hadlow's writing style and the plot are well done, one forgets this novel wasn't written by Austen herself. My only criticism is that it was too long.
Many thanks to Diane for bringing this to my attention.
Now I have a hankering to watch the Pride and Prejudice adaptation. I prefer the Keira Knightly movie to the Colin Firth BBC miniseries. How about you? ...more
Ronni Salt's debut thriller takes us to a made-up town on Gunnawah in Riverina, New South Wales, in 1974, during Gough Whitlam's era. It was an intereRonni Salt's debut thriller takes us to a made-up town on Gunnawah in Riverina, New South Wales, in 1974, during Gough Whitlam's era. It was an interesting time in history for Australia as well.
I loved that the main character was a female. In this case, Adelaide, the daughter of a farmer, is working as a cadet journalist at the local newspaper. The owner, Valdene Bullark, takes Adelaide under her wing, shows her the ropes, and introduces her to people.
Adelaide seems shy and withdrawn, but she's inquisitive and has a keen eye for details.
As I've declared before, characterisations, descriptions, and writing style are my main focus when I read, even when it comes to plot-driven novels. Salt's writing checks all those boxes. It was obvious even to this lifelong city dweller that Salt is a local, with good knowledge of the countryside and its issues, and its people. In many ways, some of those issues and topics are still current.
Speaking of topics, the main themes are: organised crime relating to drugs, organised crime relating to irrigation and land, and the police and the politicians' corruption and/or ineptitude.
Gunnawah is another worthy addition to the Australian noir crime genre.
I'm looking forward to reading Salt's sophomore book, although I hope the writing won't take her away from the politically driven investigations, they are much needed....more
There Are Rivers in the Sky or more like there are rivers hidden, covered and forgotten. This novel is sprawling, geographically and historically speakThere Are Rivers in the Sky or more like there are rivers hidden, covered and forgotten. This novel is sprawling, geographically and historically speaking. Told via multiple POVs, it goes back millennia to Nineveh, in ancient Mesopotamia, where the story of Gilgamesh came alive. Then travels to Victorian London, where King Arthur of the slums was born. In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a Yazidi girl waits to be baptised by the river Tigris when they are under untack. In 2018, in London, Zaleekhah, a hydrologist is heartbroken and depressed, after leaving her marriage.
Water, a water drop, a water molecule, connects all these stories. That was such an inventive way to connect the timelines and to bring to our attention the importance of water, a common element that we all take for granted.
There is a lot of pain, injustice, ignorance, cruelty. Kudos to Shafak for bringing to our attention the plight of the Yazidis. The fact that I was barely aware of it, made me feel ashamed and angry about how easily we choose to dismiss certain atrocities.
This is an excellent novel, it's a shame it wasn't longlisted for the Women's Prize.
I almost DNF this, but other readers convinced me to keep going.
My Brilliant Sister is a genre-bending novel, made up of three stories. It starts w3.5
I almost DNF this, but other readers convinced me to keep going.
My Brilliant Sister is a genre-bending novel, made up of three stories. It starts with the story of Ida, a Kiwi who moved to Melbourne with her husband, a writer, and their young daughter. Ida is stressed, working as a high school English teacher during the pandemic no less, in a city which frequently locked down. Juggling a demanding job, a young child and a household doesn't allow for much time to do what one wants - writing a novel and/or trying to get a position as an academic. She's resentful of her husband, whose life is smooth, he's unencumbered by domestic mundanities, carving many hours to do his thing. Besides, he unilaterally decided that the family should move to Melbourne.
The second and longest part is a fictionalised account of Stella Miles Franklin's sister, who by all accounts was nowhere near as passionate, restless, and challenging as her older, famous writer sister, who wrote My Brilliant Career a famous, autofiction novel that is still studied in Australian schools today. (I'm yet to read it, although I have a copy on my bookshelf). Via letters to her sister, Linda paints a picture of accepting domesticity and one's diminished role. Fair or not, this longer account got boring to me after a while, so I considered abandoning the audiobook.
The last part is about Stella, a famous musician from New Zealand, who's dealing with the loss of a relationship with a band member and finds herself alone and lonely. There's a price for everything, every choice has a consequence. Domesticity, motherhood, and careers seem to collide, pull and push. How many of our choices are free will? Are there people with no regrets, people who wondered about paths not taken?
My Brilliant Sister is an excellent debut novel that showcases Brown's writing skills. I'm looking forward to reading her next book.
I borrowed this because I liked the cover. The Divorcees is set in the 1950s US. Our main heroine is Lois Saunders, a sole child of Polish immigrants,I borrowed this because I liked the cover. The Divorcees is set in the 1950s US. Our main heroine is Lois Saunders, a sole child of Polish immigrants, who wants to divorce her husband of four years, not as easy to accomplish without proof or causes such as violence.
Enter the divorce farms in Nevada. The state was granting easier, no-fault divorces, as long as you were a resident, easily achieved as it only required one to have resided in the state a minimum of six weeks.
So Lois makes her way to Golden Yarrow, a respectable divorce farm, where she meets different women working on extricating themselves from their unhappy marriages. They have different stories and circumstances. Lois is shy and has a penchant for telling lies. Enter the enigmatic Greer. For some strange reason, Green takes a shine to Lois. The two of them strike a friendship of sorts. Lois feels seen. Also, Green challenges her and pushes her limits in all sorts of ways. But all is not what it seems.
This novel was slow going although it's relatively short. There were a lot of repetitive situations, some of the women at the farm were undeveloped. I did have a clue about a pivotal moment in the novel. The ending could have been better.
The Safekeep is set in the 1960s Netherlands, with a big, dark house at its centre. The house now belongs to three siblings, Isabel, and her two sibliThe Safekeep is set in the 1960s Netherlands, with a big, dark house at its centre. The house now belongs to three siblings, Isabel, and her two siblings, Hendrik and Louis. While the brothers went into the world, Isabel stayed home with her mother, whom she cared for until her passing. Isabel is cold, stern, set in her ways. She's not classically beautiful.
When Louis shows up for dinner with yet another girlfriend, Isabel is not impressed. She dislikes Eva greatly and is suspicious of her. Circumstances dictate that Eva will stay in the house for a month while Louis is away on business. The two women couldn't be more different, Eva is sparkly and very feminine, Isabel is her opposite. Isabel is irritated but also somewhat intrigued by Eva. Until Eva kisses her, which makes Isabel feel things she never thought she could or would.
This short novel brilliantly unpeels layers that reveal historical aspects regarding the Dutch collaboration with the Nazis concerning the Jewish people, and the fact that some benefited from their tragedy.
Displacement, guilt, desire, sexual discovery, gender and social norms are some of the themes of this excellent debut novel.
I thought this was going to be something else, but at least I didn't hate it, which is an accomplishment in itself.
Miss Eliza Balfour is a widow at3.5
I thought this was going to be something else, but at least I didn't hate it, which is an accomplishment in itself.
Miss Eliza Balfour is a widow at only twenty-seven years old. Luckily, she's a very rich one, which affords one so much freedom, even given the double standards of the era. She has to overcome her nature which has always been submissive, fearful and compliant.
Will she finally do what she wants to do and come into herself?
There's a love triangle of sorts to keep things interesting. While this has the usual cliches of the genre, I went along for the ride and sort of enjoyed it. I put that in the wins category. :-)...more
I was after something lighter, so this title grabbed my attention. The novel is about two fraternal twin sisters, forty-two, both unmarried. They are I was after something lighter, so this title grabbed my attention. The novel is about two fraternal twin sisters, forty-two, both unmarried. They are ladies of means, who never had to labor. When their father dies, the brother inherits everything, so they have to make do and adapt to their new circumstances.
Despite being twins, the two sisters are opposite in character and appearance - Lady Augusta is tall, not necessarily the demure, fainting kind, she's quite feisty and doesn't suffer fools. Her sister, Julia, is more demure, and calmer, and dislikes conflict.
The two find themselves in all sorts of troubles which eventually push them to seek to help women as much as they can. The novel brings to light domestic abuse, women's insane asylums, and a few other injustices and inconveniences women had to put up with back then.
Things I liked about this: the main characters - it's refreshing to have heroines who are not young and hot. Of course, Gus was my favourite, but I liked the sisters' relationship, they complemented each other well. The sisters' cases of rescue brought to the surface some of the many unsavoury realities of the time, which made the novel darker.
What I disliked - I don't read historical novels often because I find them unbelievable, or I can see the author's hand in them, which I find jarring. A few times I got annoyed by the overexplaining and telling us things we already knew/know. I also felt this was too long, even though I was often listening at 1.5x speed.
Well, this sucks! I didn't fall in love with James as I had hoped.
I was so keen to read Everett's latest, I went out and paid $35 for a copy!
I thin3.5
Well, this sucks! I didn't fall in love with James as I had hoped.
I was so keen to read Everett's latest, I went out and paid $35 for a copy!
I think I read Huckleberry Finn when I was a teen, I don't remember much, if anything. Regardless, I am a firm believer that retellings/reimaginings have to stand on their own, James certainly did.
I was surprised by how straightforward this novel was, it had almost none of the cheekiness, sarcasm, wordplay that I encountered in The Trees or Mr No, admittedly, this was a different kind of book, but it almost read like a YA novel.
It took me a little time to get used to the slaves' language. Then, when James switched to his normal, inner voice which was much easier to understand, I had to work at suspending my disbelief as he was a little too articulate, the language quite refined - I just didn't see how and when he'd had the time, opportunity to acquire such skills. The spectrum between illiteracy to understanding Voltaire, philosophy etc. is vast. Anyway, James/Jim's intelligence allowed Everett to bring in issues relating to slavery, religion (of course I loved Jim's agnosticism) etc.
The reveal at the end felt a bit forced.
So, I'm sorry to say that, yet again, I won't be jumping on the bandwagon, although I'll wave when it passes by and wish it arrives at its destination.
I'm still keen to read more by Everett. Fortunately, there are many novels on his backcatalogue that I need to discover....more
I swear I want to join the fan club, but I'm not the right fit for it. Or vice versa. Let me explain.
I was super keen to read this but was prepared foI swear I want to join the fan club, but I'm not the right fit for it. Or vice versa. Let me explain.
I was super keen to read this but was prepared for a long wait as I was late to reserve it. But then, I came across a newly added e-audiobook on one of the library apps and I didn't have to wait that long after all.
I appreciate Hannah's objective - remembering the somewhat forgotten women who served in the Vietnam War, most of them as nurses and in other non-combat roles.
This novel should have been titled The Woman as it focuses on Frankie McGrath, a privileged South California young woman, who's just finished nursing school. Her beloved older brother joins the forces as a helicopter pilot, but he soon dies.
It's difficult to say what worked and didn't work for me without giving away spoilers. I'll try to be succinct. Kidding. :-)
- some incredible, improbable situations, such as an inexperienced recent graduate being sent to the front; - Frankie being such a heroine, she's in the middle of everything, barely sleeping; - several men falling for her, admittedly... horny young men, a few women, away from home ... - there's a lot of hand-wringing, so much explaining and overexplaining, Hannah tells us how to feel and what Frankie's thoughts are, which probably would have irked me less had the novel been written in the first person. - there is so much misfortune and grief that Frankie goes through - at some point, I became numb. This is not to say that I haven't read, or watched movies and documentaries about that war and its many atrocities and casualties, it's just that so many happened to and around Frankie. - while the first half was understandably repetitive due to being war and things happening a certain way, slowly, the novel veered into a soap opera. - then there are the characters in the novel: the two female nurses who became her best friends (side note: the twenty-year-old had no best friend before joining the war effort - weird). despite not working together and barely seeing each other, they became "best friends". Whatever. After the world, they were able to fly to California, dropping careers, studies or jobs, whenever Frankie was in distress and needed them. Did people do that in the 70s? - the love/lust interests are just cardboard characters, there's not much substance to the affairs, even if some were just affairs of the heart. What I'm trying to say is that it felt that several characters were conveniently added to move the plot, to add to the drama. Certain situations, reactions, and dialogues were incredible, I raised my skeptical eyebrow a few times. - Hannah covered a lot in this novel: how women were treated/mistreated; the social aspects rang true, including the society's disenchantment with the veterans and their mistreatment to a certain degree; PTSD and the resulting addictions and post-war struggles the veterans faced; many important events are mentioned; after all, it was an era of great unrest and change. - while there was a lot to cover, this novel felt too long, albeit it was easy to get through - my journey was facilitated by Julia Whelan's soothing narration.
I get why so many readers loved this novel, kudos to Hannah for giving it so much time and consideration. I just found she did a lot of telling and not sufficient showing....more
These novels were such an important part of my childhood, I read them multiple times. It was so lovely to reacquaint myself with the Deleanu family, wThese novels were such an important part of my childhood, I read them multiple times. It was so lovely to reacquaint myself with the Deleanu family, with Olguța, Dănuț and Monica. I was apprehensive that this wouldn't live up to my fond memories, but I'm happy to report it wasn't the case.
I was surprised to rediscover the regionalisms and archaic words, there were so many I had to guesstimate. This was written in the 1920's, by a Moldavian writer/lawyer. Moldavia is in the NE of Romania, the language and the accent there are different to standard Romanian, it was even more so 100 years ago.
I was able to find the English translation and occasionally I would check to see how they translated certain things - I'm happy to say the translation is pretty good, but the regionalisms and archaic words are lost in translation.
This first volume introduces us to the Deleanu family and their property in Medeleni, a village somewhere in Moldavia. They're affluent, have a big property and lots of servants, the economic gap between them and the peasants is huge. They're nice people, though. The Deleanus take under their wing Monica, an orphaned girl who's Olguța's best friend and schoolmate. They're both nine years old. Dănuț is eleven, he's getting pushed around and challenged by his sister. I've always adored Olguța, it was the first time and only time when I came across a girl character that I shared similarities with. She was feisty, cheeky, challenging and very determined. Oh, how she tormented her older brother - loved that. :-)
This first volume takes place in the school summer holidays, the kids are playing their simple games, there are family feasts and so on. When the autumn comes the family's dynamic changes forever as Dănuț is sent to a boarding high school in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, which is around 500 km away, which for the 1910's would mean a long trip by train at the beginning of the 20th century.
It was fantastic reading this again. Of course, as the cliche goes, it reminded me of simpler times, especially when I was a child. I shall read on and follow their progression to adulthood....more
I don't have the words to express how much I loved In Memoriam by Alice Winn. I was grabbed and spun into its web from the first page.
This is a novelI don't have the words to express how much I loved In Memoriam by Alice Winn. I was grabbed and spun into its web from the first page.
This is a novel about the incipient love and infatuation between two best friends, Gaunt, a half-German, and Ellwood, a beautiful, charming, poetry-obsessed young man, (they're really just boys). The two have been friends for years, boarding at a prestigious all-boys school. There's miscommunication or better said lack of direct communication, side-steps, glances, experimenting and a whole lot of "boys will be boys."
It's a feat in itself that Winn made me care for privileged boys at a posh school. I detest them in the twenty-first century, even Australia has those kinds of schools. But I digress ...
And then Austria declared war. The naive, underage boys, enrol to fight in the war. Gaunt goes first. He's ambivalent, will he have to fight against his German cousin? He's only eighteen. He's got no life experience, but given his privileged position in society he automatically becomes an officer, which comes with perks, and better pay, but he still has to fight, there's no hiding from the horrors of brutal fighting. Elwood and others will join soon. Many letters are exchanged in this novel, between former schoolmates, between soldiers and their family members. Most are blase and don't really show the horrors of the war. The list of casualties grows, and an entire generation of young men is wiped out.
There is a large cast of characters peppering the pages of this novel. There's humour and banter, there are also vivid descriptions of the horrors of war. This novel fits a lot in its four hundred pages. I am far from a WWI connoisseur, but I appreciated Winn bringing to my attention the fact that even when it came to fighting against a common enemy, one's station in society still played a big role.
What was outstanding about this historical novel, from my perspective anyway, was that Winn didn't hit us over the head with the "big issues", it's all there for us to grasp, without leaning the balance one way or another.
Ultimately, this is a story about love. It's a formidable novel, an incredible debut. To say that I'm perplexed this didn't even make the Booker longlist - would be an understatement.
Remember that not so long ago conflict in the former Yugoslav countries? Remember when the Serbs attacked Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina?Remember that not so long ago conflict in the former Yugoslav countries? Remember when the Serbs attacked Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina? It feels like it was a long time ago, but it was only in 1992-1996.
This debut novel is set during the first 10 months of the war/siege. Our main character is fifty-five-year-old painter and art professor, Zora, who couldn't believe things would get much worse despite relatively apparent signs of things to come. So she finds herself living alone in her eighth-floor apartment, unable to communicate with her husband, daughter and mother who were in the UK. This is a story of survival and enduring. I felt heartbroken for those people and only reinforced my hate of nationalism and fascism. This was also another reminder that most of us would not be able to survive for long without utilities.
Morris has tried to be relatively neutral, she explained some of her choices when she refers to ethnicities, nationalities etc.
I'm glad I read this novel. I probably wouldn't have come across it had it not been shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Literature....more
This novel is about two adolescent girls, Agnes and Fabienne, who form an intense friendship, in a rural town in post-war France. The story is narr3.5
This novel is about two adolescent girls, Agnes and Fabienne, who form an intense friendship, in a rural town in post-war France. The story is narrated by Agnes, who reminisces about their relationship and the past. Fabienne is the dominant, moody friend, Agnes is the follower and observer. One day, Fabienne decides to write a book about their lives. They make a game of it. She dictates her stories to Agnes, who's got better penmanship. They show their book to the local postmaster, who helps them get published, with only Agnes as the writer. Agnes becomes somewhat famous and ends up in a finishing boarding school in England.
This is a story of friendship, destiny or chance. It's an easy read, but it lost some steam towards the end, and I can't say it had the emotional punch I expected. It was however a good introduction to Yiyun Li's writing....more
I'd never agreed more with the messages of a novel however, I grumbled throughout this audiobook. It's as if Garmus took every 2.5 May Contain Spoilers
I'd never agreed more with the messages of a novel however, I grumbled throughout this audiobook. It's as if Garmus took every feminist rhetoric, issue and stance and made Elizabeth Zott the denouncer of every.single.one - gender pay gaps, stay-at-home mothers not being appreciated, women in STEM, working women, sexual harassment and the whole gamut of issues. I had to double-check the period this novel was set in. There were quite a few aspects that felt anachronistic. Anachronisms drive me crazy and their presence ruined many historical novels for me. I also think it's lazy and assumes that the readers are ignorant, not to mention, that it doesn't take that long to google.
And then there was the preachiness, and the monologues, and the overexplaining. Oh, and it's all tell no show. Also, I got no sense of the time and place.
I'm a staunch feminist and I agreed and/or recognised most issues, still, I just found this novel annoying, heavy-handed, and way too on the nose.
I like my literature nuanced and I don't want things to be (over)explained, I am (still) capable of chewing my food/ideas, thank you very much.
NB: I watched the TV series, I didn't mind it, the script was pretty good. ...more
2.5 Grrr I spent 14 hrs listening to this novel. I am kind of mad with myself for sticking with it when I never enjoyed it - I just didn't want to have2.5 Grrr I spent 14 hrs listening to this novel. I am kind of mad with myself for sticking with it when I never enjoyed it - I just didn't want to have an opinion about it without having read it. I should have trusted my instincts ... I just got swayed by many readers' raving reviews. It also seems to be garnering "best book" awards as well.
This was a historical novel set in 1800 Prussia, the main characters are from a protestant sect that is ostracised. I am generally not a historical fiction fan. The "forbidden love" between two teenage girls should have been more to my liking but I really didn't care. If anything, it felt overdone, obsessive and over-the-top. The novel's second part goes off the wall, not in a good way.
Devotion - it should have really been Obsession - was overwritten and gimmicky, especially the last half.
Hannah Kent is definitely not for me, now I'm 100% certain....more
This was my first Mary Lawson novel. I had added it to my TBR before it was longlisted to the Booker, which is a perplexing nomination if you ask me, This was my first Mary Lawson novel. I had added it to my TBR before it was longlisted to the Booker, which is a perplexing nomination if you ask me, but that's not on the author.
A Town Called Solace takes place in Solace, a small fictional town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the 1970s. Three characters give us their perspectives. The youngest is seven year old Clara, whose teenage sister left home to spite her parents and now everyone is worried for her safety. Liam, a man in his thirties, recently divorced, takes residence in the house across from Clara's, the house Mrs Orchard lives in. Clara has been feeding her cat while Mrs Orchard was in the hospital. The third perspective is that of Mrs Orchard and it's about her connection with Liam and her life in Solace with her husband.
This is a novel about simple people living their lives in a small town. Everyone knows everyone's business, but most people are kind.
It was a nice enough story, albeit not that exciting or affecting. Something was missing....more
This is only the second Kristin Hannah novel that I read. My enthusiasm and enjoyment of it were up and down, although never dipping belo3.5 rounded up
This is only the second Kristin Hannah novel that I read. My enthusiasm and enjoyment of it were up and down, although never dipping below 3 stars.
Things that I appreciated about Four Winds: - our main heroine, Elsa Wolcott, is an ordinary-looking woman who just wants to be loved and love someone and generally does her best as a wife, mother and daughter-in-law. She's hard-working and caring. - I was aware of the Dust Bowl, but there were many gaps in my knowledge. Of course, Dorothea Lange's incredible photographs pop up in my mind instantly. () - my enthusiasm for the novel rose sharply once the communists came along, fighting for fairer wages for the farm labourers who were exploited. I thought that was very gutsy of Hannah to bring that into the novel. Environmental degradation and climate change, immigration issues, the labour relations are still such current issues. As they say, history repeats. Unfortunately, humans don't seem to learn much from history. I love that Hannah is focusing on resurrecting women and their untold stories and role in history.
If it hadn't been for the aspects mentioned above, I would have found this novel too melodramatic to the point of finding it unbearable. There is also some clunkiness to the writing, the pace is very slow for half of the novel, we move quickly through some life stages, then plod along with others. There's a whole lot of telling, not that much showing. I generally find this irksome. I found some of the characters either sketchy and/or unbelievable. I had a hard time believing that Elsa's parents would be so incredibly horrible just because she wasn't a great beauty. Also, she had sisters but they never seem to matter or get a mention. Elsa's teenage daughter seemed a bit too modern and too grown-up at times.
This is another historical novel where I appreciate a lot more the issues that are brought to light but not the writing style and execution....more
My first encounter with Francine Prose's writing hasn't left a good impression on me. Apologies to my GR friends who loved this novel, The Vixen di2.5
My first encounter with Francine Prose's writing hasn't left a good impression on me. Apologies to my GR friends who loved this novel, The Vixen did absolutely nothing for me. It was an accessible novel, easy to read. It begins with the Rosenbergs' execution in the 1950s, but it's also about Simon Putman, a recent Harvard graduate, who's a bit of a wet blanket, truth be told. Now, don't get me wrong, I like good guys, who are sensitive, introspective etc, but I never bought Simon as a real person. Usually, first-person narrated novels get me on the side of the narrator no matter their flaws. Still, this perfectly nice young man got on my nerves. The Vixen is a body ripper novel whose main character is supposed to be Esther Rosenberg. Simon, the newly hired assistant editor, is given the task of editing it. The author is this sexy, mysterious young woman, who's inhabiting Simon's fantasies, even before he meets her. When they meet she looks just like in the photo he was given. There are some incongruences and question marks, but Simon is too busy drooling over her and having sex in public places, pretty much on each date. Simon is used like a human dildo. I never found those behaviours believable, even knowing that many men would not say no to free sex with a gorgeous woman, I just didn't buy the premise, the justifications, few as they were. There are spies, CIA agents, pretenders, everyone has secrets - it's one tangled mess. Also, Simon seems to fall for every half-decent looking woman who says hi to him, I found that somewhat perplexing.
I thought the storyline was incomprehensible, convoluted, I didn't get what Prose was trying to say/accomplish. It was as if I was trying to put together a puzzle by using the pieces belonging to other puzzles....more
Bianca (Away)
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