I need to just accept that I don't like "My Brilliant Friend" despite the heaps of praise it receives. I found the book boring, the TV series even morI need to just accept that I don't like "My Brilliant Friend" despite the heaps of praise it receives. I found the book boring, the TV series even more boring, and this...maybe not quite as boring BUT missing much of the plot. It is very difficult to keep the characters straight. The illustrations aren't bad but colors are muted and the drawings are not very detailed. There seems to be a lot of wasted space on each page. It's an OK attempt but given the source material, I am just not surprised that it's lackluster....more
What the fudge? This is a really compelling story that just ends abruptly without any resolution. Like A Series of Unfortunate Events (13 volumes thatWhat the fudge? This is a really compelling story that just ends abruptly without any resolution. Like A Series of Unfortunate Events (13 volumes that lead to...nothing) or that stupid old elementary school joke about the boy who asked for 10,000 green ping pong balls for his birthday each year.
It's a shame because the tale is written in an engaging, easy-to-read style that is often missing from short stories. It was easy to like the main character, Charlotte Ashby, a newlywed who becomes increasingly worried about letters her husband starts receiving as soon as they return from their honeymoon. She loves him dearly and respects his privacy but longs to know what is distressing him so. Not sure what the story has to do with a pomegranate seed though, and yes, I'm familiar with this fruit in mythology but don't see a connection....more
Another dud from Ruth Ware. Did she have a contract to fulfill and her publisher just took whatever garbage she produced by the required deadline?
You'Another dud from Ruth Ware. Did she have a contract to fulfill and her publisher just took whatever garbage she produced by the required deadline?
You'd think a book titled "The Lying Game" would actually revolve around some sort of, hmmm let me think about it....oh yes, some sort of game involving lying. And it doesn't. The lying game has literally nothing to do with the plot.
So, there were four girls who became friends for a few months at a boarding school. They formed a clique and spent much of their time at the nearby home of one of the girls (Kate), a day student who lived in a ramshackle but charming old house on the marsh with her hippie, handsome teacher father and cute French stepbrother. Something Bad happened and their clique was broken up as they went their separate ways.
15 or so years later, Kate texts her three old friends "I need you" and they just stop what they are doing to meet up with her at the old house. Isa has a new baby with her boyfriend, Thea is off being wild and crazy, and Fatima is a married doctor with two children, but they just go off at the drop of a hat despite not having been in touch for years.
The backstory and big reveal are boring and ultimately extremely sad. All of the suffering was unnecessary and innocent people's lives and reputations were ruined for no reason at all except to create filler for the book.
The only part that was mildly interesting was the setting of a dying tourist town. ...more
This is kind of boring. Even if I'd read this as an ancient-Egypt obsessed 5th or 6th grader, I think I would have still found it boring. As an adult,This is kind of boring. Even if I'd read this as an ancient-Egypt obsessed 5th or 6th grader, I think I would have still found it boring. As an adult, it is difficult to read about slaves but the author handles it well in an age-appropriate way. Cleopatra flits around all day under the eye of her loyal guard, popping from palace to private island and sneaking off to the markets disguised as a commoner (I think every princess book from my childhood had a scene like that).
The book gets much better when she sneaks onto a boat with her father, the Pharoah, as he seeks refuge in Rome from his daughter, who has usurped the throne. Hence 3 stars instead of 2. Odd that a book about Egypt is mostly about Rome. Cleopatra's impressions of Rome and how they contrast with her life in Egypt is a convenient way to tell the reader about Egypt daily life without being too obvious. The book gets a little creepy with the way Marc Antony takes her under his wing in a romantic sense (she's 13 and he is 27), and is particularly vicious towards Pompey the Great....more
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