I love Melina Marchetta's writing, Marchetta is has the ability to draw any reader into her world and make them want to travel with her characters and feel every emotion they are experiencing. Saving Francesca is a touching, story filled with humour and honest moments that kept me turning the pages that made me read faster and faster as the plot climaxed. This is a novel that is extremely hard to forget, their are some heartfelt and humorous quotes that I will never forget.
"It's a weird smile, but it reaches his eyes and I bottle it. And I put it in my ammo pack that's kept right next to my soul and Justine's spirit and Siobham's hope and Tara's passions. Because if I'm going to wake up one morning and not be able to get out of bed, I'm going to need everything I've got to fight this disease that could be sleeping inside of me."
This a deep story that deals with many issues such as a depression, family issues, social pressures and a girl’s attempt to find the strength to keep her family together and her life in tact. It’s about love, friendship and finding the will to continue when everything around you makes you just want to curl up under your doona and hide from the world. This book had the ability to make you cry and snort with laughter in a 5 minute radius.
Melina Marchetta is an excellent author that deals with many teen issues in her novels, I would definitely recommend this book and other books by her!
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Review: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
This book is tells events that took place in England in 1666 , the bubonic plague that killed 100,000 people followed by "The Great Fire of London" which destroyed 80% of London. I thought the book had a great pace, since the title is "Year of Wonders," it set up a timeframe right away.
Year of Wonders is set in a small English town 100 miles outside of London. It's the year 1666, and the town has been struck by plague, brought to them by a London tailor boarding with the narrator, Anna. The village is so remote that when the plague first appears the villagers don't recognize it for what it is. Once they learn the horrors of the disease, the villagers are asked to make a decision whether to flee in order to save themselves, or to stay put in order to keep the disease from spreading any further.
In the end, everyone in the village agrees to stay, aside from the only rich family in town - the only family with the means to run far from the reaches of the disease. As the year goes on Anna transforms a strong woman who the town begins to depend on for herbal remedies.
I was quite shocked how much I loved this book, it was well written and extremly hard to put down, I was able to read it in only a few hours! I loved how much information Brooks packed into the book. I learnt quite a bit about the bubonic plague and how easy it was to take in all the information. Brooks is an amazing writer since she uses terms that we can understand, [no need to google while reading this book!]
I was also shocked Brooks made women so independent in a novel about the 17th century, but in the interviews with her in the back of the book Brooks explained the necessity of women taking a leading role during that time and the fact that women were starting to gain more freedom during that century in England.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it, especially to people who enjoy historical novels. People who enjoyed this would also enjoy The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory.
Year of Wonders is set in a small English town 100 miles outside of London. It's the year 1666, and the town has been struck by plague, brought to them by a London tailor boarding with the narrator, Anna. The village is so remote that when the plague first appears the villagers don't recognize it for what it is. Once they learn the horrors of the disease, the villagers are asked to make a decision whether to flee in order to save themselves, or to stay put in order to keep the disease from spreading any further.
In the end, everyone in the village agrees to stay, aside from the only rich family in town - the only family with the means to run far from the reaches of the disease. As the year goes on Anna transforms a strong woman who the town begins to depend on for herbal remedies.
I was quite shocked how much I loved this book, it was well written and extremly hard to put down, I was able to read it in only a few hours! I loved how much information Brooks packed into the book. I learnt quite a bit about the bubonic plague and how easy it was to take in all the information. Brooks is an amazing writer since she uses terms that we can understand, [no need to google while reading this book!]
I was also shocked Brooks made women so independent in a novel about the 17th century, but in the interviews with her in the back of the book Brooks explained the necessity of women taking a leading role during that time and the fact that women were starting to gain more freedom during that century in England.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it, especially to people who enjoy historical novels. People who enjoyed this would also enjoy The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory.
Monday, 21 May 2012
The other hand by Chris Cleave
This is a profoundly moving and memorable asylum seeker story. It offers the reader an understanding of the real pain and trauma that some refugees undergo in their quest for survival. The main character is a Nigerian known as Little Bee. She leaves a detention centre in London and seeks help from a family, who 2 years earlier were holidaying in Nigeria. The mother is also facing her own problems with the recent suicide of her husband. The young child's obsession with Batman provides light relief and a touch of humour to a rather serious situation.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital
Belonging to the genre of family and relationships, the main character Leela, a maths genius, meets an Australian musician Mishka, while he is busking in the subway. They soon become lovers. There is an explosion in the underground and terrorists are suspected. An investigator, Cobb who is a childhood friend of Leela's, suggests Mishka may not be all he seems. He appears to have spent quite a bit of time a a cafe known to be a terrorist meeting place and contact point. His kidnapping brings all suspicions to a head with an unexpected outcome.
The Memory Room by Christopher Koch
An espionage story that traces the process of the making of a spy! Two friends from Uni, Vincent and Derek, having graduated, aim to join Foreign Affairs. But Vincent is recruited by the secret intelligence service. Meanwhile, a childhood friend and journalist, Erika Lange enters the scene. She has varied involvement with the 2 men and is a most captivating and ensnaring character who uses her power seemingly for her own gain. Flashback is used to unfold the plot, when Derek inherits Vincent's diaries and returns to where he once lived in Australia.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Set in the 1960s in Mississippi, this novel explores the relationship between white middle class women and their black domestic help. The 3 narrators are Abileen and Minny (black maids) and Skeeter, a white journalist who initiates the process of revealing just what an underclass the blacks are. This is the era of racial discrimination in the US where negroes could not even drink from the same water fountain as whites. This novel is a terrific read for those studying the civil rights movement in the current history course
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A young woman finds an ancient book and some old letters belonging to her father, while rummaging through his library. This arouses her curiosity and she embarks on a path of research in an attempt to unravel secrets of the past. This is a modern day Dracula tale that blends history and folklore. It culminates in a search for Dracula's tomb in Bulgaria. It is based on the premise that Dracula still lives. A grepping read!!!
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