Tag: book review

Book Review: Not That Kind of Girl – Lena Dunham

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“I would be a horrible girlfriend at this point in my life, because I’m both needy and unavailable.”

Lena Dunham has become a phenomenon, as a successful young woman who has created a hit show whilst also starring in it. I didn’t really know of her before reading but I had heard good things about the book and decided to pick it up while it was on offer. I’m all for giving something a go.

Not That Kind of Girl promises to tell you what a young girl has “learned”, but I really didn’t get that. I’ve watched Lena in interviews and she seems funny and sweet but it just doesn’t come across in her book. If anything, when reading, I just felt like it was a load of first world problems. I was told it would be a great feminist book and I’d feel as empowered as I did when I read Caitlin Moran’s How to be a Woman. 

That said, it wasn’t all bad. There were some parts of the book that were really funny, especially when she’s talking about sex and her college years. The chapter titled Girls and Jerks was quite funny because Dunham injects humor into situations where most of us would facepalm.

Dunham is only eight years older than me but I just felt that I couldn’t connect with her. I couldn’t see myself in her situations, her New York life and just generally her life experience. It’s not that I think she’s spoilt but there are a lot of tedious and self absorbed passages that I just didn’t find interesting.

I wish that I had fallen in love with this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. I ended up giving this only 2 stars **, it’s clear that Lena has a writing talent  (her show is huge after all) but as a person she didn’t come across well through the book. If you are a fan of Girls then this might be the for you but I think I’ll just stick to watching her interviews.

Book Review: STAR WARS SPECIAL

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Tomorrow I will finally be able to see Star Wars after picking up these amazing books and devouring them in the last month they were a great build up. Each novel follows one of the trio on a different adventure set between movies. Smuggler’s Run follow’s Han on a rescue mission across the galaxy, The Weapons of a Jedi shows Luke on his training to become a Jedi and in Moving Target, Leia continues to try and thwart the Empire.

As much as I’m excited to see the new movies and get to know Rey, Fin and Poe the original heroes will always have a place in my heart and so following them on these new adventures (which apparently also have hints in about the new movies) was brilliant. It also takes you right back into the world and the ways of the characters. I will say that each of the characters has been incredibly well written to match the movies.

While the books are marketed at children and young adults there is absolutely no reason that an adult wouldn’t enjoy these. They’re fast paced, exciting and can also leave you guessing while enjoying some of the traits of your favourite characters. That said, I felt like the Leia book especially showed a side to her which didn’t come across in the movies.

All of these got 4-5* reviews on my Goodreads account they’ve been very well written and more than anything got me so excited for the new movies. If you like these there are also more tie-ins being released over the next year, including one that will be released tomorrow about Rey, Finn and Poe (find it here).

Remember to check back in tomorrow to see what I thought of The Force Awakens!!!

Book Review:My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

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“Depression is like a heaviness that you can’t ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a part of you; it’s in your bones and your blood.”

Because it’s Mental Health Awareness week I wanted to carry on the theme on my blog by writing a review of a book about what it’s like to live with depression. I’ve read a lot of these but there was something about Warga’s novel that really got to me, so much so I’ve recommended it to a lot of friends of mine.

Aysel isn’t a typical teenage girl, nor does she have a normal past. After her father committed a truly violent act that send shockwaves through her town she pulled away, her mother can barely look at her without being reminded of her father, the town stares and so Aysel finds comfort in the only thing can can, physics, but soon even that isn’t enough. She soon decides that this is where it all ends but she can’t do it alone. After searching for someone who won’t flake on a suicide pact she finds Roman, whose perfect life isn’t all it seems.

What I liked about this book is that suicide is not romanticised at all. Both characters really are at a point where they can’t see a way out of the misery of their situations and they don’t instantly like each other either. The thing with depression is when you meet someone else who is living through it there is a sense of understanding and that really comes through between the characters. They have nothing in common apart from their depression and that they want to die. It sounds incredibly sad, and it is, but there is also something incredible in the way they progress as friends.

I also found the situations that Warga put the characters in really interesting. Aysel’s father has committed a terrible crime and when we hear about such events in real life we instantly think of the victim and their family (and rightly so), but this made me wonder about the children of criminals. How the actions of their parents influences their lives. It’s not something I’ve encountered in YA literature before and I’d definitely love to read more on it.

This would be perfect for fans of John Green, those who liked All the Bright Places (I liked this more) and It’s Kind of a Funny Story it is a sad book but I think it’s a really important one in understanding why people want to commit suicide as I mentioned yesterday.

I gave this book four stars ****. This is an incredibly well written YA novel and deals with some incredibly tough issues in an amazing way. Warga has a true talent for YA literature and I can’t wait to read and review her next novel which according to Goodreads will be released next year!

Review by Chloe Metzger

Book Review: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

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In the horror of war, it’s the innocence of children that breaks your heart.

I honestly felt the horror of what it is for a child to suffer through every single page of the book, I already knew the ending so I didn’t cry but oh my, this book is a beauty. The novel centres around nine year old Bruno, a normal young boy from Berlin with big dreams of becoming an explorer. All is going well for Bruno apart from his ‘Hopeless Case’ of a sister irritating him until one day he is told he will be moving away from his beloved Berlin. After moving to ‘Out-With’ Bruno is beside himself with no exploring to do, no friend to play with and the only mystery being the odd fence beyond the garden…who are the people beyond the fence. As time goes on there is a lot Bruno does not understand, even more so when he meets Shmuel, the boy on the other side of the fence. Why can’t they play together?

The magic of this novel is that we truly see the Holocaust through a German child’s eyes. Bruno does not understand the things that are going on around him. He does not understand what The Fury is or who the rude man who came to tea was that made them move to Out-With (you guessed it, Hitler himself) . Although at time as an adult reader I could pick out little holes in the plot such as wouldn’t Bruno be enrolled in Hitler youth seeing as his father is a high ranking officer? Wouldn’t he have been brainwasher to some extent into having a hatred for Jews? It is possible that he is simply too young to understand or even that his parents have tried in some ways to keep him out of political matters. On the other hand however we do see Bruno’s sister Gretel who is a few years older getting more and more interested in the war as she gets older, so I cannot hold it against Boyne at all.  Despite any flaws I have to admit that the friendship between the boys is rather remarkable and do hold that brutal childhood excitement and honesty. It is obvious that Shmuel is rather anxious and less likely to speak his mind than Bruno, however, there is still the energy of having a childhood friendship between them despite the terrible circumstances they face.

As a novel about the Holocaust I do feel that this is a great novel for children more than for adults. In the novel you do see the effects of war, the treatment of all those who suffered but in a way that doesn’t give children nightmares. I believe that this is the type of novel that should be introduced in schools and then read again in later life, as the novel will go on to touch the hearts of both adults and children alike.  I have read novels like this before and although this is fictional it is remarkable just how well Boyne has created this horrific world through the eyes of an innocent boy. What I also found within the novel was realism based on human relationships, there were political disagreements that caused the break-down of a family, lying and cruelty but amongst all this there was the relationship between Bruno and Shmuel. It was interesting that despite their circumstances they could still have a quite normal friendship, they dream together, makes plans and talk about the homes they miss so much. It is the friendship and bond that reinforces the message throughout the book that people are all the same. In the same way other modern classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Boyne has magnified the flaws of a specific time period and it’s ideals through the simplicity of a child’s point of view and it works remarkably well. Once you reach the ending (if you don’t know it already) you will understand the bittersweet heartbreak that this novel causes to all who read it.

Overall I give this novel 4 stars ****. I think that it was incredibly well written and gets into the mind-set of a child perfectly making you truly realise the horrors of war. I am only not giving this 5 stars as I felt that the introduction of Shmuel took a little too long in my opinion, that said however I do understand that the novel is for children and gives them the background needed. I would recommend this book to you all. Truly heart-breaking and beautiful.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne

Review by Chloe Metzger

Book Review: Travelling to Infinity – Jane Hawking

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“I say to you what I always say when things cannot be altered: count your blessings.”

While many have often worshiped and stared in awe of Stephen Hawking, there is one person who many do not even consider. For Stephen to overcome his disability and become the man he is today he needed love and support that wasn’t freely available when he was diagnosed. Let me introduce you to Jane Hawking, who fell in love with Stephen as a young girl at university and grew into a woman with an incredible sense of determination.

Through Jane Hawkings eyes we are shown her life with Stephen, from the beginning when she met him at a party, through his diagnoses, the fights with the university in the face of eviction, raising children and putting her own dreams aside. Jane Hawking has an incredible sense of resilience through everything. What many don’t know is that Jane is also a professor and incredible academic, although at a time she was surrounded by men and having to fully support Stephen, she thought that it would never happen.

“That single afternoon completely destroyed whatever illusions I might have held about combining motherhood with some sort of intellectual occupation.”

It would be wrong not to mention the Oscar winning movie, The Theory of Everything, which I didn’t know when watching had come from this book. It is one of my all time favourite movies and so of course I had to read the book. I was pleasantly surprised but at the same time my eyes were opened, obviously a lot was missed out. The focus has always been on Stephen and he’s incredible and deserves his credit, but after reading this I’m pleased that Jane also got her own moment.

I will say that this is a memoir that you have to stick with, but won’t regret. By the end I was emotionally connected to it and had a new hero in not Stephen, but Jane. She was everything that I aspired to be a wife, a mother and in the end an Academic. I also felt angry for her, upset for her at the end when Stephen left her for another woman, causing their divorce. I couldn’t comprehend it after all she had done, but again it didn’t stop her, she still achieved her dreams.

I’m going to give this four stars ****. It is a brilliant book, strong and interesting. We get an insight into the life of Stephen Hawking that we’ve never had before and we get a new hero too. If I can grow to be anything like Jane Hawking I’ve done something great. The reason I didn’t give it five stars is because there is some challenging language in the book as well as it being rather long. For the first time I feel like if I hadn’t seen the film I might not have finished the book because it does take some time to get through. That doesn’t mean that it’s not addictive, Jane’s way of telling her story is incredible and if you’re up to the challenge put it on your to read list.

The Skeleton Cupboard – Tanya Byron

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‘I first became fascinated by the frontal lobes of the human brain when I saw my grandmother’s sprayed across the skirting board of her dark and cluttered house. I was fifteen’ 

Professor Tanya Byron is a well known clinical psychologist, but before she made her name she started just like anyone else new to the job and trying to learn the ropes. The book follows the twists and turns that Tanya faces as she tries to navigate not only her professional life but also her personal reactions.

The best part about this book, for me, is the fact that Byron shows herself as human here. She’s young and trying to muddle her way through and break into a career, becoming a clinical psychologist is not an easy thing to do especially as you need to partition your emotions and focus on the person you are helping without getting too tied up emotionally and being able to switch off at night, while still showing that you care in appointments. There is no coldness in this book.

I’m always slightly hesitant to read books from mental health professionals, because some are totally unsympathetic to what it feels to be on the other side of the chair. I can confirm that Byron is incredibly thoughtful, sympathetic and caring towards not only her patients but also to people with mental health conditions in general. There are far too many professionals who write books and treat people with merely clinical association.

I will warn you that this is not an easy book to read. I was scared, I laughed and I cried throughout because the people that Byron meets become incredibly real to you. There are topics that aren’t easy to read about, eating disorders, abuse victims, drug addiction, violence, self harm, dementia just to name a few but in these you really get a grasp of how vital psychologists are as well as the work they do.

I give this 5 stars *****. This is a well written, thought provoking and educational piece of literature that I feel almost anyone would connect with. Byron is unflinchingly honest about what it is like to train in this field making her thoughts, feelings, mistakes and successes known. I feel like anyone who has an interest in psychology, social work or merely people could learn a lot from this book, especially as it doesn’t throw in jargon that only academics will understand, Byron has truly made this available for all. I highly recommend this book.

As always I’d love to hear your thoughts, have you read it or do you want to? Do you have any ideas for me? Let me know!

Review by Chloe Metzger

Book Review: Only Ever Yours – Louise O’Neill

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‘I’m a good girl. I am pretty. I am always happy-go-lucky.’

freida and isabel (intentionally lowercase)are finally in their final year at the school, all of their training will finally come in use as they fight to become companions for the wealthy young men who will come to choose them. The girls are high in ranking and expected to breeze into their lives as companions, that is until isabel does the unthinkable, she starts to gain weight. Can freida save them both in time?

I want to start this review by saying that I was surprised by this novel, it’s not something that I would usually pick up but the blurb was intriguing and the cover was more than a little creepy. I don’t think I was fully prepared for the novel and the social implications that it covers, because they’re not explicitly advertised. I’d have to say that there are some strong crossovers with that I know about The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s definitely different to novels that I normally read and it’s made me a lot more interested in dystopian fiction, so we’re on a good start!

So, a little background information, the novel is set in a world far into the future. Children are now created and only boys are brought up and given opportunities, girls are sent to the school to learn the ways of a perfect woman, be judged, ranked and immaculately dressed. They are told the importance of breeding healthy sons until they are deemed no longer useful. For those who are not chosen to live as Companions, live the lives of the Courtesans whose ambition is to sexually please the men of the world.

As I previously mentioned, the eves as they are named, all have lower case letters, they are not deemed important enough for a capital letter in their name. O’Neill makes a strong case for examining how we look at beauty and how we judge young women, yes we are not in the state that plays out in the book but how do we look at beauty and young women? There is an incredibly strong and well thought out message of feminism and the whole modern concept of a woman, we focus so much on our looks and being ‘ranked’ by other people on social media, it’s a scary glimpse into a terrifying world.

This is generally a fast paced and eerie novel, I loved the ideas and especially the relationship between freida and isabel. The girls aren’t given love or anything in terms of a motherly relationship so the relationship they share is even more incredible. Some people have argued that parts have a mean girls type feel and I can see where their coming from but I feel like it’s a lot deeper.

I’m giving this novel four stars ****! While I think it was very well done, cleverly put together and seeing as this is a debut novel (!!) we can expect great things from Louise O’Neill, she’s not afraid to tackle unpleasantness and things that we would rather not think about. The only thing I wasn’t that keen on was the ending of the novel, it wasn’t that it was bad, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I’d love to hear what all of you think of the ending, so give me a comment below! Now, excuse me while I try and find a copy of O’Neill’s latest novel ‘Asking For It’, what seems like it’s going to be another unflinching novel.

Next Week’s Review: The Skeleton Cupboard

All reviews by Chloe Metzger and are not sponsored.

Book Review: All My Secrets- Sophie McKenzie

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‘There’s a terrible secret. Mr Treeves shuffles from side to side, but I’m frozen to the spot.’ 

Let’s start by saying I read this in four hours. I hope this gives a good indication of how this review is going to go. Evie Brown is a normal teenager at the start of a long and boring summer waiting for her birthday. She doesn’t know that the next knock on the door is going to change her life. She is told that she has inherited £10 million, but at what cost? Soon Evie finds herself shipped off to Lightsea, an institute for troubled teens by those who love her most. Who can Evie turn to now?

I’m a big fan of Sophie McKenzie, after reading her adult thriller Close My Eyes last year, it was one of the best twists I’d read in a while and so when I heard that All My Secrets was for YA I was instantly drawn to it. As I said earlier I read this in a matter of hours  and as with her earlier novel McKenzie allows you to think you have it all worked out before throwing a spanner into the works. The novel really waves in and out giving the reader clues throughout making you question yourself at the end as to why you didn’t figure it out.

I really liked the character of Evie and the journey she goes on through the novel, I didn’t see the first twist and now I find it brilliant. It is something that completely changes her world and how she see’s the people in it. While many would think, I’d take £10 million no matter what, I can assure you that this would make you think twice about it. As Evie delves more and more into the mysteries of Lightsea she has to consider who to trust or risk losing her life. I feel like Evie is very realistic in the way she handles the situation she is left in, she has her flaws and is not a seemingly perfect character.

One of the few things that I got bored of quickly in the novel is the love interest that Evie has during her time at Lightsea, I understand teenagers will be teenagers but I really wanted to know more about the other young people. There are such interesting and vibrant characters created by McKenzie and I really wanted to know more about them as well as the island itself, which has been well described throughout.

I’m going to give this 4 stars ****. This is the first of McKenzie’s YA novels that I’ve read and it was a great start. I love the fact that she has been able to seamlessly branch across genres. The reason I didn’t give this novel 5 stars is simply because I wanted to get to know the other characters better and see more of who they are and why they are also at Lightsea, their reasons are mentioned but quite quickly but not in detail.

Book Review: The Manifesto on How to be Interesting – Holly bourne

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‘Apparently I’m boring. A nobody. But that’s all about to change.’ 

Meet Bree, she’s not popular, she’s not pretty and by the age of seventeen she’s already a failed novelist. Her school life bores her and it’s not like she has a great relationship with her parents either, she’s just too different. After being given some advice to be more open Bree has an idea, she’s going to conduct an experiment and find out how to be interesting and she’ll risk anything to find out.

How do I even begin to describe Holly Bourne’s incredible novel. I picked this up a few years ago, I’d never heard of Holly but saw her speaking at a Young Adult book fair. To say that I’m glad I picked this novel up would be an understatement, it’s a serious contender for one of my favourite YA novels ever. I mean ever. With it’s bright pink and black cover it screams out from the shelf but the idea of the novel jumped out at me to. I mean who hasn’t wanted to feel more interesting growing up?

The character of Bree felt intensely real to me, I understood her and I think that there are so many teenagers who will. It’s that feeling of not quite being comfortable with who you are and mocking things around you because you’re not quite there yet. I used to do this a lot when I was younger purely because I was so anxious all the time and it was a great way to cover it up. In that respect I think Holly hits the nail on the head with her relevant depictions of what teenagers are really like today.

I loved the relationship between Bree and Holdo, because it reminded me of a personal relationship I have. My oldest friend at university is a guy called Joe and through my first year we were so much like Bree and Holdo and I didn’t really ‘get’ the girl thing. I could really understand both characters and their feelings throughout the novel. I think this novel also looks at how relationships have to adapt as you get older and the kind of differences a male and female friendship have. I adored Holdo as a character and just wanted to hug him throughout.

If I had to try and explain the novel without spoiling it I’d say it’s kind of like a Cady Heron Mean Girls esque vibe meets the online world. It’s been very cleverly done and also has a way of reminding you what is important in life and just how damn hard it is to be a teenager sometimes. Holly’s books have this impossibly positive vibe to them and I absolutely love it. I wish her novels had been around when I was a teenager because they could have certainly taught me something.

Of course I am going to give this novel five stars *****! It’s an absolutely incredible piece of writing and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve personally met Holly and she is one of the nicest authors I’ve ever met as well as being insanely talented. The novel is refreshing because it’s one of the very few characters I felt like could have easily been me at points in my life. I’d definitely recommend picking this up the next time you’re in a book shop, I can guarantee it will not disappoint.

Review by Chloe Metzger

Book Review: Paper Weight – Meg Haston

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Twenty-seven days to freedom… I am caged 

Stevie wants to disappear and in twenty-seven days that’s exactly what she’s going to do, whether they like it or not. Sent to a treatment centre for eating disorders Stevie knows they’ve got it all wrong, she doesn’t need to be here, she doesn’t want to he and she’s going to get out of here one way or another. Abandoned by her best friend, her mother and not coping with the death of her brother, Stevie has no alternatives she’s going to get back to her brother.

Haston’s novel is quite simply, brilliant. Seeing the world through the eyes of seventeen year old Stevie is heart breaking. I’m going to be honest and say that the novel is challenging to read, it deals with a lot of issues, grief, anger and living with an eating disorder. The anger that Stevie radiates is made easy to understand under the circumstances but all I wanted through the whole novel was to reach through the pages and comfort her. There are important lessons to be learnt while reading Paperweight. 

The story in no way glamourises eating disorders, it shows the reasons and the misery that they can bring and celebrates the girls around Stevie who are moving forward, even though she resents them. Haston has also made the girls normal and explores the different reasons why eating disorders develop, it has obviously been well researched. Like any novel of this nature it can be hard for people to read who have gone through eating disorders or problems with food.

One of my favourite parts of the novel is the relationship between Stevie and her therapist, whom she calls Shrink. The therapist felt like a real person and I felt she was an honest character and represented what a good therapist should be, even if Stevie isn’t keen on opening up. Stevie’s relationships with others throughout the novel are also a real eye opener and although I’ve not had an eating disorder, as someone who has had depression I found her reactions to be realistic.

The only negative that I have to say about the novel is that in the beginning I found it hard to keep track of who’s who as a lot of characters are introduced quite quickly. That said I think the novel is a good length and doesn’t dwell too much, it moves at a good pace but allows enough time for the reader to appreciate Stevie’s thoughts and feelings.

I’m giving this novel 4 stars ****, a great new YA read. The character of Stevie is a little unapproachable at first but this story really picks up and teaches you about the range of people and emotions that are related to eating disorders.

Review by Chloe Metzger