Friday, October 20, 2017

#Review: Turtles All the Way Down - John Green

Rating: 
5/5 Book Emojis!


 Format(s) Used-

-Hardcover

Publisher - Penguin Random House
Pages - 286

-Audiobook

Publisher - PRH Audio
Length - 7 hours 12 minutes

Review:

"One of the challenges with pain - physical or psychic- is that we can really only approach it through metaphor. It can't be represented the way a table or a body can. In some ways, pain is the opposite of language."


Turtles All the Way Down is an exceptional book narrated by Aza Holmes, a teen girl who struggles with OCD while finding the whereabouts of the missing billionaire Russel Pickett in return for a cash reward of $100,000. It revolves around the important issue of mental-illness that is not talked about, enough, due to the stigma. 

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I can't stress enough on how much I loved this book. This is definitely one of my most favorite books of all time without a doubt. The writing style is absolutely perfect and really different. Surely, John has written this better than all of his other books. Turtles... is the best book I've read in years and I am so very grateful to the author for writing this brilliant story. I laughed, cried and felt emotions that I didn't even know I existed!

As a reader, I could absolutely feel the kind of pain and agony Aza was in, thanks to the talent that John Green holds. Every sentence in this story is so quotable and immensely poetic that I am still in awe to realize that this is written in the very same century as me. Characters like Aza's best friend Aza, the billionaire's son Davis etc are really well-written. More than just a book, this felt like a classic theatrical performance. Not once in the story did I feel like I was even slightly bored. Instead, with every chapter, I just praised the flow of language.
 
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]Sentences like "And as I sat beneath fluorescent cylinders spewing aggressively artificial light, I thought about how we all believed to be the hero of some personal epic. when in fact we were basically identical organisms colonizing a vast and windowless room that smelled of Lysol and lard" made me sigh with affection and amazement. 

There's nothing that could've been better in this masterpiece. I just hope that I come across more books written at least a fraction like this.

CONCLUSION: I want this book to get so much recognition and awards that it truly deserves. The six years spent in writing this were worth every second. I definitely recommend this to any person who can read and can appreciate quality literature. 

Sunday, October 15, 2017

#Review: The Secret History of Us - Jessi Kirby

Rating:          

                                  3/5 Book Emojis



Format Used:

- Paperback


Publisher- HarperCollins India
Imprint - HarperTeen
Pages- 288

Review:


*Note: A physical copy of this book was sent to me by HarperCollins India  for an unbiased review. The views expressed below are solely my own. Thanks to the publisher for the copy!


"I died for a few moments and came back missing years of my life. That there are years of my life I've lived that I do not remember. Years that still feel like they're ahead of me. Days I was looking forward to. Big moments I've already had. They're gone. Like they were never mine."

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The Secret History of Us is a book about a teen girl named Olivia who wakes up in a hospital after a near-fatal drowning accident with absolutely no memory of the past four years. The most important high school years. 

Liv has to piece whatever information she gets about her past self that has shaped her into the person she sees in the mirror, while understanding that there's nothing she can do to change it. Then, there is Walker. The guy who saved her but now has suspiciously distanced himself from her. The more she tries to investigate, more the image gets blurry. 

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The book is a quick read with no significant quotable lines which is a major drawback. However, not once during the course of my reading did I feel the need to give up. That's only because the reader has that undying thirst to find out why things are they way they are. The characters are good and strong in their importance in the story. But, they're unfortunately not that greatly written. From the blurb, anyone would've bet that this story would be phenomenal but is let down by the time they reach the back cover.

 disappointment GIFThe ending is also not that amazing, per se, but provides enough closure to the reader. Writing style is a major aspect of a good story which lacks behind with great margins in this case. 

CONCLUSION: Being a short read, this qualifies as an ideal book for someone looking for a contemporary Young-Adult for some lite-reading... But, I suggest you to not have great expectations from the blurb.