Book Blog #153: Hiroshima by John Hersey

Title: Hiroshima
Author: John Hersey
# of Pages: 152 (hardback)
Genre: Non-fiction, War, History
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John Hersey's journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic "that stirs the conscience of humanity" (The New York Times).

Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.
Review: After reading - and enjoying - BOMB by Steve Sheinkin and Night by Elie Wiesel, I wasn't surprised that I gravitated towards Hiroshima.

It wasn't as insightful as I was hoping for. I wanted to learn more about the bombing of Hiroshima that I already didn't know, and I didn't learn as much as I wanted. The writing style left a lot to be desired; it didn't explore as much of the emotional side as I wanted it to. It wasn't until the fifth section, the Aftermath, when I really started to enjoy the book.

One major aspect of this book that I disliked was the fact that it was about six different people. Even though it is written in third-person, the constant back-and forth is as degrading and confusing as first person. This may be the reason why I liked then ending the best; it went through each person without the switching.

IF you are interested in learning more about the bombing of Hiroshima, then, yes, read this book. If you are looking for recreational reading, this may not be the book for you.

Book Blog #152: Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave Shyima Hall

Title: Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave
Author: Shyima Hall
# of Pages: 232 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Memoir, Non-fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Shyima Hall was born in Egypt on September 29, 1989, the seventh child of desperately poor parents. When she was eight, her parents sold her into slavery. Shyima then moved two hours away to Egypt’s capitol city of Cairo to live with a wealthy family and serve them eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. When she was ten, her captors moved to Orange County, California, and smuggled Shyima with them. Two years later, an anonymous call from a neighbor brought about the end of Shyima’s servitude—but her journey to true freedom was far from over.
Review: While Shyima's story is a great one to learn of, it's presentation through this book degrades its quality.

I was hoping the writing wouldn't be as simplistic as it was....something that may have been fixed with better editing and writing help. She would also tend to repeat herself excessively. Due to the writing style, I couldn't sympathize with Shyima as much as I might have been able to.

In addition, most of the story was about her life AFTER slavery. It was very inspirational to read about how accomplished she became after escaping bondage, but I didn't think it was going to be a memoir of her whole life.

There was a lot left to desired. If you want to learn of Shyima, it would be much faster if you Googled her.

Book Blog #151: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Title: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Author: Matthew Quick
# of Pages: 273 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them and I'm sorry I couldn't be more than I was--that I couldn't stick around--and that what's going to happen today isn't their fault.

Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather's P-38 pistol. Maybe one day he'll believe that being different is okay, important even. But not today.
Review: I can't say if my expectations for this book were met because I don't know what I was expecting.

If you couldn't tell by the synopsis, this is not a light-hearted book with a happy-ever-after ending. While this book is powerful emotionally, everything seems so over exaggerated for me. The futuristic chapters are out of place, although they may have flowed better with the rest of the books if they weren't so...dystopian.

Sometimes, this book reminded me of John Green's writing style; there'll be something so profound...that aspect of the book I love.

I don't think I'd ever read this book again. If you are interested in reading it, they do. But otherwise, it's no rush...

Book Blog #150: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
# of Pages: 240 (hardcover)
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Mystery
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
Review: If you haven't read We Are Liars,  stop reading the reviews for this book all together. Don't even read the synopsis (even though it doesn't make a lot of sense anyway).

Since this book is so popular, you have to go into reading it with an unbiased opinion. It's a bit like The Fault in Our Stars when it went mainstream; if you go in with high expectations, you won't enjoy it as much as you could (because, believe it or not, even that book has its imperfections).

When I started reading this book, all I knew was its Goodreads genres and that it was a 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards winner. I thought it was going to be some Twilight-esque romance novel...which just made this book even better.

The reason why I'm saying all of this is because this book is in no way close to perfect. The main character was annoying, and I had a hard time relating with her. I don't really enjoy reading about this "perfect family" (with high expectations of their image) on a "private island" (which is yet another difference from my family). It was very hard to keep tract of whether the chapter was describing the present (summer 17?) or the past (summer 15-ish), especially since I tend to stop reading in random places.

But there was also so much to love. The story didn't drag-on; it's short and sweet(?). I loved the poetic nature of Lockhart's writing; it caught me completely off guard. For example:

“Then he pulled out a handgun and shot me in the chest. I was standing on the lawn and I fell. The bullet hole opened wide and my heart rolled out of my rib cage and down into a flower bed. Blood gushed rhythmically from my open wound, 

then from my eyes,

my ears,

my mouth.

It tasted like salt and failure. The bright red shame of being unloved soaked the grass in front of our house, the bricks of the path, the steps of the porch. My heart spasmed among the peonies like a trout.” 

I had taken it literally at first...but when I realized what the situation was actually representing...it was just that much more beautiful.

This book deserves a reread. Please pay attention to detail when reading! I highly recommend this book!!!