Book Blog #325: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

 

Title: When Breath Becomes Air

Author: Paul Kalanithi

# of Pages: 157 (ebook)

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all.

Review: To meet my 2023 reading goal before the rapidly approaching deadline, I picked a short (~200 pages or less) book so I could finish in time.

I didn't know it was short because Kalanithi died while writing this book. 

Shortly before starting this book, I read Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, a therapist's book with a significant portion dedicated to talking about a patient who battled cancer in early adulthood (sub-40s). The common message between these books is how facing death makes us live fuller lives, but we should real live the lives we want NOW because death is inevitable. 

"I would have to learn to live in a different way, seeing death as an imposing itinerant visitor but knowing that even if I'm dying, until I actually die, I am still living." 

I found myself reading Kalanithi's words from the perspective that he was wise and authoritative - after all, he was a very accomplished man and was even a resident as a neurosurgeon. What makes Kalanithi's story stand out amongst other doctors is how he went from being a literature major to becoming a doctor in pursuit of what makes life meaningful. Through his diverse experiences, there were a lot of notable insights for him to share, such as:

- "It's very easy to be number one: find the guy who is number one, and score one point higher than he does.": If you measure success via being better than everyone else, then your level of success is directly correlated with how good everyone around you is. If the bar for success is lower, you will also be achieving a lower level of excellence. 

- "Only later would I realize that our trip had added a new dimension to my understanding of the fact that brains give rise to our ability to form relationships and make life meaningful. Sometimes, they break.": Living isn't just a manner of "being a live" - we need our brain to be able to operate in the world in a meaningful way. 

- "Yet the best-informed people - doctors - almost never donated their bodies. How informed were the donors, then? As one anatomy professor put it to me, 'You wouldn't tell a patient the gory details of a surgery if that would make them not consent.": I'm not sure how I feel about donating my or loved ones' bodies to science. 

At least I felt this way until he started comparing himself with Freud, who was also a successful neuroscientist, claiming that similarly wanted to move away from science to explore greater understanding of life. After this point, I couldn't help but feel reading Kalanithi as a bit domineering. He even included an bad experience with a slacking resident, which didn't show anything expect that Kalanithi was right - just as the reader would already expect. 

What emotionally hit the hardest was the portion written after Kalanithi's death by his wife, Lucy. Hearing about Kalanithi's death through her was heartbreaking and really made the book end on a strong note. I would even dare say that I was more moved by her writing style and account of events than any portion earlier in the book written by Paul. 

It's a short read, so I thought it was worth my time, even if it is unfinished. I would recommend it for those interested in Paul Kalanithi and can handle the heavy topics.

Book Blog #324: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

 

Title: The Book of Lost Friends

Author: Lisa Wingate

# of Pages: 375 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Louisiana, 1875 In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; Juneau Jane, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister; and Hannie, Lavinia's former slave. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
Louisiana, 1987 For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt--until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, seems suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled oaks and run-down plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

Review: This really wasn't the book for me.

What the author did well:

- I really liked the idea of this book - the story was based off a real "Lost Friends" column that aimed to reconnect families (especially slaves families freed post Civil War). The idea of delving into what it would be like to be the author of one of these Lost Friends ad is something that appealed to me and doubtlessly would appeal many other readers as well. 

What fell short:

- The first person POV switching. While I know I have a tendency to dislike this form of storytelling in particular, it really was ruining the experience for me in this book. Wingate not only switches POVs, she also will time skip ahead and then explain what happened in the gap a bit later into the chapter. This is disorienting for the reader and also frustrating when a chapter was left on a cliff hanger only to be resolved in an anticlimatic way in the next chapter from that person's POV. It also has the same issues where I start to get into one character's story, only for it to switch to the other character. Which lead me to my next point...

- Benny Silva is a weak character. She is one of the protagonists of the book and acts as the "modern" perspective on the story being told. At first, her POV was a relief because she is the character the audience can relate to the most as an outsider to all the history covered in this book. However, her being an English teacher and a "bibliophile" and her part of the story being centered around these characteristics made this character seem like Wingate played it safe in creating someone in her domain as a writer. 

- Benny Silva is an annoying character. She even said herself that she's overly optimistic. It's annoying that she has this attitude when most of the problem solving is done by those around her. The readers are meant to be impressed with what she accomplishes in the book, but I think she receives too much credit. 

- In fact, both protagonists (the other being Hannie) receive more credit than they should. Hannie's story was more interesting to read, and she was more of a real adventuring heroine, but a lot of the problems she encountered were solved by happy coincidences that were pretty unrealistic. 

- Wingates should tell less and show more. The reader gets more information through dialogue when many of the characters find themselves talking and explaining way more than what would seem natural if not to service as a plot device. 

- Romance doesn't need to be the center of the story, but if an author is going to put ANY in, it should be developed well. None of the relationships between characters (platonic or not) had the depth that would make the reader feel emotionally invested.

I debated between giving this book 2 or 3 stars and finally settled on 2 due to it being a chore to read. It was an okay story, but the execution could have been a lot better. I wouldn't recommend it. 

Book Blog #323: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

 

Title: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Author: Lori Gottlieb

# of Pages: 379 (ebook)

Genre: Non-fiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis: One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but. As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell. With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Review: This book will make you feel like you're going to therapy.

Okay, that could be a bit of an exaggeration. However, both Gottlieb's diverse experiences with her patients as a therapist and her experiences AS a patient offer a lot of wisdom delving into how and why we feel a certain way. Gottlieb covers a lot - from relationship troubles to grappling with death, this book tells several stories of her patients to even introduce some psychology theories (e.g. Prochaska's transtheoretical model of behavior change). 

This isn't to say that this Gottlieb is preaching ideas at the reader the whole time; she expertly weaves in the lessons she's learned through her time as a therapist as well as from her therapist into the "characters'" stories. It was sometimes hard for me to remember that the people mentioned in this book AREN'T just fictional characters (although Gottlieb says there are some modifications done to conceal identities). I couldn't help but be invested in their life stories and cheer for them as their "plots" progressed, crying with them when they encountered a tragedy in their lives. 

This book also served as a great reminder of lessons many of us probably already know (or seem obvious once you hear them). Some of these include:

• Acknowledging death's inevitability can make people live fuller lives rather than ignoring it and becoming "lazy". How meaningfully people live their lives can change how easily they can accept death vs despairing/regretting later in life. 
• Compassion doesn't always lead to forgiveness - you don't have to force your feelings just because society has a "playbook" of how to handle trauma. 
• The unknown is a common source of struggle for many, but at some point it is necessary to come to terms with never finding an answer. 
• People have more freedom than they realize, and adults can feel restricted from responsibilities. One way to regain some of their freedom is to regain emotional freedom. 

As someone who likes reading about human behavior, psychology, etc., this was right up my alley and VERY readable. Probably one of my favorite reads in the last couple of years at least. I would highly recommend this book!

Book Blog #322: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

 

Title: Bad Blood

Author: John Carreyrou

# of Pages: 300 (hardback)

Genre: Non-fiction, Biography

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup "unicorn" promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn't work. For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company's value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Here is the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a disturbing cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.

Review: The first time I heard about Elizabeth Holmes, it was a Reddit post talking about how she faked a deep voice for pretty much her whole career. I watched a video, was mildly amused by how unnatural it sounded (especially knowing it was already fake, and then moved on with my day. 

Fast forward to 2021/2022, Holmes is in all the headlines. I didn't know anything about Theranos and why exactly she was on trial other than running a scam startup and that she was going to great lengths to push back the trial and avoiding going to prison to serve her sentence. I meant to read this book during all of that hype, but didn't get around to it until now coincidentally when there's been a lot of other tech CEO headlines have to plentiful. Crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried recently was sentenced for his own type of fraud,  and CEO Sam Altman was ousted from his position at OpenAI for not being trustworthy (exact reason still TBD), and CEO Kyle Vogt of Cruise stepped down not long after the company lost its license to test self-driving cars after one of their vehicles struck a pedestrian. 

Now I know the extent of the scam that Holmes created with Theranos, thanks to Bad Blood. I appreciate Carreyrou doing his due diligence to create a full picture of the scam company. There are many perspectives (employees, potential investors, FDA and military officials) to show all the signs that led to the revelation that Theranos never got passed the "dream" stage for Holmes, despite her promises of having a working product. 

The various perspectives seemed overwhelming at first - each person is introduced to the reader with a bit of background which became exhausting when new people were introduced every chapter. Some of these people mentioned again - some are unimportant after supplying their experiences to the pool. Carreyrou did a pretty good job at reintroducing people as their names came up again in later chapter, so I didn't have much of a problem following what was going on (the hardest name to remember was Carreyrou's since he talks in first person about himself, but other characters might mention his last name). 

What was a little harder to follow was some of the domain specific details. If the reader doesn't have as much background in these areas, it could be slower going reading through the explanations of what's happening in the "development process" (if we can even call it that) of the Theranos products, and this doens't even include the different approvals (patents, license, etc.) of which the average person is likely unfamiliar with. 

Although it's not the most gripping nor the most fun nor the most easy to read nonfiction book I've read, it's definitely more readable than many nonfiction books out there (especially since this is one is more of a biography than autobiography, with the former running the risk of sound too textbook). 

If you're interested in this book, I would recommend giving it a read since it goes over the case in great detail. My only major wish for this book is for it to have been written later to cover the trial period. 

Book Blog #321: Us Against You by Fredrik Backman

 

Title: Us Against You

Author: Fredrik Backman

# of Pages: 697 (large print)

Genre: Adult, Fiction, Contemporary 

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. Amidst the mounting tension between the two rivals, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to be Beartown’s new hockey coach. Soon a new team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the enmity with Hed grows more and more acute. As the big match approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt grows deeper. By the time the last game is finally played, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through, the game they love can ever return to something simple and innocent.

Review: Despite Backman's long-winded writing style, I'm somehow still hooked into his books. 

Since I liked Beartown so much, I knew I would at least halfway like the sequel. That turned out to be true - it's been a while since I felt the desire to read the sequel in the a series, and I was happy to hear more about the characters I was cheering for in the first book. 

That being said, I can't give this book 4 stars for a couple of reasons:

1. Unlike Beartown, Us Against You doesn't have a strong focus. 

I've always had issues with POV switching, but the third person POV switching worked in Beartown. In the sequel, it suffers from the usual issues I usually see - too many parallel stories that are not weaved close enough together. Since there's already so many characters to care about, their lives are inevitably going to diverge from each other, which makes the reader wonder what we are trying to read about in the first place. 

I would rather have Backman try to slim down the updates on different character to favor a strong story line. Beartown had a strong story line from building a plot around a hockey game timeline and rape that are more evenly spread across the entire book. The same can't be said for the sequel - the hockey games are more of an after thought and are not a strong enough device to frame the progression of the plot. 

Instead, Backman adds some new characters. to name a couple: Vidar, who never  got enough time in the spotlight to develop his reputation as a "troublemaker" in the readers eyes, and Richard Theo, who's character's only purpose is demonstrate the political "games" politicians play with the lives of the people they are supposed to serve. These new characters paired with Kira, who battles with balancing her obligations to her family and her career, and Maya, who's interests are always tangential to the ongoing hockey focused events, make the story seem like one jumble of lives between which Backman haphazardly bouncing the narrative.

Backman also cranked up the "deep and meaningful" messaging in this one. I liked the balance he had in Beartown - focusing on a more neutral topic of what sports can mean to different people and then delving into the deeper topic of how people react to rape, what it means for the victim and their loved ones, etc.  In this one, Backman tries to tackle the influence of politicians, gender inequality (particularly the struggle of women living in a man's world), and homophobia.  It reminded me of Grey's Anatomy - a little too forced, a little too obvious to land the same impact as similar messaging that is better blended in to a (better) plot.

2. By the end of the book, it doesn't feel like anything actually HAPPENED.

Yes, of course something happened, but did it warrant a whole book written about it? This was more of a tragic slice of life that didn't particularly bring us anywhere. Without any major spoilers, I'll say that I would have felt about the same as if I didn't read this book. One aspect that Backman did well was giving Benji a lot more time for his character to shine through, and my love for this character has only grown since the first book. 

But as far as everyone else, there's not much that happened to them that made me feel like this was a book that well-deserved a read. From reading the synopsis of the third book, it sounds like it will be more of the same, so I probably won't be reading the last book in the series. 

Book Blog #320: The Art of War by Sun Tzu

 

Title: The Art of War

Author: Sun Tzu

# of Pages: 90 (hardback)

Genre: Classics, Non-fiction

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Sun Tzu's insights are still relevant today, and his advice can be applied to a wide range of situations, from business negotiations to political campaigns. If you are looking for a book to help you succeed in any competitive position, then The Art of War is a must-read. It is a timeless classic that has something to offer everyone.

Review: This book might be short, but it's far from sweet.

I either going to give this book 2 stars or 3. 3 stars because I know it's a very old historical text (500 B.C.) that has ALSO been translated - so it's not fair to hold it to the same standards as a fictional modern text that I read for fun. 2 stars because, in short, I didn't learn much and didn't enjoy the read.

Although it was only 5 pages, the introduction was long winded and almost made me put the book back on the shelf forever. It details some of the history of Sun Tzu and other military greats that I quickly forgot about (not particularly interesting to me). I picked up this book to hear some ancient advice about facing opponents and leading an army (cough, team, cough), not to hear a dry history lesson.

Sun Tzu might have some strong points (that I'm sure were much more original back then than they are now), but he chooses to say them in way more words than necessary. The points that are most applicable to a modern audience include:

- Knowledge (e.g. spies) is the most important first step before strategizing and attacking

- Know your opponent/competition

- Know your army (team) and how to establish discipline

- Don't spread you and your resources too thin. Focusing your strategy will yield better results than trying protect everything. 

None of these points are particularly enlightening. Sun Tzu also provides some advice that seems harder to generalized, such as his repetitious chapters on different types of terrain and how to position your army on it.

If someone tells you to read this for the sake of leadership advice, don't bother. 

Book Blog #319: Beartown by Fredrik Backman

 

Title: Beartown

Author: Fredrik Backman

# of Pages: 681 (large print)

Genre: Adult, Fiction, Contemporary 

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Review: 

“All adults have days when we feel completely drained. When we no longer know quite what we spend so much time fighting for, when reality and everyday worries overwhelm us and we wonder how much longer we’re going to be able to carry on. The wonderful thing is that we can all live through far more days like that without breaking than we think. The terrible thing is that we never know exactly how many.”

This is a story that starts slowly. It pretends to be a little slice of life of the people who live in quaint Beartown that clings to junior hockey like a lifeline. 

I didn't care for the start of the plot which is focused skipping back and forth between the characters living in Beartown, building up how important hockey is for this town. Didn't exactly sound like my type of book - I'm not a huge sports fan, and a book that focuses on singing the praises of hockey doesn't even make it onto the list of topics I would be interested in. 

Luckily, it's not that type of book. Hockey might frame the story but it's far from the sole focus. 

Even with the slow start, Backman does a great job at emphasizing WHY a sport could mean so much to any small town that doesn't has much else going for it. Even when some may not understand sports, they can understand people want to be part of something, wanting something to believe in and cheer for. 

Backman actually masterfully employs this idea of community in the plot - on a macro scale, the community the people of Beartown (the Pack) feel because of hockey, community between team members,  community between families and friends. Not only is community used to justify why hockey is held at such high stakes in Beartown, but it's also an obstacle for characters to choose between right and wrong. When people want to be part of something so badly, are they still able to do the right thing when their membership in said community is put on the line?

Beartown is also far from a glamorization of hockey. In the start of the book, there is "locker room talk" in an unabashed fashion, making the reader believe that they should just accept the jokingly crude and derogatory comments toward women and LGBTQ are just a part of "how the hockey team acts." But as the plot progresses, Backman slowly adds more and more commentary on how this type of "culture" is actually fostering toxic masculinity.

“Sweet Jesus…you men. It’s never your fault, is it? When are you going to admit that it isn’t ‘hockey’ that raised these boys. It’s YOU LOT. In every time and every place, I’ve come across men who blame their own stupidity on crap they themselves have invented. ‘Religion causes wars,’ ‘guns kill people,’ it’s all the same old bullshit!” - Ramona to Sune, p.541

I wish Backman left some of this messaging to be interpreted by the reader. The messaging via showing through the plot rather than stating it blatantly would have been more powerful. 

“[The boys] don’t have any female friends, and there are no women’s teams here, so they learn that hockey only belongs to them, and their coaches teach them that girls are a ‘distraction.’ So they learn that girls only exist for fucking” p.547 

Hockey might frame the story but it's far from the sole focus. The meat of the plot is actually about the "violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized" (as stated in the synopsis). The messaging here is also about the same as many other stories (both fiction and non-fiction) over women experiencing violence and subsequently seek justice. The justice system is broken, and victims are often disregarded when the perpetrator is in a position of admiration and power. This is why this part of the messaging didn't pack as much of a punch for me; I've heard this message again and again and sympathize with real-life victims that have gone through something similar (e.g. Chanel Miller and her rapist Brock Turner). Although the messaging is tired, it's important in ensuring that we don't forget about these types of injustices. 

This story is told via third person POV switching. This was annoying during the ramp up (and there are A LOT of different characters to switch between), but during the thick of the plot, Backman draws parallels between characters' experiences and cleverly reuses phrases to show their different meanings in different contexts. This was problem one of the better executions of third person POV-switching story telling I've read ever, so I will give it props for that. Beartown wouldn't have been nearly as gripping without it. 

The final thing to note is that some of the sentences didn't flow as easily as they could have - I had to reread some sentences to understand the meaning (perhaps they would have benefited from additional punctuation or rephrasing). I can't tell if this is an issue with Backman's style or if it's a translation issue, but it happened enough to noticeably disrupt my reading flow. 

Even if you aren't immediately interested in the book, I would suggest giving it a shot. By then end, I was surprised how much I cared about these characters without noticing when I came to know them so well. It's definitely not a feel good read (I half-jokingly will say that I felt like I was despairing during part for this book), but it does feel more meaningful than the premise makes it seem. 

Book Blog #318: Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

 

Title: Something Borrowed

Author: Emily Giffin

# of Pages: 322 (paperback)

Genre: Adult, Chick-Lit, Romance

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Synopsis: Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

Review: Remember, since this is chick-lit, my expectations for this book were about as low as they could be. That being said, Giffin's writing style is actually pretty enjoyable. I was able to visualize what the characters are doing, and her descriptions seemed realistic enough. 

If only her writing talent was not wasted on such a garbage plot. I'm glad to be able to NOT have friends like the group that is described in Something Borrowed. I WISH this book felt more unrealistic because that would mean terrible people like this wouldn't exist. But alas, I fully believe there are people out there in the world that would have the same moral alignment. 

If you believe cheating is not acceptable regardless of the context, Something Borrowed will NOT resonate with you. This book spends 322 pages justifying cheating, primarily focused on tearing down Darcy's character to make our protagonist Rachel feel better about cheating with her fiance Dexter. In an even cringier twist, Dexter, who is constantly flip flopping between Rachel and Darcy, isn't even properly crucified for stringing along two women. The narrative of it being a push and pull only between the two women is so dated (which makes sense since this book was published in 2004). 

Not something that is worth reading amongst the modern women audience. 

Book Blog #317: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

 

Title: It Ends with Us

Author: Colleen Hoover

# of Pages: 386 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Romance, Chick-lit

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up — she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

Review: Why am I crying? 

This was supposed to be some silly, brainless romance I could enjoy. Even the synopsis reads like some cliche love triangle. To be fair, it took me forever (aka me reading a chapter or so every couple of weeks) to get through the first 30-40%. It read exactly like I expected - woman meets man and they have immediate sexual chemistry without much depth to their relationship otherwise.

The progression of the main relationship happens in such a short span of time, it was hard for me to take it even half seriously. I was bashing Hoover in my head for creating such an unrealistic relationship that I couldn't root for. The character building in general was especially weak - a handsome neurosurgeon who seems to have it all? A main character who seems to have it made career-wise? What superficial struggles could Hoover possibly have in store for the reader? 

I was all ready to give this book 2 stars. I'm a huge sucker for cheesy romance, so at some high points I was considering giving it 3 if I felt at least neutral about it by the end. Nothing could be worse than that terrible chick lit I read that wouldn't stop talking about the main character loving chicken tikka masala, but Lily using whether or not someone donated to charity as a metric on whether they're a good person (ask any billionaire if they've donated to charity; they'll probably say yes) was getting really close. 

But then Hoover introduces the topic of domestic abuse. I'm surprised there isn't noted somewhere in the synopsis because as it is now, it's not doing the book justice. While the fluffy parts of this book are 2-3 star range, the way Hoover writes about domestic abuse is completely heart wrenching. I couldn't believe I was reading the same book; while all other parts of unrealistic, the depiction of domestic abuse was almost TOO real. 

Even one of the cliche lines Hoover threw in early on, "We're all just people who sometimes do bad things," this line rang more true after reading through her complex depiction of both the victim and the perpetuator of domestic abuse. While some people's abuse might be more cut and dry, some can take the form where those involved have a mix of good and bad within them.  

After learning from the author's note that Hoover was basing the domestic abuse off of her parents' relationship, everything made sense. The more fiction the story was, the more Hoover's writing struggled. But once it was based off of real events, Hoover was really able to pull through and send a message through her chick-lit reminiscent of Jodi Picoult. 

If you don't mind slogging through the cheesy beginning, and you're into chick-lit, I would actually recommend this book to you. As far as chick-lit goes, this is definitely one of the better ones.  

Book Blog #316: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

 

Title: I'm Glad My Mom Died

Author: Jennette McCurdy

# of Pages: 320 (ebook)

Genre: Nonfiction, Autobiography

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.

Review: This book got me out of my reading slump. It's been a while since I craved to read a book, and once I got some time to get around to reading this one, I could not put it down.

Like many others, I only knew McCurdy from her role as Sam in iCarly. I didn't know any of her other work (nor did I ever watch her spin off series Sam & Cat). When it was announced that she would not be part of the iCarly reboot, I was more surprised that most of the cast was returning than her not being in and not being an active actor. So many of these young stars seem to disappear from the public eye as they grow up - I didn't think there would be anything special about Jennette's story. 

And yet I started seeing promotional material related to her book - interviews were she talks about her past that I never expected from a Nickelodeon starlet. That being said, everyone celebrity (or self-proclaimed celebrity) seems to be writing books these days, so her writing a book didn't particularly stand out to me. But then, despite her being out of pop culture for so long, her books started doing well and receiving positive reviews, I decided that I might as well check it out. 

McCurdy's writing is pretty easy to read (this matched with what I expected from an actor with a career pivot toward writing). This was the exact type of read I was looking for to get me out of my reading slump. Unlike other celebrity autobiographies I've tried to pick up, McCurdy doesn't over romanticize her hardships - her writing reads like a genuine recollection of her past, and she's just stating it as it is. 

That being said, I wish she presented her childhood with more of the perspective that she had as a child. Her recognition of her mother's abuse only came in retrospect, and I would've found it more impactful if I learned about her mother through the same idolizing point of view she had as a child and learn with Jennette about how these "loving" motherly gestures were actually negatively impacting her habits in adulthood. Instead, McCurdy recollection of her childhood highlights many negative memories (e.g. her mother throwing a tantrum, her mother encouraging her eating disorders) that make the reader cringe with the obvious abuse (regardless if her mother considered her influence to be abusive or not). When she later states in adulthood (before coming to terms with her abuse) that she thought her mother was the perfect mother and refused to let others disrupt this narrative of her mother, it is hard to relate with her because of the way she presented her childhood. 

Despite all of this, I thought that she overall did a good job at telling her story. Although few can say that they had experiences just like McCurdy, many reader with overbearing parents can relate to McCurdy's childhood - loving their parents while still recognizing their faults and the impact they have on their lives for better or, especially in this case, for worse. 

A very quick read about a very complex, codependent mother-daughter relationship. I would recommend this book! 

 

Book Blog #315: The Client by John Grisham

 

Title: The Client

Author: John Grisham

# of Pages: 401 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: This is the story of eleven-year-old Mark Sway, who as the novel opens, witnesses the bizarre suicide of a New Orleans attorney. Just before he dies, the lawyer tells Mark a deadly secret concerning the recent murder of a Louisiana Senator, whose accused killer, Mafia thug Barry Muldanno, is about to go to trial. The police, the federal prosecutor and the FBI pressure Mark to tell them the attorney's last words, but he knows that with the mob watching his every move, revealing his secret will almost surely get him killed.

Review: Jeez, this was a hard one to keep picking up. And even when I did muster the energy to pick it up, it was just so easy to put it down again, thus why it took over 4 months for me to get through this book. 

I've tried (and failed) to read John Grisham's books before, for the same reasons and should have learned my lesson and stayed far away. I can see how there is a market for this sort of thing - especially suckers for crime mystery/thrillers. I wouldn't say I'm not in the category, but it requires a little more craftsmanship in the writing to get me hooked. 

Mystery is an easy way to keep a reader interested - in this book, the mystery is how the young protagonist Mark handle a critical secret that the Mafia would be willing to kill him over. Unfortunately for The Client, even the allure of this mystery is not enough to keep the reader interested in the first half of the story. The story is told over the course of a week, but with all the unnecessary details Grisham decides to add in - such as repeatedly emphasizing how overweight a judge is - it felt more like months. 

The story does pick up at the end (as most mysteries do), but Grisham could have actually milked the ending longer. The ending was abrupt - it would have been more satisfying to flesh this part out about and cut a good portion of the beginning where there is too much character development and not enough plot progression. Sometimes abrupt ending leaving the reader thinking - this ending made me feel robbed of the time I invested reading the beginning only to get a rushed ending.

And of course, likely the biggest contributor to why it took so long for me to finish this book - the third person POV switching. Grisham decided to switch between the POV of pretty much ANYONE in the book. This is frustrating because I found myself being very interested in Mark's POV but much less in the accussed killer Barry, the FBI agents, etc. Not only that, but Grisham pretty clearly spells everything out - with multiple POVs, there's hardly a mystery to the reader even if there's a huge mystery for the rest of the characters. 

I would not recommend this book unless you're interested in anything (even the mediocre) crime and mystery genre or if you've already read some of Grisham's books and liked his work. 

Book Blog #314: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Title: Lessons in Chemistry

Author: Bonnie Garmus

# of Pages: 400 (hardback)

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Romance

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Review: Despite going back and forth the whole time I was reading this book on whether to give it 3 or 4 stars, I finally settled on 4. At the end of the day, what matters is whether I, the reader, learned or enjoyed something from the book, the latter is certainly true. 

I had mixed feeling when picking up Lessons in Chemistry - on one hand, it won two Goodreads awards (one for Best Historical Fiction and another for Best Debut Author). There has to be something good about it if it won TWO awards. On other hand, it just LOOKS like it could be on (perhaps the classier end) of a chick-lit - the bright cover (with the edges of the book painted blue???) and even the title scream "girly cheesy romance novel." NOTHING wrong with a chick-lit to pass the time, but I wasn't looking for a brain-rot read at the moment. 

However, this book turned out to not be exactly what I was expecting. Yes, the target audience is definitely women - there are blatant feminist themes ENGRAINED in the book. Usually having such strong messaging in a book would come off preachy to me (I'm looking at you Jodi Picoult), and I wouldn't say this book is an exception either. That being said, I actually liked how women's rights was the main focus rather than the romance. It had to be this way; it would be hypocritical if it focused on the protagonist's romance and defining her story by her association with a man. 

It also justifies the historical fiction element of the book - the 1960s portray how much greater women's struggles were in gaining recognition outside of (or even being) a homemaker. Yet their struggles are not entirely unfamiliarly to modern day women, who can still find elements of discrimination relatable in today's society. 

I was initially concerned about this being Garmus's debut work - lack of experience sometimes means the author is more prone to portraying character unrealistically or building a weak story. It was unsurprising to me that Garmus has worked in medicine and is a rower; both of these experience surely influenced her decision to incorporate what she knows into her book. Despite her background, my concerns were at least somewhat actualized.

My main complaint with Garmus's writing is the dog's, Six-Thirty's, POV. For one, the book could have easily be written without his perspective - at most he is used as a plot device that could still be included from a different character's perspective. The only value of having his POV is to show that Six-Thirty has higher intelligence than most other characters are willing to believe. However, Garmus's over-personification of this dog is fluff at best.

As per usual, I didn't like the POV switching, although it being in third person definitely helped. I actually disliked the time skipping more, and combined with the POV switching, it felt like Garmus's writing style was a bit all over the place. I would prefer it if she stayed with one character in one time period for longer rather than skipping back and forth between paragraphs.

That being said, I couldn't put down this book. It finally got me out of my reader's block, and it had me smiling one minute and teary eyed the next. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but as someone in the target audience, I found it to be a very easy and fun read.