Book Blog #331: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

# of Pages: 369 (ebook)

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary

Rating:★★★★☆

Synopsis: Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go-Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it's the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she's twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Another band getting noticed is The Six, led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she's pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

Review: Since I was reading this not that long after reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I can't help but compare. I definitely liked this one a bit less, but it was still a fun read. Coincidentally I recently have seen the play Stereophonic, which is eerily similar to this book likely because both are inspired by the real rock n roll drama from Fleetwood Mac.   

This book is marked as both historical fiction AND contemporary because the story is told documentary-style. The "author"/interviewer is having this conversations in present time, but the characters are retelling a story in the 70s, focusing on height of rock n roll. 

I found myself reading this book in any spare moment I could possibly get. However, closer to the end, I began to feel annoyed with most of the characters (everyone has their own drama, everyone has qualities that kind of suck). What I did enjoy is how despite all the first person POV switching, most of the characters had a distinct voice, and I could envision this book like a documentary playing out in my head. The ending and the surprise twist actually made the documentary style less realistic for me, which is why this book can only get at most 4 stars from me. 

I would still recommend this book. 

Book Blog #306: Severance by Ling Ma

 

Title: Severance

Author: Ling Ma

# of Pages: 291 (hardback)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies halt operations. The subways squeak to a halt. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost. Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?

Review: I'm surprised thriller wasn't a top genre for this book. 

It's interesting because this book felt like a cross between the last two books I read: Migrations and Beautiful World, Where Are You. This is probably me noticing small similarities; Ma also doesn't use quotation marks around dialogue like in Beautiful World, Where Are You. Both Severance and Migrations were told in first person with time skipping (something I don't enjoy). However, where Severance and Migrations differ is that Migration's time skips helped build suspense and slowly unveiled a mystery while as Severance attempted to do a lower scale version of this with Candace's life during the Shen Fever, but it's much less exciting.

Beautiful World, Where Are You and Migrations also differ from this book in another major way; these books made me feel something - they touched my heart or evoked emotion (usually sympathy/sadness) at least once throughout their stories. For Severance, I was just scared during some parts (there's always a bit of a thrill when characters are exploring an apocalyptic world and the suspense of what would happen/show up). Candace might have been a more realistic protagonist than Franny in Migrations (and this might have been because Ma may have drawn from her experiences to develop this character since they have similarities in their backgrounds), but when it came down to who's story was more interesting, I would have to say it was Franny's.

This story actually is a little too real; it was written pre-pandemic, but there are some startling similarities between how this dystopian world was impacted by the Shen Fever and how the real world was affected by COVID-19. This is no fault on the author/book, but since everyone has lived through the pandemic, Severance didn't offer much unique perspective in terms of dystopian world building (thus making it less of an interesting story to read). Considering that she wrote this before knowing how COVID was to be handled in our past and present, I do still applaud her unintentional prediction of how the world would respond to a pandemic/epidemic. 

The final gripe I have with this book is that the ending was incredibly unsatisfying to me. It feels like this book should be part of a series, but at the same time I don't know how interested I would be in reading the rest of the series. The ending felt like Ma was tired of writing and left a lot of questions unanswered. Sometimes there's an art of leaving the reader wondering, but in this case it felt like the story barely got anywhere when it suddenly ended.

On a more positive note, I really liked the theme of change vs routine that Ma decided to explore with this book. Set in New York, one of the most upbeat and diverse cities where things seem to be full of change - everything is happening in New York. This backdrop was an interesting choice to show how the people within can still be stuck in a monotonous lifestyle. While Severance's plot an overdone apocalyptic journey, it still sends a powerful message on how a capitalistic society can negatively affect our values and in turn affect how we lead our lives. 

This book had potential, but it falls short. It's a quick read, but I would not be recommending it in a hurry; the theme is worth reading about, but I feel like there are other books out there that will have a similar message AND everything that this book was missing. 

Book Blog #305: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

 

Title: Migrations

Author: Charlotte McConaghy

# of Pages: 256 (hardback)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who is able to love but unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny’s history begins to unspool—a passionate love affair, an absent family, a devastating crime—it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds. When Franny's dark secrets catch up with her, how much is she willing to risk for one more chance at redemption?

Review: This book was so CONFUSING.

Not confusing in the sense that I didn't understand what was going on in the story, although there is a fair bit of that as you peel the onion on our protagonist's life. I didn't realize that this book would be written in first person, which means she's a bit of an unreliable narrator at times. The story is also presented in slices from her life; sometimes you'll be reading about her present as she follows the terns on their migration to Antarctica, sometimes you are thrown a snippet of her life from her childhood, sometimes you're given a memory from somewhere in between. 

Time skips are always annoying to me as a reader because I always find myself wanting to learn more about a different slice of time but have to read through more boring time slices first before going back to the interesting part. It's frustrating, but I can understand why McConaghy decided to tell this story this way; it adds to the mystery. 

I was honestly surprised that mystery wasn't one of the genres for this book because I think that aspect of it is what kept me coming back to this book. It reminded me a bit of Silent Patient, which also time skipped around. Migrations differs however because I was not completely blindsided as I was in Silent Patient; although I could not predict everything that happened in Migrations, everything was not entirely unexpected either which weakened the shock value upon the big reveals. 

I was almost going to give this book four stars because it had me feeling emotional, especially at the end. When a book makes me FEEL something, that usually means it's a pretty good book. However, I didn't love the McConaghy's writing; the way she portrayed her characters felt unrealistic to me. For example, something felt off with the way she portrayed children; they way they acted seemed exaggerated, like how people would imagine a child would act instead of how they actually are. 

Another aspect I did not like was the first person narrative from Franny; she is such an extreme character since she is a huge environmentalist. It's difficult to be able to read from her perspective and hear her internal thoughts when she's not relatable (I want to help the planet and save the animals as much as the next person, but her love for birds and other creatures goes above and beyond). 

I was also shocked to find that this was basically a dystopia. The world isn't too different from the present, and I don't think this was clearly described in the synopsis. However, this was basically a cautionary tale on what could happen if we are not mindful of human impact on the Earth and other species. While this is a great message, it does come off as preachy since the characters were such extremists. 

So why was this book confusing? I don't know how to feel about it. I was emotionally affected, and even though I cannot relate to Fanny's personality, I still felt sympathy toward her and wanted to know more about her story. This alone would have led me to give it four stars at least, but there were so many other issues that I mentioned above that forced me to dock off an additional star; I think the story is good but the execution could have been better (such as in developing the characters to be more realistic). 

Although it wouldn't be at the top of my list, I would actually recommend this book; it's not that long of a read, and I'd advertise it as a mystery around our protagonist - who is Franny Stone, what is she doing, and why is she doing it? Framed as a mystery, it's actually a pretty gripping story. 

Book Blog #275: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Title: Small Great Things

Author: Jodi Picoult

# of Pages: 480 (hardback)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Drama

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene? Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

Review: I wavered a long time between giving this book three and four stars. 

Similarly to Picoult's A Spark of Light, Small Great Things addresses the relevant, hard hitting problem today of racial discrimination. Most of her book is full of pointed messages/lesson regarding racial discrimination. At the end of the day, her characters are merely a means for her to deliver her message on racism (and the different ways it can manifest itself). While the book's lesson is an important one, the challenge for the author is to execute this mission while still writing a story with characters and dialogue that seem realistic. Unfortunately, this is not always the case; at times, Small Great Things read like a Grey's Anatomy episode whenever the characters have their structured, politically correct conversation on controversial topics. 

A big problem with her A Spark of Light novel was the POV switching - too many perspectives, and each switch made me wish I could read a different character's POV instead. Small Great Things has first person POV switching. Some of the less desirable aspects were still present; Picoult would go over the same scenes from a different perspective, and the reader learns nothing new from this new perspective. However, what was better in this book is that Picoult limited the POVs to three characters: Ruth, Kennedy, and Turk. With the exception of the parts where the perspectives overlapped too much, the POV switching actually well for this story. All three characters come from different walks of life: an African American nurse living in a white world, a white public defender who believes she doesn't see race, and a white supremacist. Their internal thoughts were valuable in contributing the plot and the message, so although I generally don't enjoy books with POV switching, I didn't have too many complaints in this case. 

Because there are only three perspectives, this book does a better job at developing the characters. Each major character had a larger slice of the book compared to A Spark of Light, which left room for more personal moments (that are meant to build context/character rather than directly attribute to the plot) to be included for each. I felt more connected with each of the characters, which made me more emotionally invested.

In Picoult's author's note, she recognizes that this book will be heavily scrutinized; how can a privileged white woman write a black woman's story? I am not in a position to judge how accurate her depiction of a black woman's life is, whether the medical/law aspects are realistic. However, I do believe she wrote a book that presented it well to her target audience: the white community "who can very easily point to a neo-Nazi skinhead and say he's a racist...but who can't recognize racism in themselves" (Picoult 460). Many people do not realize what passive racism is, and Picoult does a great job at bringing this to light through Kennedy. 

Overall, I thought this book was a good read. I would recommend this book if this is a topic you are interested in reading more about. However, if you are looking for an escape from the stresses and injustices of the world, this is not your book. 

Book Blog #170: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

Title: The Book of Unknown Americans
Author: Cristina Henriquez
# of Pages: 286 (paperback)
Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Synopsis: When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved.
Review: This book could have been so good.

I loved reading about Maribel's story and learning about her relationship with Mayor. Concentrating on Maribel and her family's life in the United States would have made this a very interesting story that would appeal to both teen and adults.

However, there was point-of-view switching. And while I usually strongly dislike POV switching, it was so much worse in Henriquez books. Henriquez switches between not two people, not three people, but TEN people. "Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America"? The stories are far from seamless. It took me over a week to finish this book, which is way longer than the two days I had anticipated. Part of the reason why it took me so long was because I was uninterested with the random stories from other characters. It disrupted the flow of the Maribel's story. If Henriquez had cut down the POV to Alma and Mayor, it would have so much better.

If this book wasn't given to me as a gift, and I knew beforehand that there was so much POV switching, I wouldn't have read it. While it's not the worst book I've every read, I still wouldn't highly recommend it.

Book Blog #156: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Title: My Sister's Keeper
Author: Jodi Picoult
# of Pages: 423 (paperback)
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.
Review: A long time ago, I saw someone watching a movie about, from what I could tell, a girl who does not want to donate to her sister anymore. I walked away without ever knowing how it ended and never expected to hear anything about it every again.

But then I was at my local library and saw a poster with a book recommendation on it. It caught my interest because the book's cover had JODI PICOULT in big letters on it. Although I have always thought it was strange when the author's name is bigger than the title, it is obviously effective because it caught my attention. I began to read the synopsis and then realized it was the same plot as the movie. I got my hands on a copy as soon as I could and cracked it open eagerly.

Only to be disappointed.

There are point-of-view changes. And not just between two people; it switches between Anna, Brian, Jesse, Sara, etc in first person. And to make it worse, Picoult threw in a few flash backs too. It's a terrible mix. I am beginning to question her writing style since the only other book I've read of hers is Between the Lines which she co-wrote with her daughter.

Nevertheless, I tried my best to enjoy it. It was pretty good besides the POV, but it didn't make a strong emotional connection with me until the very, very end (which, by that time, was too late). The writing was borderline sloppy, but not the worst I've seen as far as structure.

If you are interested in the plot, then yes, I recommend it.

Book Blog #125: These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

Title: These Is My Words
Author: Nancy E. Turner
# of Pages: 384 (paperback)
Genre: Adult Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon—from child to determined young adult to loving mother—she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose.
Review: This book had a terrible first impression on me.

The title worried me; I was anticipating a very long and boring read. I am also not very fond of reading books in diary format, especially after having the displeasure of reading Anne Frank's (I did not enjoy reading her diary, if you couldn't tell). The first fifty pages seemed to fall right into my expectations, which is why it took me over a week to get through them.

But after that, the romance hit.

I wouldn't have even known that it was a romance if it weren't for the synopsis. I usually try not to read the synopsis because most of the time, it contains spoilers. But I read a short synopsis in a review, and I realized a lot of people liked it for the romance.

And I am one of them.

I loved the relationship Sarah and Jack had! There relationship was unique, however, they did remind of two couples in two popular YA books; Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars. Spoilers for these two books ahead!

Just like Hazel and Gux's Okay? Okay, Jack and Sarah say to each other "Don't ever leave me" and "Not ever." Just like Hazel and Gus, and Issac and Monica, that was there promise to each other. And it's adorable.

Tris and Four are not only in love with each other, but they trust each other when they're stuck in a undesirable situation. Tris and Sarah are both able to use a gun, and they are both as capable to fight as their men. Sarah and Tris are not your typically damsel in distress, and neither pair are your typical fairy tale couple.

And what links all three of them together? One of each pair, (Gus, Tris, and Jack), die early. Which kinda sucks.

Despite how much I loved this book, I do not plan to read the sequel in the future. Most of what I wanted to know about the characters was covered in the first book of this series, so I do not feel the need to read more about Sarah's life (and I would be incredibly sad to read about her without Jack).

True, the book still read like a soap opera, but I was finally able to submerge myself in the book! I was hit by many emotions through Sarah Prine; I felt her joy, her fear, her anguish! It was an amazing experience. There is a bit of graphic content, so this book is not for everyone (after all, it's classified as adult fiction). Otherwise, recommended!