The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

April 18, 2018April 15, 2018Leave a comment

Before I started reading The Perfect Storm, I read some other book reviews. I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve seen the movie, and the reviews were mostly positive but they did mention that it wasn’t exactly written like a story. It was more of a collection of interviews alongside technical information about what happens to a boat in the middle of a storm.

What I really liked about this approach was that it didn’t try to romanticize the story. In the movie, it’s very much about Mark Wahlburg’s character, Bobby and how he’s dealing with the situation while his girlfriend is home waiting to hear news. The book has a lot about how she was feeling during the whole ordeal, but it felt more like a factual re-telling of the events rather than the emotional story of their relationship and the loss that she was experiencing. It was different, but I liked it.

As someone who studied journalism, I kept feeling like I was reading a long form article on the whole event. The majority of the story was about what happened around the Andrea Gail during the storm, like what other boats were experiencing at the same time and how they didn’t think they were going to make it.

I do think it spent wayyyy too much time discussing the other ships. There were so many details about them that I didn’t care about, I found myself reading/glimpsing through it quickly just because I didn’t care.

I also now know way more about swordfishing than I ever thought I would. Some of the technical stuff was definitely hard to get through, mostly because I wasn’t really interested in it and I really wasn’t trying to learn about it. I couldn’t tell you anything about it today.

While I did like the approach, I really yearned to know what was happening on the Andrea Gail. I know that the author wanted to stay factual, so couldn’t fictionalize scenes from the boat, but it really felt like something was missing from the whole story.

Overall, I think that the book is a good partner to the movie. This gives you the facts and more insight into the technical world of fishing, while the movie gives you the fictional reenactment that you really want after reading this. It definitely makes you care more and understand what it could have been like.

I definitely think that people who like the movie should read the book to have a full understanding of the whole story. It makes it much more than a sad movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlburg.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

November 26, 2016November 26, 2016Leave a comment

When I first started seeing trailers on TV for The Girl on the Train, I was super excited to see the movie. It reminded me a lot of Gone Girl, which I loved, so I was hoping for the same type of story. The Girl on the Train isn’t quite on the same level as Gone Girl, in my opinion, but I still really enjoyed it.

Usually when I read a book that a movie is based on, it’s because I saw the film version first and didn’t realize or have interest in reading the book before. In this case, I made the decision to wait to read the book until after I saw the movie. I feel like when I read the book after seeing the movie I fall in love with it more because it gives so many more details and insight into what is going on with the characters. In this case though, I found myself wishing I had read the book before.

I felt like the book didn’t have as big of an impact on me because I knew from the beginning how it was going to end. It was a strange feeling for me, because I often read books after seeing the movie and have not experienced this sort of thing before. I kind of think that I just wanted to experience the shock I would have felt while reading the book, and that because I already knew, it didn’t have such a big climax for me.

That’s not to say that the book wasn’t as good as the movie. I actually think that the book was better than the film version, and liked that there were some little differences between the two. The main difference was that the book took place in London, while the movie took place in New York. I thought that was an interesting change they made, and that Megan definitely seemed more like what I think of as an “American” girl. It’s possible that I just imagined her that way based on the actress that played her in the film.

I also liked that the book went into more detail about how far Rachel’s relationship with Scott went. The movie sort of hinted that this was what happened, but I really liked knowing for sure what was going on between the two of them.

Which brings me to Rachel. I really liked her, even though she is an unreliable narrator. You really want to root for her and trust that she didn’t do this to Megan, even though her pieces of memory suggest otherwise. Even when watching the movie, I never felt like she was the one who killed Megan. I actually really liked Megan too, and mostly just felt sorry for her. However, I really hated Anna throughout the whole book. Her reminiscing about being the other woman and missing that feeling of having someone want her in that way were kind of annoying. Even at the end she thought about letting Tom kill Rachel just so that she would have him to herself again, even though she knew that he had cheated on her too.

I also think that the book did a really good job of disguising Tom as the killer. Even though I knew from the movie, there were multiple times when I questioned it while reading the book and even thought that maybe they had changed the story for the film version. I had actually guessed it about half way through the movie and the book kept me questioning it right up until the end.

Even though The Girl on the Train wasn’t as crazy of a story as Gone Girl, I really enjoyed it. I liked that there were twists and that the characters all had their own interesting stories and points of view. I liked that I got to see what was going on from all sides of the story and really liked how it ended. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in these types of thriller/suspense/mystery stories.

Room by Emma Donoghue

October 27, 2016October 26, 2016Leave a comment

Okay, so let’s just assume from now on that if I watch a really good movie I will eventually read the book it’s based on. Room was such a good movie. It made me happy, it made me sad, it made me laugh, and it made me cry. I honestly didn’t know that it was based off of a book until I saw on Goodreads that one of my “friends” had read it and decided right then and there that it was next on my list.

I love when there are little differences between the book and movie versions of the same story. It kind of helps me to separate the two in my head and enjoy and appreciate both without comparing them to each other too much. In the book version of Room, the biggest differences to me were that Ma had a brother and that it was revealed she had given birth to another baby before Jack.

I think both of these aspects added interesting twists to the plot. The parts with Jack’s other family, like his grandparents and his uncle, really showed how difficult it was for the adults to understand what he had been through and how they had to adapt to understand what it was like for Jack to be outside of room. This actually kind of made me angry at times because it was so difficult for them to understand what the world was like for Jack, and I felt like they could have been nicer about it instead of getting angry at him for doing something wrong.

This story was so, so heartbreaking and hard to read at times. I absolutely loved Jack and loved to see the story from his point of view. He’s such a smart kid and it’s really interesting to see him experiencing the world for the first time. You really want to root for him and Ma. Which brings me to Ma trying to kill herself. That whole situation was horrible and I couldn’t help but feel like she was being selfish. I understand that everything would have been incredibly difficult for her and that she would probably be extremely depressed even after the escape. However, she knew how much Jack relied on her and he would have been so lost without her. I’m glad that she did make a recovery for Jack’s sake.

What’s really scary and eye-opening about this story is the realization that situations like this have happened in the past. Oftentimes when girls have been found after spending years in captivity it is revealed that they had children or had been pregnant. This book really makes you wonder what kind of life people in these situations have as they continue to grow in the outside world. There’s something seriously wrong with the world and it seriously breaks my heart that people go through situations like this. It makes me feel so blessed to have what I do in life, even if my life isn’t perfect.

The ending of the story really made me happy and I felt like it was a perfect way to have this chapter of Jack’s story end. It really felt like Jack would be able to let go of Room and live his life in the outside with his Ma.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

September 25, 2016September 25, 2016Leave a comment

For awhile I’ve had a “list” in my mind of classic books that I’ve wanted to read. These are books that have stood the test of time and that people continue to talk about today. A big one on my list was Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I feel like this book and story have remained relevant over the years and that people even still make reference to it in pop culture. I will admit, I didn’t really know what to expect from the novel. I had seen bits and pieces of the movie when I was younger, but I don’t think I really understood what was happening. I was also aware that people had described it as being pornographic or an “erotic novel” so I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into when I started reading it.

First of all, I want to say that I loved how poetic and descriptive it was. At times, it was hard to get through all of the descriptions and tangents that the narrator would go off on, but it was so beautifully written that it didn’t really feel like I was putting that much effort into reading it. However, there was a lot about the story that made me uncomfortable, and sort of took away from me actually really liking this book (which I’m about to get into), but as a whole I can appreciate the story and the writing.

I feel like a lot of my feelings toward this book could come from being a woman who grew up/is growing up in a time when we talk a lot about consent. The whole time I was reading this, I couldn’t help but to try to see the events occurring from Lolita’s point of view and trying to find something that would make me feel like he wasn’t raping her every time they would have a sexual encounter.

That being said, I didn’t really like the whole destruction of innocence theme. I know that’s pretty much what the whole book is about and that the narrator is aware that he is doing this to her, but I don’t feel like he’s even taking into account how she really feels or how this is affecting her. He treated her like she was something he owned, like his own personal sexual object and that kind of makes me cringe.

In my opinion, he was an abuser. I know that at times it seemed like she had seduced him and that maybe she was using him to get things that she wanted, but I also felt like she may not have known what would happen to her if she stopped giving him sexual favors and appealing to his wants and needs. He constantly told her about how good her life was with him and how lucky she was to travel and have all these nice things, and that if she were to go live with someone else she would lose all of her personal belongings. He wouldn’t let her go out with friends if boys were going to be there or enjoy herself as a child/teenager and do normal things that kids do because of his jealousy. In order to do those things and have her way, she would have to give him something in return. He completely manipulated her in every way to get what he wanted out of her, and it kind of made me sick. It was pretty hard to read his thoughts and how obsessed and jealous he would get.

I also felt like the married “adult” version of Lolita would not have greeted him so warmly and go as far as to call him a good father. Perhaps this is part of the narrator being unreliable and trying to make it seem like what he did to her didn’t have that much of an effect on her after all. In my opinion, this interaction between them could have just been Lolita trying to make him happy again so that she would get what she wanted (money) out of him.

I would say that this is definitely not as pornographic as people make it out to be (Thankully, because I don’t know if I would have finished it if that was the case). A lot of the story was about traveling with her and trying to keep her to himself, there were hardly any descriptions of the more explicit content in comparison. It definitely does have these elements and reeks of pedophilia, which made it hard for me to read and fully enjoy and appreciate. I also still don’t really feel like I found anything about the narrator that redeemed his actions. He just seemed like someone who took what he wanted and didn’t really care about how others would be affected by his actions. I do not believe that he really loved her, but rather that he loved the idea of having his own little nymphet.

Indecent Proposal by Jack Engelhard

September 22, 2016September 21, 2016Leave a comment

So apparently the only reason I read books now is if I really like the movie they’re based on. Just kidding, but the following review definitely continues the trend of my past few reviews.

I absolutely loved the move Indecent Proposal the first time I watched it. My mom told me that she thought I would like it, and it happened to be on Netflix so I gave it a shot. Demi Moore is absolutely beautiful and I loved her with Woody Harrelson. I thought that they were believable as a couple and genuinely seemed to have chemistry in the film. Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the film/read the book, the whole plot of having a rich man offer money to a poorer man for one night with his wife was crazy. The movie was exciting, it made me angry, it made me cry, and it made me believe that maybe true love and true soulmates do exist.

I was so excited to read this book because I love all the extra little details that usually get cut when a novel is adapted into film. However, I soon found out that the film is really just loosely based on the novel and that the characters are not the same at all.

Other than the “rich man pays poorer man for one night with his wife” theme and meeting in the casino, the stories were pretty different. The movie was definitely much simpler and didn’t include any sort of racial differences in characters like the novel. I think that a lot of what motivated/pushed the characters in the story had to do with their racial/religious/personal backgrounds and we didn’t see any of that in the movie.

All that said, I do kind of like when books are different from their film adaptations because it keeps things interesting. I definitely think that I liked the movie more still, it was more entertaining and I liked that it showed the wife’s point of view as well. I also thought that some of the main parts of the book were unrealistic and that kind of turned me off from the book. For instance, when Joshua visits Ibrahim and is shown the “sex tape” he secretly filmed and then they get into a physical altercation. I just couldn’t see this whole situation actually playing out the way it did in real life.

There’s really a lot more that I could say about this book, but I feel like this is getting pretty long already so I’ll cut it short. Overall, I liked that the novel can stand on its own and that it isn’t exactly the same as the story in the film. I liked that at the end I still felt like the two were meant to be together, and I liked that the story really makes you think about the proposed situation and what it would be like that have that sort of offer on the table. It’s definitely an interesting idea and I would definitely recommend the book to any one who has seen the movie or is just interested in the plot.

Currently Reading: Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

November 18, 2014Leave a comment

I’m really looking forward to getting more into this book. I love Lena and think that she has a brilliant mind. So far I like the little insight that it gives into her private and personal thoughts. And I think it’s really brave of her to write it down, publish it, and let the world critique her. She’s definitely someone that I admire as an aspiring writer and I can’t wait to post about it more!

Perfect, Unbelievable, and Wicked by Sara Shepard

October 7, 2014April 30, 2016Leave a comment

In my last post I believe I said that I was going to just read a bunch of the Pretty Little Liars books and then make a huge post about them all. This isn’t quite as far as I thought I would have gotten, but I found myself reading them like it was a chore and not something that I was actually enjoying.

I’ve always been the type that has to finish something once I’ve started it. You can’t just stop reading in the middle of a series, you have to have an ending. But I have also been known to put something down and never pick it back up just because it wasn’t interesting to me or because I was assigned to read it. I hate feeling like I’m being forced to read. These books were somewhat enjoyable and very simple to get through, but the characters aren’t very likeable and the story isn’t nearly as exciting as the show. Plus, knowing happened in the show and what changes they made for the better, just makes the books seem like a first draft of something that ended up really good.

I’ll admit it. I stopped reading altogether. I thought about this blog and the promise that I made to myself, but I just couldn’t pick up the next book and keep reading. I needed something to spark my interest again.

This past weekend I went to see the movie Gone Girl. It blew me away. I knew there was going to be a twist, but I didn’t expect it to be anything like it was. It may be one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far. Being a reader, I knew that Gone Girl was originally a book. As soon as I got home from seeing it, I bought the book on my Kindle. It’s so good, I can’t put it down.

I love the feeling when you pick up something and start reading and fall in love with reading all over again. Gone Girl has completely cured me of the slump that the Pretty Little Liars series left me in. It made me want to read more and to actually have a somewhat impressive list of books that I was able to read in the last year.

Thanks to everyone who has followed me and liked my posts. I do hope that you enjoy reading what I have to say and I’d love to hear from you more. I’m not going to write a review for each of the Pretty Little Liars books, because there isn’t really much to say about them. I may pick them up again and finish the series, but probably not for awhile.

Currently Reading: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

June 13, 20142 Comments

I’m not completely sure I’m ready to take on reading this entire series. Apparently there are 16 of them, and the last one is coming out this December, who knew?

I’m a fan of the television series and bought the first book a while ago (after watching the first season, finding out there were books, and needing to know who A was). I do know that the show has strayed somewhat from the books, but I think it might be interesting to see if there are any similarities/differences and where the story went in the books.

I’m about six chapters in, and so far it’s exactly like the first season. I actually really like all the Philadelphia/Pennsylvania references. Not sure if I’ve said this before, but I’m from Pa and actually went to college in Philly, so it’s pretty interesting and makes me connect a little more to the books.

Really, what I want to know is if anyone has actually read through all of the books in the series. Are they worth it? Are they as good? I’d really like to know. ALSO: if anyone wants to talk PLL and theories with me, I’d love to do that!

Currently Reading: A Dance with Dragons

January 5, 20142 Comments

To be fair, I started reading George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons before the new year started. But it’s what I’m currently reading so it is my first book of the year.

I’ve already read the first four books from the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and was especially looking forward to starting this one.

So far, I’m in love with it. I’m glad to have the original POV’s back, especially Jon Snow, Daenerys, and Tyrion.

Kayla Cropper

Category: Currently Reading