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.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

July 12, 2016Leave a comment

One boring, rainy day I was looking for something to watch on Netflix (is this how most stories start these days?) and I came across Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I had never seen an Audrey Hepburn movie and, to be honest, I thought that the movie was literally about having breakfast at a woman named Tiffany’s house. Dumb, I know right?

I was pleasantly surprised by the film and now I would definitely say it’s one of my favorites. I loved everything about the movie, so of course I had to read the book. I had never read anything by Truman Capote before (although In Cold Blood is definitely on my reading wish list) and was really excited to just read his words and see for myself the development of these characters that I loved so much in film.

When I started reading, I could already tell that many changes had been made when the film was produced. Even though the characters were built a little differently in the story and some scenes had been changed I still felt like the story of Holly Golightly and the narrator was there, and I still really enjoyed reading the story.

I do have to say I was a little disappointed by the ending. Of course, I wanted Holly to come back and end up with the narrator but that’s the ending that Hollywood added. Although it was a different ending from the one I wanted I still liked it because it was actually more realistic.

Overall, it was definitely worth the read. I would probably read it again now that I know not to expect the same exact movie version of the story, which is why I usually like to read books before seeing their movies. In this case though, the fact that it was a little different definitely made it more enjoyable to read because I didn’t know what to expect from the story and it gave me another experience with the characters.

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

January 3, 2015April 30, 2016Leave a comment

So, as it turned out this was the last book I finished of the year. I’m really proud that I even (sort of) kept up with reading and posting about it on this blog.

Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl was funny, smart, and incredibly well written. I felt like she was one of my friends telling me all of her embarrassing stories and what she’s learned from those experiences. She made me feel like my life and my embarrassing moments and moments when I felt crazy weren’t too bad after all.

Even in some of her darkest moments, she showed us her humor and her ability to share basically everything from her life. I would hate/love to be one of her friends.

Her ability to write is very good and you can tell that her show Girls is directly coming from her mind. No one else would be able to write those experiences in that way. She’s a total inspiration for young women writers and she’s definitely one of my heroes.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

November 14, 2014Leave a comment

Man, what do I even say about this book? *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

When trailers for the movie first came out I was totally interested in going to see it. It looked good, like a story about a man who probably killed his wife. The previews hinted at a twist, which I thought would be that she had faked her death and left him there looking guilty.

When I actually went to see the film, I was amazed by the story of Nick and Amy Dunne. It was nothing like I had expected and I was happily surprised by the film. Of course, I wanted to read the book after seeing the movie. Let me just say, it was so much better.

Really being able to get into the heads of Nick and Amy Dunne made reading the book worthwhile. I knew what was going to happen with them, but their voices coming through each page and the depth of their story really brought it to life that much more. Seriously if you’ve seen the movie and haven’t read the book, you need to do it. You just need to.

I loved the book, I would recommend it to everybody. It’s such a smart novel and the story really keeps you guessing. Who would have thought that it would have an ending like it does.

After I read the book, I went to see the movie a second time and loved it even more. I seriously can’t wait until it comes out so I can buy it and watch it on repeat.

*Sorry, by the way, for just posting this now. I’ve been done with it for a few weeks and have just been putting off the post until I had a break from work.

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.

Flawless by Sara Shepard

July 28, 2014Leave a comment

Okay, so I went ahead and read the next book. I actually finished it about two weeks ago and haven’t had time to post about it until now. It’s crazy because I thought graduating and not having to go to classes or do work would leave me more time to read/blog, but I’ve been super busy with the job search and everything else that life has thrown at me recently.

I’m pretty sure I’m just going to go ahead and read all of the Pretty Little Liars books that are out. They’re pretty easy to get through, so I’m hoping they don’t take up too much time. I just feel bad about starting a series of books and then never reading through all of them. Like I have to finish things before I can start something else.

This book, like the first was pretty similar to the television series. It kind of blows my mind how quickly the show went through these two books. I’m so used to one book being one whole season. I feel like if I read these books as they came out and had to wait for what happened next and then watched the show and saw how quickly everything flew by I would be kind of disappointed. Maybe it was a decision made by the editor to shorten the books and put out more of them, who knows…

The biggest thing I have to talk about from this book is ***SPOILER ALERT***
Continue reading →

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

June 26, 20141 Comment

So I finished reading the first book in the Pretty Little Liars series pretty quickly (just haven’t gotten the chance to post until now). It was easy to fly through, especially since the chapters are so short. It was definitely nice to read something like that after how long it took me to read the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Someone commented on my last post when I started reading this book and said that they didn’t read any of the others because they found the characters too unlikeable. I could definitely see where they’re coming from. These girls are kind of brats and they do a lot of stupid things (drinking and driving, sleeping with your teacher or your sister’s fiance, etc.). But I think the fact that they’re unlikeable is sort of the point. The fact that they’ve turned out this way as a result of their friend going missing really shows how much of an impact Ali had on each one of them.

The first book was almost exactly the same storyline as the first episode of the television series. I was a little shocked because I thought that it would have at least gone a little further into the first season, but I think there are something like 16 books in this series, so I guess they take place in a shorter amount of time than the show.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I’ve started the second book and I’ll probably end up reading them all eventually.

Kayla Cropper

Category: My Resolution