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.

Product Review: Nestle Splash (Mandarin Orange)

October 5, 2016October 5, 2016Leave a comment

I’ve had flavored waters in the past, but they’re not really my favorite thing to drink and I tend to not buy them if given the option. What I like about this water was that it tasted less like water with flavoring and more like an orange flavored drink. I feel like I would consider buying this if I wanted something like orange juice or orange tang. I liked that it didn’t have any calories, however I was surprised by how sweet it actually was. I feel like if there was one thing about it that I didn’t like, it would be that there are artificial sweeteners so that it can be advertised as not having any calories. Personally, I’d rather just have sugar than artificial sweeteners. Overall, I really liked it and would probably buy it again/recommend it to others.

* Disclaimer: I received the Mandarin Orange flavored Nestle Splash beverage complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster, however all opinions are my own.

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.

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.

Finally Some Beauty Reviews!

October 7, 2014Leave a comment

Okay, as I promised wayyyy back in August I’m going to review these products! I received them all as a gift for completing the P&G Everyday Challenge hosted by Influenster.

1. Gillette Venus Snap with Embrace

This razor is so easy to use and portable. I’ve already reviewed it once before, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time writing about it again. The only thing I’ve noticed is that if I don’t use it often and if I keep it in the shower, the gel starts sticking to the container and is kind of gross. Nothing huge to complain about though!
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Kayla Cropper

Tag: reviews