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This is one of the best books I’ve read in 2021 so far. It is absolutely amazing with its characters and their beautiful, touching, real lives. This is not a plot-driven story. It’s about two people (and the people around them) and how they navigate their relationship and breakup and everything in between. I loved every single minute I spent with this book and cried big tears as I read it.
3.5 stars I really enjoyed my time with this novel a lot more than I thought I was going to. This takes place in San Francisco, and a lot of the places felt familiar. The characters were well developed and the story seemed to be true to how teenagers would speak and behave. It also made me grateful not to have daughters 🙂
I liked this book, or I should say two books. The first part is a commentary of the lives we live online and I am not that much into black humor or sarcasm but I still enjoyed parts of it. The second part, which really should have been a second book was about the terrible loss of a family and the way it affected everyone.
3.5 stars but rounded up only because it was so different. I liked that this book was unpredictable in how not-twisty it was. I enjoyed reading it and kept waiting for the twist and when it came it wasn’t that twisty and I was pleasantly surprised. Enjoyed the mix of scifi and mystery of this one, too.
This book started as a 5-star book for me and ended somewhere near 3 stars. So I averaged it out to 4 stars. It’s a super fascinating read around many topics that pertain to supermarkets (and a few that don’t tie in as closely). I loved the section about Trader Joes the most. But this book is packed with interesting and fascinating stories. Truckers, the fish trade, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and then Amazon and Whole Foods, cars, wine, there’s all that and more.
3.5 stars This sweet genre-bending novel is about Faye, who lost her mom at a very young age and still yearns to be with her so when she stumbles upon a magical way to be with her, she has to choose between getting to know her mom and putting the current beautiful life she’s built at risk. This novel focuses on motherhood and marriage and there are some lovely characters in it. I enjoyed the sweet, quiet novel and I really liked the mix of scifi and contemporary fiction. I liked that it was a bit unpredictable. I really enjoy magical realism and this felt a little like that.
3.5 stars This book is about being open minded, reassessing your beliefs/thoughts/convictions. He highlights the importance of listening and really being curious about other person’s thoughts/arguments. Being open to other viewpoints. Being willing to be wrong. Adjusting and learning. He also talks about the complexity of most issues and how we like to oversimplify and make them binary and that leaning into the gray is more valuable for learning, growing and listening. Especially by leaning into areas of agreement. There’s a whole section about careers and being willing to be open and experiment that really resonated with me. I am certainly doing something I knew nothing about in college and wouldn’t have been able to imagine for myself. He talks about the importance of experimentation and checking in with yourself and making sure what you thought was/is making you happy is still the same thing. While there wasn’t much earth-shattering in this book (except that the boiling frog story is not true!!) I still enjoyed the reminders to be open minded and that most issues are more complex than not. that there’s always some common ground. that fewer arguments are stronger and better and it’s always always a good idea to reevaluate regularly.
I read this book in one sitting and really enjoyed my time with it. It was like one of those comedies where you know one thing after another is going to be misunderstood and go sideways and it just keeping building on itself. The audio was excellent and this book came exactly when I needed it so I really enjoyed it.
2.5 stars. I want to say so many things about this book. It was recommended to me by someone I respect. They said it really inspired them. And I do think there are many inspiring points in this book. Some great stories and some solid advice and some good learnings. But, for me, his tone/personality/writing got in the way so much that I couldn’t really enjoy any of these at all. Even the stories of when he messed up were still full of hubris. He references being the “Jackie Robinson of barbecue” and adds rap lyrics in the beginning of every chapter for reasons that I just couldn’t figure out. The references to he vs she in the book stand out and feel awkward throughout. His story about his first date with his wife that’s meant to make him look principled or not sure what, felt awkward and a bit weird. There were so many instances throughout the book that made me dislike him so much as a person (or at least the way he wrote this book and painted himself in the book) that it was really hard for me to connect with the advice itself. Which, I will say, was solid in many places and if you can get past the things that drove me insane, you might indeed enjoy this book a lot.
3.5 stars In this funny story of a polygamous household full of are secrets, power structures, unkind and kindness, generosity, love, and competition. Even though it was hard for me to keep some of the women apart in the beginning of the story, I really loved reading each of their back stories. They were unique and different and each strong and weak in their own way. The only character that was almost comical and maybe two-dimensional was Baba Segi himself. I could see the twist coming but I still enjoyed this unusual story from beginning to end.
3.5 stars. This story packed in a lot. Racism, Class issues, motherhood, marriage, and more. I found myself moving in an out of connecting with the story at different times. At its core the story is about regret, going back and trying to see if a life choice can be changed and also about what we pass from generation to generation. Decisions we make and how it feels to live with them. How things we push down will eventually come back up and we will need to deal with them. There are many ways to relate to this story and it’s beautifully told.
For people who always tell me YA books are lightweight and not meaningful, I challenge you to read an A. S. King novel and repeat your assertion. A. S. King might be unlike any other author and many of her books are unusual and tough reads. But this one stood out even amongst all her books. I honestly don’t even know how to describe this book. Here’s part of the blurb: As if that’s not already confusing and “what?!” enough, Tru’s house has a switch in the middle and her dad keeps building boxes around it. And “Tru leaves the box through a Tru-shaped hole to go to school” and if I haven’t lost you by now, I am confident you will love this book. This book is unlike anything I’ve read. And I’ve read A LOT of books. It’s genre bending and incredibly difficult to summarize. But at its core it’s about what many of King’s books are about: family, communication, suffering and capturing the essence of real teens. I will not forget this book for a long, long time. with gratitude to edelweiss and Dutton Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review |
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