【Book Review】Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★.5

Plot: ★★★★

Writing：★★★

       To be honest, I didn’t expect that I will have the intention of writing this review before finishing Peter Pan. Before reading this book, I have only watched the Disney cartoon movie, which only leaves a vague image in my memory since the last time I watched it was during my kindergarten years. I didn’t like this book at first, maybe the main reason is because it has such great difference in contrast with what is left in my memory. However, I decide to give this book four stars after all. I will explain my decision at the later part of my review. Since I don’t think it’s necessary for me to describe the plot of Peter Pan in detail, I will just briefly summarize the plot. Three siblings Wendy, Michael, and John are guided to fly away from their house by a mystery boy called Peter Pan, who previously only appears in Wendy’s dream. They have an adventure on a strange island called Neverland.

    Let’s begin with the characters. I only give it 2.5 stars, which has never happened before. Even some of those characters have redeemed themselves in the later story, I still really dislike them. At the beginning of the book, tinkle bell lets other boys shot arrows on Wendy due to her jealous toward Wendy. Don’t forget the fact that Wendy doesn’t die because of the kiss on her chest. If she doesn’t have any protection at all, she will definitely be deeply wounded. This scene shocked me because tinker bell’s character is so different from what I imaged her to be. Even she would rather face death in order to save Peter’s life in the later story, it doesn’t change my negative opinion of her. Also, Peter Pan is such a cocky character throughout the story; he doesn’t change at all. It gives me the feeling that he has been dictating the boys on the island, and he doesn’t feel that his behavior has anything wrong. The story also doesn’t explain why Peter sliced off captain Hook’s hand at the first place. If Peter Pan just does this because it’s cool, then no wonder why Hook wants to kill him. The only character that I like is probably Wendy, but my like of her still can’t make up my distaste toward other characters.

    The last chapter is the reason why I give the entire book four stars, and also the reason why I give the plot four stars. Peter Pan can never grow old. Now if I really consider this phenomenon, I  it is terrifying and cruel as well. When the boys from the island gradually become normal people in the society, and when Wendy grows up, gets married, and has a daughter, Peter Pan is still the same little boy just like the first time he appears in Wendy’s room. HE FORGETS. He forgets about Tinker Bell, who has loved him so much and even be willing to sacrifice her life for him. When Wendy mentions her name to Peter, he is indifferent to Tinker’s death. Even though I dislike Tinker, I truly feel sorry for her, for her to love an impossible person to return her love. Peter Pan forgets about his companions on the island; he can even forget captain Hook. He can laugh, cry, or get angry, but he can never feel remorse, guilty, or yearning. Those deeper feelings belong to grown-ups, and Peter will forever be a young boy. He lives in the moment and forgets about the past. The ending part is especially cruel and thought-provoking. I like it so much that I decide to revise my overall score.

    I don’t have too much to talk about the language. The author’s language is not really my cup of tea. I give it three stars because my feeling doesn’t lean toward either side. Overall, I really like the very ending of the book, so I change my rating and even spend time on writing this review. Peter Pan may only seem to be an interesting adventure story for children, but I believe many adults can feel the deeper emotions inside the book. By the way, I love the edition that I bought. The illustrations are absolutely stunning.

【Book Review】Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2)

Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2)

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★★★

Plot: ★★★★

Writing：★★★★

       The reason why I haven’t updated for nearly a month is because I didn’t finish even one book. I have no idea what’s wrong with me, but now I finally finish reading something, and I will update another book review for my viewers. Though, I suppose there are not many of them. This is actually the first time I have ever written a review for the second book in a series. I have read the first book Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children several months ago and really enjoyed it. I think that is a great beginning of a trilogy. I didn’t expect myself to read this book for nearly two months. It’s really surprising that after dragging on reading it for two months, I can still be engrossed in this book.

    My overall rating is four stars. It is definitely as great as the first book. Ransom Riggs does a wonderful job in maintaining the feeling of the language, creating a “peculiar” sense. Since this is already the second book in this series, I won’t spend much time on introducing the plot. The story mainly talks about the journey the group of peculiar children have to face after they were forced to leave their little island and venture into the grand city of London. The plot of this book is apparently more twisted than the previous book which introduces all the major events on the small island where the peculiar children are stuck in. In this book, Jacob and his friends need to travel to other places and are forced to encounter much more difficulties and arduous challenges that may even threaten their lives. Since the story happens in the 1940s, the WWII is happening, and there are several devastating scenes being portrayed in this book. I read the last 100 pages all in one sitting, and there are a lot of things that happened at the end. I didn’t expect a major plot twist, which is a very clever move of Ransom Riggs’. It is indeed shocking and unexpected, so I definitely have great fun reading the last fifty pages.

    As for the characters, I think they all possess unique characteristics. My favorite one is Enoch, which may surprise many people. Enoch is clearly not the most pleasant person in the story. In fact, I believe many people may find him disturbing because of his sarcasm. I personally find him interesting and funny. Even sometimes he is kind of sarcastic, I still enjoy reading his parts and feel that he is very realistic. If Enoch is not part of the story, I may give the character part only 3 or 3.5 stars. I am not a huge fan of Emma, though. Don’t beat me. I don’t have much to say about the writing. Ransom Riggs does a great job in portraying his peculiar world. His language may not be as fabulous as Jane Austen’s, it is still well-crafted and fits well into his world. With his vivid depiction, I can read more fluently and be engrossed in the plot.

    The Hollow City is a powerful and well-developed book in this series, and I am definitely looking forward to the third book since this one ends with sort of a cliffhanger. However, I won’t pick up the third one anytime soon, because I have struggled in this world for nearly two months now, and I desperately need a break. If I pick up the third one right away, I may not enjoy it as much as I am supposed to be.

【Book Review】Joy Luck Club

Joy Luck Club

Overall Rating: ★★★.5

Characters: ★★★

Plot: ★★★★

Writing：★★★

       Sorry again for not updating for such a long time. My summer holiday plan doesn’t go as fluent as I think it would be. Since I am going to be a senior at the end of this summer, there are a lot of things that require me to spend my time on. I have to complete my personal statement and prepare for my SAT test in October, but now I will leave all of those behind and write this overdue book review.

    I have been heard about Amy Tan and her work for a very long time. Since she is one of the most well-known Chinese-American authors, I always feel the necessity of reading her work so that I can get a better understanding of what are the situations Chinese immigrants are encountering in the United States. I had read one of her short stories “Fish Cheek” in one of my literature classes, and I felt that it is indeed a great work, but it is surely not the best short story I have ever read. Before opening the Joy Luck Club, I have no idea what this book will present. All I know is a very vague idea about the basic plot of this book, so now I am going to summarize a little bit about the plot.

    Joy Luck Club tells the story of four different Chinese women who had emigrated from China to the United States in around 1940s or 50s. The book is divided into four sections and each section contains four chapters. The story is told from eight points of view: the view of the four women and their American-born daughters. Therefore, it is clear that the mothers and the daughters will have quite opposite value due to the sharp contrast of their growing environment. Amy Tan is really fond of portraying the conflict between Chinese and American value, and I am going to discuss this in the later paragraph.

    The first thing that I would like to comment about this book is its characters. I do have to admit the fact that after finishing this book, I cannot remember the name of the characters, but most importantly, I cannot link the mothers and the daughters. Maybe I am the only one who have this kind of problem, but I do feel it is difficult to put different characters together and understand their relationship without drawing a relationship map. By the way, that is probably the reason I am hesitated to pick the Son of Ice and Fire series. Besides the difficulty of distinguishing between characters, I feel that each pair of mother and daughter presents very different characteristics. Their ideas and behavior may have some similar origins, but they do varies and presents a diversiform group of characters. The mothers may all come from China, but they are actually originated from different parts of China, and their life stories have dramatic differences. I think that is something Amy Tan has done well.

    I don’t have much to say about the plot, but I do have to say some parts of the story really shocked me. Even from the perspective of me, who is born in the United States but is raised in China, some stories are extremely dark, twisted, and weird. I guess some of the incidents mentioned in this book do happen in China many years ago, but they mainly happened in the more countryside area where information was not very adequate for the peasants to understand the correctness of their behavior. I was even scared in some parts of the story while reading this book.

    As for the language, I am not very satisfied with this book. I don’t know why exactly. The writing style of Amy Tan is just very different from other American authors that I have read. The dictions and syntax are just not what I had expected. Also, there are many Chinese words or phrases being used in this book, and they are spelled in English to sound like Chinese. Since I definitely understand Chinese, I tried to read those words and see if they match the English definition that Amy Tan gives. This is a very weird experience because some of the words do not sound their modern Chinese way of spelling, and that is quite confusing.

    Overall, I give this book a 3.5-star rating. It is a required reading assignment for this summer, and I feel this book is adequate, but not as impressing as the other book I have read in school. However, I am also very happy now that I finally get my hands on Amy Tan’s works, because I have always been looking forward to reading more of her stories, and now my goal is reached. I recommend anyone who is interested in Chinese culture to read this book. 

【Book Review】Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★★

Plot: ★★★★.5

Writing：★★★★

       Many book-to-movie adaptations will come out this year, and this book will be one of them. I have heard millions of buzz about this book on both Goodreads and the Booktube community. Surely, my interest has been aroused, but the ultimate inspiration for me to pick up this book is the movie trailer, just like what happens to the book Me Before You. By the way, the trailer is fantastic. If the actual movie can reach as high quality as that of the trailer, then I will be extremely excited for this movie adaptation. To me, there is no better director that Tim Burton whose style fits perfectly with the peculiar and quirky feelings of this novel. To be honest, I don’t have a high expectation for this book before reading it. However, I do discover some kind of pleasure throughout my reading experience.

    First of all, let me try to summarize the plot of this book. Jacob has grown up with his grandfather’s weird stories filled with fantastical experience and old pictures of some peculiar children. As he grows up, he no longer believes his grandfather’s tales, until one night his grandfather is killed by a monster. After suffering from continuous ceaseless nightmares, Jacob is resolved to set out a journey to an island where his grandfather has directed him to go to. On that island, Jacob discovered something very peculiar and even dark. Those unusual children in the antique pictures of Jacob’s grandfather may still be alive.

    Actually, I have seen the Chinese version of this book, though I just saw the front cover. The Chinese title is called “怪屋女孩”, and if you translate it back to English, it will be “a girl in a weird house”. You will soon realize the fact that this title is quite misleading as long as you have actually read the book. Because of this Chinese title, I had fault expectations about what I am going to encounter in this book. I expect to see some kind of ghost story or some haunted house in an isolated island. Apparently, none of those imageries are true.

    I give the characters three stars because I cannot like the protagonist Jacob at the first place. At the beginning, he appears to be quite hysterical and even a little mad. I understand his circumstances and all the hard things he has been through, but I still cannot like him as a character, though I feel much better about him as the story progresses. He is brave and smart, and these qualities of him are revealed at the climax of this book. I also like other peculiar children; they are very funny and interesting.

    Although the first half of the book drags a little bit, the second half is definitely amazing. The plot twist is shocking, and I didn’t see it coming at all. The second half is action packed and exciting. Some of the scenes are quite nervous, and I gradually realize why this book is such a famous thing in the past few years. I thoroughly enjoy the plot, and I am looking forward to reading the next book.

    Frankly, I have spent almost half a month on reading this book. During this time period, I was stressed out with the SAT test, and I was sort of in a reading slump. However, after marathoning through this book, I feel my love for reading appears again. I won’t read the second book right after I finish the first book, so I decide to pick up some stand-alone before going back to the world of Jacob and his peculiar friends. I definitely recommend this book. It didn’t blow my mind, but it does have numerous unexpected plot twists that amaze me a lot.

【Book Review】The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★

Plot: ★★★★

Writing：★★★★

       I am so sorry for not updating any book review stuff for approximately a month. The reason is the disturbing SAT, which will take place on June 4th. I am pretty sure after the test, I will be able to read much faster, considering the fact that I only read ONE book in nearly three weeks. SHAME ON ME. So without further ado, I am going to start talking about the only book that I read recently——The Girl on the train.

    I have to say that when books are turned into movies, the trailers of those movies are normally good inspirations for me to pick up the book. I did the same thing with Me Before You, and The Girl on the Train is also another example. I was intrigued by the trailer, so I bought the book. I struggled a little bit during the middle part; I hate some of the characters but not so much at the end. This book is quite different from what I thought it would be, but I still give it a four-star rating. I definitely understand why some people dislike this book, and I share the same opinion with them to a certain degree. However, I believe the unpredictable twist in the plot makes up for that. I spent a long time reading the first half and then flew through the second half in about two days; the plot does pick up at the end, which I am glad to see.

    The Girl on the Train is told from three perspectives. All three perspectives may seem to be independent, but they all intertwined somehow at the end. The story is mainly told from the perspective of Rachel, a woman who is an alcoholic and is suffering from a heartbreaking consequence of a divorce. She takes the train to London every single day, and on that train, she passes the same houses every day. She sees a couple living in a house, and she imagines how their lives will be like. She even puts imaginative names on the couple. One day, she discovers something peculiar that makes her do something that she has never done before. I am not good at summarizing the plot of a book, so that’s the best I can do. Now, it is the spoiler part.

    The main part that I dislike about this book is the characters. Normally, when I am reading some books, I always tend to find somebody that I like or someone that I can side with. But in this book, I hate practically every character. None of them is one hundred percent innocent. I probably dislike Rachel the most, because I always feel like she gives up too fast. Every time I thought she is going to make some change to her pathetic life, she turns to drinking again. That really pisses me off. Through the first part of the book, I just kept repeating the sentence to Rachel “Get a grip, for god sake.”

    Aside from the characters, I really appreciate how the writer crafted the plot. I admit I am not a good guesser when it comes to thrillers or crime novels. I can only tell who does the crime until the very end, and this book is no exception. I have no idea who kills Megan until the last fifty pages or so. This book is absolutely not terrifying. It only has a certain amount of suspense that is not scary at all. I am glad that I didn’t guess the plot, or that will be so much boring to read.

    I don’t think I will watch the movie because I don’t feel like going through the same emotional process with Rachel being an alcoholic. I give this book four stars but more likely to be a 3.5-star rating. I had some enjoyment while reading it, but I don’t feel the enjoyment is fantastic enough to completely outweigh its flaws. I understand why it was such a huge thing last year, but maybe it is just not my piece of cake.

【Book Review】The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Characters: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing：★★★★★

 First of all, I seriously doubt that this book needs a detailed introduction because everyone have clearly read it during their high school years or at some point in their lives. Since The Great Gatsby is such a well-known book, I believe it is unnecessary for me to describe the synopsis of this book. It was set in New York, during the Jazz Age; it depicts how the upper-classes is filled with extravagance and consumerism. Also, I won’t discuss the themes or any of the literary element in this book review, because everyone must have been tired of hearing their English teachers keep repeating these things. On this book review, all I want to discuss is how this book affects my life and how I fall in love it.

    Generally, I don’t have a passive opinion against required reading materials assigned by the school teacher. To be honest, I have actually loved many of the classic works that were assigned readings including To Kill a Mockingbird and A Separate Peace. Before I read the actual book, I watched the trailer of the movie The Great Gatsby, which is starred by Leonardo DiCaprio.

    The first thing that I want to mention about this book is its writing style. F Scott Fitzgerald was an extremely talented writer, especially when it comes to the choices of dictions and the descriptive languages. With his writing style, the scene in the book seems to be so much more vivid. Even though there were sometimes when I found difficulties figuring out his implied meanings in the text, I still highly appreciate how much he great he can write.

    The other thing that impresses me is the book’s characters and plot. The only character that I can attach to is Nick Caraway. Even though Nick, at some points in the novel, has apparently revealed some of his flaws in relation to his character, he is definitely more likable than any other characters in the book. Nick takes the place as a spectator; unlike Daisy or Gatsby, he never gets truly involved in the progression of the plot. However, it is because of the fact that he is not technically the center of the story, he can be a qualified and reliable narrator who remains his calmness throughout the novel, making a stark contrast to Holden, the narrator of the Catcher in the Rye. I don’t like Tom and Daisy because of their selfish and consumerism. I don’t like Gatsby because he is unbelievably stupid with all the issues of Daisy. Overall, Nick is the only character that I love in this book, but that doesn’t mean I cannot love the story and give it a five stars rating.

    The plot is quite shocking. I don’t know how I manage to do that, but I successfully avoided all the spoilers until I finish the book. That is an accomplishment considering almost everyone in my class have either watched the movie or read the book. I didn’t expect Gatsby to die in such a ridiculous way, though. Despite all of his wealth and handsomeness, he is such a douche bag. Let me tell you. There were millions of chances that he can choose and thus avoid the gun shooting, but he just didn’t have the luck.

    Overall, I have a high expectation before reading the book, and fortunately, this book doesn’t let me down like many other well-acclaimed books do. I am wondering whether I should go and pick up more works by F Scott Fitzgerald, but I heard that his other works have very different writing styles compare to The Great Gatsby. No matter what happens, this book deserves all of the attention, merit, and praise it receives. I am very glad that I have the chance to read it during my junior year in high school.

【Book Review】Me Before You

Me Before You

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Characters: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing：★★★★★

 Louisa Clark is a woman who just lost her job as a waitress in a coffee shop in her small town. Due to the poor financial situation her family is now struggling with, Louisa, the only source of income in her family, is desperate for a job to support her parents and her sister who re-attends college with her little son. Later on, Louisa is lucky to find a job that offers a satisfying amount of pay. And that is how she meets the quadriplegic former business men: Will Traynor. At first, Will’s sarcastic attitude seems to create discord between the two people. However, Louisa later finds herself falling for the emotions and minds of Will. She then realizes the terrible secret plan that Will has always kept in mind, and she is resolved to change his mind.

    I am one hundred percent sure that this book is going to make into the TOP 10 books that I read this year. It is such a fantastic heart-gripping story. This is the kind of book that will reshape how you view the world, and influence your life ever since. The story is never boring to read, and there is always little points of excitement or humor. It is truly amazing that I didn’t get tired of reading this book considering the fact that I nearly spent two weeks finishing it. Instead of feeling relieved to finally finish the book, I was even depressed to leave the world and will not be able to read more about those characters. (I later found out that there is a sequel, though.)

    I have heard a lot of good things about this book on booktube community, and also, the ratings on Goodreads are pretty amazing. At least most of the people who I trust with their taste of books are loving Me Before You. However, the thing that truly motivates me to pick up this book is the upcoming movie adaptation of Me Before You as well as its fabulous trailer. I am not going to lie with the fact that I literally watched the trailer first and then read the book. Please watch the trailer, but if you are really sensitive and cautious about spoilers and you haven’t read the book yet, I suggest you to read the book first then watch the trailer. I highly doubt some parts of the trailer is a little spoilery.

    Now it comes to the actual content of the book. I find the protagonist Louisa extremely relatable. She is independent, brave, and potentially talented. She doesn’t realize how great achievements she can be able to accomplish at first; instead, she just wants to live her little life in her small hometown. Louisa is not the typical contemporary heroine who is always whining and hesitant to do anything. Louisa knows what she is doing, and she possess this strong determination to achieve her plan. She is willing to make self-transformations and devote her time and energy to the work she focuses on. She is probably one of my favorite female characters in the contemporary genre. In many contemporary romances, I find the female protagonist to be intolerable due to their annoying personalities. I am so glad to find a clever and self-motivated character like Louisa. As for Will, he initially appears to be a cynic person who is tired of living what he believes to be a dreadful life. I didn’t find him as agreeable as Louisa at the beginning, though his comments on Louisa always make me laugh. Through the progression of the story, I see how he suffers from his disability, and how he needs to face his terrible life after the accident that causes him to be a quadriplegic. How his relationship with Louisa changes throughout the book is definitely one of my favorite element of the story. It is wonderful that this relationship is not an instant love; it not only makes me feel the realness and truthfulness of the plot, but also adds the power to the storytelling aspect.

    The writing is very easy to comprehend. The reason for me to read this book for two weeks is not that it is long or difficult to read, it lies under the fact that I can only spend approximately half an hour per day to read during the past several weeks. I was busy with all my school work and the test preparation, and I am obviously stressed out. I manage to squeeze my time schedule so that I can write this book review. I realize I am a little stray from the point. Overall, the writing is not difficult, if you can spend an hour or two each day to read this book, you will definitely fly through it.

    By the way, I have heard about the sequel of Me Before You, which is called After You. I notice that it doesn’t get a high rating (about 3.7 stars) on Goodreads, so I am hesitant to pick up the next book even I thoroughly enjoy the first one.

    -Spoiler Discussion!-

    Me Before You is definitely not a simple romance; it touches several very serious topics, especially the issue of assistant death. I have to admit that I have never truly paid attention to the whole idea of assistant death until I read this book. I was shocked to see Will choose to die even with the presence of Louisa. Even I do not fully agree with this decision, I have to respect what he chooses to become. If that is what Will wants to be, and if he has gone through careful consideration, then maybe we shouldn’t prohibit him from doing this just for the sake of our own comfort. I have been thought about this idea for the past weeks or so. What if I get involved in a terrible accident and lose nearly everything that I own, including my friends, my dreams, and my life. What will I do? Will I make the same decision just like what Will does in the book? I have no idea what the answer will be.

    The debate surrounding the issue of assistant death is always a hot topic in the global news. Some believe it is people’s own right to decide whether they want to give up living or not; Others condemn assistant death to be a morally wrong approach. I don’t have a clear opinion in my mind. After reading the book, I accidently stumbled across a documentary filmed by BBC (I am not sure about the real company). It is hosted by Terry Pratchett, the great author who created the epic fantasy series the Discworld. This documentary was filmed four or five years ago, and it deals with assistant death. Terry Pratchett explores some of the reasons people give when it comes to why they choose to take the assistant death. The documentary also brings the viewers to Switzerland where we actually witness the process of the assistant death together with Terry Pratchett. It is a depressing documentary, and I know that Terry Pratchett died two years ago. Me Before You really makes me think more deeply which is extremely rare in the area of chick-lit or contemporary romances. It is a life-altering book, and in my opinion, it deserves every merit it gains from the readers.

    Me Before You blows my mind and changes my life ever since.

【Book Review】A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls

Overall Rating: ★★★★.5

Characters: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing：★★★★★

 Before reading this book, I have heard so many great things from many people who I trust when it comes to the taste in books. I picked this book up with high expectation, and fortunately, it doesn’t let me down. You may feel very strange with the fact that even though I gave each sub-category five stars, I still gave the overall rating 4.5 stars. I will explain that in the following passage.

    Conor O'Malley always have this nightmare in which a monster comes visit him almost every night at 12:07. Initially, Conor believes his encounter with the yew-tree monster is merely a dream; however, he later finds out that this is not actually the case. The dream is so vivid and real that it starts to influence Conor’s life. Meanwhile, the illness of Conor’s mother is something else that he struggles to deal with….

    A monster calls is a very short book with only 215 pages. I can fly through this in about half a day. Since I am extremely busy with school work recently, I didn’t make that happen. Labeled as middle-grade books, A monster calls is very different from the ordinary children’s books. It possesses this mysterious and even a little horror atmosphere throughout the plot. I was so amazed by some of the illustrations. I know Jim Kay, who is the illustrator of this book; he also does the artwork for the Harry Potter-a recently released edition with breathtaking illustrations. His illustrations are so gorgeous that they just improve my entire reading experience of this book to another level.

Now I want to explain why I didn’t give this book a five out of five stars rating. I don’t know why, but this book somehow lacks something which prevents me from giving it five solid stars instead of 4.5 stars. I like the characters. Conor, as a protagonist, has his own flaws in terms of his way of dealing with his troubles. Sometimes, he reveals his immature side and does something that he instantly regret after doing it. Actually, my favorite character of this book is the yew tree monster. I love all of his tales though I find myself having difficulties in relating the tale to the plot. Apparently, the author doesn’t write these three tales for nothing. Maybe they are some kind of metaphors which I really feel stupid for not being able to understand their implied meanings. However, I still enjoy all of these tales, especially the first two. They are so different from the stereotypical tales in the ways that they reach a deeper topic and have such an interesting little plot twist. As for the writing of Patrick Ness, I think it is beautiful and accessible for young readers.

    Generally, I really recommend this book to not only its original target audiences who are teenagers and children, but also to adults who seek for a heart-wrenching tale with beautiful writings.

      

【Book Review】The Fountain

The Fountain

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★★★

Plot: ★★★★

Writing：★★★★

I received a free electronic copy to make an honest review.

      Ava is a transfer student to a school called St. Augustus where her parents are alumni of. She joins the swimming team and meets this typical mean girl Courtney, who makes Ava’s life in the new school not so wonderful. After suffering a depressing day, Ava stumbles across a mysterious fountain in the forest in her school, so she decides to make a wish that says Courtney has never existed. Then in the next day, she discovers that Courtney actually disappears, and nobody has ever heard of or remembered her. Regretting with her behavior, Ava wants to undo her wish, only to find out that she cannot find the fountain anymore. Through her research, she faces the dilemma between her boyfriend Lucas, and the charming boy in her new school called Ethan.

Interesting PLOT TWIST, though I kind of guess something may happen, thus I wasn’t extremely surprised to see that happen. As for the characters, I don’t find them to be extremely relatable, but I definitely like reading about them. To be honest, I like Ethan way more than Lucas. I like the characters, but I don’t love them to death, so that is why I give the characters a four-star rating.

Then it comes to the plot of this book. I think the overall idea of this book is quite brilliant. However, I am a little over with the whole “mean girl” thing, because I have read so many books that have these mean-girls-bully-others elements. When I read about the appearance of Courtney, I just hope that she is not going to be that kind of girl, and she actually is what I think she will be. With that being said, it is just my PERSONAL opinions. The plot is definitely interesting to read about. Also, my other opinion is that the book is a little too short. Therefore, it ends a little abruptly. I was hoping to have more, and I was shocked to discover that the book actually ends. Now, I am just wondering whether the author wants to write a sequel or not. If she will write one, I will definitely be reading that as well.

Overall, I really like this book. It is an easy read. Since the writing style is very accessible, and it is not a lengthy book, I finished this in one and a half day. I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy young adult books with little mystery elements. There is definitely potential within this book!  

【Book Review】Raining Down Rules

Raining Down Rules

       Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★★★

Plot: ★★★.5

Writing：★★★

       I received a free electronic copy to make an honest review.

Jemma lives a life that is bounded by a set of rules. When she comes back to her childhood hometown, she is torn between Jordan, a dangerous rock star, and Vic, a charming and attractive firefighter. She is forced to make a decision that will hopefully lead her to the true love.

    As for the overall rating, I gave this book four stars. From my perspective, I highly enjoy reading this book, and I think it is a fast and interesting read. However, I still have some problems with this book which I will be discussing in the following passage.

    Normally in books that have a love triangle, I prone to choose a side among the two rivals. In this book, I choose to be in the team Vic. I understand that Jordan, a dangerous, famous, and sexy rock star, can be the crush of many young girls. However, I didn’t have a strong connection with him ever since the beginning. Maybe my opinions are a little personal, but I don’t think that I am going to fall in love with someone who is addicted, bad tempered, and inclined to impose physical violence on others. However, I admit that he is a character with depth. He definitely goes through myriad struggles and transformations in the book, which is great. When it comes to Vic, he is hands down my absolutely FAVORITE character in this book. I find him to be very likeable and attractive. He is that kind of guy who I can feel comfortable being together because of his dependability and care. In general, I find all the characters to be interesting. I don’t dislike anyone of them including Jordan. Therefore, I give the characters part four stars. I love Vic so FREAKING much!

The writing part is the one that I have the most trouble with. It doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy reading it or even dislike it. It is just that sometimes I figure the writing is somewhat a little confusing. There are several short sections that are a little repetitive. Some of the sentences are not well written in the fact that the commas are not utilized well, and I got a little confusing while reading those sentences. Besides those minute writing problems, I really enjoy the other parts such as the intense tension between characters and the portrait of the characters’ emotions. But I still firmly believe that if there had been fewer mistakes, I would have enjoyed this book much more.

    Finally, I want to briefly talk about my thoughts on the plot. This is a typical love triangle story that is filled with struggles and torments. I don’t find the plot to be able to blow me away. Also, I am not satisfied with some parts of the ending. I am not going to explain explicitly which part I dislike, but I am not happy with the thing that happens at the end. That’s probably why I give the plot 3.5 stars.

    Overall, I still have great fun reading this book. Finding some flaws in terms of writings and characters, I still highly recommend this book to people who just want to read a fun and easy-to-read romance with a love triangle. By the way, I have to admit that the cover, to be honest, is quite cheesy. However, I am looking forward to seeing other books by B.K. Rivers, who I think definitely has the potential to write more intriguing books.

【Book Review】The Outsiders

The Outsiders

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Characters: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing：★★★★

        To be honest, this is more like a 4.5 stars rating. However, I thoroughly enjoy this book, and I just cannot believe the fact that I actually love it! The Outsiders tells a story about Ponyboy Curtis, who is part of the lower-class called Greasers in their region. The Greasers usually get into fights with another group of teenagers who are called Socs and they are people who come from the higher-class in the region. Their conflictions come to a breaking point when Ponyboy’s friend does something horrible, and their lives are turned upside down forever.

To be one hundred percent honest, I don’t expect myself liking this book. I picked it up on Amazon just for the purpose of completing my bargain price. When I was wondering which book to read, I decided to pick this book up, and it totally blew me away. The best part of this book is its plot and its characters. Though I still have some issues about the writing style, I think that is probably my problem since I generally don’t appreciate the way these characters speak just like those of the book Of Mice and Men.

-Spoiler Alert!-

    My favorite part of this book is its characters. I cannot express how deeply I love Ponyboy and Johnny, and how depressing I was when I read the death of Johnny. Ponyboy, being only fourteen years old, is the youngest of the greasers. While Ponyboy is mature and well-aware of the confliction between greasers and Socs, he sometimes still possesses the typical teenage features which can cause him great trouble in the book. To be fair, it is his behavior to run away from his house at night that somewhat leads to his encounters with other Socs, which causes Johnny to kill one of them. By the way, I seriously think that the introduction of this book on Goodreads and other websites shouldn’t include the fact that Johnny kills someone. That is supposed to be a spoiler. If previously the readers have no idea of this incident, they will definitely be in deep shock when they read this part. Giving the readers this piece of information is just like taking away or weakening the excitement of reading this book. Also, I really admire Johnny as a character. He is willing to sacrifice himself for the purpose of saving other kids in the fire, and he is willing to kill a person in order to save his friend Ponyboy. He is such a great character, and I am so sad that he is dead at the end.

    I think there are maybe other symbols or general ideas within this book, but the most apparent one is definitely the social conflict between the Greasers and the Socs. This rivalry relationship more or less reflects the distant gap between the rich and the poor or the gap between the high classes and low classes. Even the author portrays their relationship with such dreadfulness, it is very likely that she actually points out the fact that these two classes are not opposite completely. This opinion is shown in the part where Ponyboy, a greaser, discusses literature works and watches movies with Cherry, a member of the Socs. Their harmonious relationship is an evident indication that the relationships between people from different social status are not at all hateful, instead, there are still some bright spots that can be discovered.

    Overall, I really like this book, and I definitely recommend this book to everyone who is interested in books that deal with teenage problems and social conflicts. I have had a great experience reading this book. I should have read it earlier!

【Book Review】Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

Overall Rating: ★★★★

Characters: ★★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing：★★★★

       This is a well-known modern classic book that I read recently. My overall rating of this book is four stars. Generally, I really appreciate this book, but I don’t absolutely love it. Of Mice and Man basically tells a story about two outsiders: George and Lennie who dream about their bright future. However, their expectation is ruined when Lennie, George’s single-minded and naïve friend, accidentally commits a dreadful crime, which leads to a despairing end.

    The only thing that I dislike about this book is its writing style. I completely understand the fact that people at that social ranking during that time period were supposed to speak that way. I know the author uses this writing style to illustrate the characteristics of these characters, but I just cannot appreciate this type of writing even I know that it is actually the best thing to do. The author always uses sentences like “I don’t mean no harm”, which, of course, I know their correct meanings, but sometimes I am just so confused. Therefore, I gave the writing style a four-star rating.

-Spoiler Discussion!-

    Here is the thing. As soon as I read the general plot line at the back of the book, I instantly knew that Lennie, as a childlike character with uncontrollable strength, is highly possible to get involved in some kind of troubles. And when I read the part where he accidentally breaks the neck of Curley’s wife, I wasn’t really surprised since I had anticipated this happenstance. However, what shocks me the most is the part where George resolves to shot Lennie from the back, and this plot twist is the reason why I finally decide to give the plot five stars. Seriously, I didn’t see that coming, and that is quite amazing.

    As for the characters, I really like how John portrays Lennie’s characters as well as the development of George’s emotions. Lennie is a character who doesn’t change much through the story, which makes perfect sense due to his natural childlike personality. The transformation of George is what fascinates me. He appears at the beginning of the book as sort of a protector of Lennie, who always gets into trouble. But as the story progresses, George starts this transformation that ultimately leads to the shot.

    This book has a very tragic ending. Both of the protagonists dream of earning their social status by working hard and can therefore gradually own their own farm. Their dreams are ruined for multiple reasons, which I am not sure which reasons is the dominant cause. Lennie is such a tragic figure. He never means to harm anyone. His tragic death derives mainly from his own intrinsic childish mind and his uncontrollable great physical body power. I am sad and pity for him.

    Apparently, this book criticizes the brutality of human nature, as well as the fragile American dreams. In my opinion, this book deserves all of its attention and popularity in the United States. I think this is a powerful book, and I do recommend this book to anyone who is intended to learn more about American historical literature and the farmers’ life in the 20th century. Still, I enjoy it, but I don’t thoroughly love it. However, I agree with the idea that this modern classic should be passed on to generations of readers for the purpose of contemplating its profound meanings.

【Book Review】We Were Liars

We Were Liars

    Now I decide to start a new type of rating system. In the past, I always only gave a general rating of a book, but now I will start to split the ratings into different categories such as character and plot, and I will give each of them a rating, and, of course, there is still going to be an overall rating. So here is the first book that I start to use this new rating system.

Overall Rating: ★★

Characters: ★

Plot: ★★★

Writing：★★

    To be honest, We Were Liars is probably one of the worst books I have ever read in the year of 2016. The plot of the book is quite difficult to summarize without a spoiler. Basically, the story happens around a beautiful and superior family that actually has some dark secrets. The protagonist Cadence is going to unfold these dark secrets and find out the dreadful event that takes place two years ago. OK, now I have to dive into the spoiler section, or I will have nothing much to say.

-Spoiler Alert!!!!-

    Now, I have three very huge problems about this book.

The first one is its writing style.

E. Lockhart tends

to separate sentences

into short lines

which I am not

very comfortable with

period

I definitely understand the fact that some people may like this type of writing style dearly. However, I am not a huge fan of these short weirdly separated sentences. And that is my first and the smallest problems of this book.

The second problem I have is the plot. Seriously, the plot is so cliché that I don’t even want to summarize it. A group of teenagers are having coming-of-age problems and why-we-are-so-rich-and-superior-than-others problems. Then, more importantly, I was extremely confused by the plot. Initially, I thought I was reading some teenage romance story, then I realized that it should be a coming-of-age story just like The Catcher in the Rye. However, through my progression of the book, I thought it is supposed to be a family drama type of book, and then I thought it should be some kind of crime or mystery novels. And FINALLY, I figured out that this is actually a SUPERNATURAL story, with GHOSTS in it! I do accept some people’s arguments that Cadence is just going through a mental illness, the three figures of the liars are probably virtual and have never actually existed. I am OK with this explanation, but I am still really confused with the book. Also, if they are only just the manipulation of Cadence’s mind, how can everyone else never cares about Cadence strange behavior when she just talks to nobody through thin air? It doesn’t MAKE sense!

And now, here is the biggest problem that I have toward this book. I HATE everyone in this book, I cannot feel related to anybody. I would like to say that if you don’t like any of the characters, why do you keep reading the book? The only thing that I am relieved about is that this book is actually quite short, or it will just be an endless torture. Now, I want to talk about the protagonist of this book. I cannot express how I hate her, but she is definitely one of the worst female characters I have ever encountered. There are several reasons for that.

I have millions of complaints about her. She is overdramatic and holds these bizarre thoughts that I can never understand in the course of my entire life. She is such a huge hypocrite that I will automatically recall her name whenever I see the word hypocrite. She hates her grandeur family, and she wants to escape the island. She gives away her stuff, and she tries to do charities and criticize her mother’s relentless to be kind to others. At the same time, she also never pays any attention to the people who work on their island. She doesn’t even know their names! She depends on her family’s wealth, but hates it at the same time and pretends to be some kind of saint who is too divine to pay attention to economic affairs. HYPOCRITE.

She also confuses me so much. At the beginning, she describes how she is shot by her father, which literally makes me feel that she is actually wounded. But then I realized that all her descriptions are somewhat unreliable when I read the part where the blood starts to spray from her mouth or something. I have no clue she is hurt or not throughout the entire book. Why can she not act like Holden Caulfield since they are all unreliable narrators? I have to say that Holden is one thousand times better than Cadence. At least, he doesn’t accidentally burnt his close friends to death. Here is another part that is beyond my comprehension. How can Cadence just wants to do some kind of fire burning experiment and accidentally burn her friends ALIVE!?? I don’t understand it! I really don`t. She is either so stupid and possess great egotism or her mental illness already takes place before the accident (My other guess is that she is drunk. Duh). That is the only explanation I can come up with concerning her stupid behavior. Now I am more convinced by the manipulation theory, because if I am one of the dead liars, I will probably so angry that I want to kill Cadence as soon as I see her instead of being a nice and gentle ghost friend.

Overall, I am so disappointed by this book. Maybe I just have too much expectation toward it. Personally, I will not recommend this book to others since I had a hard time reading it. But if you are a fun of E. Lockhart or a fun of mystery and protagonist-has-mental-illness-problem type of book, then you will probably enjoy this book more than I do.

Now after reviewing this book, I can try to get rid of it:)