Category: Free Inquiry

Looking For Alaska by John Green was well anticipated by me, as he is one of my favourite authors. The themes, writing style, and cover art make for an artistic, moody written piece.

A couple of things I want to commend about this, is the characters. John Green does a very good job at creating fascinating, well rounded characters full of personality and their own quirks. As well, the writing style has a romantic tone to it – he makes the most mundane and everyday things seem profound and mysterious.

“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining the future that keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”

John Green, pg 54

However, one thing I wasn’t a fan of was how terrible one of the main characters were. Alaska, the romantic interest and main plot of the novel, is not a good person. She is an emotional abuser, contemptful, and unkind to others, not to mention her superiority complex. I just wish the novel didn’t romanticize her or her actions so much. She may not be the best role model for high schoolers to look up to – with her cigarette smoking and mean personality.

Altogether an interesting read, though I wouldn’t read it again.

This week, I read and a reviewing a classic – at least in my opinion. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins will remain one of my favourite books. It is a dystopian novel set in post – war America, where they are split into 12 districts, or factions. 24 children, 2 from each district, are sent into the Hunger Games to battle to the death, with only one victor.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel for several reasons. First, is its underlying political themes. It is clear that a dictatorship and total control does not work. I also enjoyed the development of all the characters – it seems like most of them go through their own personal growth throughout the novel. In addition, I appreciated how although there was a sprinkle of romance in the novel, and it turned out to play an important role, it didn’t overpower the whole storyline.

I also enjoyed how the protagonist was a woman. In many novels even in these modern times, dystopians tend to focus on men. It is refreshing to see the strength of a woman on full display.

By far one of my favourite novels I have read!

I was particularly excited to read Reputation by Sara Shepard, because I am a big fan of her other novel series and TV show, Pretty Little Liars.

Here is the theme song of PLL which I enjoy so much.

Reputation is about wealthy girls living in the suburbs whose life gets shaken by the murder of one of the girl’s dads. Let’s dive right in!

One of the many things I enjoy about this novel is how it was written in classic Sara Shepard style, she has a distinct voice of writing. You can almost hear the narrator’s contempt, thoughts, and opinions on the characters. I also enjoyed the plot twist at the end – I almost didn’t see it, and I think the author does a good job at concealing who the murderer is and makes you point fingers at the wrong people.

One thing I think could’ve been done better is the development of certain important characters. The novel focuses on a select few individuals, but I think it would’ve been important to have more detail and backstory on the murderer themself.

Altogether, an addicting and satisfying read!

This week, I dived into The Silent Patient , a psych thriller by Alex Michaelides. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, with all its surprises and major plot twists. It’s about a murderer, Alicia, who killed her own husband. She has been in the psych ward for years since, and has never spoken a word since. A therapist, Theo, is determined to uncover her motive and what really happened.

Lets dive right in!

The Silent Patient is very well written – with the careful, thoughtful musing and pandering from the voice of Theo, it is a complex story. What I particularly enjoyed was the way you slowly uncover more and more information as the novel goes on. You realize slowly, but full of horror, who the real enemy is. I really enjoyed its gothic and dark tones. The premise of the novel was quite fascinating as well.

What I didn’t particularly like was how cliche the plot twist was. If you dare read any reviews online, there’s a chance they can reveal the major spoiler. It’s an overdone reveal that not much detective work would make you find out.

However, in spite of that, even if you did find out the spoiler, I still found it an enjoyable, engrossing, and thrilling read. I would recomend this book to anyone!

This week’s novel that I read is Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler. First, I want to mention how beautiful the cover is. Just look at it!

This novel is about a young women’s move to New York to gain independence and find self discovery. She gets a job as a waitress at a smart New York Cafe, and has a period of self discovery from this time.

One thing I liked about this novel is how descriptive and well written it is. Being in the restaurant industry myself and having to describe all ranges of flavours and foods, this novel does an excellent job of transporting you to a world with different flavours you can almost feel on your tongue.

What I think the author could’ve improved on, was the change and conflict in her character. The waitress (spoiler alert) ended up getting fired for numerous reasons, at at the end of the novel it felt like she didn’t have much change within herself. I would’ve like to see her acknowledge her own wrongdoings and growth.

In all, an enjoyable and descriptive read!

This week I read The Ballad Of The Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. This was a very anticipated book for me because I am an avid Hunger Games fan. This novel was particularly interesting because it’s a prequel to the series. I will get started with my likes and dislikes.

My likes for this novel is how well written it is. It is a thought out sequel that has elements that eventually relate to the trilogy. I enjoyed how it made the clear enemy who everyone hates, Coriolanus Snow, a multifaceted character who you almost sympathize with. Yes, I found myself sympathizing with him. Shocking! But Collins does a very good job of making him very dynamic and charming, with an interesting backstory that you can’t help but sigh at.

Now to my dislikes: the plot was slightly dry. A lot of the conflict was internal and had to do with the thoughts and dialogue inside Snow’s mind. Although this was a good view into how his mind worked, it got slightly tiring and dull. I almost craved outside drama to break up the monotony, especially when it’s pages and pages full of his inner dialogue.

I think this is generally quite hard to balance; as you want enough inner dialogue to inform the reader, but not enough to dull and burden them.

In all, though it took me a while, it was a well written and enjoyable read.