The Sunlight Pilgrims

By Charlotte
Book Review: The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
Official FC Rating: 

This is going to be a short review because I wasn't overly fond of this book. 

This book takes place in 2020 when the world is experiencing the worst winter in 200 years. The story line is promising. I love a good dystopian story, but... this one didn't quite do it for me. It felt overly poetic and slow. I know that some people love poetic writing, but I'm not generally one of them. I think I may try and give this book another go sometime in late winter, because I really am intrigued. But my first read of it was dismal. I'm giving it three stars even though I didn't like it because I can tell it's a good book and that it's mostly just my own preferences coloring my view of it. 

__

Char

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Blogging For Books program in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

The Bookshop

By Liz

Book review: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

Official FC rating: 

I’m actually disgusted with myself for having been deceived by this book, because the back of the book describes it perfectly. It’s a book about a widow, Florence Green, who “risks it all” to open a bookshop in her small seaside town. From the onset, when the people of her town hear that she is opening a bookshop it causes a stir of rumors. Her bookshop slowly becomes a success, but small-town politics create hostility since the shop is seen as impractical. Only until it is too late (for both Florence and the reader) does she realize a town that doesn’t have a bookshop doesn’t necessarily want one.

Shocker: the book ends with Florence leaving the town she has lived in for ten years of her life because the town never wanted a bookshop.

And that’s it. That is literally all this book is about. All 156 pages are about the small-town politics and economics of opening, and eventually closing, a bookshop. I actually didn’t bother reading all 156 pages once I got to the half-way point and came to my senses that this book was not going to get any better. So, I skipped to the very end and was not remotely shocked by the depressing AF conclusion.

This novella was so even keeled. I got past the half way point and was like, “oh…this book isn’t going to have a climax…because there’s hardly any direct conflict…” Penelope Fitzgerald, did you think straight up not using plot devices that typically hook readers was going to work out for you, or what?

I have no idea why I expected this book to be more exciting or interesting. Maybe I had high hopes for this book because, in the back of my mind for years, I’ve had dreams of one day owning a bookstore or working in a library (like when I retire or something).

The kicker is that Florence isn’t even that into books. She describes herself as a trained retailer, not a person who understands the arts or whether or not a book is a masterpiece. WHY EVEN OPEN A BOOKSHOP THEN??? (Maybe the ending was poetic justice, then. I just don’t know).

I thought maybe this book will be a deeply thought-provoking commentary on how society is more interested in money and technology than literature and the arts. To some degree, the book probably was about that a little- but mostly it was about small-town politics and how they generally suck.

I will grant that the author has captured the nastiness and pettiness of small-town politics well, but I don’t need to read a book about small-town politics- all I need to do is visit my hometown in rural, Upstate New York for that. And frankly, the small-town politics of my hometown are more interesting than this damn novella.

Small-town characters have the potential to be interesting and have a lot of personality (not a book, but see Gilmore Girls as an example). Like the style of writing itself, the characters were given little description and were also boring.

If you would like to read passages about bookkeeping, taking out loans, and random details about a small town in the UK, then by all means, read this book. Otherwise, don’t waste your time. 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Being a "Best Seller" Doesn't Mean Shit

By: Liz
Book review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Official FC Rating: 

This book is exceptionally deceptive. I read the inside cover and it sounded right up my alley: creepy, weird, a little spooky- perfect for autumn. So, I borrowed it from my mom despite her warning that it was “really weird.”

My mom, unlike me, isn’t much of a reader, but a year or two ago she was compelled to join some book club and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was their first book. Not shockingly, my mom never finished the book, but I figured that’s typical of my mom with fiction books, so that doesn’t mean the book is bad….

Let’s get some things straight: there are some weird books that are my favorites. Murakami’s books? All kinds of weird. This book, sure, is weird, but the bottom-line is that Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is just downright bad.

The book is about a 16-year-old brat boy, Jacob, who ends up journeying to a secluded island off the coast of Wales after his grandfather dies to explore Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, where his grandfather once resided. While Jacob explores the decrepit old home, he learns that the unbelievable stories his grandfather told him as a child of the supernatural children that resided there are not only true, but that the children and Miss Peregrine are still alive. However, everyone is in grave danger.

Reading my summary in the paragraph above makes it sound like this book has potential to be great- and maybe it would, if it was written by a more talented author. The writing was just…amateurish. I could have written something at least equivalent in quality, if not better, when I was in high school.

Half the allure of the novel is that the story is accompanied by antique photographs. However, the author incorporates the pictures in such a clunky way. The story would be happening and then it would suddenly be like “oh look, how convenient, here’s a picture of the thing.” And it was like that every. Single. Time. It reminded me of creative writing assignments in high school where you’d be given a random picture and told to write a story to accompany it- but worse. It just seems so obvious to me that the author got these weird pictures from collectors and then wrote the story.

Alright- let’s try to get past the poor quality of writing for a moment- the characters did not redeem the story at all. There was nothing compelling about them. Not a single character was relatable or, honestly, that interesting. Jacob, the main character, is God awful. I think the author was trying to go for a Holden Caulfield vibe, but failed miserably. Holden Caulfield is annoying in his own right, but Jacob is the worst. We’re never given any kind of characteristic to make him likeable. First off, in the first few pages Jacob is trying to get himself fired from his job, which was given to him by his wealthy family who owns a chain of pharmacies. Hello, ungrateful brat much? He dreads the day he will be expected to take over the family business, and naturally does what he can to fight against his preordained future. Jacob- whiny, privileged little shit.

I had to share my agony with my mother via text messages. My opinions clearly haven't changed.

Bottom-line: the author is transparent and uncreative. Besides the poor writing and weak characters that show his lack of creativity…look at this shit:

"The hollowgast." SMH

The “HOLLOWGAST”???????? Wow, what a remarkable similarity in sound to “holocaust.” This similarity would probably be just as obvious even if a part of the storyline didn’t have to do with the fact that Jacob’s grandfather was a Jewish survivor of World War II. Not only is this uncreative, it’s borderline offensive.

In conclusion, the fact that this book is a best seller doesn’t mean shit. This book is garbage. The pictures were better than the story. I’m amazed I was able to stand to read the whole thing. What. A. Disappointment.

~Liz

Awaken the Spirit Within

By Charlotte

Book Review: Awaken the Spirit Within by Rebecca Rosen

Official FC Rating: 

I bought this book because the back cover promised to help me do wonderful things, like "gain confidence in your natural talents and abilities" and "attain the clarity to make the 'right' choices and decisions for your life." 

That back cover was a damn liar. The book started out okay, but similarly to my laser tag a-game the other day, things deteriorated pretty quickly. You know, one second you're on top of the world, aiming your laser at those little five year old kids and racking up points, and then two minutes and a flight of stairs later you can barely breathe and you're cowering in a corner.* That was this book. The beginning was intriguing and filled with hope (though not wonderfully written), but it was all downhill from there.

I guess maybe I should mention what the book is about? Duh, Char.

Le genre: Body, Mind, & Spirit - Inspiration & Personal Growth and yeah I'm a little embarrassed to admit I was reading that but what's it to ya?

Rosen is a spiritual medium and her abilities and experiences are suppose to give readers better understanding, clarity, and skill to... live life?  Sort of?  

Now is as good a time as any to confess that I only read the bold bullet points on the back cover, and not the paragraph above it. So I hadn't even realized it was written by someone who talks to the dead. Would I have still purchased it, had I known? Yes. I am Catholic so I'm pretty sure it falls into the category of things I'm not supposed to believe, but I figure it's okay to just read a book without adhering to all of it's premises; surely that won't mean a ticket to hell. (Right? Any smarter Catholics out there? Am I doomed to hell?)

       

So I kept reading, even though it was with a sprinkle of doubt. Just because I don't believe the same things the author believes doesn't mean I can't glean any insights and wisdom from her. I've read other books about reincarnation and have enjoyed them and learned from them.  

Turns out, however, this was just a bad book. God probably won't send me to hell (not for this, anyway) but I doomed myself to torture by continuing to read it even after the 23,719th use of the word "clairvoyant." It was an eye-roll inducing read if I've ever experienced one. I think at one point I audibly asked, "Can you stop using the same word over and over and over again? We get it! You're special! Clairvoyance!" It was painful. 

My real issue with the book, though, was that it was essentially a giant advertisement.  She constantly would write something like, "In my last book, Spirited, I talk about how you can overcome ___." It was okay the first couple of times, but then it just got ridiculous. I bought THIS book, not your last book. I'm reading THIS book, not your last book. It's like she was withholding advice and you could only retrieve it by purchasing her previous book. 

   

I'll tell you what. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, has written several books. I recently read her latest, Better Than Before. Whenever it was necessary for her to mention a principle she wrote about in her previous book, she thoroughly explained the entire thing, in such a way that allowed us to fully absorb whatever piece of advice she was giving. She never once says, "If you want to know how to ____, buy my first book." She utilizes her other books; she doesn't advertise them. (And she doesn't have to, because her books are so terrifically helpful that you want to go buy more.) It's lame as fuck to write a self-help or personal growth book and then specifically NOT give advice in order to make money off your first book. Books shouldn't be advertisements. 

I had worried that I was just dense, and that that was why I wasn't enjoying Rosen's book. One of the tips she actually does include is to, like, imagine yourself as a mighty tree with massive roots or something. Laughed, rolled my eyes, tried it - didn't work. This was probably due to *me* and my mindset on things like meditation.  So I wouldn't ever rate her book based on how I am. But that's not the problem. The problem was what I already mentioned. I'm sure Rosen is a lovely person and kind to all around her, really. But I don't appreciate market ploys painted as self-help.  

I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend (or even a mere acquaintance). If you're looking for a personal growth or self help book, I'd recommend Rubin (obviously). She gives step by step guides on how to change bad habits or to become happy. She went so far as to develop different ways to better yourself based on different kinds of personalities! She responds to reader emails and she offers a plethora of free advice and resources on her website. It seems to me that she is really invested in truly helping herself and anyone else who needs it. THAT is how self-help books should work.

What do you all think? Have you read this book? Am I 100% wrong? Completely right? Do tell.

*I ended up recovering and winning the laser tag game.  This book never recovered.

xoxo

Char