Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I really enjoyed the creepiness and suspense of the story as Mara tries to unravel what happened the night she and her three friends were trapped inside an abandoned asylum when it crumbled killing her friends and leaving her relatively unharmed, at least physically. Mara struggles with trying to piece together events and hold onto her remaining sanity while at the same time hiding how bad it is from her concerned mother who isn't altogether fooled. Meanwhile, Mara is also coping with finding her place at a new school, dealing with a "mean girl", improving her plummeting grades, and deciding whether the hot guy is just a player or if he is really into her. So she's got a lot going on for a girl with a damaged psyche, all of which makes for an engrossing story...at first.

About midway in, I noticed some inconsistencies and things that just didn't work for me in the story. It sometimes felt as if the author was shoving things into the plot without really adjusting the rest of the story around it thereby making it feel a bit disjointed. Also, Mara doesn't question things that are obviously very, VERY suspicious and strange (such as when Noah tells her they have to swim across a creek IN THE EVERGLADES at night, she never once thinks, "Hmmm, maybe there's another way we can go that doesn't involve swimming with alligators ). While some of that could be attributed to the fact that she doesn't trust her own thoughts and/or the anti-psychotic drugs she takes sometimes, but some things are so glaringly wrong that it doesn't make sense that she never questions it, not even to herself. Also, although less important, the fact that high school students were using the word "tattling" instead of "snitching" or something similar felt wrong to me. I know this is such a small thing but it stood out to me because it was used a few times.

I did like the love interest, Noah, for the most part. But he, like many people in the story, was too conveniently perfect. She had a best friend that was a black, jewish, bisexual genius (I know this because it was mentioned in the book almost verbatim)who helps her ace all her classes AND stand up to bullies. She has a big brother whose main concern is looking out for her with never a complaint even when it interferes with his new girlfriend (actually his new girlfriend even helps Mara out), a little brother who is always happy and never annoying and who reads the Wall Street Journal and gives stock tips, and finally a love interest who is a gazillionaire who lives in a mansion and rescues dogs and drives a prius and although formerly the schools biggest player with the worst reputation he is now completely and utterly devoted to only her making her his first "official" girlfriend. (Has anyone ever watched John Tucker Must Die?)But despite all of that, I actually did like him anyway. But these are definitely things that affected my enjoyment of the story as a whole.

I've heard several people say that either they guessed where the story was going or they didn't guess where the story was going, but I'm still at loss as to where the story went. I don't think there was much resolution and I'm left with more questions than answers, but not enough to motivate me to read the second book. I felt let down by the ending, it was almost anti-climactic with all of the building of suspense throughout the story and then I was left just mostly unsure. There was a bit of a plot twist at the end, but not enough to pique my interest in the second book. Overall, I liked the story, but didn't love it.



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Review: Blindsighted

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Blindsighted was an okay read. The gory bits were explained in explicit and excruciating detail, which were as fascinating as they were disturbing. The crime itself was satisfactorily shocking and unpleasant. These were the things that worked for me in the story. Where Blindsighted fell flat was in just about every other area, characterization, plot, dialog, and in the relationships between the characters.

The plot was very simple, someone killed a blind woman in a very horrific way and the detectives are trying to find out who did it. There was little to no suspense or building to a dramatic conclusion. Some things happened, some people reacted, then the culprit revealed himself, and it was all resolved and loose ends tied up simply and conveniently. The plot never gained much more dimension than that.

The relationships between the characters, the siblings, the ex husband/wife, relatives, friends, etc, I never felt anything about any of the characters so I cared very little about their relationship, therefore the emotional pull that is usually present in these type of stories was missing for me. A lot of personal stories of traumatic events experienced by these characters was kind of thrown at the reader I assume to create that connection, but it fell far short because of the lack of life and personality shown by the characters themselves. They never gained a distinctive "voice" within the story and were all just paper thin and lifeless, I remained completely disconnected from them which ultimately kills a story for me.

The ending was anticlimactic, mainly because I didn't really care at that point about the characters and had no idea who the villain was or why he was doing what he did. I had very little invested into the story and the ending wasn't anything resembling suspenseful or action packed. Questions were answered but only in the most basic surface kind of way, exactly like all the rest of the plot, characters, etc. It was all very shallow. The crime itself, and the autopsy, were the most interesting thing about the book.

So, Blindsighted was mildly interesting because of the nature of the crime and the shocking gory details, but is definitely not a book I would recommend, although I will say that I did finish the book which, in itself says that it is readable because I rarely hesitate to put down a book that loses me. I will continue reading this author who is highly recommended by several reviewers whose opinions I value so I assume the quality of the storytelling improves in her other books.



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Review: The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen

The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Whether you believe Anne Boleyn was the tragic pawn of powerful and ruthless men or a manipulative whore that stole a crown and spent her days scheming to murder her enemies, or something in between, you have to admit that Anne Boleyn was fascinating. Susan Bordo's "The Creation of Anne Boleyn" discusses how Anne has been portrayed in both fiction and non-fiction, TV, movies, and documentaries and how that has changed over time. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author explored and compared the many versions of Anne's life and character throughout history and how each portrayal of Anne was adapted to fit in with the era in which it was written. It's easy to see how the "true" Anne Boleyn could be lost somewhere in history. It makes me hate Henry all the more for all that he did to remove any mention of her so that now, we're left with mostly conjecture about who she really was. Of course, that may be the very thing that causes me to be so drawn to her above many other dynamic women in history. I admit, I haven't watched many of the movies and documentaries mentioned but there are several that I am eager to see after reading this book.

Bordo is very opinionated about the way she believes many popular authors have unfairly characterized Anne. From the beginning, this approach was very off-putting for me since my introduction to Anne Boleyn was from authors such as Alison Weir, Norah Lofts, and Jean Plaidy and I was almost offended at, what I felt, was Bordo practically accusing them of fabricating history (as far as Weir and Lofts, not much is said about Plaidy). As you see by my 4 star rating, I ended up finding this to be an excellent read, and I may have even rated it a 5 had she not been so harsh on Alison Weir. I am much more inclined to see Anne Boleyn much the way Bordo does, as an intelligent, charismatic, and complex woman as opposed to the sly temptress that she is so widely believed to be. However, I think that, with the lack of information available about Anne Boleyn and since the information that is available cannot necessarily be taken at face value, Alison Weir's interpretation of historical events and Anne's character is just as likely as Bordo's interpretation.

I found "The Creation of Anne Boleyn" to be thought-provoking and it definitely motivated me to revisit some of my favorite Tudor reads and led me to discover some books and movies I wasn't familiar with. I appreciated that there were many points of view discussed and compared even though there was a clear bias. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is curious about Anne Boleyn because it does present so many differing points of view as well as the author's own opinion about Anne's character and why she has been portrayed so many ways.




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Review: Dark Places

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Dark Places was SO good! I was immediately drawn into the story and remained alternately riveted and frustrated throughout, but never once bored. Frustrated because I could not make up my mind who I thought was actually responsible for the "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas" and riveted because this story was disturbing, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and altogether incredible.

The audio narration by Rebecca Lowman, Cassandra Campbell, Mark Deakins, and Robertson Dean was flawless, giving depth to the multiple perspectives as they alternated throughout the story. I think that it's easier to process a book that so often switches perspective and alternates between past and present when listened to on audio with multiple narrators. I highly recommend the Audible version to anyone considering reading Dark Places.

While the story itself was fascinating, revolving around a family's massacre in a small farm town, what really grabbed me was Libby's character. She was understandably damaged by the traumatic events she witnessed at such a young age and now, as an adult, she finds it difficult to function as anything like a "normal" adult. She sees herself as separated from society and unable to connect with just about anyone. I could relate to so many aspects of Libby's personality, as I'm sure anyone with any kind of "difficult" childhood could. I believe it was extremely perceptive of the author to present Libby as such a dysfunctional character because it felt authentic and I absolutely fell in love with her.

I had a few very minute issues with the story. Some of the other characters I felt were a bit less dynamic and more one dimensional, such as Libby's brother Ben. His character, as well as his relationship with his girlfriend, was awkward and difficult for me to understand which didn't always work for me in the story. Also, the ending, while I didn't see it coming, was pretty far fetched and didn't feel exactly plausible. However, I would much rather read an exciting yet over the top ending than an ending that is anti-climactic. All in all, any flaws were so small as to be nearly insignificant when compared to how fascinating this story was.

I would highly recommend this to any fans of crime, suspense, and/or thrillers. I would be interested to see this made into a movie. I think this story would translate well to film.



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Audiobook Review: Krampus–The Yule Lord by Brom

Audio narration = 5++  Kirby Heyborne does such a phenomenal job narrating this story that I would say that it was probably what I enjoyed most about the book. He brought these characters to life in such a way that I thought there were several different narrators and was surprised to find that this was not the case. I wasn't surprised to find that Heyborne also narrated parts of Cloud Atlas which was also done brilliantly. I look forward to enjoying more audio books with this narrator.

I am almost sad to say that I didn't enjoy Krampus as much as I thought I would. I loved Brom's retelling of Peter Pan in The Child Thief so much that I was anticipating the same kind of dark and disturbing storytelling in this story about a Christmas demon. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't by any means a fun, happy story, it just didn't have that element of creepiness that I expect from this author or that I anticipated with this particular subject matter. How can a story about a Christmas demon known for dragging naughty children off to Hell be anything less than terrifying? Unfortunately, there is a way.

The images of Krampus seem pretty terrifying but for some reason this story presented him as far less than intimidating, and even a little ridiculous at times with all too human-like flaws. Since Krampus is said to carry naughty children off to hell, I thought he would be a bit more imposing with less obvious weaknesses of character. There were definitely some bloody & violent moments involving The Yule Lord but I didn't find him believable as a God or descendant of Loki. Also, the background of the conflict between him and Santa was a little confusing at times, especially near the end. The way this story was resolved was even more baffling. However, an afterword explains a lot of the mythology that the author used to inspire parts of the book and does actually answer some questions.

While several aspects of this book left me less than satisfied, many others I really enjoyed. For example, exploring the origins of the Santa Claus and Krampus mythology and their relationships to the Gods Odin and Loki. I am always fascinated by the way many pagan rituals have been absorbed into Christian celebrations and I enjoyed reading about how that applied to Santa and Krampus' legends. There was also some wicked humor interspersed throughout that I found genuinely entertaining. Those moments when Krampus was attempting to function in today's world was at times amusing and at other times just sad. I would have liked to have seen this explored a bit more.

One of my favorite things about Krampus- The Yule Lord was the main character Jesse. I don't know how many of you watch the TV show "Breaking Bad" but there is also a character named Jesse in that show who consistently makes all the wrong decisions and isn't very likable but somehow has some endearing quality that makes you root for him all the same. Jesse in this novel was much the same and so, in my mind, this is who I saw playing this tale out. This and the incredible audio narration were, in my opinion, this books best qualities. But while I loved Jesse's character, sometimes I felt like what was going on with him overshadowed Krampus' story and I was left wanting more from both.

Overall, Krampus is a story I would recommend, especially for the Christmas/Yule season. There is a lot going on in this story; violence, mayhem, mythology, gods, goats, magic, thugs, domestic violence, murder, and belsnickels. You definitely won't be bored. If you are thinking of reading this, I HIGHLY recommend the audio, it is one of the best narrations I've ever listened to.

Rating - 3