It’s been a busy month for me (Joli) as I prepare for a little bundle of joy to arrive very soon. With only 25 days until my due date, I’ve had less time to read with all of the baby shower/nursery prep going on! That said, I have gotten to a couple books that I wanted to talk about…including a DNF (did not finish), which I almost NEVER do.
America for Beginners: My Second Indian Culture Read
I know I already published my review on this book, but I wanted to mention it again because I just enjoyed it so much! It’s one of those that’s going to stick with me for a while, and I’m going to keep recommending it to people. It’s actually the second book I read this summer that focuses quite a bit on Indian culture – the first being A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza. I would recommend both of them, although for very different reasons.
America for Beginners was less serious in both tone and plot for the most part, which I loved. Whereas A Place for Us was more character driven, America‘s plot will keep you turning pages. Really, they’re both excellent reads and I want to tell you to put them both on your TBR!
Little Fires Everywhere: My Second Celeste Ng Novel
For this book, I have waited. And waited. And waited. The line for this book at the library was SO long, I had to wait months to get it after requesting. My library also tells me how many are waiting for a book I have checked out, and it was in the 800s for this one! Crazy!
So, of course I expected a lot – not only because of so many people being interested in this one, but also because I LOVED Ng’s previous book, Everything I Never Told You. I fell in love with her writing style, and the way she portrayed just the brutally perfect breakdown of a family, and what can happen when people stop talking to one another. It was just gut wrenching and dramatic to watch it happen to each character.
So, I picked up Little Fires Everywhere expecting a lot from it. And, to tell you the truth…I was a little disappointed. Sure, it had the same kind of twisted plot mastery, but for me it was too much. It was like she was trying too hard to make the same magic happen, and in some ways it did, but the story was just too perfect for me. You know how just the right things have to fall perfectly into place for the story to work? This one had too much of that happening. Like, “oh of course he’d happen to drive by just then” or “of course she comes into the bathroom at just that moment”.
I would have liked this more if I hadn’t expected so much, but that’s just the way it went down for me. 3 stars.
That Kind of Mother: My DNF
So, I don’t decide not to finish a book very often. However, I’m trying to get better at it because who has time to spend on books they don’t enjoy? To that end, I gave up on That Kind of Mother.
I wanted to like this book so much! I’ve read some pretty great reviews of it and was so sure it was right up my alley. But alas, I just…didn’t get it. It was too jumpy, too wishy-washy, too odd. I didn’t understand why the main character was acting the way that she was, and was just bored overall with the story. So, I just set this one down and let it go.
Has anyone read this one and loved it?
