This is a place for books that I didn't fully review.
Maybe I listed my likes and dislikes, had a little short paragraph, or a few sentences to convey my feelings on the book, but whatever the "review" is, all of them are short and simple. (hence the clever name)
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.
Review
So, I'm not sure how I feel about this. It didn't wow me like I expected it to, as the hyped reviews lead me to believe. But I also definitely didn't like it. I liked it, I did, but I felt like I missed something that everyone else saw, but I didn't. I did listen to this book on audio, which may have made me feel distanced from the story more than I would if I were reading it in text format. I do think the author did a fantastic job of detailing Iran and making the reader get to know the setting, and see it through Darius' eyes. I loved being able to hear the character speak Farsi. I also think the book did a great job of showing mental health. I think, overall, this book just felt quiet, which isn't really a bad thing. What I mean, is that the book just felt real. It was just focused on showing the realness of Darius, his family, friendships, and his time in Iran, and it just slowly took us through that. That doesn't mean that nothing happened that picked up the pace, but it just felt quiet and I don't know how else to really explain that quietness.
I was surprised that there wasn't any LGBT+ content because I remember seeing this book on so many lists, but I understand why that wasn't there. From what I hear, Darius is gay, but is questioning in this book.
EDIT: I've since read the sequel, and I really think my mood must have affected the reading experience of this book. Either that, or the audiobook did make me feel distant. Because I can definitely say that I LOVED the sequel and I sped through it. I can also say that book two certainly has more LGBT+ content. But I think what really makes these two books strong is that they are so character-centric, especially focused on Darius, that it just feels real.
I hereby give this book
4 Stars
Meaning: I really liked it
A teenage girl gets the chance to redo her past in this smart and charming YA novel by the author of When Life Gives You Demons.
Emilia has always wanted to fit in with the A crowd. So, when Ben, the hottest guy in school, asks her out, she chooses him over Alistair, her best friend—even after he confesses his feelings to her.
Six months later, Emilia wonders how her life would have been different if she'd chosen Alistair instead. Haunted by her mistake, she finds a magical solution that promises to rectify the past. As a result, everything in her life is different. What happens if her second chance is her only chance to make things right?
Review
To be honest, I didn't expect this book to wow me, but I really wanted to read a fun, quick book, and I think this book delivered on that. One of my not-so-guilty pleasures when it comes to book tropes are books that show parallel timelines, or just how things could go different if one thing changed. So, of course the concept of this book interested me. This book doesn't really delve too deeply into the timeline aspect. The MC early on gets the chance to get a "do-over" and once she makes her choice, she is unable to go back or make another "do-over". The book did show the butterfly effect, how her one change affected other people, and how she didn't quite get the outcome that she hoped. Most of this book read a lot like a cute contemporary book, but with added messiness with the MC not understanding this timeline. The romance was okay, the MC seems to have feelings for Alistair out of the blue, but this book was exactly the kind of quick, fun read that I just needed right now. I also liked that it had some board game fun.
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it
When high school junior Natalie-or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper-is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want. But the guys in her class won't give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected-especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?
Review
I kind of wish I read this when I was younger, back when I first discovered it, because I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I used to adore the trope of girls dressing as guys, and this book sounded hilarious. This was a fun read, but I found the MC more annoying than funny. I also found that I rolled my eyes too much. It also bothered me how this book was very, um, aggressively heterosexual. It was very much rooted into gender norms, and everyone was interested in dating, specifically the opposite sex. If this book was written now, I think it would be a lot different. Just like if I read this when I was 15, I might've had a different opinion. But, alas, I read this as an adult in 2020.
Overall, just watch She's the Man. They have pretty much the exact same premise (which makes sense because they have the same inspiration, Twelfth Night), but the humor seems to carry better on film rather than in book form. While I didn't love this book, it was a fairly quick read and it brought a change of pace. I do think there are readers out there who will love this book, it just wasn't for me.
Overall, just watch She's the Man. They have pretty much the exact same premise (which makes sense because they have the same inspiration, Twelfth Night), but the humor seems to carry better on film rather than in book form. While I didn't love this book, it was a fairly quick read and it brought a change of pace. I do think there are readers out there who will love this book, it just wasn't for me.
I hereby give this book
2.5 Stars
Meaning: I almost liked it, but not quite
No comments :
Post a Comment