The Goldfinch

4⭐️— “I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter, and that this was the secret of the universe.”

Well. That was an entire effort and a half! THE GOLDFINCH honestly & truly did not to be as long as it was. I felt like there were sections that were filled with mostly unnecessary information, unending thoughts from Theo, or long, meandering conversations he had with any other character. The novel could have easily been 200 pages shorter.

THAT BEING SAID: I still really liked it! Tartt, while long-winded, is an incredible writer and the way she weaves together words and sentences is masterful. The good parts are really a delight to read. She writes grief and angst really well; I could feel Theo’s heaviness when he was a child and I could feel his desperation as an adult.

I am really excited to see the movie! I think that it might be … (stay with me) better than the book 😬 But only because they’ll probably cut out all the things I found unnecessary. (Hopefully!!)

“That life – whatever else it is – is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn’t mean we have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we’re not always so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch.”

Star-Crossed

3⭐️— STAR-CROSSED more like plot crossed!! I usually quite like when plots cross and find each other in strange ways (ie Love, Actually, and other movies/books like that) but sometimes it’s just too much. That was the problem here.

♈️

I don’t think either of the main characters grew at all in the novel. It takes place over a year and at the end all their decisions felt the same. Justine did something not great; she was dishonest in her job multiple times and dishonest in her oldest friendship. I don’t think she learned anything even after there were consequences. The background stories were interesting enough, it was cool to see how Justine’s actions affected more than just Nick. But we never got enough of those stories and it made the whole novel feel really choppy. I also didn’t really like Justine and Nick. Justine had potential but her choices and the stagnant nature of her character growth really threw me off. Nick on the other hand seemed like a wet blanket with virtually no potential. I don’t know why Laura(?) was so invested in getting him to change/stay with her. She would be thriving without him tbh.

♈️

A fun-ish, quick read but ultimately a book I will forget about soon. The real question is: do you believe in astrology? I kinda do. It’s like, it’s definitely not real….. but what if it is. There are some people I know whose signs are truly THEM and other people who don’t match their signs at all. Honestly I just think it’s fun! Sometimes we just need a little random star-sign reading to brighten our day, y’know? So what’s your sign and do you feel like you fit it?

This Team is Ruining My Life

(But I love them!)

🏒What a fun collection of essays! Some of them were about him, his family, and his life outside of hockey, and some were about hockey itself. But all of them were about learning more + trying harder + doing the best you could do at that time. I think the overall structure could have been a little tighter, sometimes there were stories inserted that felt out of place, but overall I enjoyed what Steve shared about his life. I’m interested to see if he writes a second book later in his career/life, because despite having a lot to say he’s still quite young. A good read if you’re looking to get into media communications or just a struggling university student with no idea what’s next.

The Mermaid

2.5-3 ⭐️

I kept hearing about Henry’s novels and how creepy and great they were, and that made me SO excited to read THE MERMAID. Unfortunately it is neither creepy nor great. It wasn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, but it felt repetitive and boiled down to basic themes at times. The fact that Amelia’s biggest need/want was a baby and that she didn’t feel whole without one felt a little weird to me? I can’t explain why. And I didn’t like the ending. I am excited to read Henry’s other novels, as they are promised to be creepy and great.

SYNOPSIS: From the author of Lost Boy comes a historical fairy tale about a mermaid who leaves the sea for love and later finds herself in P.T. Barnum’s American Museum as the real Fiji mermaid. However, leaving the museum may be harder than leaving the sea ever was.

Homecoming

3⭐️ — All Aaron Quinlan wants is to leave his father in the past. He was a man that his children and wife knew next to nothing about; he was absent and secretive in life, and even more-so from the grave. Raymond Quinlan leaves explicit instructions for his family: stay in a house in the middle of the woods for 30 days with no outside world contact, and get all the money he had. It’s estimated at millions. At first it doesn’t seem so hard. But then weird things start happening, there’s creepy movement in the supposedly empty woods, and everything he has ever known is questioned. And with all those questions, Aaron starts to wonder if he can even trust himself at all.

Listen. I stayed up far past my bedtime to finish reading this book; I really enjoyed reading it. But the payoff wasn’t what I was expecting. It was a good thriller, though. There were a few scenes that really chilled me to the bone – which is a feeling that I think has been lacking in the last few thrillers I’ve read – and there was a murder here and there… But the ending felt rushed and improbable. I know it’s a thriller and sometimes you have to suspend your disbelief, but there comes a point where you just roll your eyes and finish reading.

The writing was good and the plot overall was definitely different from what I’ve seen & read, but I think the conclusion of the book could have been fleshed out more. If it had been I think the “answers” we got would have made sense and thus the ending would have been a lot more satisfying.