December Book Review

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book review blogs

@Barrie Summy

It's that time again.  And since I've read several good books this month, I'm going to share more than one review with you.

I should point out that last month I bought four of the books that were reviewed.  I've read two of them already and both of those will be reviewed here.

Okay.


Let's start with The Partner Track by Helen Wan.  Review that made me want the book can be found here.

I really liked this book.  A lot.  Ingrid Yung is a Senior Associate Attorney who is up for a partnership at the Manhattan Corporate Law firm she works for.  She works hard and feels she has earned a partnership but, like everyone else, she has to wait for the announcement comes down and hopes nothing happens to mess things up for her.

Many people think she's a shoo-in because she has a few things going for her.  For one thing she's a female. For another, she's Asian.  The firm has never appointed a minority female as a partner in Mergers & Acquisitions, where Ingrid works and the pressure is really on the partners to have diversity. With Ingrid they get a "two-fer".

What I like about Ingrid is she's every person who's fighting for position in the workforce.  She's very likeable and very relatable, even if you're not up for a partnership in a law firm.  :)  Plus, she doesn't want to be appointed based on giving the firm an appearance of diversity - she wants it based on merit, which she's earned.  She doesn't ever want that questioned either.

Ingrid is a good person and she cares about others and the author does a wonderful job of conveying that. The book was very well written - very moving.  You get a close up look at someone's vulnerability at working towards something but not knowing if you'll get the result you want - or for the reason you want it.  I highly recommend this book.

Okay, on to the next one.

The next I'm going to review is The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher.  The review that made me want to read this book can be found here.

Let me first say that I have a totally different take on the book than the review that made me by this book.  In that review the reviewer said that Olivia was really horrible to Caleb but that she (the reviewer) was still pulling for Olivia (I'm going from memory here because I won't re-read the review until I've posted mine so sorry if I'm remembering wrong here).  I didn't see it that way at all. 

Yes, Olivia did some cruel things and Caleb was impacted by them BUT they weren't so much to him as to get others out of the way because she saw them as obstacles between her and Caleb.  The one thing she did purposefully to hurt Caleb, he more than deserved.  Plus, even as she did these things she knew they were wrong and was bothered by them - just not enough to take them back or stop doing them.

The other reviewer also has said that it doesn't end like you'd expect it to which had me guessing from the beginning. And while I didn't see the ending coming, I wasn't surprised by things either.

That all said, my take on the characters was different from the other reviewer's in that I saw Olivia as very vulnerable and afraid of loving anyone.  She desperately wanted to love and be loved, which is why she did the things she did, but it also scared the crap out of her.  I think the other review had said she was yelling at the characters.  I was too, only I think what I was yelling was different.  I felt the relationship between Olivia and Caleb was toxic.  I felt like Caleb was a manipulator and abusive towards Olivia.  I was yelling at her to dump him and move on but she wasn't listening.  I had a hard time understanding why she'd want him back.

Despite all that, I did like this book and can recommend it without hesitation.  But, what I will say is that there are two other books in this series, told from the perspectives of Caleb and Leah (Caleb's girlfriend when he gets amnesia . . . oh yeah, Caleb gets amnesia and Olivia takes the opportunity to win him back, even though he's been with Leah for a few years).  This book came to a satisfying conclusion for me so I see no need to read the other two books in the series.  Leah wasn't portrayed favorably in this book and I've already mentioned how I felt about Caleb so I don't want to read their versions of this story.  Having said that, I did break down and read the first couple of paragraphs of each of the books online, in case I wasn't being fair to the characters.  And well, I only read the first couple of paragraphs because that was all I could stomach - they did nothing to change my mind on reading the sequels. 

So that's my take, a big yes on The Opportunist and a big pass on the sequels . . . but that's just me.

Next up is Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich.

No previous review to look up with this one . . . it's all me.  I love this series.  I know there are some who stopped reading the series because Stephanie goes too much between Morelli and Ranger and while I don't always like what she does in the book, I love the series. 

Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter who brings in people (skips) who didn't show up to court when her sleazy cousin Vinnie posted bond for them.  Lulu (a former "ho") helps her track down and bring in the skips.

They're both entirely unqualified for the job so it makes for some fun, light reading.  I read these books in a few hours time.  And if you're one of the people that has sworn off the books due to the Morelli/Ranger thing, they kind of address that in this book.  I mean I would've read the book anyway but I feel that maybe the author considered some of the negative feedback that was coming and addressed it - maybe not to some people's satisfaction but addressed nonetheless.  So, for me, this is another book to recommend.  :)

November Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

It's been a while since I've participated in the book club because, frankly, I haven't been reading a lot of books that I wanted to - or even felt right about - recommending.  Then a few weeks ago I picked up a book I'd ordered a while back based on another review I had read from a book club member.  The review had me ordering the book the instant after I posted a comment, it was that compelling to me.  Then, as I do some times, I didn't pick up the book for a while because I couldn't remember exactly what it was that made me want it.  After reading a series of very bad books, I figured I had nothing to lose and started reading the book I'm reviewing today.
 

 I'm reviewing The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Ivan is a gorilla.  He lives in a mall where he is expected to bring in customers who will spend their hard earned money.  His home consists of three walls made of glass and one wall that is painted to resemble a jungle.  He's friends with Stella the elephant, who has to perform several times a day and Bob, a stray dog.  The story is told in first person narrative from the viewpoint of Ivan.

During the time that I was reading this book I got my flu shot from the medical department where I work.  We're required to wait for 20 minutes after we get our shot to ensure we don't have an adverse reaction.  I always take a book down with me to fill the time and so I had this book with me.  The nurse administering the shot asked what I was reading and asked if it was good.  I said that it was good and then compared Ivan to Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh series.  They're both loveable characters but I think the difference is that Eeyore expects bad things to happen to him.  He takes the bad things in stride but they're still expected.  Ivan, on the other hand, is just reporting events.  He doesn't complain and he doesn't whine, it's just how things are.

He's also very loyal to his friends.  Where he accepts his lot in life, he takes actions to make things right or better for his friends.

I fell in love with Ivan.  I laughed and cried while reading this book.  I wanted to help Ivan and make things better for him.  The details were that well told by the author.  At the beginning of the book there are some definitions of things you will be reading.  A me-ball is "dried excrement thrown at observers".  The following passage from the book is one that I found meaningful and tugged at my heart.

Three visitors

Three visitors are here: a woman, a boy, a girl.
I strut across my domain for them.  I dangle from my tire swing.  I eat three banana peels in a row.
The boys spit at my window.  The girls throws a handful of pebbles.
Sometimes I'm glad the glass is there.

My visitors return

After the show, the spit-pebble children come back.
I display my impressive teeth. I splash in my filthy pool.  I grunt and hoot.  I eat and eat and eat some more.
The children pound their pathetic chests.  They toss more pebbles.
"Slimy chimps," I mutter.  I throw a me-ball at them.
Sometimes I wish the glass were not there.

I love kids and I know this is a work of fiction but I was upset by the kids and wished the me-ball had hit them.

Now, having said it was a work of fiction, it is inspired by a true story.  There really exists a gorilla who lived in a mall as entertainment.  I didn't know this until I finished the book and read the author's note.  Of course the events and thoughts of Ivan were created from the author's imagination but they made me care about a gorilla, two elephants and a dog named Bob.

Some may say it's cheating that I'm reviewing a book that was previously reviewed but I think it's reinforcing the original recommendation that this is a book that should be read.

 Edited to add:  After adding the link to the previous review, I went back and read it.  That review really captures the essence of the book so well.  If you haven't read it before, follow the link - it's worth the re-read.