Tag: Contemporary

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

Fiction

This was an interesting one. A short piece of fiction, it features a girl who is on a trip with her parents, a professor, and some students, on a two week summer experience living as ancient Britons. Silvie’s dad is obsessed with the lives of people who lived thousands of years ago, but she is nowhere near as enthusiastic. She and her mother are forced to go along with him on annual trips where they camp, eat, sleep, and dress like their ancestors would. The deeper you get into the story, the more you realize that there is something wrong with the obsessions of this tyrant of a man who loves to control every aspect of his wife and daughters lives almost as he loves living and learning about the lives of ancient man. 

There are a few triggers in this book, those being verbal and physical abuse, bodily harm, sexuality, and poverty. They are by no means very extreme in my opinion, but those who are sensitive to those topics might get upset or uncomfortable reading some of the passages. 

Besides wanting to mention the triggers, I wanted to talk about the unique writing style. I’m trying to think of another book I have read that is written in this way, I think Tropic of Cancer might be one. There are no quotation marks used or new paragraphs created when a different character speaks. The words and conversation just flows continuously, and I was kind of surprised that I found myself actually liking it. It did mean slowing down my reading a little bit so that I could make sure I was reading from the correct characters perspective in my head. I know I am not the only one who creates voices for different characters in their head that they switch to when reading from that person’s point of view. Or am I? 

Additionally, I wanted to mention the artwork. The cover is beautiful, I love the plants and the picture they make and the use of only the single bright green color. There is also some chapter art within the book that is very nice to look at. It’s a very small book, but it is so lovely. 

So, to conclude, I liked this story a great deal. This is a great weekend book, you can probably even finish it in one sitting. If you need an easy book to get back into reading, or if you need a break from long books, I’d say try this one out.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Fiction

I bought this book a long time ago because I wanted to watch the movie, but I am one of those people that likes to read the book first. I had planned to read it immediately after buying it but that didn’t happen. I still haven’t seen the movie, but I probably will soon because I have finally finished the book. 

I really enjoyed the writing style, it was very casual. The book is written in the first person of a teenager named Charlie as he narrates his life in the form of writing letters to an anonymous ‘friend’. He tells this person everything, simple things like what book he is currently reading, more interesting things like the details of a party he went to, and very personal things, like his thoughts and bodily reactions regarding his crush. You can tell early on that Charlie is a little unusual in how he feels no embarrassment when it comes to discussing things that a normal person would be reluctant to discuss. It makes you wonder if he was born different or if something happened to him to make him this way. You do find out in the end why he is a little strange. 

My only regret in waiting so long to read this is that I wish I had gotten a different edition of the book. I dislike special edition covers because they are usually less pleasing to the eye than the original and they also put a stamp of some sort on the cover stating that it is a new or special edition. But I was eager to read the book at the time so I just grabbed the most readily available edition rather than the better looking copy. Overlooking that, I am glad that I got to read the new ‘letter’ that the author wrote for the twenty year anniversary. For anyone reading this book who has gone through a similar experience to the one Charlie has been through, I can see this extra passage as giving hope to survivors. In addition to that, I do like that there is a page at the back with information for those who may be looking for help, which I am not certain was included in first editions. Having said all that, if books about sexual abuse are a trigger or just something you would rather not read about, I would say that you might not want to read this book. It does not get very detailed with exactly what happens, but even the small amount that is mentioned might be enough to bother a sensitive person.