alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)

What a fantastic book. I can't believe I put off reading it until now, but I always have trouble finishing books with written accents. The audiobook is a perfect solution to this (complete with singing the various hymns!).

It is a biting cause of self reflection that so many attitudes and hypocrisies in the American church at that time are still true today. Humans are hypocrites now and forever, I suppose. With regards to this, Augustine St. Claire is my hands down favorite character in the book, maybe even one of my all time favorites. His deadpan honesty about human behavior is better than your average Sunday sermon in causing effective soul searching. Too bad more people aren't as honest with themselves about their motives and doubts as he is.

Snippets and glimpses of a life that is so completely different than mine, so different than my mom's (who is almost the same afe as the authot), and is so important. Important because it made me think, "Did we grow up in the same country?" And also because for some people, I bet they thought, "Yup, me too."

People saying this is middle grade or ya but honestly could be in adult non-fic as well.

Audio read by the author in her rich, slow voice is just perfect.

Slow burning literary fiction about a girl who becomes wrapped up in a sinister commune in 1960's California. The premise the book hammers home is that girls are taught by society to be empty vessels, waiting for someone to fill them. Because this someone can easily be confused with anyone, girls are left vulnerable and susceptible to be taken advantage of, groomed, and molded to the will of others.

The protagonist remarks at one point that when a doctor asks her how she feels, she often is at a loss for knowing what the correct answer is... that's why she goes to the doctor, so he can tell her what she is feeling. I completely understand this, and have spent many years purposefully and intentionally listening to my body, my intuition, and experimenting with "going with my gut" (it has never let me down). Now I am often surprised when people are deaf to what their own body is telling them, but I forget that we are told that our voices are not trustworthy.

Anyways, in the book, teenage girls are left to drift around, being used and abused by anyone who takes an interest in them, seeking to please and leaving their consciences behind in pursuit of being loved. There's a scene in the book where the protagonist, as an adult, tries to give a teenage girl the emotional presence needed to say no to some men trying to peer pressure into giving away sexual favors. Thinking that perhaps if this girl had what she lacked, the girl would make the choice to say no. Ultimately the girl decides to please the men, perhaps because the intervention came too late in life, or the pull to please (in a hopeful exchange for approval, acceptance, and love) trumped a barely-existent friendship with the older woman. It's a call to action to be a present role model and investor in the lives of girls you know.

I think this book has much to say about teenage girl psychology today, and how destructive current society is on the psychological, emotional, and even physical development of girls and women.

I didn't really learn anything new, besides exactly how snobby the founding fathers were. There are some interesting sections on the etymology of certain slurs, but I don't think this book lives up to its claim of being the "untold" history of class in America.

Jasper Dent is the teenage son of a no imprisoned serial killer. His dad taught him everything he needs to know to be the best serial killer the world has ever seen. When multiple murders appear in his home town, Jas is completely prepared to go head to head with the newest serial killer on the block.

One of the interesting things about this book is that Jas has sociopathic tendencies, and he knows it. He knows he doesn't feel emotions in the same way that other people do, and he knows how he should act to fit in better. He is curious about if he is really killer material, but constantly reminds himself that other people matter, even if he has never met them, even if they are on the other side of the world and have nothing to do with his life (quite frankly, normal people have to remind themselves of that as well). So it raises the question of nature vs nurture—can Jas overcome his upbringing and his genetics? Will he have to fight against those powerful internal forces for the rest of his life? Because I've read quite a bit of non-fic about sociopaths, I can tell you that the author has done his research in this area.

The mystery part of the book—who is the serial killer?—is not that awesome. There is a Scooby-Doo reveal moment at the end that disappointed me because it follows the murder mystery book pattern so strongly. But a lot of people like that about mystery novels, sooo.....

Anyways, it's a cute book and I want to read the rest in the series.

BRAVO!!! Fantastic end to the trilogy. Made me misty eyed.... *sniff*

Tbh, it took me a long time to get through the first half of the book because it kinda dragged on. But the second half and the last 15% in particular really sped up. I love the characters 💕

Ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm glad I started this series after the 3rd book was already published!! I'm not gonna start any more series until all the books are published cuz I forget stuff when I wait too long.

As for the story... it wasn't SUPER OMG GOTTA FINISH THIS NOW and a lot of Jazz's internal exploration was repetitive sex dreams, BUT I did really think the serial killer game was cool.

Gonna finish this series as soon as I finish the other books I have already checked out.

The audiobook narrator is like a B rating cuz his female voices are kinda creepy.

I watched the TED Talk and got a whole lot more curious. I love reading about endurance, perseverance, and greatness. I am completely on board with the idea that if you stick with something long enough, you will end up being better at it than someone who is naturally more talented than you (but didn't put in the work).

The first half of this book is super motivating and has guidance for doing some self-coaching about identifying your goals and how all your activities fit into your goal pyramid, aka your life. I also liked the sports anecdotes (I saved this book to only listen to while I ran, and hearing about the dedication elite athletes have made me be able to keep going and finish strong on some long runs). The author's personal examples were also a nice touch.

After the first half though, it got pretty repetitive. Like ok, focus on your top goals, cut the crap, and get to work even if you are bored or discouraged. How many different ways can you say that? Sometimes anecdotes came off as a bit flippant: if you just focused and worked hard enough, you would have a nobel prize already. That kind of thinking can lead to a breakdown a la Steve Carrel's character in Little Miss Sunshine, I think. The very end of the book brings up the question, "Should you practice piano even if you will never be Mozart?" With the answer of (paraphrasing here), "Yes, because you will find some sort of fulfilment if you stick with an interest long enough." But the implication of, "if you practice enough, perhaps you will be THIS generation's Mozart."

I guess one important takeaway for me was that interests are mostly learned, not inherent. So the idea of finding your dream job, as if it is somehow separate from you in the world, is false. Interest deepens and strengthens over time and with experience, so your dream job is developed, not found. I think ditto can be said of romantic partners and friends.

Audiobook was narrated by the author, and I liked hearing her read.

SUCH A CUTE STORY!!!

Here's why:
- All the characters are made to be loved, except for the ones that you need to be disgusted at. Somehow you feel empathy for the unique situations of all of them.
- Cute fluffy light summer romance
- Chick flick predictable
- The love the parents have for their kids and that the kids have for their parents is sooo sweet.
- RISHI wins the boyfriend of the century award. The boy can do no wrong.
- Cute.

Recommend if you want a mindless cute romance that doesn't make you hate any of the main characters.

This is a cute slice-of-life story about a young Muslim girl navigating being a teenager, friendships, boys, family, religion, and finding her voice after being assaulted.

I liked that Janna has a young voice--she sounds like an authentic teenage girl. She has no special talents, doesn't do anything out of the ordinary, and doesn't magically come up with perfect solutions to her problems. But she does rely on her community, older people (both a few years older and a few decades older), and books to find encouragement, wisdom, and advice.

I liked that her early opinions about people change as she gets to know them.

I liked that her faith is important to her daily life and influences how she makes relational decisions. It is also a source of personal conflict that she has to struggle through. Growing up in a practicing Christian home, I understand many of the conflicts and choices that Janna had to mull over. Church kids and Muslim kids have pretty similar rules.

The story is imbued with Muslim-ness but not in a preachy way. For example, it doesn't touch the five pillars and briefly mentions ramadan but doesn't go into detail. Instead, it shows scenes of what you might pick up if you just hung around a Muslim family for a while-- someone yelling at a kid who is getting a little too into washing before prayers, the names of different clothing pieces, the fact that you can't make visual depictions of the Prophet.

Recommended if you like reading about teens being teens.

PS audiobook was so-so. Narrator sounded like a teenager reading a diary... unnatural sentence emphasis.