astridandlouise's Reviews (665)

I really wanted to enjoy this book as I'm a massive Murakami fan and I had heard so many good comparative reviews, but I found it unfortunately, a letdown. Going into the book with a comparative hope to Murakami probably isn't fair and this is most likely the root of my disappointment - holding it alight to Murakami and not receiving it as its own - a standalone novel by a completely different author.

There were parts of the book I highly enjoyed - these being the conversations that Tsukiko had with herself. Other than this I found the book to be quite disjointed and the characters lacked depth and persona. I didn't relate to either of them, not because I didn't want to, but because there was nothing in the story that anchored me to the characters. They were one dimensional and their personalities boring.

The storyline was written around nothing. It didn't build and it didn't really go anywhere - it felt haphazard and pointless. I was interested and slightly captivated at the beginning of the book, but after the first few chapters, I just lost the entire point of the story - it felt like it was going nowhere. Words on a pages just for the sake of it. It was so lacklustre. I also found the ending was rushed - it didn't really sum up the relationship or what happened or where it was going. I found it lazy and underwhelming.

Unfortunately a disappointment.

I was a little disappointed with this book. I am such a big fan of Tsiolkas and his previous work and had high expectations and hopes for his latest work, but it just fell flat.

The storyline was good - that I do not dispute, but the layout and style of the writing was jumbled and a little lost. The structure of the writing didn't make much sense to me. Writing between past and present characters isn't something that's new especially in Tsiolkas' work, but he jumped all over the shop with his main character - there wasn't consistency between the past and present chapters and that left me silently frustrated. Usually I didn't know what was occurring at the beginning of a new chapter mainly because I was confused by whether it was past or present Danny, and halfway through the book I found myself wondering about present Danny as after the first section of the novel he was abandoned until the last chapters of the book.

I really wanted to like this and I'm really bummed it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. It only gets three stars thanks to the story (and even then the story could have been a little more refined - there was a lot of repetitiveness), if the story was a complete disaster I was have only rated it two stars based on its lack of decent structure.

I LOVE this woman - she is one of my biggest sources of inspiration and motivation... an AMAZING mentor who has written such a positive and uplifting book to guide everyone on whatever journey they wish to take whether they be entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial.

I LOVE that she wants to inspire and guide all no matter what their personal journey may be.

I LOVE that she fills this book with information and guidance from personal experiences that are actually relevant to most people whether they're starting their journey or already deep down their path.

The way that she writes makes you want to keep reading - she writes with excitement and passion and you can feel her words leaping off the page with her endless enthusiasm for what she does.

I wished this to be so much better than it was, which is a disappointment as Lena is both witty & smart. I feel that that didn't flow through the pages of her book as easily as it does through a television screen.

There were moments in the book that I laughed and enjoyed but they were few and far between. Whilst this collection of essays was about sharing what she had learned, I felt there was little that I could incorporate into my daily boring life.

good storyline, if not rushed narrative and style from the author.

I knew there would be a twist at the end and whilst I wasn't surprised, I also didn't expect it.

easy read - only took me a day, but not the best YA book that I have read this year.

I highly enjoyed this book. It had a lot of great information about marriage and relationships that I had never considered before.

Gilbert did a lovely job of entwining her story with the history and relating it back to her doubts and insecurities.

It has definitely made me think about things that I didn't even think to question previously and has opened my mind to more educated possibilities and decisions. I feel that I would be in a better position now than previously when I hadn't read this book about marriage and whether it something that is potentially right for me.

You can tell it's a Murakami alright.

If this would have been a full length fiction piece, I can tell that I would have loved it as it had that overwhelming sense of Murakami that I love so intensely. As it was only a short story I found myself wondering at the end what it could have been if it had been given more time - deeper thought - bigger meaning.

In terms of story I much preferred this to Murakami's last release which was a little dry and disjointed. This was a beginning to a story that clearly harbors Murakami's depths and talents.

the stories that Baum achieves in the Oz series is nothing short of magical and spectacular, my only problem is that I find the writing style a little tedious, it also doesn't enrapture me enough and I don't feel like I do when I read other books by great authors who leave me wanting to keep reading and reading. whether this is due to the fact they're written many years ago when language and literature was different i'm not sure, but I believe it could be why I find it hard to keep with the books. which is a shame seeing as the stories are just so beautiful and well imagined.

I wish that it hadn't taken me so long to read this book as I highly enjoyed it. I feel that if I had read it in a shorter space of time I would have enjoyed it even more.

Written extremely well, I can definitely understand why it is critically acclaimed and why it has been received so well. I did find the beginning to be a little tedious, but I think that I was just getting accustomed to Flanagan's writing style.

I had tears welling in a few moments in this book. Especially towards the end.

Easy book to read. It made me feel and express some emotion which few books do these days so I highly enjoyed that this book offered me that.
I didn't find the book overly remarkable like many previous reviews have suggested. Its similar to many other books that deal with cancer amongst children and young adults. It was a good book but given its subject I think it's a little over hyped for what it is.

I will say, I can definitely see this being a very successful film.