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I'm holding onto the promise that the series gets really good after this third installment. I like the adventure, and I'm really starting to grow attached to the characters but I found this one to be very drawn out and repetitive. I do plan to read the fourth book, though! I haven't decided if I should listen to the audiobook again... any thoughts?
edit: upped my rating to 4/5 cause turns out I really liked it
edit: upped my rating to 4/5 cause turns out I really liked it
Upon re-reading this by reading it and not listening on audio, I can't believe how much I actually tune out when I listen to audiobooks. There's so many things that I genuinely didn't know because the audiobook didn't have my full attention!
This isn't my favourite of the series, but I do enjoy how clever it is. And it also introduces just how far off Ron and Harry would be without Hermione... without that paper in her hand, it would've taken much longer to figure it all out!
4/5 stars
This isn't my favourite of the series, but I do enjoy how clever it is. And it also introduces just how far off Ron and Harry would be without Hermione... without that paper in her hand, it would've taken much longer to figure it all out!
4/5 stars
"those buried voices
still
rise"
knocked off a star cause some of the poems were a tad bit insta-poetry ish for me. I did mark a lot of them as favourites though. Vermette does such a fantastic job evoking emotion with image.
still
rise"
knocked off a star cause some of the poems were a tad bit insta-poetry ish for me. I did mark a lot of them as favourites though. Vermette does such a fantastic job evoking emotion with image.
Read this for my english narrative class... and I really enjoyed it? It's amazing to see how similar the first written work is to the things we read today. It's really just something you'd expect to read for school, but if you're super interested, you should read it!
TW: sexual assault, abuse, self harm
This book makes me want to applaud, cry, and tear the world apart all at the same time. Tagaq evokes so much emotion within the pages of two covers. If you are well-versed in Indigenous lit, this is for you; if you're not, it's still for you; if you get confused by it (and you likely will), it's also for you. It's an ode, and a eulogy to Indigenous and Inuit people, to missing and murdered Indigenous women, to the survivors of residential schools. It's a representation of inter-generational trauma, the violence that gets passed on within communities and through generations.
This book makes me want to applaud, cry, and tear the world apart all at the same time. Tagaq evokes so much emotion within the pages of two covers. If you are well-versed in Indigenous lit, this is for you; if you're not, it's still for you; if you get confused by it (and you likely will), it's also for you. It's an ode, and a eulogy to Indigenous and Inuit people, to missing and murdered Indigenous women, to the survivors of residential schools. It's a representation of inter-generational trauma, the violence that gets passed on within communities and through generations.
Ok
like not much happened in this one...
but THE ENDING
I knew it was coming eventually
I had a feeling
but
it still hurts
like not much happened in this one...
but THE ENDING
I knew it was coming eventually
I had a feeling
but
it still hurts
2.5/5 stars. The halfway mark.
I both listened to this on audio and read it and while normally I prefer listening to middle grade, I prefered reading this one. But before I get into that you need to know more about the book.
This follows Ally, who loves to draw and is good at math, but never quite figure out reading and writing. Then a substitute teacher swoops in while Ally's regular teacher goes on maternity leave and helps her. Eventually learning that she has dyslexia.
The book's side characters also feature a wide array of students, a POC girl (who's ethnicity is never actually stated. It's just implied she's black because her name is Keisha), a super smart boy who is getting beat up after school, a Japenese girl who has just immigrated to the states, and a couple of rich white means girls who's parents are secretly really hard on them.
So you can see where I'm going here. It's not really the troupes that bother me, because it's a middle grade and some stuff needs to be simplified, it's the stereotypes. Which are especially prevailent in the audiobook where the narrator feels it necessary to REALLY change up the voices as different characters talk. For example, when Suki, our Japenese student, talks, the audiobook narrator feels it necessary to pull a racially charged accent while mimicking the broken english on the page, circa the star wars prequels and the enemy aliens that suddenly mimick what western people think asain people sound like.
Back to the troupes, which are pretty simple, but I also think everything was a little too over simplified. I don't think we give middle grade (9-12 year-olds) enough credit about how smart they are, how much they're going to pick up on. And this novel follows kids with varrying hardships who's main theme is that the right people will help you get through any hardship, while true, is a vast oversimplification of what the world outside of this book for 10 year-olds looks like.
That being said, I still thought it had good things to say, it was still a good read, which is why it gets this middle of the road rating.
I both listened to this on audio and read it and while normally I prefer listening to middle grade, I prefered reading this one. But before I get into that you need to know more about the book.
This follows Ally, who loves to draw and is good at math, but never quite figure out reading and writing. Then a substitute teacher swoops in while Ally's regular teacher goes on maternity leave and helps her. Eventually learning that she has dyslexia.
The book's side characters also feature a wide array of students, a POC girl (who's ethnicity is never actually stated. It's just implied she's black because her name is Keisha), a super smart boy who is getting beat up after school, a Japenese girl who has just immigrated to the states, and a couple of rich white means girls who's parents are secretly really hard on them.
So you can see where I'm going here. It's not really the troupes that bother me, because it's a middle grade and some stuff needs to be simplified, it's the stereotypes. Which are especially prevailent in the audiobook where the narrator feels it necessary to REALLY change up the voices as different characters talk. For example, when Suki, our Japenese student, talks, the audiobook narrator feels it necessary to pull a racially charged accent while mimicking the broken english on the page, circa the star wars prequels and the enemy aliens that suddenly mimick what western people think asain people sound like.
Back to the troupes, which are pretty simple, but I also think everything was a little too over simplified. I don't think we give middle grade (9-12 year-olds) enough credit about how smart they are, how much they're going to pick up on. And this novel follows kids with varrying hardships who's main theme is that the right people will help you get through any hardship, while true, is a vast oversimplification of what the world outside of this book for 10 year-olds looks like.
That being said, I still thought it had good things to say, it was still a good read, which is why it gets this middle of the road rating.
I really enjoyed this book. It's about two 13 year-olds, Lily and Duncan. Lily is a transgender girl, who's dad is trying and struggling to understand how she feels. Duncan has bipolar disorder, and is struggling between feeling like himself and taking his medication. I think Gephart did a really great job with this novel, despite that it is not own voices. If you do read this book, which I totally recommend, I also recommend reading the author's note, as the author really talks about writing both Lily and Duncan's POV and how she went about doing it.
I wish that more parents would be more willing to buy this book for their kids, though. As a bookseller, I love recommending these books, but once I explain what their about, parents (though not all) get nervous, and don't want to buy a book that deals with transgender youth and kids dealing with mental illness and trauma. That's why is so important for allies and people in these communities with the ability to speak up, do so, and why I will keep recommending these books.
I wish that more parents would be more willing to buy this book for their kids, though. As a bookseller, I love recommending these books, but once I explain what their about, parents (though not all) get nervous, and don't want to buy a book that deals with transgender youth and kids dealing with mental illness and trauma. That's why is so important for allies and people in these communities with the ability to speak up, do so, and why I will keep recommending these books.
First of all, TW: suicide, emotional abuse and manipulation.
I'm not even sure how to begin this review. I'm not sure what'll constitute a spoiler or not, so I'm just going to write, but I'm also going to warn you that if you still plan on reading this book and care about spoilers to approach this review with caution.
The book opens up when Corey first find out that her best friend, Kyra, has drowned because she fell through a crack in the ice (she lives in Alaska - Corey used to live in Alaska, but she moved to Winnepeg). From there, weirdness ensues.
I understand what the author was trying to do with this novel. She's trying to depict what it's like to have bipolar disorder and projects it onto this little Alaskan town. She turns it into a mystery, and several tropes, and magical realism. I think this might've worked had it been maybe written by someone else, and maybe as an adult book. Or maybe if it was just less strange. But the way Kyra's character is depicted feels... insulting? To people who have bipolar disorder? I don't, so correct me if I'm wrong.
This felt like a rip-off, YA version of The Yellow Wallpaper, that's the easiest way I can describe this book. I'm still not sure how to really feel about it all, but don't go into this book thinking it's a mystery about two best friends and a suicide that might actually be a murder.
On top of that, the characters have no depth whatsoever. Kyra and Corey are supposed to be best friends, but I have never read a friendship so plain in my entire life. The plot becomes so repetitive, and it's absolutely infuriating. There are like 2 or 3 chapters near the end written screenplay style, for what seems to be no reason. If we're looking at a plot graph, this book has an inciting incident and then a whole bunch of fluff, no climax, and somewhat of a resolution.
Honestly this book could be a good 150 pages shorter and you would still get the gist and not have to skim read the last half of the book like I did.
That's all I feel like I can say without spoilers. But if you have any questions about the trigger warnings please feel free to message me here on goodreads or on Twitter (@emilyxspeaks).
I'm not even sure how to begin this review. I'm not sure what'll constitute a spoiler or not, so I'm just going to write, but I'm also going to warn you that if you still plan on reading this book and care about spoilers to approach this review with caution.
The book opens up when Corey first find out that her best friend, Kyra, has drowned because she fell through a crack in the ice (she lives in Alaska - Corey used to live in Alaska, but she moved to Winnepeg). From there, weirdness ensues.
I understand what the author was trying to do with this novel. She's trying to depict what it's like to have bipolar disorder and projects it onto this little Alaskan town. She turns it into a mystery, and several tropes, and magical realism. I think this might've worked had it been maybe written by someone else, and maybe as an adult book. Or maybe if it was just less strange. But the way Kyra's character is depicted feels... insulting? To people who have bipolar disorder? I don't, so correct me if I'm wrong.
This felt like a rip-off, YA version of The Yellow Wallpaper, that's the easiest way I can describe this book. I'm still not sure how to really feel about it all, but don't go into this book thinking it's a mystery about two best friends and a suicide that might actually be a murder.
On top of that, the characters have no depth whatsoever. Kyra and Corey are supposed to be best friends, but I have never read a friendship so plain in my entire life. The plot becomes so repetitive, and it's absolutely infuriating. There are like 2 or 3 chapters near the end written screenplay style, for what seems to be no reason. If we're looking at a plot graph, this book has an inciting incident and then a whole bunch of fluff, no climax, and somewhat of a resolution.
Honestly this book could be a good 150 pages shorter and you would still get the gist and not have to skim read the last half of the book like I did.
That's all I feel like I can say without spoilers. But if you have any questions about the trigger warnings please feel free to message me here on goodreads or on Twitter (@emilyxspeaks).