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fathima_ashab's Reviews (159)
This book is for those who dare to dream instead of compromising with what life gives them. this will give them a motivation to take risk and plunge into the unknown abyss of fear and dive out of it with the help of their undying passion.
Rasiq finishes his MBA and gets job in a leading investment banking company. He earns more than enough money with his savings going high but he is not happy with the time and energy consuming- not so- lively- life. It even takes a toll on his relationship and so he couldn't take it anymore. He decides to do something that will make his heart happy from the advice given by his dad. He manages to find five other dreamers who are passionate and dying to achieve big things in life just like him. There they form a team and start their adventures as real life superheroes to save people's lives.
This book was humourous and fun with a good story, strong characters and inspiring adventures. There were so many good things to it. some rescue missions were little dramatic but I feel that's what made the book more entertaining. And I would definitely recommend it for a light reading and of course if you love stories with superheroes, do pick this up. One thing I found wasn't necessary to the plot was a couple of love relationships which lead to nowhere and didn't have any basis. The book would have been good even without it. But I loved the dad- son relationship between Rasiq and his popsicle (father). Overall, it is a good page turner with guaranteed entertainment.
Rasiq finishes his MBA and gets job in a leading investment banking company. He earns more than enough money with his savings going high but he is not happy with the time and energy consuming- not so- lively- life. It even takes a toll on his relationship and so he couldn't take it anymore. He decides to do something that will make his heart happy from the advice given by his dad. He manages to find five other dreamers who are passionate and dying to achieve big things in life just like him. There they form a team and start their adventures as real life superheroes to save people's lives.
This book was humourous and fun with a good story, strong characters and inspiring adventures. There were so many good things to it. some rescue missions were little dramatic but I feel that's what made the book more entertaining. And I would definitely recommend it for a light reading and of course if you love stories with superheroes, do pick this up. One thing I found wasn't necessary to the plot was a couple of love relationships which lead to nowhere and didn't have any basis. The book would have been good even without it. But I loved the dad- son relationship between Rasiq and his popsicle (father). Overall, it is a good page turner with guaranteed entertainment.
This is my first book of Victoria Schwab which turned out to be her debut novel too. It was first published in 2011 and this is the new edition with a backdrop story at the back, to an important character in the book whose background wasn't explained in the near witch properly.
Tbh, I enjoyed the novella (which is the prequel to my favourite character of the book) more than the actual book itself.
The writing was very normal and was nothing like how her fans are raving about. I guess it's because this is her debut novel and she herself has mentioned in the introduction that this was one of the stories she wrote in her earlier days just to be sure if she is able to end a story or not.
This is a part fairytale and part romance with magic and witches. The story starts when a stranger enters our protagonist's small town and from the next night the children of the town are disappearing one by one every night. So the whole story took place in about a week.
I really loved the setting and how each people are close to one another in that small town but also it was totally weird how they reacted to a stranger as if they have never seen one in their life (which is true too).
For some reason, I loved the instalove in this book. I think it's because I have read about the stranger in the prequel and liked him. Here I loved him even more which made the romance pretty bearable and good. I didn't like the main character who is a girl named Lexi much. She was so annoying and stupid most of the times.
It was overall good and I really enjoyed it but it wasn't upto my expectation though. That doesn't mean I will not read any of her other books. I will. because I liked her writing and would like to read more. So yeah that's it. Thanks for reading the review all the way down.
Tbh, I enjoyed the novella (which is the prequel to my favourite character of the book) more than the actual book itself.
The writing was very normal and was nothing like how her fans are raving about. I guess it's because this is her debut novel and she herself has mentioned in the introduction that this was one of the stories she wrote in her earlier days just to be sure if she is able to end a story or not.
This is a part fairytale and part romance with magic and witches. The story starts when a stranger enters our protagonist's small town and from the next night the children of the town are disappearing one by one every night. So the whole story took place in about a week.
I really loved the setting and how each people are close to one another in that small town but also it was totally weird how they reacted to a stranger as if they have never seen one in their life (which is true too).
For some reason, I loved the instalove in this book. I think it's because I have read about the stranger in the prequel and liked him. Here I loved him even more which made the romance pretty bearable and good. I didn't like the main character who is a girl named Lexi much. She was so annoying and stupid most of the times.
It was overall good and I really enjoyed it but it wasn't upto my expectation though. That doesn't mean I will not read any of her other books. I will. because I liked her writing and would like to read more. So yeah that's it. Thanks for reading the review all the way down.
This is not going to be a delightful review for those who loved it. so you may skip ahead if you don't want to see me talking all negative about it.
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Now, to those of you who are still here to read my review, I would not recommend you this book. First of all, the plot of this book is a promising and an intriguing element if it had been more deep and profound. It had that potential but Donoghue has made it so simple and childish by narrating it from the voice of a precocious child. I guess if it had been from the mother's perspective, it would have surpassed my expectations. Writing from the child's view even made it look lame.
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If you don't know anything about the book, it is the story of a nineteen year old girl who had been abducted and locked in a room for seven years by a man she call as 'old Nick' and there she gives birth to a boy. When the boy reaches five years, she is making a plan and using him to escape the place. so the story is in two parts first what that happens inside the room and next after they escape it.
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Now, where it exactly lacked is
1. That old Nick had locked her there for whole seven years with electronic lock, alarm and stuffs like that. She can't even break through the wall but funnily, the escape was quite easy that he didn't even bother to check whether what she was saying is true. That was so out of the character.
2. There was no emotion or whatsoever. Honestly, I couldn't feel them at all.
3. As I said earlier, it would have been better if the mother had narrated the story. I couldn't see the transition in her emotion eventhough she is seeing the real world for the first time after seven years.
4. It didn't thrill me at all. It wasn't engaging. I thought of putting it down in several places.
5. The tone of the book was so monotonous, annoying and boring.
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There were so many things I wanted to mention when I read it. Unfortunately, I didn't note them down. So I guess that's all I have in my mind right now.
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Now, to those of you who are still here to read my review, I would not recommend you this book. First of all, the plot of this book is a promising and an intriguing element if it had been more deep and profound. It had that potential but Donoghue has made it so simple and childish by narrating it from the voice of a precocious child. I guess if it had been from the mother's perspective, it would have surpassed my expectations. Writing from the child's view even made it look lame.
.
If you don't know anything about the book, it is the story of a nineteen year old girl who had been abducted and locked in a room for seven years by a man she call as 'old Nick' and there she gives birth to a boy. When the boy reaches five years, she is making a plan and using him to escape the place. so the story is in two parts first what that happens inside the room and next after they escape it.
.
Now, where it exactly lacked is
1. That old Nick had locked her there for whole seven years with electronic lock, alarm and stuffs like that. She can't even break through the wall but funnily, the escape was quite easy that he didn't even bother to check whether what she was saying is true. That was so out of the character.
2. There was no emotion or whatsoever. Honestly, I couldn't feel them at all.
3. As I said earlier, it would have been better if the mother had narrated the story. I couldn't see the transition in her emotion eventhough she is seeing the real world for the first time after seven years.
4. It didn't thrill me at all. It wasn't engaging. I thought of putting it down in several places.
5. The tone of the book was so monotonous, annoying and boring.
.
There were so many things I wanted to mention when I read it. Unfortunately, I didn't note them down. So I guess that's all I have in my mind right now.
First and foremost, I would like to clear a point that has been misinterpreted in the reading community about this book is that 'Lisa has focused only on 3 straight white women neglecting women from other backgrounds and men'. She indeed wanted to write a book on 'human desire' on the whole but after talking with three men it felt flat or you could say they were all in this together and there are already n-number of books out there for them. so it only makes sense to write about female desire. So again she went hunting for women to help her with it by spreading flyers with no particular background or whatsoever. And again it failed that only 'three women' came forward to talk open about this. So what it would have been about human desires turned to be the story of 'three women'and their desires.
The three women are Maggie, Lina and Sloane.
Maggie is a sixteen year old with alcoholic parents and a dysfunctional family. Somehow she falls victim for a 30 year old Hawaiian man and have sex with him and later has an affair with her married school teacher Aaron Knodel (he covers the most of her story).
Next Lina, married to a postal worker who refuses to kiss her. Meaning he doesn't even touch her with intimacy at all.
And the last, Sloane who gets married to a chef and owns a restaurant with him. He likes to see her in bed with other men. but she is not sure if she likes it or not. but she never refuses to do so.
Now if you can see, of all women, only these three came forward to share their stories. It wasn't predetermined or a plan of Taddeo to write only about white women because even the stories of these three women is totally different from each other and you get to see their life as it is. Also, there is a lot of sex in it not in the way it's described from women's part in any of the book ever. It was more about the thought process before, after and during the sex and how desires always end up digging guilt in women. It was so detailed with description that it made me ask myself if Taddeo was present in those events. I am telling you, it was so vivid. but so does the whole book. Her writing just made me crave for more from her. I would be the first in queue to get her book if she is writing another one. I couldn't believe it is a nonfiction because the prose was so beautiful not that it didn't have authenticity. It was authentic with different voice for each of the three characters but you know what it was also so beautiful. I was just sucked into it. I was constantly thinking about these women even when I was not reading. I wanted to go back to them every time I put it down to do other chores. Most of all it was so heart breaking to read their stories. They have narrated their vulnerable parts to us. they have let us see through their world and I don't know how people could just criticize them or the book on the whole so easily. It's an eight years of hardwork on Taddeo's part and lifetime pain and regrets on those three women's part. It's not fair judging them. Not at all fair.
I would defend this way at any time because it has so much to it. but I guess it's not easy for some people to accept certain truths like sexual abuse, pedophilia, alcohol abuse, rape, and other unimaginable things that is happening around us. they don't want to read about it because they find it hard to accept it. but accept it or not, it is there and your ignorance is not going to change it. Also, she never once made any judgements on these three women no matter what they have done in the past. She has just put it there and we can't say anything about it too. At the end of the day, it's their lives and choices. But she did make me realise what one must be going through inside their lives even though it looks all pinks and roses outside. And she disapproves 'women judging other women' and I think that's the message we all should take home.
The three women are Maggie, Lina and Sloane.
Maggie is a sixteen year old with alcoholic parents and a dysfunctional family. Somehow she falls victim for a 30 year old Hawaiian man and have sex with him and later has an affair with her married school teacher Aaron Knodel (he covers the most of her story).
Next Lina, married to a postal worker who refuses to kiss her. Meaning he doesn't even touch her with intimacy at all.
And the last, Sloane who gets married to a chef and owns a restaurant with him. He likes to see her in bed with other men. but she is not sure if she likes it or not. but she never refuses to do so.
Now if you can see, of all women, only these three came forward to share their stories. It wasn't predetermined or a plan of Taddeo to write only about white women because even the stories of these three women is totally different from each other and you get to see their life as it is. Also, there is a lot of sex in it not in the way it's described from women's part in any of the book ever. It was more about the thought process before, after and during the sex and how desires always end up digging guilt in women. It was so detailed with description that it made me ask myself if Taddeo was present in those events. I am telling you, it was so vivid. but so does the whole book. Her writing just made me crave for more from her. I would be the first in queue to get her book if she is writing another one. I couldn't believe it is a nonfiction because the prose was so beautiful not that it didn't have authenticity. It was authentic with different voice for each of the three characters but you know what it was also so beautiful. I was just sucked into it. I was constantly thinking about these women even when I was not reading. I wanted to go back to them every time I put it down to do other chores. Most of all it was so heart breaking to read their stories. They have narrated their vulnerable parts to us. they have let us see through their world and I don't know how people could just criticize them or the book on the whole so easily. It's an eight years of hardwork on Taddeo's part and lifetime pain and regrets on those three women's part. It's not fair judging them. Not at all fair.
I would defend this way at any time because it has so much to it. but I guess it's not easy for some people to accept certain truths like sexual abuse, pedophilia, alcohol abuse, rape, and other unimaginable things that is happening around us. they don't want to read about it because they find it hard to accept it. but accept it or not, it is there and your ignorance is not going to change it. Also, she never once made any judgements on these three women no matter what they have done in the past. She has just put it there and we can't say anything about it too. At the end of the day, it's their lives and choices. But she did make me realise what one must be going through inside their lives even though it looks all pinks and roses outside. And she disapproves 'women judging other women' and I think that's the message we all should take home.
This book is a juvenile fiction, something like Finding Nemo where there is a fish named Jella whose past was safe in hands of her guardian Mimico until she comes to know about it when she is ready to fight back for her family who was killed by a powerful enemy who owns their kingdom now under water. She has two friends named Bingo and Qwerty who would go to the middle of the Earth for her despite their limitation of strength as a fish.
It brought back the memory of my childhood weekends with my eyes glued to the television watching cartoons caring about nothing else in the world.
I enjoyed this book so much. The characters were so witty, humourous, thoughtful and complex which made them great. I only had the problem in the middle of the book where Jella and her friends build a city for them and the colony of fishes, and implemented all the technologies and currencies into the system. That could have been handled differently. Like, the underwater world lost its uniqueness a bit and the story got stretched unnecessarily.
But I really loved the concept of Kingdom, rulers and army stuffs a lot. They were enjoyable. Overall, it was a super fun read with simple language and writing. I need a movie based on this now.
It brought back the memory of my childhood weekends with my eyes glued to the television watching cartoons caring about nothing else in the world.
I enjoyed this book so much. The characters were so witty, humourous, thoughtful and complex which made them great. I only had the problem in the middle of the book where Jella and her friends build a city for them and the colony of fishes, and implemented all the technologies and currencies into the system. That could have been handled differently. Like, the underwater world lost its uniqueness a bit and the story got stretched unnecessarily.
But I really loved the concept of Kingdom, rulers and army stuffs a lot. They were enjoyable. Overall, it was a super fun read with simple language and writing. I need a movie based on this now.
This book has left me disoriented. I feel detached from the real world. I can't grasp what's happening around me. It took me 10 days to finish this book. And over the course of time, I started living with the characters like they are best friends of mine. I felt scared for them when they tried to commit murder and after they did, I didn't want them to get caught. I know it's terrible. but now they have left me, I feel numb and I don't know what to do with my life anymore. To say this book was beautiful, I have to borrow a sentence from Van Gogh to explain the exact version, 'Beauty is terror. we want to be devoured by it, to hide ourselves in that fire which refines us'. The characters were too perfect for their own good and in a way they were fucked up but that's what made this book so close to me. I think I would read anything by Donna Tartt after this. I knew I made that decision long back when I finished The Goldfinch and I still stand by it. She writes fucking beautifully which has the capacity to change me profoundly and crave for chilling darkness more than ever. To say this was good would be a disgrace to its beauty. It was beyond all the praise a mortal could phrase and hence I give in. Go and read to know for yourself. PS. Don't get intimidated by the number of pages. It's totally worth it.
I have always wondered what's it like to be inside a therapist's mind and how it affects them and in what way. Mental health cannot be categorised and put into seperate boxes and given to patients for cure. It is complex and it affects everyone differently and so each one of the patients should be given therapy/ counseling differently according to their needs. To buy a sentence from Lori herself, 'There's no hierarchy of pain. Suffering shouldn't be ranked because pain is not a contest.' The same can be applied for mental illness in general. We can't neglect someone's mental health because you think they look fine outside. Even their facial expressions can betray what they are going through inside and each one of our personalities has layers like onions and in order to understand someone deeply, we have to remove every barriers layer by layer and that's where therapists are specialised in.
Human mind and personality always fascinates me to no end hence this book served me well. Lori has not only showed us the lives and therapies of her patients but also her own. This is my favourite Nonfiction at the moment. It was so good and I would recommend it especially those who are more into psychology and therapy. Also, everyone, to know maybe we all should talk to someone about what is haunting us when the room goes silent.
Human mind and personality always fascinates me to no end hence this book served me well. Lori has not only showed us the lives and therapies of her patients but also her own. This is my favourite Nonfiction at the moment. It was so good and I would recommend it especially those who are more into psychology and therapy. Also, everyone, to know maybe we all should talk to someone about what is haunting us when the room goes silent.
OKAY, WHERE IS BOOK THREE?
*cries in gay*
I miss this book already and it's been only 3 days. This was nothing like cheesy and fluffy CARRY ON. Our characters have grown and so did their thoughts. Where was THIS Baz in the last book? Oh God, this book is especially for the Character development to Baz than anyone else. Honestly, I loved Simon more in Carry on but in here, I couldn't skip my thoughts from Baz. He was so adorable and snarky like he usually is but also so much better. I expected more things whaddayacallit? Ah, romance and stuffs between Simon and Basilton but I was little disappointed which means there's more tea for us in the next book. And that's also why it felt more like a seperate series and not just a fanfiction anymore. There's so much self exploration and in depth analysis to do for each of them. I would consider this only as a novella, a link between Carry on and the next one. The ending made my wait for the next book unbearable.
I CAN'T. PLEASE ROWELL, PUBLISH THE BOOK ALREADY! MORE BAZ! AND MORE SIMON AND BAZ MOMENTS PLEASE! PLLLEEEEEEASE!
*cries in gay*
I miss this book already and it's been only 3 days. This was nothing like cheesy and fluffy CARRY ON. Our characters have grown and so did their thoughts. Where was THIS Baz in the last book? Oh God, this book is especially for the Character development to Baz than anyone else. Honestly, I loved Simon more in Carry on but in here, I couldn't skip my thoughts from Baz. He was so adorable and snarky like he usually is but also so much better. I expected more things whaddayacallit? Ah, romance and stuffs between Simon and Basilton but I was little disappointed which means there's more tea for us in the next book. And that's also why it felt more like a seperate series and not just a fanfiction anymore. There's so much self exploration and in depth analysis to do for each of them. I would consider this only as a novella, a link between Carry on and the next one. The ending made my wait for the next book unbearable.
I CAN'T. PLEASE ROWELL, PUBLISH THE BOOK ALREADY! MORE BAZ! AND MORE SIMON AND BAZ MOMENTS PLEASE! PLLLEEEEEEASE!
This is not just a memoir of Mira's personal life. It's more of what is happening around us in this damaged world and how it is affecting our lives. It contains not only about her biracial child asking her questions about how race affects people but also about her own childhood and how racism played different roles in her life. And I loved her personal thoughts about Trump and what's her opinion on people who support him and how it affected her when her own in-laws stood for him. It was so courageous and brave of her to voice out such things without making us cringe. It was raw, plain and she has just put them in sentences for us to read and think in our own terms.
It's not just about plainly racism alone, she has also portrayed how even with her own people she feels left out and having identity crisis. She has brought out how Indian aunties made her feel less for her colour but that didn't affect her from holding her love back for anyone. I loved how she viewed the mindset of people and love/relationship seperately. I mean, it will hurt if someone who shares the same blood is racist, make you feel guilty for your own existence, but also you can't abandon them. Because they are part of your family. So what you will do? you will accept, love, try to keep things smooth, but also you will regret it later for all the comments you let them to dump on yourself in the name of love.
It was beautiful, heart breaking, hilarious and everything you could ask for in a graphic book. I would highly recommend it.
It's not just about plainly racism alone, she has also portrayed how even with her own people she feels left out and having identity crisis. She has brought out how Indian aunties made her feel less for her colour but that didn't affect her from holding her love back for anyone. I loved how she viewed the mindset of people and love/relationship seperately. I mean, it will hurt if someone who shares the same blood is racist, make you feel guilty for your own existence, but also you can't abandon them. Because they are part of your family. So what you will do? you will accept, love, try to keep things smooth, but also you will regret it later for all the comments you let them to dump on yourself in the name of love.
It was beautiful, heart breaking, hilarious and everything you could ask for in a graphic book. I would highly recommend it.
My Wattpad-ish younger self would have enjoyed this book but I am way past my teen romantic years so it wasn't for me. It isn't to say that it's a bad book but just too cliche for my liking. This story is about a girl who have gone through a terrible past which haunts her even after those bad years have been passed. So much struggle for a young girl to go through. This book also dealt with fighting fears and unconditional love. The thing I liked about the book is that the characters were practicing Islam like normal Muslims do which is hard to see in many books. This doesn't mean it was too religious or anything but it felt good to see something relatable in it. I guess the writing was really good in some places but if we take the book on the whole, it would do much better with some refining and character developments. To conclude, it was an easy read, the author has definitely put so much effort into it and would be better for younger audiences and to those who love to read romance.