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Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones | Review

Title: The Lovely Bones

Author: Alice Sebold

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 330

Rating: 3/5

I have pretty mixed feelings about this one, mainly because I didn’t really enjoy reading it but I still feel glad that I picked it up. I think it’s one of those where most of the fuss about it comes from the writing style, and in my case, I didn’t really like it. In fact, it read almost like translated fiction, which kind of weirded me out. I actually checked the front to see whether a translator was listed, but no dice. It turns out it’s not translated, it’s just a little weird.

Then there’s the ending, which honestly just infuriated me and made me wish I’d not stuck with it. I don’t think I would have if it hadn’t been a buddy read. As is, I don’t really have too much to say about this and I don’t really know what I’ll have to talk about with her. It was a slow burner, heavily character driven and just written in a way that I didn’t enjoy. What more can I say?

I did like the actual idea here, I think it was just the execution that I wasn’t a fan of. This seems to be the case quite a lot with books that I pick up purely because they’re popular, and indeed it’s one of the reasons why I’ve been being more selective recently. But I’d bought this one a while back and I thought it would be a shame to get rid of it, and so here we are.

Would I recommend it? I mean, probably not, I can’t think of anyone who I think should go out of their way to give it a go. But at the same time, it’s not like it’s a bad book. It’s just boring and a little bland with too much to say for itself. So there’s that.

Click here to buy The Lovely Bones.

Dan Schawbel – Promote Yourself | Review

Title: Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Building an Outstanding Career

Author: Dan Schawbel

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 250

Rating: 7/10

Dan Schawbel – Promote Yourself

Dan Schawbel’s highly-rated collection of tips for ambitious employees is pretty good, but it’s not perfect – at times, it seems just like common sense. And it has a bias towards the new, up-and-coming employees, the young millenials who are in their first or second job and need that extra bit of career advice. People like myself.

But the thing is, if you’re passionate about what you do, if you’re driven and ambitious and determined to get your way then most of this stuff comes naturally. You feel an urge to improve yourself, to learn as much as you can as quickly as you can and to apply it whenever there’s an opportunity.

Dan covers all of this, but he also covers more – how to network both internally and externally, how to deal with difficult situations and, most importantly, how to avoid stagnation in the workplace. I’m not going to lie to you, it takes a lot of work to put his advice in to action. Unless you’re already doing it.

That’s why this is a useful read for any professional of any age – if you’re driven enough, you’re probably doing a lot of this stuff already, but you’ll still pick up hints and tips here and there. If you’re not driven enough, it’ll inspire you to be the change you want to see.