Tag: Half

E. Lockhart – We Were Liars | Review

June 17, 2019
Authors K-O (By Surname)Fiction

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 228

Rating 2/5

 

 

I didn’t like this one, but that might be my own fault. I was expecting a sort of YA thriller in the vein of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, which I didn’t particularly like, but it turns out to be more of a romance, at least for the first half of the book. And then there’s the ending, which is what made me downgrade this from a 3/5 to a 2/5.

I also didn’t particularly like the writing style, especially when sentences were dragged over several small paragraphs
a bit like
this. It’s infuriating and I kept noticing it and being vaguely annoyed by it. I didn’t like the fairy tale sections either, and it sort of felt as though they were included as an afterthought to try to bulk the book out.

With that said, I can also kind of see why it’s a popular book, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. The main thing that I liked about it was that it was short and so it was over quickly, although I also quite liked the name “Cadence” for the protagonist. It also made me think of American Pie III though, and now I want to re-watch it. Oops.

 


 

Click here to buy We Were Liars.

Louis Sachar – Holes | Review

March 31, 2019
Authors P-T (By Surname)Fiction

Title: Holes

Author: Louis Sachar

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 234

Rating 4/5

 

 

This started out super promising, and the idea of troubled kids being forced to dig holes every day reminded me of The Long Walk by Stephen King, writing under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman. The entire first half of the book was a solid 5/5 all of the way.

The problem for me was that the ending let it down, and I think it ended up focusing too heavily on the mysteries of the past when I wanted to see more of what the author had to say about society. There were some great observations here and it was certainly food for thought, and it almost rivals The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton when it comes to books about troubled youth. Almost, but not quite.

All in all, I’d still recommend reading this, but I do think that while it was good, it had the potential to be great but it let itself down. With that said, Sachar did an excellent job, and while this book isn’t perfect, it’s damn close. It’s just what I needed after reading a book that I enjoyed much less than I was expecting it to, and it made for a pretty good palate cleanser. Go ahead and check it out if you’re able to find a copy. Do it.

 

 

Click here to buy Holes.