Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Let's start with what I didn't like:

The ending. Well, I liked the ending, then I also didn't.  I love messy endings. This one is messy, but perhaps a bit too much? I like when books leave it up to the readers imagination to figure some things out. But, this one goes too far for even me. It's an unexpected ending and not in a good way.

Another thing the book has going against it is the crudeness. This book is rated R for language and sexuality. For those reasons alone, I can't say I'd recommend this book to anyone. It's too much and too crude. And very dark and disturbing. I'll say this: if you really enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you will enjoy this book. Similar dark themes and depravity. But with more bad language. A lot more.

No redemption. I can handle some rated R things if there is redemption at the end. I can't think of anything redemptive in this book.

Here's what I did like:

If it weren't for the crudeness, I'd like the book as a whole. The story itself is good. Perhaps too dark and sinister especially towards the end, but good.

It's not too predictable. A little predictable, but there are definitely twists and turns you would never have suspected.

Flynn writes it well and the narration is interesting. I enjoy books with more than one narrator and this one in that sense didn't disappoint. The writing itself is good, despite its darkness and depravity.

The Phantom of Pemberley

The Phantom of Pemberley by Regina Jeffers is a very interesting book. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. In general, I think it's a bad idea to move a book forward after it's ended, unless it's a sequal by the original author. And even then, sometimes it's just best to leave it be. "Anne of Green Gables" (the movie) is a good example. "The Sequel" was fantastic. However, it ends with loose ends. You don't get to see the end of Anne and Gilbert's story. Because of that (or more likely money) another movie was made, "The Continuing Story". It's bad. Just bad. I bought it and watched it thinking "I can't get enough of these characters, surely I want to see more of the end of their story." Mistake. Sometimes a story should just end with loose ties. Let the readers imaginations take over and finish the ending.

This is kind of how I felt with The Phantom of Pemberley. It was a great story - a murder mystery. However, perhaps Jeffers should have just written her own original characters and left Darcy and Elizabeth out of it. But maybe not. I'm just not sure with this book. Most books I have strong opinions about - I either like them or I don't. This one really could go either way.

Here's what I do know: I liked that the culture of Pride and Prejudice was there, without the difficulty of reading an Austen novel. It was easy to read, which with four kids and a husband with the flu, I appreciated. I liked the twist that comes towards the end. It was unexpected and an interesting way to bring up a certain subject which must remain unmentioned here due to spoiler issues. But, it would certainly be an interesting book to debate in a book club due to this issue. (Piqued your interest?!)

Here's something I don't know: I'm not convinced the book is believable. And unless the genre is clearly not supposed to be believable, I don't like books that I can't believe would or at least COULD have happened.

This has turned out to be a little longer of a review than I anticipated and even though I have more to write, I'll end this with loose ends just like perhaps this book should have...

Tigers in Red Weather

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussman got rave reviews. So of course, I started reading it. The story sounds interesting, the writing was fine, the characters were intriguing. I stopped reading. Why would I put down an interesting story, written fine (at least as far as I got), with interesting characters?! The language. I can handle many things in a book but I refuse to tolerate taking the Lord's name in vein. Sadly, this book just had too much of it - 2 on the very first page. So, I put it down which is just a shame since I think it would have been a good one.

Here's my message to anyone who will listen - you don't need raunchy to sell books (or anything for that matter). An interesting book will remain interesting without too much. Too much language. Too much sex. Too much violence. Good writing does not include raunchy.

Crossed

Crossed is the second in the Matched series, by Ally Condie. While Matched was definitely better, this one was okay. I read it quickly and considering I have 4 kids and a sick husband, that means it was good enough.

The story moved a little slower than I would have liked. There didn't seem to be as much description that was needed to set up scenes. When a main-ish character dies off halfway through the book, I didn't really care. SPOILER ALERT...when the main characters get separated at the end of the book, I didn't care.

I just don't really care about Ky or Cassie in Crossed. While Matched made me care and love the characters, Crossed did not. I feel like the writing got worse. The story stalled. And the emotional connection that was obtained in Matched was lost.

In all the other dystopian trilogies I've read, the second one in the series is the best. I'm hoping this is the worst and the last in the series Reached brings be back to loving the series.

On another note - this series so far has been great to let my 8 year-old read. There's no language, no sex, little violence. Although, I'm in trouble if the last book is inappropriate. I'll have to invest in some post it notes and censor the parts I don't want her to read.

Look Again

"What would you do if the face in a missing child photo was your son?"

This is the sentence on the cover of the New York Times Best Seller Look Again by Lisa Scottoline. It grabbed my attention.

I can't tell you much about this book because it's the kind of book you don't want to know much about. All I will say is this: it's unpredictable. Although perhaps I'm not the most reliable person on predictability. I get so immersed in books that I don't really think about what's coming next; I just enjoy the book. That said, from my perspective, there are things in the book I definitely didn't expect.

I highly recommend this book. I think it's on par with The Kitchen House, Memory Keeper's Daughter, and Room. If you liked those, I think you'll like this one. Good writing, great story, and a quick read.

Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs

I am a sucker for a good memoir/auto-biography. I heard about this one on either tv or npr and knew immediately that I wanted to read it. The Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) has been in the news the past several years, but I've been so busy birthing babies and homeschooling, I haven't had time to research it. Enter this book and my renewed sadness for oppressed women. Elissa Wall was a girl in the FLDS and was married off at the age of 14, against her will. She was then abused by her husband for almost 3 years, before she decided to break out of the polygamous sect, FLDS.

 This book has it all - sex, religion, politics, suspense, drama, joy, and sadness. It opened my eyes to the sadness that takes place in our wonderful and free country. I was shocked that there is still such oppression on such a basic level. The lack of education, the forced marriages, and the disregard for women. I would definitely recommend Stolen Innocence.