Review: Abby Road by Ophelia London

Title: Abby Road

Author: Ophelia London

Release Date: March 27, 2013

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Love a good chick lit with drama, romance, and excitement? Into good music? This book is definitely for you!

What I Have to Say:

I loved this book! I'll admit that, when I started this book, I wasn't sure what I was going to think. The summary made it sound amazing, but I found the initial writing style somewhat lackluster, and in the first 50 pages or so, things just felt somewhat fake to me. Superficial. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but still. . . And then things picked up, and I forgot all about everything I didn't like about the first 50 pages.

In essence, Abby Road is a coming-of-age story about Abigail Kelly, a famous musician going through a tough time, trying to find herself. She is completely broken which, despite her super-star status, makes her seem like a normal, totally relateable character. She's cute and quirky, with spunk and strength and back-bone, and her reasons for being broken are so real that it's easy to sympathize with her instead of just wanting her to get over it.

That said, I've always been a fan of books during which I regularly want to strangle the main character and scream at her all of the things that she's not seeing and that she should be doing differently. And Abby definitely had her moments. There were many times when I felt as if she was lacking a backbone (and I wasn't the only one, thus the drama of the book), and they were somewhat rough, but overall, they gave a much more real feel to the book.

More than just Abby being a wonderfully broken and lovable main character, Ophelia London really brings not just the characters, but also the places, alive. Abby takes a break from work in Seaside, Florida, the town where her sister lives. The beauty of the beaches and the majestic beach houses are brought to life through beautiful, flourishing descriptions. It is here that Abby meets the love-interest of the story, and the emotions and places are described with such loving care that I felt, at times, like I was there. Or at least I wished I was there, falling in love in the quaint town of Seaside.

Abby Road is a thrilling read full of clever witticisms, heartbreak and romance, drama with soothing moments, and totally (mostly, you've got your token evil bad guy) lovable characters.

Summary:Touted by the tabloids as the biggest rock star of our generation, Abigail Kelly is used to being in the spotlight. But beyond the glam of Hollywood, her world is falling apart. Still reeling from the death of her brother and wilting under the iron fist of Max, her manager, Abby banishes herself to the secluded beaches of Florida for the summer, thinking some anonymity and sunshine are just what she needs. What she finds, instead, is Todd, an ex-marine eager to embrace life after war. Together, Abby and Todd find the balance Abby’s life has been missing. That is, until Max resurfaces, demanding Abby return to Los Angeles to record her band’s newest album. As the pressures of public appearances, paparazzi, and late-night recordings start to mount, Abby will have to risk everything or lose the life she always dreamed of. Ophelia London’s ABBY ROAD is a love letter to music—both the kind you cherish and the kind you create—as well as a beautiful love story that proves even when everyone in the world can recognize your face, the only people who matter are those who can see inside your heart.

Cover Story:
It's super cute. It feels like a new musician trying to make her way in the great state of California, though, which kind of goes against the feel of the book. So, while I like it, it just didn't give me a true feel for what the book would actually be like. It evokes "true beginnings" as opposed to "fresh starts."

Note: This book was sent for me by review from Entangled Publishing. This in no way affected my review.

Review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

Title: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Author: David Mitchell

Rating:

Who Should Read It?This is a beautiful piece of historical fiction. Do you like Asian historical fiction? If so, read this book. Period. And just remember that it starts off a bit slowly.

What I Have to Say:
I'm going to be honest with you. I almost put this book down and didn't finish it - which is just NOT something I do. If I start a book, I finish it. Period. But the first 150 pages or so of this book were just PAINFUL for me to read. This book takes a look at what it was like in the late 1700s, early 1800s, on Dejima, a small Japanese island right off the coast of Nagasaki, where Dutch traders lived. It should be noted that this was a very xenophobic time for Japan, in which the Japanese traded with the Dutch and ONLY the Dutch (no other foreigners allowed), and the Dutch traders were RARELY allowed off Dejima and onto mainland Japan.

The book starts off on a positive note, when a female Japanese midwife manages to successfully deliver the baby of the magistrates concubine. The story then immediately turns to the Dutch living on Dejima. The lying, cheating, gambling, whoring Dutch who speak in such harsh, perverse slang that it took extreme effort to actually understand what they were saying and even more effort to actually want to understand what they were saying. I couldn't care less about these Dutch men and what happened to them, and if I had thought it was going to be about them, I would have put the book down.

Luckily (for me), though, there was the decent, virtuous Jacob de Zoet who stood out amoungst a group of repulsive slum. David Mitchell breathed such life in this character from the debut that, despite how awful I was finding the book (which, in retrospect, was sheer genius on the part of Mitchell, as it allowed the reader to get a real feel for what life must have been like then and what de Zoet must have been suffering with life on Dejima), I found that I kept reading just to figure out where things were going for him. And for Ogaewa, Aibagawa, Lord Enomoto, Dr. Marinus, and all of the rest of the large cast of characters that Mitchell put together (for a book with so many characters, he sure managed to breathe life into all of them).

And I am SO glad I did, because I sped through the last 400 pages of the book at record speed. The Japan of 1799 came alive for me, the customs, the characters, the way of living - everything was beautiful and brilliant, and I felt as if I was actually there. As the story progressed, de Zoet became more and more the good guy that the island of Dejima needed, and it became more and more evident that the villain wasn't Dejima itself, but a certain Japanese (whose name I will not mention for fear of spoiler).

As usual, David Mitchell has given us not just a compelling protagonist, but a compelling villain in a compelling setting complete with a rich plot that will leave you page-turning with desire up until the very end.

Aside from the usual David Mitchell brilliance, I thought one of these things that ultimately made this book so great was the way he dealt with the issues - the racism, the sexism, the religious differences, the blasphemy, etc. Today, we look at all of these things, and we think: moral issue. Back then, though, things were different, and they were even more different in Japan. And he dealt with these issues as they may have been dealt with back then, going into just the right amount of depth, while still managing to throw a modern day twist by actually acknowledging that these things are moral issues. It really brought to home the impossibility of life back then for a woman or a slave. Or, in Japan, even a person with thoughts of their own.

"The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" is full of laughs, it will make you think, make you cry, make you question, and leave you ultimately forgetting the you read about the characters in books (instead thinking that they were people you might have known in a previous life). Jacob de Zoet is a masterful storyteller with a masterful writing style and a creative mind to boot.

Summary:In 1799, Jacob de Zoet disembarks on the tiny island of Dejima, the Dutch East India Company’s remotest trading post in a Japan otherwise closed to the outside world. A junior clerk, his task is to uncover evidence of the previous Chief Resident’s corruption. Cold-shouldered by his compatriots, Jacob earns the trust of a local interpreter and, more dangerously, becomes intrigued by a rare woman—a midwife permitted to study on Dejima under the company physician. He cannot foresee how disastrously each will be betrayed by someone they trust, nor how intertwined and far-reaching the consequences. Duplicity and integrity, love and lust, guilt and faith, cold murder and strange immortality stalk the stage in this enthralling novel, which brings to vivid life the ordinary—and extraordinary—people caught up in a tectonic shift between East and West.

Cover Story: I love this cover! Oh so beautiful and oh so Japanese. The colors and the idea are just right. :-)

Review: the Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson

Title: the Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno

Author: Ellen Bryson

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It? If you liked Water for Elephants, definitely read this book! Even if you didn't, if you've ever felt like an outcast, this may just be the book for you! I loved it, and I highly recommend it!

What I Have to Say:
Let me just start off by saying "Go Ellen Bryson!" With "the Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno" she has created an easily readable, easily enjoyable story that touches on the one thing from which, at some point in time, all humans have suffered: the feeling of being an outcast. And she has done it well. This book, though it be a first novel, makes it obvious that, when it comes to writing Bryson knows her stuff. I had almost forgotten how pleasant it can be to read a genuinely well-written book. This book has been compared to "Water for Elephants," and the circus feel and pseudo-autobiographical point of view paired with the unique yet plain writing style make this view, in my opinion, right on. Though I would stay that Bryson takes it a notch up stylistically. Her prose is so fluid and vivid that I am still wondering what parts of the story were true and which not.

Bryson's book is told from the point of view of Bartholomew Fortuno who, at 6 feet tall, 67 pounds, is the self/Barnum-appointed skinniest man in the world. He lives in Barnum's museum in Manhanttan along with Barnum's other "curiosities." He, unlike his best friend, Matina, the token fat woman, believes that his body is a gift. He knows that he is a freak, an outcast, but he loves his body despite this, and he believes that it is his job to teach others with his gift. By showing all of himself, he believes that people will take a deeper look into themselves.

When the bearded lady comes along, though, his entire world is turned upside down. Through conversations with her and about her, he begins to see the world in a slightly different way and to question his beliefs about himself and his body. Does he have a choice? And if he does have a choice, can his body actually be a god-given gift?

Through her use of such an extreme as the "freak" circus, Bryson has really captured what it means to be an outcast. Through Fortuno, his friends, and his transformation, we see the world from all of the different possible points of view of "outcast." We see that it is possible to accept and love ourselves no matter what our situation. As all people have at some point in time felt different, it will be hard not to find something or someone to relate to in Bryon's medley of curiosities. Through the questions asked and the transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno, we see just how possible it is to feel stuck without even realizing it. We also see just how possible it is to unstick ourselves.

As you can tell, I loved this book, and I will definitely be looking forward to Ellen Bryson's next work! My biggest problem with this book, though, was that the end just seemed to easy. It seemed like there was all this build-up and then she just sort-of took the easy way out. I also found Forutno's ridiculous obsession with the bearded lady to be at times frustrating, especially in regard to how it caused him to act (or not act) with Matina. It was an integral part of the book, but I thought that it could have been better explained.

This book was a joy to read. It was incredibly simply written and yet, at the end of each chapter, I stopped to think about what I had read. It wasn't necessary, but I feel like I got so much more out of it this way. This book has been billed as a love story, and maybe that's what the author meant it to be, but I didn't see it that way. I almost feel it is a degradation of the book's worth to call it such. It, as the title says, is a book of growth, development, TRANSFORMATION. It is a story of beauty and love and uniqueness, but I fear that if you go in expecting a love story, you will be disappointed. And this book is so great that I really wouldn't want that.

Thanks, Ellen Bryson, for such a new, refreshing read! Now, go out and read this book!

Summary: Water for Elephants meets Geek Love in this riveting first novel, an enchanting love story set in P. T. Barnum's American Museum in 1865 New York City

Bartholomew Fortuno, the World's Thinnest Man, believes that his unusual body is a gift. Hired by none other than P. T. Barnum to work at his spectacular American Museum—a modern marvel of macabre displays, breathtaking theatrical performances, and live shows by Barnum's cast of freaks and oddities—Fortuno has reached the pinnacle of his career. But after a decade of constant work, he finds his sense of self, and his contentment within the walls of the museum, flagging. When a carriage pulls up outside the museum in the dead of night, bearing Barnum and a mysterious veiled woman—rumored to be a new performer—Fortuno's curiosity is piqued. And when Barnum asks Fortuno to follow her and report back on her whereabouts, his world is turned upside down. Why is Barnum so obsessed with this woman? Who is she, really? And why has she taken such a hold on the hearts of those around her?

Set in the New York of 1865, a time when carriages rattled down cobblestone streets, raucous bordellos near the docks thrived, and the country was mourning the death of President Lincoln, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno is a moving novel about human appetites and longings. With pitch-perfect prose, Ellen Bryson explores what it means to be profoundly unique—and how the power of love can transcend even the greatest divisions.

Cover Story: I think this cover, with the curtains and the bird escaping from the cage, is oddly appropriate. Through it's lack of too much detail, it manages to convey the deeper meaning of the book. I love it!

Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review by the publisher. This in no way affected my review.

I Hate Spoilers and The Perfect Book Review

So, when I decided to start this blog, it was because I couldn't stop writing about books in my other blog, which wasn't supposed to be about books. So I thought, hey, it would be cool to have a blog in which I can JUST write about books.
And then I thought - wouldn't it be cool if in that blog I review all of the books that I read?
The problem with that, though, is that I HATE book reviews. They always give a plot summary and talk too much about the development of the characters and the things that happen in books. There are almost ALWAYS spoilers. And let me tell you, I HATE spoilers. Seriously.
To the point in which I base a book on its' cover and its' placement in the book store. Because most of the time I don't even want to read the back of the book because it will tell me too much about what's inside. I like to know next to NOTHING about a book before I read it.
To me, the perfect book review would say next to nothing about the actual book itself, instead talking more aboutfeelings that were had during the book, about whether or not it was readable, and, if it has to talk about that sort of thing, about if it was well written and if the plot and the characters were well developed. I just want to know that they WERE well developed, not about HOW they were well-developed.
If it takes place in a fantasy land, great - you can tell me that the fantasy land in which it takes place was amazingly well created and thought out and the reader will almost feel as if he is in that fantasy land.
But don't tell me ABOUT that fantasy land. Because I don't want to know. I will discover it when I read the book.

So anyhow, that is why I decided to do my reviews how they are. The summary comes last because I know that *I* wouldn't want to read the summary. It's there at the end for those that want to, but easily avoidable for those that don't. In my what I have to say section, I talk about impressions and feelings and flow without, I hope, giving away anything about the book.
Because I just can't STAND that.
And I always wished that someone would do book reviews like that for me.

Right, so that's why I decided that I had to do this blog, and that's why it's done how it is and why my reviews are how they are.

:-)
the end