My review's gonna have to hold off because the last disc of the book is MIA (bummer). So even though I've seen the movie I can't rate and review basedMy review's gonna have to hold off because the last disc of the book is MIA (bummer). So even though I've seen the movie I can't rate and review based on that! The four stars are for how I feel about it so far... and so far I think it's my favorite out of the three! I hope I don't have to wait too long to finish it!...more
*Very mild spoilage but since I figure practically everyone has either read the book or seen the movie (if not both) then I'm not giving anything away*Very mild spoilage but since I figure practically everyone has either read the book or seen the movie (if not both) then I'm not giving anything away that will ruin anything for anyone, but just in case, consider yourself warned... or whatever.*
Review of the audiobook.
Wow. Jim Dale is brilliant! I thought he was incredibly good reading the first book, but he got even better in the second. He's getting five stars from me for sure :)
Okay, now onto the book itself: I LOVE THE WEASLEYS! ESPECIALLY Ron!! I love his dry sarcastic humor. He constantly made me laugh and giggle (yep, there is a difference ;P ) at his underhanded (not sure if that's the right word but since it's the middle of the night and my brain isn't working properly I'm leaving it) remarks and his responses to people. In the first book it felt like he was more angry (maybe that's just how I felt Jim Dale read him?) but in this book I absolutely adored his humor! I can't wait to read more with the Weasleys!
Another thing I really liked was learning more about Hagrid's (and Dumbledore's) background. And I even liked the addition of Gilderoy Lockhart because we got so many funny Ron comments out of it!
The parseltongue scene was interesting because we got a bit of it in the first book and so when it happened in this book we (right along with Harry) had no idea that it was supposed to be unusual, and what I like most about it was how she wrote it in: with Harry completely not realizing he was even speaking it. Very good choice.
Another interesting choice was including a racist layer, between purebloods and ..ugh, can't remember the other word (middle of the night, remember?) And I like how she used Hermione for that storyline and how it helped show the loyalty theme. It was really sweet. Bringing Ginny into the mix was a smart move too. Even though she was barely in the first book it heightened the suspense because we already cared about her just because she's a Weasley (I did at least.)
This book was darker than the first but it also had more silly ridiculousness (not a criticism.) It's a kids book, it should include silly ridiculous things in it because kids love that stuff.
I sometimes wonder if seeing the movie version first adversely affects how I feel about a book. I never read these books when I was younger so maybe that has something to do with it too. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I really do like them and I think they are really fun, cute reads but (so far) I haven't been blown away.
Probably not reeeaally four star reads for me but I love that JKR always adds a deeper moral at the end of (and throughout) her books, and without being overly preachy (yuck.) Apparently I'm a sucker for it 'cause I loved it in the first one and I loved it in this one. Two books in and she's really managed to get to me. Each time I've felt truly moved by them and that's really the main reason I've rated them four stars. Cute, fun, and moving (and read to me by a story reading genius.... Eh ha, genius) is enough for me. Looking forward to what she's got in the next one :)...more
I don't know why I never read these books, but with the almost last movie being released I thought, what better time?
I'd seen a documentary-style intI don't know why I never read these books, but with the almost last movie being released I thought, what better time?
I'd seen a documentary-style interview with Rowling made around the time she was finishing the 7th book and I was totally and completely enthralled. That was when I knew I would read her books one day. Before that I figured seeing the movies was enough, but after that I knew I absolutely had to read her books.
The first book was so cute! If I was still a kid reading this I know I would've LOVED it. As an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't feel like the story was overly unique, but there was something about it that I found so endearing.
Unfortunately, I already knew the whole twist at the end but I remember being surprised when I saw it in the movie so whatever, that wasn't too big a deal. In fact, the first is the movie I remember the most so I think the next few will be even better reads because I don't remember them as clearly. Movies 4, 5, and 6 I hardly remember at all so I'm definitely looking forward to those. ...more
The bookcover says The Madonnas of Echo Park A Novel, but in this case I think the A Novel add-on is subjeI'm really torn with how to rate this book.
The bookcover says The Madonnas of Echo Park A Novel, but in this case I think the A Novel add-on is subjective. It's really a collection of short stories at most, and in my opinion it's probably not even quite that. Each chapter is written from a different character's POV, but each chapter is not a full story, short or otherwise. Each character may or may not have some connection to another chapter's character, however slight it may be. I realize this is starting to sound like I despised the book but that's not completely true. Some of the chapters were interesting. In fact, some of the chapters were good enough for me to rate 3.5 or 4 stars if the book would have ended up having a story in it. Apparently some people think the story was written in a similar style as the movie Crash, and I can see how they could think that, because each character usually related to someone else in the book in some way, but from what I remember of Crash all the seemingly unrelated characters ended up coming together to play a part in an actual story with a climax (symbolic and literal crash) and with a point to the story. I didn't feel that way with The Madonnas of Echo Park. I felt like it didn't really matter that one character dated another character's former best friend because there was no real revelation or meaning behind connecting them. Generally it didn't even improve either story either. And the same goes for most of the other characters' connections.
What was apparent was that the author wanted to show the evolution of a location: the Echo Park (and Chavez Ravine) neighborhood of LA, and how that evolution effected the Mexican immigrants who lived there. It is literally just about the Mexican immigrants, though. At certain points he acknowledges that not only Mexicans inhabit this area, but all his characters are Mexican. The author did a decent job at showing this evolution through his different characters' voices. Not only that, but once I realized that every new chapter meant a new POV I thought he did a decent job at creating a distinct and realistic voice for some of the characters too, be them younger, older, male, or female.
The book starts off with a long author's note that made me think of something interesting. He talks about how he did something bad to one of his classmates and he wanted to apologize to her but he was never able to because she didn't return to school after their holiday break. It was what he felt about what he did that struck me as interesting. He apparently felt a cultural and socioeconomic divide with his other classmates. He got MTV before everyone else and therefore was exposed to English and American pop music when most of his other classmates were still listening to Spanish music or old music. When his class decided to have a dance he didn't want to look too uppity so he brought a single of something, I don't remember what, but one of the girls, Aurora, brought Madonna's full album. She was the first to put her's on and she put on Borderline, which was apparently a huge deal in LA at the time because of the video or something having a chola vibe to it. Well, I guess what happened was, he was expected to dance with her by the teacher or something, but he didn't think that was a good idea. The music was starting and they were in place but instead of dancing with her he said, "I can't dance with you because you're Mexican." She was apparently speechless or something and why not, because some kid, who is also Mexican, btw, just told her she wasn't good enough to dance with not because he didn't like her but because of something she could do nothing about, her ethnicity. Too bad she didn't think to say, And what the hell do you think you are??? But honestly, I kinda related to his story.
I lived in Signal Hill in Long Beach (about as close to LA is it gets as far as I know) for a few years growing up from about the age of 7 to 9 or so. And the school I went to was dominantly black and white with a few token latinos and asians. My brother and I being two of about four or five of noticably latino decent (we're half and halfers.) Anyway, what I'm getting at is that for some reason at this point in my life I didn't realize I was any different from whoever I was with at any given time. If I was talking to one of my black friends I thought I was the same as her, if I was with one of my white friends I thought I was just like her. I truly didn't realize we were different. And at some point during third grade I realized I didn't look like my mom. So I asked her, "Why don't I look like you?" She asked me what I meant and I said, "Why is my skin darker than yours?" And do you know what she told me? She said, because you're tanned. (!) Because I was outside all the time. (!) And so I said, "Well I'm gonna stay inside then because I wanna look like you!" (I was so sincere too!) We kept talking about it some more, but I find this so funny and outrageous now! But the point is, I didn't realize I was Latina either. Unlike the author, though, I was never told that I was better than any other ethnic group, thank goodness. The funny thing is, my mom was right! My skin really was that color because I was tanned! Now my skin is really not much different than my mom's except it has an olive tone to her peachy one, but if you put our hands side by side the color shade is very, very close. All my other features are very ethnic though :). ...more
The concept was so intriguing: a girl locks her brother in a cupboard (their secret hiding place in the wall) to hide him when the FrencDisappointing.
The concept was so intriguing: a girl locks her brother in a cupboard (their secret hiding place in the wall) to hide him when the French police show up to take her family away, and tells him she'll be right back to take him out, thinking it's only temporary, right? How could I not want to find out how this plays out?
With such an interesting concept I'm really surprised this book didn't do it for me, but it really didn't. I really disliked the author's writing, but I think I might have been able to look passed that if the story had been great, or even at least less predictable. Maybe. And only then because I became aware after I finished reading that the author hasn't written in English in a while (though it is her first language.) Anyway, even after taking that into consideration I still couldn't disregard my dislike for her writing choices.
The one good thing about reading this book was that I learned about the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup which I previously didn't know about. Completely gut-wrenching and horrific. And executed by the French police (with orders from the Nazi's). Against over 4,100 (young) children, as well as over 3,900 women, and over 1,900 men. I got chills again just thinking about it. So horrifyingly sad.
Apparently the reason why it was covered up so thoroughly is because of the French police's involvement. It was a national embarrassment that they wanted to forget and in doing so actually committed further injury to those Jews. Pretending like the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup never existed. Like they never existed.
I'm gonna finish now because I'm getting too emotional but I agree with the speech quoted in the book. We should never forget. Horrible atrocities that happen to people, like this one, should not be forgotten. ...more
This was my first Christopher Moore book, and I'm sorry to say I was not that impressed. It didn't make me laugh, but that's not to say it wasn't withThis was my first Christopher Moore book, and I'm sorry to say I was not that impressed. It didn't make me laugh, but that's not to say it wasn't without some humorous moments. I mean, the dust jacket's blurb was funnier than most of the book. But then, the book introduces The Chronicles of Abby Normal, and it got a little more interesting... just a little, though.
The whole book is really just a set-up for a much more promising story. The perky (but dark) minion, Abby Normal and her shy, ninja friend, Foo Dog (aka Steve), along with the mysterious vampires from who-knows-where, added to the unknown fate of the Countess (Jody) and the vampire Flood (Tommy), and the crusty-old-vampire-who's-name-I-can't-remember, all mixed up is a recipe for an entertaining, absorbing, and possibly hilarious read.
My absolute favorite bits of the story were from The Chronicles of Abby Normal: Tortured Victim of the Daylight Dwellers. Now, I probably couldn't read an entire book told through her thoughts, but what was included had me smiling every time. So I guess that makes me Team Abby... ha.
I might... might give another shot at a Moore book, because apparently this was just a ...fluke ;)
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