Books Via Ashley

This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp Synopsis A school shooting takes place over the course of 54 minutes and the events are told from four different perspectives. Review I liked that it showed a school shooting essentially in real time, and that it was told from the perspective of people who were close to the shooter. So really, it should  have been an interesting, heart-breaking, deep-felt book. But it wasn't. In all honesty, it's an affront to everyone who has had to experience the horror of a shooting. I felt like it completely lacked emotional resonance.  It was like I was reading a description of events, and being told what characters were feeling, but I couldn't feel the fear and terror and guilt. And when characters died (not a spoiler because it's a shooting; people die), it was sad in that I know it's sad when people die, but it didn't pack a punch because I wasn't invested in the characters. The book was  very  short, and I kn...

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff Synopsis Mathilde and Lotto elope after only five weeks of dating. The book covers the course of their marriage and the secrets that keep it alive. Review This book won many "Book of the Year" awards, plus was President Obama's favorite book of 2015. I like reading books that get a lot of attention like this, since often they're fairly decent books. However, this book was definitely not among my favorites, nor even close. I felt like this book pretentiously sells itself on the discussion and examination of abstract values and emotions, like "art", "creativity", "love" through flawed and hyper-"realistic" characters, but lacks actual substance. Lotto is an arrogant playboy who has slept with every girl he can get his hands on, and an aspiring actor who isn't a very good actor at all. But instead of doing something else, he sits around for seven years while Mathilde keeps their ...