REVIEW: I Still Dream

I STILL DREAM
Genre:  Sci fic
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher



This novel bravely attempts to combine the nostalgic zeitgeist of the 1990s, the social media fears of the present day, and speculative science fiction about the generations to come. 

The first two elements are the strongest - to those who grew up in the advent of the internet, Laura's rebellious dial-up teenage years will take them back. When the chapters skip forward to the present day, this nostalgia is deftly brought into the focus of 2017. Laura's world is close enough to what we know to evoke a Black Mirror level of warning and credibility to the writing.

Where the book falls short a little is in its later chapters, which are set in the future. Although the author presents a credible and coherent world, it is difficult to tap into the spirit of an age when that age is yet to come. The strength of the book is in its settings and messages rather than its characters, and so what began as a brilliant ride through the advent of social media became a slightly insipid warning about times to come. 

REVIEW: White Bodies

White Bodies
Genre: Mystery, thriller
Rating:3/5
Source: Publisher

I have always found twins and multiples fascinating. So when the opportunity to read “White Bodies” came up, I was looking forward to reading it. 

When Tilda invites her new man, Felix to movie night, her twin sister, Callie is unimpressed but curious. She doesn’t often meet Tilda’s friends, especially the men in her sister’s life. When she first meets Felix, he seems polite and interested in Callie. He also appears quite comfortable in her sister’s apartment…like he’s been there many times before. 

Callie and Tilda Farrow have a very strange relationship. Callie seems to be the more unassuming twin, while her sister is an actress with a flair for the dramatic. We learn quite a bit about their childhood and relationship. Callie has always been a bit in awe of her sister and this manifests itself in some very strange ways….very strange…SOOOO very strange!! 

But then Callie begins to notice how much power Felix seems to have over her sister. However, Tilda seems to be going along with it, even letting Felix take control over the renovations of her apartment. It’s not long before Callie has some serious worries about her sister’s relationship, especially after seeing some bruises on her arms. Tilda gets angry with Callie when she tries to talk about Felix. Eventually Callie looks to the internet for help. She ends up in a chat/online support group about controlling men. Soon she’s spending a lot of her time on the website, talking to other people with similar issues. 

Is Tilda in as much danger as Callie thinks she is? Will Callie be able to save her sister?

I had a really hard time rating this book. I’m still confused as to how I feel about it. I like when a book that messes with my head and this one definitely did that, but there were a few things that were really creepy and confusing. 

Although I was disturbed at times, this was definitely a compelling novel with an interesting plot that kept me reading. I had a hard time putting this book down and read it in just a few hours. I had to know how it was going to end. 

“White Bodies” was a strange and sometimes off-putting read. A story about obsession, love, violence, and manipulation. This book may not be for everyone but it was certainly a gripping read that I won’t soon forget. 

Thank you, to the publisher for providing an advanced readers copy of this book for me to read in exchange for my honest review

REVIEW: The Woman In The Window

The Woman In The Window
Genre: Mystery, fiction
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher


Anna Fox used to be a successful child psychologist. She used to have her life together—marriage, family, career—but 11 months ago, a trauma left her with agoraphobia, so she's been unable to step outside of her New York City home all this time. She spends her days watching black and white movies, playing chess and learning French online, drinking too much while ignoring or doubling up on her meds, and counseling others like her in an online forum for people with agoraphobia.

She also has a bit of a photography habit, which stems mostly from her interest in watching what is going on outside her home, particularly in the homes of her neighbors. She's seen some pretty interesting things, including the recent afternoon activities of Mrs. Miller, who moved in across the street with her husband.

"Watching is like nature photography: You don't interfere with the wildlife."

When a new family, the Russells, move in directly across the park from her, Anna is quickly transfixed by them. They seem almost perfect—husband, wife, teenage son. She meets the son first and then the wife, and is amazed at how much she enjoys the wife's company. And then one night, as she watches through their windows, Anna sees something her eyes cannot believe. She knows it's something horrible, something she must alert the police about, and even provide help herself.

And that's the moment when everything turns upside down. Did Anna actually see anything, or was it a hallucination from her medicine or the old movies she has seen over and over again? What is she to believe, her eyes or those who tell her what her eyes have or haven't seen? What, and who, is real? Does she have anyone or anything to fear?

This is a taut thriller that definitely hooked me from the get-go. I had a lot of questions as I read, and wondered how Finn was going to bring everything together. While I felt like the book borrowed a lot from other thrillers and even some of the old movies Anna watched, the suspense definitely gets under your skin, and you absolutely want to fly through the book to see what the truth really is. Throughout most of the book, Anna feels like an old woman, but that's because of her condition. I had to keep reminding myself how old she really was.

I felt like the whole story took a little too much time to play out—there were only so many times I could handle Anna's drunken binges, her not being believed by those she trusted, and her intense paranoia, which pushed everyone away. But there are some great twists here, some I didn't quite see coming and one I suspected (which disappointed me), and much like many thrillers and crime novels, the perpetrator spends far too much time explaining themselves and their motivations.

I read a lot of thrillers so I tend to be really cynical about them. This is a good one, and I'd imagine this one is going to have many people eagerly turning the pages and staying up late because they can't get enough! 

REVIEW: Elizabeth Is Missing

Elizabeth Is Missing
Rating: 3.5/5
Source: Publisher
Genre:fiction, mystery




Maude is 82 yrs.old and no longer lives solely in the present day. Her memories of the past and the disappearance of her sister Sukey have become confused with the disappearance of her friend in the present day, Elizabeth. Suffering from dementia, her days have become a jumble of things, images and thoughts that don't seem to fit. 

I would imagine how challenging writing a book from the perspective of a woman suffering from this malady , but the author has done a wonderful job. At times humorous, at times poignant, one cannot help feeling so very sorry for Maude, as a character she is very likable. Her present is not all there and even her past becomes hard to hold on to, so she relies more and more on her pocket full of sticky notes. She has two recurring thoughts, "Elizabeth is missing" and "Where is the best place to grow summer squash." Now you will have to read this to find out the answers. You won't be sorry.

REVIEW: Time travel a history

Time Travel A History
Rating:3/5
Genre: Sci-fic
Source: Publisher


A verbose history of Time Travel in Science Fiction (almost 85℅) and in culture.

Book concentrates mostly on the perceptions of sci-fi authors on time, it's nature and possibility of Time travel, and the reality. Starting from H.G Wells, the book covers many works of authors like Asimov, Heinlein, Proust and many more. Also some glimpses on few physicists' and mathematicians' approach on paradoxes due time travel and possibilities of universes. Enjoyable at some level but not overwhelming.

Most of the sci-fi works described in this anthology turned out to be spoilers for me as I planned to read some of those works prior to this. On the brighter side, have got some suggestions on short stories from the author's indefatigable witty literature research on time travel. 

The book could be useful for enhancing one's own imagination upon time travel through various uber ideas of sci-fi legends and its analyses felt worthy. Nothing more than that.

Read at your own risk or interest, perhaps. 

REVIEW: Home Going

Home Going
Rating:4.5/5
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical Fiction



 the best debut novel I have read this year. In this semi autobiographical tale, Gyasi follows the family histories of two half sisters, Effia the beauty and Esi to reveal how their families end up. Each chapter is a vignette focusing on a family member in subsequent generations, alternating between Effia and Esi's families until we reach present day. Here are their until now largely untold stories. 

Effia the beauty had been raised by her step mother Baaba who did not love her as her own. Saved from a fire that plays a prominent role in her family's history for generations to come, Effia becomes the village's beauty long before she reaches marriageable age. Baaba, who always resented Effia's presence, sells her to the British in order to ensure the Asante's place in the slave trade, and Effia marries an English governor rather than a tribal chief. The only memory she takes with her is a black stone polished by fire. 

One village over from Effia's, Esi Asare becomes a spoil of a tribal war. In a subsequent war, she is enslaved and taken to the same Cape Coastal Castle where Effia lives as the governor's wife. Before becoming captive, Esi receives a black stone from her mother Maame and finds out that she is not her mother's first born, rather that she had another daughter who she lost in a fire. Through the stone and oral histories, Esi learns that separated sisters are to be forever cursed in their family history. In spite of hearing this tale, Esi is determined to hang onto her stone, even when she is sold into slavery and bound in horrid conditions for America. 

Gyasi interconnects the stories of Effia and Esi's descendants by alternating chapters. Each chapter tells the tale of the next member of each sister's family down to present time. Effia's family remains in Ghana whereas Esi's descendants move back and forth between the southern and northern United States. Playing a role in each chapter is the black stone and oral tradition as well as black pride and remembering where one came from through both the good times and the sacrifices made. In addition to the family, we read how their choices reflect the turmoil happening in both Ghana and the United States up through present times, which made the book even more powerful than it would have been if Gyasi only chose to tell a family narrative. 

Because Gyasi only uses twenty pages to tell of each generation, the pages are powerful and packed full of detail and flowing language. Thus, each chapter read quickly as I desired to find out how the families ended up. I enjoyed the vignette format as though it were Gyasi telling us in person the African style oral history of where her ancestor Effia started and where she ended up. It would have been interesting to know a few details in the gaps between generations, but Gyasi fills these in easily enough in the next story. An extremely powerful read being billed as this generation's Roots, I immensely enjoyed Homegoing and look forward to Gyasi's future novels.


Thank you to publisher for sending this beautiful book to me !