May '18 Reviews

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart, Review Isabella

So there's this girl Imogen and this girl Jewel and they're besties. They both live in dodgy houses, Jewel is a liar and Imogen is adopted and a runaway. One summer their friendship darkens into something else. It starts off with Jewel in Mexico. she goes from Mexico to America to London. You get snippets of her in all these different places.

I'd say it's a good book because the description is really good. It seems to describe a lot of colours and you seem to be able to see things very clearly. However, it's just a bit ridiculous in the second chapter. Her backstory isn't very believable. Jewel is a bit cryptic too. I don't know how reliable she is, like how true her history it in the first place. She says "this is the story I'm going to tell everyone." I'm not sure what that means, is it true or not true then?

Rated: 3/5 stolen passports. "A good book, but I think what annoys me is that it sets out like a regular story of regular people, and then this backstory, which is very weird intrudes without much explanation. I'm only a few chapters in but at the moment I'm not buying it."    

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, Review by Lara

This is a great book, I really love it. At the moment Cecilia has slit her wrists in the bath. She wanted to make a point to this guy that she likes. There are six sisters. They come from a very strict family and I don't know what happens because I haven't finished it yet.  It's a bit weird, it's written in third person. They keep on hinting at the girls dying. I hope they don't, I really like them. Mary is my favourite. I feel like Mary is going to get a boyfriend soon. I don't know why, I just keep imagining this guy with black hair.

Rated: 5/5 sisters. "I'm just really enjoying this book, I love the writing, I love the characters, I love how amazing it is. I love how the characters seem so real, and that it feels like a mystery."

Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams, Review by Kalani

At the end of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, they go to the restaurant at the end of the universe, which is literally at the end of time. The build up to this is they flying around the spaceship avoiding the scary slug poetry people. They are essentially Douglas Adams poking fun at bureaucrats. Arthur goes to the drink machine and asks it to make tea, but it can't make tea, so he explains to it what tea is, and it has to get the ship's computer to help it. Meanwhile they're getting shot at.

Rated: 4/5 pocket universes. "It has it's moments, it's pretty confusing"


Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Review by Louise

There's Romeo, he's a Montague and he's pretty high up in the family, but he needs to chill the hell out. He's moping because Rosaline just broke up with him and he's like noo, I love you, why don't you love me. So that's bad for him. Juliet is 13, her parents want her to marry this guy Paris who is like 30. She doesn't want to get married. They go to a party and discover they love each other so they're set marry. Juliet meets Romeo and would rather die than have to marry Paris. Then Romeo, who is over his breakup already, gets in a fight with Juliet's cousin and gets banished to Mantua... It's set during the plague, which leads to a lot of terrible communication break downs.

Rated: 4/5 suicides. "It's really good but the ending is so annoying" 

Rich People Problems: A Novel by Kevin Kwan, Review by Wei Li

The feel of this book is sort of posh. It's written in the style of Harry Potter but even more detailed. There's fashion commentary, a kidnapping, cheating but not cheating, because of weird stuff going on with certain people that I should say. No magic or anything, it's in 2014. It follows these really, really, crazy rich people. They're so rich and powerful that they're not on the richest list because they're so secretive. Nick, the boyfriend of the main character just so happens to be the son of these crazy rich people. The girlfriend is flung into their world of perfect nobility. She has no idea what to do because she's grown up with a single mother and not especially well off. The plot doesn't follow the main characters all the time, it's a bit like a reality TV show, but not as trashy. The characters are all in their thirties, so it's not a teen romance read, but it's quite dramatic, there's lots of jealousy and something concerning fish which is really disgusting...

Rated:5/5 handbags. "The graphics and the art in this series are really nice. The first and the third book have family trees in them so you can follow along. It's set in Singapore, China and Malaysia"

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley, Review by Olivia

I'm reading this for school. It's about this girl called Lucy. Lucy and her friends have just finished year twelve and is going out with her friends. She really, really loves Shadow's work. She's trying to find him but she doesn't know who he is. The whole book is set over one night. I felt like maybe they tried to do too much in that time frame. She doesn't realize she already knows him quite well...
Lucy is a bit too pretentious and metaphorical as a character.

Rated: 2.5/5 spray cans. "The plot is good, it's okay but it wasn't the best thing I ever read"

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Review by Erin

It's a really beautiful book. It's about this guy called Aristotle who lives in seventies or eighties Mexico. It starts with him facing a lot of stereotypes from other kids. It goes on to him meeting a boy called Dante who teaches him how to swim. They go swimming everyday and become really good friends. It branches out from their friendship a little bit more when Dante moves. 

Rated: 4.5/5 pools. "What I really liked about the book was that it's really nicely written. Everything flows really smoothly and you think that the book is only written as though a week has gone by, but then it will say four years later and you're like, wow, how did that happen. It's sweet and really wholesome. It touches on important topics like racism."