My thoughts on It Ends With Us

I really hated that book, ahah! I thought that it glamourised/romanticised abuse and felt really weirded out when I found out that Hoover’s mother was abused herself.

But on the book itself, I felt that I didn’t find myself liking any of the characters besides Atlas (who we’re supposed to root for) and Lily’s mother. I thought Allysa’s attempt to justify Ryle’s abusive behaviour should’ve been brought up and it wasn’t. I felt that a lot of the book was too surface level with its discussions, had a lot of cliches, and I didn’t feel that the topic Hoover was exploring was done well or aware of the huge emotional implications of the text on readers.

I do believe books with darker subject matter should be written. Not all relationships in books need to be fluffy and cute, there is purpose in writing something that’s not acceptable, but I just felt that the way Hoover navigated this topic was really off to me.

I’m glad you semi enjoyed the book!

My thoughts on Anne of Green Gables

I absolutely ADORE AoGG!

Anne’s relationship with Matthew is particularly touching and this especially comes to head at the end (I cried like a baby when I re-read this book last year), but her relationship with Marilla as you have also discussed was also super interesting. Montgomery’s characters feel so real and life-like, I feel that I know them personally. The way she navigates Anne’s character growth throughout the book was incredibly fun, getting to see all of Anne’s mistakes and lessons learned was really entertaining and engaging.

Did you watch/have you watched the series, too? It is quite interesting to see the changes they made within the show, most of the changes/additions I quite liked! Some I felt could’ve been explored further, but I feel as a children’s show, they did a pretty good job at striking the balance.

I’m glad you also enjoyed this book!

My thoughts on “A Christmas Carol”

It’s a good summary, but the problem is that the version we know, published by Charles Dickens, wasn’t the original. I’ve discovered (and can prove beyond a reasonable doubt, after 15 years of independent research) that he plagiarized it from an obscure American couple named Mathew Franklin Whittier and Abby Poyen Whittier. Their version was a Spiritualist novella written in the Christian redemption genre, in which all the supernatural elements were intended to be real and authentic. In short, at least to Abby, who had studied these subjects, it was no ghost story, at all. Dickens hurriedly commercialized it into a ghost story to make quick cash.

Becoming Superhuman by Joe Dispenza is a recommendation I’ve received for manifestation and meditation!

My Thoughts on: I Who Have Never Known Men

Read: 29th April 2025.

Wow, what a story and a concept. A very scary idea that made me think of the Handmaid’s Tale and as much as I’d love to say it’s all completely fictional dystopian world, it seems increasingly more —and terrifyingly— more realistic. I agree with Lily’s review that the character felt androgynous and childlike, their characterisation was so contrasting to the other women because they had never existed (or remembered existing) outside of the cave. All of the other women have memories of the life outside.

Considering their lack of outside world contact, they learn quickly and even adapt their own time-telling tool by using their own heartbeat (which is later adapted to the sun once they escape). I believe the main point of the text is: “What is the point of freedom if you don’t know what to do with it?” or something along those lines. A quote I found interesting around 78% mark was: ‘I was as much a prisoner outside this empty land as I had been inside the cage in my early years.’ Is it truly freedom if you’re alone and don’t have any knowledge of what this outside land entails? What it means? What are the boundaries? Inside the cage, their boundaries were explicit, they knew what they could and couldn’t do, even if they did not know the reasons behind them. Here, in the open world, what was the meaning? What is the point? I think that is the main reason as to why our main protagonist ends up alone because all of the women have lost their sense of meaning. Inside the cage, they clung onto this idea of escape and returning to the lives they had before the cage, but now they have escaped, there is no way back to the past and this is discouraging and depressing.

On a larger scale, perhaps the book is critiquing society’s role of purpose and how it can be limiting to only live for one purpose. On the feminist side, of course, women being trapped in cages and being abused by noncommunicative male guards is critiquing patriarchy and it’s never ending effects on society. I, like you, felt that it was a shame that the mystery is almost too mysterious because I would like some kind of answer as to why this has happened or what it is really about, but I found it really interesting nonetheless!

A lot of new book reviews added this month, with great variety. I’ve expanded the categories in which some of these book reviews are kept for better balance and engagement.