[Olivia]

in reply to: Book Reviews: Feedback/Discussions #14825

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!

[Olivia]

in reply to: Book Reviews: Feedback/Discussions #14824

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!

[Author]

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