Book Review: Why We Broke Up

Before I rant about how much I hated this book, I want to tell you first what I liked the most about it: the illustrations. All of it was beautiful.

That's where the good stuff ends for me, though. 

I finished this book even though I was so irritated with it! Though I wanted to stop after a hundred pages, I kept reading because I wanted to know the real reason why they broke up. But hey, it wasn't a good read at all. First of all, the references to fictional movies went on for pages and pages! It was unbearable. It was like the writer was trying to make the main character, Min, weird and cool at the same. That didn't work out for me. Instead, she sounded a bit pretentious. I cringed every time Min mentions another fictional movie. 

I didn't like the characters at all. Min sounded like a 10-year old blabbing about her first break-up. I hated that. She sounded so whinny and naive. I wanted to feel bad for her, believe me. But I just couldn't. I didn't feel any connection with anyone in the book at all.

Plus, all the letters she wrote to Ed was a bunch of worthless reasoning. The book is just all about how Min dissected the what-she-used-to-think-perfect memories and turned it into something awful. She sounded so bitter... and young. 

I loved Lemony Snicket more than Daniel Handler, by the way.

★★(2 stars. 1.5 for the illustrations, .5 for the book.) 

Xx, ACG

Book Review: Suicide Notes

"Seven little crazy kids chopping up sticks;
One burnt her daddy up and then there were six.
Six little crazy kids playing with a hive;
One tattooed himself to death and then there were five.
Five little crazy kids on a cellar door;
One went all schizo and then there were four.
Four little crazy kids going out to sea;
One wouldn’t say a word, and then there were three. 
Three little crazy kids walking to the zoo;
One jerked himself too much and then there were two.
Two little crazy kids sitting in the sun;
One took a bunch of pills and then there was one.
One little crazy kid left all alone;
He went and slit his wrists, and then there were none."

Jeff committed suicide on New Year’s Eve. When he woke up the next day, he was already in a psychiatric ward and enrolled in a 45-day program. Though he insists that he is not crazy, he still have to stay in the psych ward until he finished the program. He thinks what he did isn’t a big deal and wants everybody to just move on. But they won’t… and he is stuck in the psychiatric ward for 45 days with other ‘crazy’ patients.

When you pick up this book and read its title, you’ll probably think that the story is depressing. But don’t be fooled! This book actually made me laugh several times. Jeff’s sarcasm is hilarious, believe me. Though I found myself laughing, this book is pretty serious too. It tackled serious issues, like suicide, in a not confusing way.

I especially love the characters. Nobody was left out- everybody has their own stories. Nobody was underdeveloped. Just like what I said, I like Jeff’s wittiness. It made the everyone-expected-to-be-depressing-because-of-the-title book easier to understand. But of course, my love for complicated female characters will never be surpassed. Example: Alaska Young and Noelle. So yes, my favorite character is Sadie. At first, you’ll think she’s just another girl who will make the good guy go crazy too… but in Suicide Notes, it’s different. Turns out, she has a big part on how Jeff resolved his confusion about himself.

Also I love the way how characters have different struggles but they still have one thing similar to each other: at one point in their lives, a bomb inside them exploded. The connection of the patients despite their different struggles in life is awe-inspiring. At one point, they all felt like they don’t have someone to talk to.

 Maybe that’s why I found this book beautiful… because it made me realize that sometimes all we need is someone to talk to- someone who can listen and prevent us from letting the bomb inside us explode. 

★★★★★

AC

P.S. I'm making a playlist inspired by this book right now. I'll post it later. :) 

Beautiful Creatures Manga

Hello hello! Did I ever mention here in Blogger that my favorite YA Series is The Caster Chronicles? Oh, no? :( I've been waiting for the manga version and finally, they uploaded a few pages in Facebook already! I don't read manga. Hate it, actually. But heeeey, this is Beautiful Creatures! Anyway, here are some pages that they uploaded..

 Cover is beautiful, right?

I'm really really really excited to get a copy! I hope they won't release it here (Philippines) too late. :( Anyway, I'm just glad that Beautiful Creatures has manga... and a movie too! And that reminds me, I'm going to post a Beautiful Creatures Special Post! Haha! I'm serious, okay? :) 

If you want clear photos, go to the Beautiful Creatures Facebook page. 

Xx, AC

(Photo Credits: Beautiful Creatures Facebook page)

The Literary Exploration Challenge 2013

Hi guys! I've been looking for challenges online when I stumbled upon the Literary Exploration Challenge 2013. I find the challenge interesting and different(in a good way, of course). This is how it works: they will give you a genre and you are the one who will pick the book. There are three different stages you could choose from: easy, hard and insane. I will be participating in hard category because I don't know if I can already handle insane. Maybe next year! The great thing about the challenge is they also posted the genres along with a Goodreads link so if you don't know what book to read, you'll just click the link for examples.

Anyway, here is the list of genres for hard category:

1. Adventure
2. Auto-Biography/Biography
3. Chick-Lit
4. Classics
5. Drama
6. Fantasy
7. Graphic Novels
8. Historical Fiction
9. Horror
10. Humour
11. Literary Fiction
12. Magical Realism
13. Mystery
14. Non Fiction
15. Paranormal
16. Philosophical
17. Poetry
18. Pulp – (Hard-Boiled or Noir)
19. Romance
20. Science Fiction
21. Steampunk
22. Thriller
23. Victorian
24. Young Adult

Join me, maybe? Visit their website if you want to know more details! 

I'll update about it soon. :) 

Xx