A Poised Quill

Review: Lily and the Octopus

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
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I almost didn't finish this book. Not because I was heartbroken from what was happening to Lily, but because Ted's fixation with the octopus and his bizarre (crazy?) interaction with it was just bewildering. Let me be blunt: the magical realism put me off. I am not a fan of it in books. For me, magical realism is better translated in movies rather than in my mediocre imagination. However, the end (Infinity) brought me to tears. It was written in the most fragile way. That was the only part of the book where I actually felt the "heart" of it, without the confusing imagery and delusions.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
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Honestly, I wasn't blown away. It wasn't finger-biting neither was it profound nor anything relatively close to addressing any existential crisis I've been having. I enjoyed the book, yes, definitely. It was funny; it was relatable; Clay was an absolute delight (he reminds me of Borgy :p), but the adventures he and his friends have gone through in this book are just so...unbelievable. In addition, the "mystery" of the book was so heavily hyped from the start and shrouded with too much pseudo-mystery. When the denouement came, it was so underwhelming.

I realize that this is fiction--I do. However, most of the details are so conveniently made-up. None seemed so realistic (which actually irked me a bit. I would have loved the idea that there really is an arcane 24-hour bookstore somewhere in the world just waiting for my visit). [spoiler] Google's "Big Box" couldn't even solve the mystery of the Founder's Puzzle. That right there is suspicious. [/spoiler] A lot of details sounded awry and lacking research, maybe? I know writers can practically make stuff up, but I appreciate verisimilitude, and at least a bit more truth behind even the smallest details. The resolution seemed forced, uncompelling, and shaky. Everything just conveniently aligned for Clay and his friends.

Nevertheless, I really did had a bit of fun with this book. I found myself laughing or smiling at Clay's genuine personality. People were right when they say that this is a feel-good story, but it just wasn't mind-blowing for me--the same way Paper Towns by John Green wasn't inspiring for me. The difference between those two, however, is that with Sloan's, it's light-hearted and I actually liked Sloan's characters (except Kat, I hated her because she's selfish).

I'm not exactly sure what I feel about this book. I've debated with myself whether I'd give it 3 or 4 stars, so I'm playing it safe with 3.5 stars. :)

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Review: Bird Box

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)

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What's scarier than desolation you cannot see, and destructive madness you cannot fight nor unsee?

This book is bone-chilling and terrifying. Usually, if weekdays are swamped, I finish a book during weekends when there's peace, my favorite chair to settle into, and no internet connection. With this book, that didn't happen. I had to take several weekends, because it got too frightening to the point that I kept imagining creatures staring at me through my windows while I read, willing me to look at them.

This book isn't for the faint-hearted. It's violently graphic, and unbearably maddening. I cannot imagine living life the way Malorie did. Having the freedom of looking at the world and going deranged because of it. Having your freedom to see snatched away from you by unnatural creatures absolutely unaware of the damage they do to the world. The absolute hopelessness of their circumstances was perfectly delivered because this book offers no answers about these lethal creatures--how they came nor what they are, and how to defeat them.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on my Goodreads profile here! :)
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Actual Rating: 3.8 stars
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First of all, I am very aware of the fact that I bought this book four months ago and have read it only now. YES. I am fully conscious of that fact. In my defense, I have so many books on queue; books that have been on my shelf waiting patiently for a long time. It seemed very unfair for my other books to delay them just because a Harry Potter book came out. (No, I'm not weird.)

1. Because the book is in a screenplay format, it became hard for me to appreciate it. It became hard for me to take it seriously. No! I do not mean this in a way to offend or demean the laborious and precise art of screenplay writing! I only meant that I was so used to reading narratives in novels, especially when it comes to Harry Potter. Even the fanfiction I read are narrative in form. So TCC (The Cursed Child) definitely strayed away from that tradition. I was so unused to reading a new story of Harry's life in a format so unfamiliar and...well, trimmed.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is also found on my Goodreads profile here! :)

I had just spent the majority of my weekend reading the most delightful--and at the same time, heartbreaking--story of a lovable curmudgeon. I consider this book one of my best reads this year. It wasn't at the same level as reading Dark Matter, but Ove's story will stay with me for a lifetime.

I didn't find this book "hysterically funny" as Kirkus considered. I'm not sure if it's because I find it extremely difficult to relate to humorous writing, and so I don't usually gravitate towards funny [or humor-genre] books. Though I still did find myself smiling and chuckling at the funniest moments of the book. More than the humor, the book broke my heart in a hundred different ways. It was a love story between Ove and his wife. It shows how even a physically strong man crumbles in grief. It was a story of unlikely friendship between angry Ove and his jovial neighbors. It was a story of fierce loyalty to a man's principles.