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A review by fitzsbeloved
Nora & Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor
4.0
This is a difficult book for me to review. On the one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading it–the story was compelling and the character’s lovable–but there were quite a few glaring issues with it.
First and foremost: this didn’t need to be associated with Peter Pan. This was published during a time where fairy tale retellings were extremely popular. Every other book that came out seemed to be inspired by Snow White or Cinderella. But not everything needs to have fairy tale elements.
The thing about Nora & Kettle is that the story itself does bare resemblance to the Peter Pan story, but you could also go through the whole book and never make the connection if it weren’t for the mentions of fairy dust, Neverland, and the constant imagery about flying. It was unnecessary and took me out of the story every time.
I think my biggest issue with the book was the fact that the whole plot of the book is in the summary. I kid you not, the events that happen in the summary do not happen in the book until about 200 pages in. Of course, this is not the fault of the author, and henceforth something I can’t hold against the book itself, but it is something to note.
What kept me going in this book were the characters and their situations. Nora comes from an abusive household–one of which she stays in in order to protect her little sister, Frankie. Kettle is a half-Japanese American who spent his childhood in an Internment camp. He is currently living on the streets and is the caretaker of other orphaned children.
These two characters are from completely different worlds but both struggle from day-to-day. And both of their situations shaped them both to be the kind, determined people that they are. All they want is to be able to care and provide for their loved ones.
If you come into this book looking for romance, then this isn’t the book for you. The two leads don’t even meet until about the 200 mark. Though, when they do, it’s great. I love the dynamic between Kettle and Nora and I loved seeing them come to understand one-another.
There is one more gripe I have with this book, though it can be a bit controversial. And that was Kettle’s racial background. Why can we not have asian leads in media that aren’t half-white?
In this time, any person who had a Japanese last name or features was looked at as an enemy, so I’m not saying that it doesn’t make sense for him to be mixed. However, I couldn’t help but feel like this was done to appeal to the white audience and make him seem more “attractive” or “unique,” even if it was done subconsciously so. Every mention of his blue eyes, especially the ones made by Nora, earned an eye roll from me.
The ending of this book was very open-ended and I am unsure if I feel satisfied with it. It was as if the author didn’t really know how to end it because she wasn’t sure whether or not to actually write a sequel to it. Personally, I hope this remains a stand-alone. While there are loose ends in the end, I don’t think they warrant a whole book to themselves.
In short, this was a pretty emotionally confusing book for me, but I can’t bring myself to rate it any lower than I did. It’s a book that will probably stick with me for a while, and that in itself is enough to warrant a good rating from me.
First and foremost: this didn’t need to be associated with Peter Pan. This was published during a time where fairy tale retellings were extremely popular. Every other book that came out seemed to be inspired by Snow White or Cinderella. But not everything needs to have fairy tale elements.
The thing about Nora & Kettle is that the story itself does bare resemblance to the Peter Pan story, but you could also go through the whole book and never make the connection if it weren’t for the mentions of fairy dust, Neverland, and the constant imagery about flying. It was unnecessary and took me out of the story every time.
I think my biggest issue with the book was the fact that the whole plot of the book is in the summary. I kid you not, the events that happen in the summary do not happen in the book until about 200 pages in. Of course, this is not the fault of the author, and henceforth something I can’t hold against the book itself, but it is something to note.
What kept me going in this book were the characters and their situations. Nora comes from an abusive household–one of which she stays in in order to protect her little sister, Frankie. Kettle is a half-Japanese American who spent his childhood in an Internment camp. He is currently living on the streets and is the caretaker of other orphaned children.
These two characters are from completely different worlds but both struggle from day-to-day. And both of their situations shaped them both to be the kind, determined people that they are. All they want is to be able to care and provide for their loved ones.
If you come into this book looking for romance, then this isn’t the book for you. The two leads don’t even meet until about the 200 mark. Though, when they do, it’s great. I love the dynamic between Kettle and Nora and I loved seeing them come to understand one-another.
There is one more gripe I have with this book, though it can be a bit controversial. And that was Kettle’s racial background. Why can we not have asian leads in media that aren’t half-white?
In this time, any person who had a Japanese last name or features was looked at as an enemy, so I’m not saying that it doesn’t make sense for him to be mixed. However, I couldn’t help but feel like this was done to appeal to the white audience and make him seem more “attractive” or “unique,” even if it was done subconsciously so. Every mention of his blue eyes, especially the ones made by Nora, earned an eye roll from me.
The ending of this book was very open-ended and I am unsure if I feel satisfied with it. It was as if the author didn’t really know how to end it because she wasn’t sure whether or not to actually write a sequel to it. Personally, I hope this remains a stand-alone. While there are loose ends in the end, I don’t think they warrant a whole book to themselves.
In short, this was a pretty emotionally confusing book for me, but I can’t bring myself to rate it any lower than I did. It’s a book that will probably stick with me for a while, and that in itself is enough to warrant a good rating from me.