ladyk23's reviews
486 reviews

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

An Important Story Squandered by Poor Writing

“This is a work of fiction, based on the first-hand testimony of one Auschwitz survivor; it is not an authoritative record of the events of the Holocaust.” Heather Morris - Author of The Tattooist Of Auschwitz.  

I want to preface my review by saying that the author herself calls this book a work of fiction. So if at any point I talk about the “characters” I’m not saying that they are not real people, just that they are characters in a fictional story based on true events. I’m not a holocaust denier, just saying (as the author did at the end of the book) that this is not an authoritative record of the events of the holocaust. It can’t be because the author is not telling her own story, she is telling someone else’s. She wasn’t there and so the “dialogue” is unlikely to be accurate because she’s not writing it from memory, she’s taking what someone else told her about a period of his life - and how exhaustive that is we will never know - and piecing together a story from that. 

One of the comments I saw on another review that did not rate the book favourably said “Yes, the author didn't go into detail about Lale or Gitas emotions. However, the author is telling SOMEONE else story. How on earth are they able to write about emotions when they didn't experience that Lale and Gita went through.“ I personally have never been pregnant, or had an abortion, but that didn’t stop me from writing about those things in my own work of fiction. I’d bet that the majority of writers who publish science fiction books haven’t been to space either. To say that the author cannot write about emotions they have not experienced is ridiculous. I know they say write what you know, but that doesn’t mean you CAN’T write what you don’t know. The reviewer also said that Lale didn’t want his emotions written out, just their story. 1) do you know him personally? How do you know this? It’s not mentioned anywhere in the chapters following the story. 2) I’m sure that if Lale didn’t want HIS emotions to be included from when he told the story that is a different matter to there being no emotion in the story itself. No-one telling a story to someone in the hopes of that story living on after they have died would want it to be devoid of emotion. And the strange thing is that if you read the “Listening to Lale” chapter (extract from Stories of Hope) that section is full of emotion. As is the section about Morris’ travel to Lale’s hometown for a book launch. It’s like the author wrote those two things backwards, an interview (which is essentially what the “Listening to Lale” chapter is) I would expect to be fairly perfunctory, he said she said etc, very little in the way of description. A story, on the other hand, should be full of rich descriptions, emotion, background on the characters, their motivations and intentions, or how do you reach your audience? How do you make them feel the atrocities that happened here if you as the writer aren’t conveying them with emotion? 

This book was recommended to me by several people and I put off reading it for a long time because I thought it would make me sad, but the only thing that saddened me was that a story this rich was given to such a lacklustre author. I don’t know if it’s because Morris previously wrote screenplays that this seems so devoid of emotion. I know she did initially write this book to be a screenplay but then changed her mind and turned it into a novel - possibly because that’s what Lale had asked her to write. But either way, it’s not made me want to read any more of her books. Which is sad, because I already bought two more in this series, and sad because Morris shows she can write capably in the chapters following the end of the book. It’s just a pity she didn’t put that same depth of feeling into the novel itself.

Just For Today by Nell Hudson

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I bought this book as an Outlander fan (the author is also an actress who appears on the show as a reoccurring character) and feel I should preface this review by saying I had no idea what it was about when I bought it or when I started to read it. I wanted to support Nell as a fan of her acting work in her new endeavour - and as a writer myself I’d want to be supported by people who know me if I ever release a book into the world, and so here we are. It became immediately clear to me that this is not the kind of story I would have ever picked for myself to read. On the surface this is a story about upper middle class young people who take lots of drugs and like to party. Not my kind of book at all. But, I’m so glad I read it, because it is so much more than that. It’s about all different kinds of love, friendship being the most important one, but also falling in love, falling out of love, loss, and all the life that happens in between. Nell’s writing style completely pulls you in, and even if you don’t particularly like the characters at first, she takes you on this completely devastating journey with them that you can’t help but feel for them by the end. I’m very excited for whatever she writes next. I’m just gutted I didn’t read the book prior to meeting her a couple of weeks ago because now I’d be able to tell her how much of a fan I am of her writing as well as her acting. 

Weyward by Emilia Hart

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was looking for something new to listen to after the fantastic ‘The Last Witch of Scotland’, but despite how great that book was, I absolutely was not looking for another book that was in any way related to witch trials. So of course that’s when I found this gem. It makes me kind of angry as it’s the sort of book I wish I could have written. I loved the interwoven stories of the Weyward women. I thought it was beautiful, and it brought me to tears several times. I will trigger warn for SA and domestic abuse, but I really think everyone who can stomach those things in their literature should read this book. It’s gorgeous. And the audio narration was beautifully done. 

The Last Witch of Scotland by Philip Paris

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I stumbled upon this book because I saw that one of its narrators was Outlander actor Steven Cree, and I have to say a massive thank you to him for picking this project because my god what a story. I shouldn’t really read books about “witches” because they make me very emotional and angry that these ordinary women going about their day were treated so abominably by their peers, ministers etc just because they had something about them, whether it be a knowledge of healing/herbs etc, disfigurement of some kind (as is the case in this story), or simply the confidence to speak out about injustice. As a woman who will most likely end up with dementia (both of my parents have it) the addition of the “witch” being condemned because she could no longer remember the Lord’s Prayer is heartbreaking to me. This is a beautiful but utterly devastating book. Please read it. It’s important. 

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Henry VIII: King and Court by Alison Weir

emotional funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I’ve said it was slow paced but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and more just the nature of re-telling history. It was a fascinating read and definitely held some surprises along the way. Interested in reading more by this author. 

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If, like me, you read this book after Casey McQuiston’s more recent works, you will probably also think, as I did, that this feels like an early work from that author. It has all their later hallmarks, but the writing isn’t as good as their later novels. And that’s absolutely not a bad thing. It shows growth in their work. This was a perfectly nice book, with interesting characters, it just didn’t appeal to me as much as say, The Pairing did. It’s also very PG compared to that book. But it’s got loveable characters and a fun story and I very much enjoyed reading it. 

My Lady Jane by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Taking off one point because the audiobook narrator was too shouty! If I’d read this physically I probably would’ve given it 5 stars. 

Choice by Jodi Picoult

informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Firstly, I wish this were a full story and I hope Jodi will write a longer fleshed out version of this at some point because I was just getting into it when it was all over. Secondly, I really wish this story would reach the ears of the men who need to hear it. The men who make decisions about women’s bodies. But sadly, I would doubt very much that it will. Regardless, I will do what the authors note asks and will share this within my circle. It’s a brilliant idea, and very well executed. 

The Fourth Man by Agatha Christie

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0