penguinna's reviews
319 reviews

When Marilla and Matthew made the decision to adopt a boy, they never imagined their lives would be turned upside down by a red-haired, imaginative, and endlessly chatty girl who always seems to attract trouble. Little did they know, Anne, spelled with an E, would weave her way into their hearts and make their existence unimaginable without her.

Anne is 11 years old when the book begins, and nearly 17 by its conclusion. That’s why the book feels a little rushed, and it is more like a collection of short stories from Anne’s childhood than a traditional novel.

In every chapter in the first half of the book, we follow Anne in some funny adventures, from mistakenly putting painkillers instead of vanilla syrup in a pie, to accidentally dying her hair green. We tag along to tea parties with her friends, give magical names to trees and lakes, witness her mistakes, and even meet some of her earliest foes.

During the first half of the book, Anne somewhat annoyed me with her overdramatic behavior. But as she approached adulthood, I found myself regretting not fully appreciating the adventures of young Anne. I could understand Marilla’s tears when she realized how mature that girl was and that the time when she arrived at Green Gables is long gone.

This book is full of charming descriptions of all the beauty Anne sees around her. She is a person who adores her life, and even in the darkest moments of it, she finds love and joy in everything surrounding her. I only wish that this book was a little longer so that every pivotal event of Anne’s life could be explored deeper and in more detail.

I cannot wait to read the next parts of the series and discover what awaits Anne in the future!

Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Tears streamed down my face for a solid hour once I turned the last page. After reading Les Misérables, I naively thought that The Hunchback of Notre-Dame would finish with a happy ending! How mistaken I was…

I bought this book in Paris as a souvenir for myself. I'm a big fan of Hugo's stories, so starting The Hunchback of Notre-Dame right in front of the cathedral felt so special!
What I really enjoy about Hugo's books is how all the characters' stories weave together, like pieces of a puzzle or cogs in a machine. And this one was no different. In this book, we meet:

• Esmeralda, a beautiful 16-year-old Roma street dancer, and her pet goat Djali;
• Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre-Dame and the main antagonist;
• Pierre Gringoire, a struggling poet;
• Sister Gudule, a recluse haunted by the loss of her child;
• And, of course, Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer of Notre-Dame.

If you have already read something by Hugo, you know how much he loves to describe everything in detail. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame has even more descriptions than Les Misérables, which is twice as big!

That’s why I had to combine physical reading with an audiobook when there was another 50-page-long chapter about royal matters or the history of architecture since the creation of times (literally). But this is the writer’s style, and even if it feels a little tedious sometimes, it makes you feel the atmosphere of those times and places to its fullest.

Despite long narrations, I absolutely loved this book with my entire heart (which is now broken into pieces, by the way). I could not expect such a devastating ending, and I cried my eyes out after reading the final chapter. This book will definitely stay in my thoughts for a very long time!

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penguinna's reviews 319 reviews

penguinna's reviews
319 reviews