silverliningsandpages's reviews
389 reviews

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

‼️My Dark Vanessa is well publicised on Bookstagram, and for good reason; it’s explosive! 🔥 (No spoilers)

Many will know that the story follows the grooming of fifteen year old Vanessa by her teacher, and the aftermath of accusations against him by another former pupil during the wave of the #metoo movement.  The novel examines the confused and conflicted feelings that adult Vanessa has...does she love him, did she have agency over her actions?

I made the mistake of reading some negative reviews.  I do enjoy healthy dissent but some of these reviews really frustrated me as they seemed to entirely miss the point of the book😖

🧨 Strane, the English teacher is very well drawn.  A charismatic, intellectual narcissist, he’s exceptionally clever and manipulative in how he grooms Vanessa. Always insidious, he drip feeds her with ideas and convincingly reframes all of their interactions. He is written so masterfully that on the one hand we can see why Vanessa is under his spell, but there are her blurred moments where the reader can perceive him for the monster he is.

🧨Vanessa is a complex character.  She stands out to Strane as prey, for her intelligence, unconventional beauty, loneliness, class differences at the prestigious boarding school.  She has been criticised by some reviewers for wanting to be with him, and I think there is a lack of understanding that she was vulnerable and a minor. He has utterly confused her perception and the experience has left her submissive to his influence and control, imbibing every aspect of her life.

🧨This novel is a potent study of how society ignores predators who are hiding in plain sight, how systems and processes often fail victims of abuse.  How in fact they can dehumanise victims and enable perpetuated abuse.  The message of the story is: Wake up! Don’t turn away!‼️

Thankfully I don’t have personal experience but do feel very strongly about the issues highlighted.  This book is *meant* to rattle your cage.  The content of the story makes it an horrific, heartbreaking read, but so powerful and compelling that I just couldn’t look away.

Pippo and Clara by Diana Rosie

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Pippo & Clara is a bittersweet story set in Mussolini’s Italy, following the lives of two siblings who become separated, and end up in different families from opposing ideologies.  I always like reading of sibling dynamics and the historical context was fascinating.  It was an enjoyable read although perhaps a few too many coincidences for me.

Love Is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

Love is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar , is a bold and candid memoir told as a road trip. The gay, “proudly fat”Palestinian author confronts trauma over how she was shamed for her weight, how she became a teenage mother and how she rebels against her abusive family and societal expectations.  The writing style wasn’t for me; unfortunately, it was a bit disjointed.  It’s also not for the easily offended.  However, she gives some wonderful insights on important topics that are full of beauty and truth. She certainly got my attention! 

The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey

dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

At the Lucky Hand: Aka the Sixty-Nine Drawers by Goran Petrović

challenging informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Adam, a philology student and part time proof reader is commissioned to make revisions to a book that is now out of print. He and the instructing clients have the ability to transport into the world of books and meet other readers within the text.  Adam unravels a mystery, and also finds that love and intimacy can blossom between people who are reading simultaneously...

Whilst the writing style was a bit challenging for me, I loved the concept and originality of this novel. If you enjoy a touch of magical realism, a story within a story and a book that celebrates the transportive power of literature, you might like to try this.

“Kasmuk, when some book starts to thoroughly engross you, do you have the feeling you aren’t alone, that besides you there are other people, similarly captivated, who by a concurrence of events, by the law of probability, have simultaneously begun to read on the opposite side of the city, in another city, possibly even in another part of the world!”

At the Lucky Hand has won Serbia’s highest literary award and has been published worldwide in twenty languages.  Thank you to Atsomptebookclub for kindly sending me this, their November book in exchange for an honest opinion. 

Distant Sunflower Fields by Li Juan

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Li Juan’s memoir chronicles her family’s painstaking efforts to grow a crop of sunflowers in the harsh rolling desert on china’s northwest frontier.  At the mercy of unforgiving drought, sandstorms, locusts and crop eating gazelles, they manage to eke out an existence.

The endurance, dignity and strength of Li Juan, her tenacious mother and ageing grandmother are very humbling.  As the author describes her spirited dogs’ antics, there is much humour and cheer in her conversational, colloquial narrative.  However, underlying, there appears to be a well of self-reproach, restlessness and wistfulness in her writing.  It is her lone walks and keen observations of the wild beauty in the surrounding land that seem to restore hope and anchor her to the earth.  The descriptions are beautifully evocative, and she candidly expresses her reverence for the power of nature and awareness of how humanity has inhabited and “plundered” the land.

My favourite section is the very insightful afterword, which pulls together the author’s motivations and thoughts on the processes of writing and documenting through pictures the hopes and dreams of a family.

“Writing is akin to thrusting a spade into the ground, and shifting the earth to see what’s there underneath; it’s an adventure of discovery.”

Thank you Sionoist Books for this review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.  I’m

really enjoying discovering new (to me) indie publishers and translated literature.

The Actuality by Paul Braddon

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

3.0

This was published this week and is being adapted by the BBC.  It’s about a near-perfect bioengineered human in a broken-down England.  Her kind is outlawed, and when she is discovered living with a ‘husband’, she has to flee from those predators who would wish to exploit her.  I was impressed by the futuristic world the author has built, and it’s a great premise. Whilst the first half was very compelling, unfortunately the second half felt a bit rushed for me.  This is getting very favourable reviews so don’t just take my word for it.  Thank you Sandstone Press for the review copy.

The End We Start from by Megan Hunter

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

After reading The Harpy by Megan Hunter I was keen to try her debut.  It’s set in a flooded London and follows a woman who gives birth to a much longed for baby. Immediately after, they are forced to leave home and navigate a dangerous Britain where its people are refugees. The novel is an otherworldly, dreamlike story about maternal love, survival and the hidden strength of women.

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

“To tolerate existence, we lie, and we lie above all to ourselves. Sometimes we tell ourselves lovely tales, sometimes petty lies. Falsehoods protect us, mitigate suffering, allow us to avoid the terrifying moment of serious reflection, they dilute the horrors of our time, they even save us from ourselves.”

I’m very grateful to Europa Editions for sending me a surprise copy of The Lying Life of Adults and glad to have finally tried Ferrante.  Whilst I admire her acute observation and sharp writing, sadly I don’t think she’s for me.  That puts me in the minority as there are legions of adoring fans across Bookstagram.

I may not have loved the book but what I appreciated was:

📙how Ferrante fully inhabits the teenage narrator, evoking all the adolescent fears, confusions and passions

📙the juxtaposition of the two sides of Naples, representing refinement versus vulgarity

📙the exploration of dialect and education and their association with class and opportunities. 

Rating: 3/5 🌟

Are you a Ferrante fan?  My mum is, and cannot wait to get her hands on this one!

Thank you Europa Editions for the review copy 

How to be Sad: Everything I've learned about getting happier, by being sad, better by Helen Russell

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad

5.0

I loved this book.  It’s very real in how it validates sadness in its many forms.  There are a lot of relatable scenarios, such as when a grieving person apologises for becoming emotional, and they are basically apologising for feeling and being human.  Yes!! been there, done that! Why do we even do that?! 🤷‍♀️

The book is part memoir and part manifesto for change in how we express our full range of emotions.  It candidly explores why we become sad, and what we should do (spoiler: there’s a chapter on bibliotherapy) and shouldn’t do.  I found the depth of research extremely valuable and illuminating, and Helen Russell (also author of How to Live Danishly)has presented research from psychologists, psychiatrists, geneticists, neuroscientists and historians as well as blending experiences of writers, comics, athletes and change-makers.

I tabbed so many pages that my family remarked how much I must have appreciated this book!  There’s too little caption space and so much covered, so I’ll touch on some of the issues raised as I’ve found them in the book: 

depression, perfectionism, institutional racism (BLM and George Floyd’s killing), survivor guilt, addiction, broken heart syndrome, unemployment, loneliness, shame, infertility, parenthood, the pandemic.

This book has a lot of thoughtful and empowering takeaways for learning to accommodate the deepest sadness whilst embracing life.