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susana82's reviews
162 reviews
The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
My second Scarpetta book. Feels just like the first one I read, despite the stories being 11 years apart.
Gory murders, evil people, the forensic processes, the human drama, and all that usual jazz.
This time around we follow the murder investigation of a little girl, and while at first the theory took the investigators one way, things turned out to be quite the unexpected. One of those cases when the ones you should rely the most, are the ones that fail you.
Kay and Wesley become closer, and things keep getting sour between Kay and Marino. Never read a book in which these 2 got along fine, but it seems like that happened years past.
Good pace, some nice forensic details to learn, as usual, and the sad tragedies that affect everyone.
Gory murders, evil people, the forensic processes, the human drama, and all that usual jazz.
This time around we follow the murder investigation of a little girl, and while at first the theory took the investigators one way, things turned out to be quite the unexpected. One of those cases when the ones you should rely the most, are the ones that fail you.
Kay and Wesley become closer, and things keep getting sour between Kay and Marino. Never read a book in which these 2 got along fine, but it seems like that happened years past.
Good pace, some nice forensic details to learn, as usual, and the sad tragedies that affect everyone.
Predator by Patricia Cornwell
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I am aware there are a ton of these Scarpetta books, but I got this one from a reading book booth, and grabbed it to check it out. It was cool. Is is evident that there is a lot of things and events that happened, and helped shape the dynamics between some of the characters, like Scarpetta, Marino, or Lucy, but even without having read the previous books, I was able to enjoy this one.
Wasn't able to engage with the characters as much, perhaps for the reasons mentioned before, as I never picked up other prior books, so I felt the attrition between Marino and Scarpetta a bit annoying. Despite that, I was able to understand everyone's point of view of things.
Lots of deaths, violent, gory, sickening. Fun, on one side, to get to read so much disgusting details. Very sad on the other side, when you realize that things like this happen a lot. The level of violence, no empathy, that some people have. The tragedy for families left behind to deal with their losses of loved ones in such violent manner. Seriously, civilization is a failure.
Getting to follow the forensics and learn about methods used, bit by bit, the pieces of the puzzle come together is always quite interesting, and probably the reason why we read books such as these. Lots to learn from here, if you're into that.
I got a couple more books from the reading book booth from this Scrapetta series, so I guess one of those is my next fun read.
Wasn't able to engage with the characters as much, perhaps for the reasons mentioned before, as I never picked up other prior books, so I felt the attrition between Marino and Scarpetta a bit annoying. Despite that, I was able to understand everyone's point of view of things.
Lots of deaths, violent, gory, sickening. Fun, on one side, to get to read so much disgusting details. Very sad on the other side, when you realize that things like this happen a lot. The level of violence, no empathy, that some people have. The tragedy for families left behind to deal with their losses of loved ones in such violent manner. Seriously, civilization is a failure.
Getting to follow the forensics and learn about methods used, bit by bit, the pieces of the puzzle come together is always quite interesting, and probably the reason why we read books such as these. Lots to learn from here, if you're into that.
I got a couple more books from the reading book booth from this Scrapetta series, so I guess one of those is my next fun read.
A lentidão by Milan Kundera
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I was hoping to like this one more, as I liked the idea of following 2 pairs of lovers in different times, but it turns out that we hardly follow the pair from 2 centuries ago, although their story might have been more interesting, and as for the rest we are stuck between a modern pair that are basically imbeciles, and the philosophical rumninations of the author. It bored me a lot.
Fortunately, this is a short story and it wasn't difficult to read.
Fortunately, this is a short story and it wasn't difficult to read.
Ticktock by Dean Koontz
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I got this book from a public reading booth. Thought it might be interesting, but when I first started reading it I was fewling bored. Well written, but the first 80 pages or so were sooooo slow paced. It would take a whole chapter for our guy Tommy, aka Tofu Boy, to leave a room, for instance. 80 pages foe him to bring a rag doll home, and then rum away from it until he finally comes across some blonde that helps him out. Once our blonde Del jumps in to save our guy in distress, things move faster, at high speed... by car, by boat.
It becomes a race for their lives, although they do not know exactly why and what is after them, as its nature remains misterious until the end.
Add a traditional mom, a sassy other, whimsical buttler, and a damn smart dog, and a lot of humour.
It ended up being a great, fun read.
It becomes a race for their lives, although they do not know exactly why and what is after them, as its nature remains misterious until the end.
Add a traditional mom, a sassy other, whimsical buttler, and a damn smart dog, and a lot of humour.
It ended up being a great, fun read.
Mort by Terry Pratchett
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Fun. Quite fun, as expected!
When Death comes for us, it is go time, but for Mort, it was a career opportunity and he took it not knowing what would happen. Mort goes from being a shy, and not talented young man, to... well, almost Death! He learns a lot while on the job, but not very respectful of rules which cause some problems. The story wouldn't have much of a plot if it wasn't that way.
Then we have Death. And guess what? Death is a decent character, and ia what it is. It doesn't bring you death itself, but sort of helps you go to wherever you are supposed to go after you die. So, show some respect. Death takes a day off, and is is hilarious when he decides a cooking career, and the cats are quite attracted to him, which is kind of endearing.
Wizards also make their appearance, one young, other very old, and they help straight things out so that Mort goes back to being Mort, and Death can take his job back and do things as they should be.
Lots of hilarious bits.
When Death comes for us, it is go time, but for Mort, it was a career opportunity and he took it not knowing what would happen. Mort goes from being a shy, and not talented young man, to... well, almost Death! He learns a lot while on the job, but not very respectful of rules which cause some problems. The story wouldn't have much of a plot if it wasn't that way.
Then we have Death. And guess what? Death is a decent character, and ia what it is. It doesn't bring you death itself, but sort of helps you go to wherever you are supposed to go after you die. So, show some respect. Death takes a day off, and is is hilarious when he decides a cooking career, and the cats are quite attracted to him, which is kind of endearing.
Wizards also make their appearance, one young, other very old, and they help straight things out so that Mort goes back to being Mort, and Death can take his job back and do things as they should be.
Lots of hilarious bits.
Fogo e gelo by Julie Garwood
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The writing is very amateurish and filled with clichés. Almost like a corny Wallmark film. The muscled FBI agent that doesn't have serious relationships, the smoking hot blondie, and they sort of dislike each other at first, all that blah blah, blah. Nothing groundbreaking here.
With that being said, despite the annoying clichés, it was a fun, easy read that did me good in a time when work was particularly heavy and stressfull. If I had been reading Doctor Zhivago instead, it would have been so much more difficult!
The story doesn't have much of a world building, is more action and dialogue centered.
Sophie becomes suspicious about the circumstances in which a guy that she had interviewed for work showed up dead by a bear in Alaska, of all places! That made her investigate further on her own, and then with the help of the FBI, where the agent MCallister travels with her to the great cold north.
At the same time we follow some diary entries from a scientist and although at first we do not know how that correlates with the dead guy, bit by bit everything ties up together.
Lots of funny bits of dialogue, but lots of clichés as well. And the way the FBI agents work here, doesn't sound very real, but it would work for a Hallmark film, I guess. The ending could have been a bit more worked. Seemed poorly completed.
With that being said, despite the annoying clichés, it was a fun, easy read that did me good in a time when work was particularly heavy and stressfull. If I had been reading Doctor Zhivago instead, it would have been so much more difficult!
The story doesn't have much of a world building, is more action and dialogue centered.
Sophie becomes suspicious about the circumstances in which a guy that she had interviewed for work showed up dead by a bear in Alaska, of all places! That made her investigate further on her own, and then with the help of the FBI, where the agent MCallister travels with her to the great cold north.
At the same time we follow some diary entries from a scientist and although at first we do not know how that correlates with the dead guy, bit by bit everything ties up together.
Lots of funny bits of dialogue, but lots of clichés as well. And the way the FBI agents work here, doesn't sound very real, but it would work for a Hallmark film, I guess. The ending could have been a bit more worked. Seemed poorly completed.
The Scarlet Letter (Amazonclassics Edition) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Many of these older stories would need some serious editing in today's days. The whole first chapter was too long, added nothing to the story, and it was incredibly boring. This coming from someone who is used to read many classics.
The story is too slow paced, nothing ever happens much, and the little that happens takes a whole chapter. And nothing happens in other chapters rather than some ruminations.
The life of close minded people in the age of Puritanism. They were too eccentric for Europe, so they were glad to move to the New World. In there they came up with their even stricter rules and close-minded ideas. And they judged people very easily, more so if you were a woman.
We follow Hester from the moment she comes out with the Scarlet Letter on her chest as part of her punishment for having sex with another man. A scandal for Puritans. Nothing much nowadays, just people enjoying themselves and their bodies.
Hester, being Puritanical, punishes herself, lives aside od the general populace as muchas possible, and that self-punishment ends up softnening people around her. She has a wild child, fruit of that forbidden relation, whom Hester also takes it as both punishment and the most precious thing she has.
And time reveals who was the man that should have shared half his shame and guilt publicly, but does it in secret.
The story is too slow paced, nothing ever happens much, and the little that happens takes a whole chapter. And nothing happens in other chapters rather than some ruminations.
The life of close minded people in the age of Puritanism. They were too eccentric for Europe, so they were glad to move to the New World. In there they came up with their even stricter rules and close-minded ideas. And they judged people very easily, more so if you were a woman.
We follow Hester from the moment she comes out with the Scarlet Letter on her chest as part of her punishment for having sex with another man. A scandal for Puritans. Nothing much nowadays, just people enjoying themselves and their bodies.
Hester, being Puritanical, punishes herself, lives aside od the general populace as muchas possible, and that self-punishment ends up softnening people around her. She has a wild child, fruit of that forbidden relation, whom Hester also takes it as both punishment and the most precious thing she has.
And time reveals who was the man that should have shared half his shame and guilt publicly, but does it in secret.
House rules by Jodi Picoult
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is one of those books that is written in a very commercial, easy to digest manner, which allows the book not to feel like a big brick of 600 plus pages.
The story follows a teen with Asperger's, and how that changes the whole fanily dynamic: absent father, mom that sacrifices everything to accomodate for her son, younger brother that has to play older brother and feels neglected.
Jacob can sound like a genius about a few things, but lacks other basic skills communicating, understanding metaphors, recognizing facial and body language. Everything is planned and scheduled to the minute. Any disruption makes him have a meltdown. If all this is challenging on a normal day, imagine when he has to sit in court accused of having commited murder.
The story is very informative about Asperger's, although some things sound outdated. Also, we get to learn a few things here and there about forensic investigation, and who doesn't love a good old session in court. Objection!
The story is well told, and I liked the different points of views, as they allow us to see how Jacob sees the world, how Emma, the mom, feels overwhelmed and guilty, and sacrifices everything, Theo, the brother feeling neglected and craving for a taste of a normal life in a normal house. And also how people from outside, like Oliver and the detective, see Jacob and are quick to judge.
What bothered me about the story was the males drooling all over Emma, and even the relationship that ensues at some point. Totally unnecessary, I don't need these Wallmark-y things.
The book ends abruptly, we don't get to see the outcome of the trial and the afterwards, but from Jacob's point of mind all was clear from the start, so why bother?
The story follows a teen with Asperger's, and how that changes the whole fanily dynamic: absent father, mom that sacrifices everything to accomodate for her son, younger brother that has to play older brother and feels neglected.
Jacob can sound like a genius about a few things, but lacks other basic skills communicating, understanding metaphors, recognizing facial and body language. Everything is planned and scheduled to the minute. Any disruption makes him have a meltdown. If all this is challenging on a normal day, imagine when he has to sit in court accused of having commited murder.
The story is very informative about Asperger's, although some things sound outdated. Also, we get to learn a few things here and there about forensic investigation, and who doesn't love a good old session in court. Objection!
The story is well told, and I liked the different points of views, as they allow us to see how Jacob sees the world, how Emma, the mom, feels overwhelmed and guilty, and sacrifices everything, Theo, the brother feeling neglected and craving for a taste of a normal life in a normal house. And also how people from outside, like Oliver and the detective, see Jacob and are quick to judge.
What bothered me about the story was the males drooling all over Emma, and even the relationship that ensues at some point. Totally unnecessary, I don't need these Wallmark-y things.
The book ends abruptly, we don't get to see the outcome of the trial and the afterwards, but from Jacob's point of mind all was clear from the start, so why bother?
O Doutor Jivago by Boris Pasternak
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is one of those books that takes me time to read because, well, it's a thick book, but more importantly, very dense.
It feels like a lot of this book includes thoughts from the author himself about Russia back in those days pre and post revolution, and civil war.
We follow a few characters from a young age, including, of course, doctor Jivago. We get to see them grow under huge difficulties, and... oh, what a life, their adult lives are no better!
We follow mostly Jivago, and the way he lives shows us in depth the harshness of life during those decades after the end of the Czars, WWI, the civil war putting Whites and Red under confrontation, and even WWII. We can see how initially people were so open about the revolution, but then how things got so difficult since there was an incredible amount of brutality, Russian against Russian. People lived in misery prior to the revolution, but things got no better after that. And along these terrible years we see Jivago's life entangled first with Tonia, his wife, later with Larissa, his lover, and also how the post revolution takes him away from some people, and again entagles him with others.
There is no joy in this book. None. It is sad, feels depressive, like a grey Winter that never ends. This book is filled with the brutality of people against each other and even the harsh Winters that made people's lives all the worst.
This book definitely needed some serious editing, as there is no need for it to be so dense. There are too many boring passages with religious topics, which I don't find interesting at all and add little to the plot. But I guess that portraits well the way they thought and lived back then. Many of the passages about the revolution and civil war are also too long and dense. They feel like they are appendixes to the story. Pages and pages where we don't even get to follow the main plot anymore. Just following the depressive life back then; the lack of food, the violence, the cold...
I didn't like any of the characters either, didn't engage with them. I felt like I only got to know them superficially. They all feel depressive, like the weather.
With that being said, despite this being a difficult book to read, it is at the same time a great chronicle that portraits really well the difficulties and brutality of the time. What people believed in, and fought for, how things changed over time, how people made enourmous sacrifices to stay alive, how they accepted that life is harsh. But they live with few moments of joy, and everything feels, well... depressive.
It feels like a lot of this book includes thoughts from the author himself about Russia back in those days pre and post revolution, and civil war.
We follow a few characters from a young age, including, of course, doctor Jivago. We get to see them grow under huge difficulties, and... oh, what a life, their adult lives are no better!
We follow mostly Jivago, and the way he lives shows us in depth the harshness of life during those decades after the end of the Czars, WWI, the civil war putting Whites and Red under confrontation, and even WWII. We can see how initially people were so open about the revolution, but then how things got so difficult since there was an incredible amount of brutality, Russian against Russian. People lived in misery prior to the revolution, but things got no better after that. And along these terrible years we see Jivago's life entangled first with Tonia, his wife, later with Larissa, his lover, and also how the post revolution takes him away from some people, and again entagles him with others.
There is no joy in this book. None. It is sad, feels depressive, like a grey Winter that never ends. This book is filled with the brutality of people against each other and even the harsh Winters that made people's lives all the worst.
This book definitely needed some serious editing, as there is no need for it to be so dense. There are too many boring passages with religious topics, which I don't find interesting at all and add little to the plot. But I guess that portraits well the way they thought and lived back then. Many of the passages about the revolution and civil war are also too long and dense. They feel like they are appendixes to the story. Pages and pages where we don't even get to follow the main plot anymore. Just following the depressive life back then; the lack of food, the violence, the cold...
I didn't like any of the characters either, didn't engage with them. I felt like I only got to know them superficially. They all feel depressive, like the weather.
With that being said, despite this being a difficult book to read, it is at the same time a great chronicle that portraits really well the difficulties and brutality of the time. What people believed in, and fought for, how things changed over time, how people made enourmous sacrifices to stay alive, how they accepted that life is harsh. But they live with few moments of joy, and everything feels, well... depressive.
Beren e Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien
adventurous
challenging
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This is supposed to be the greatest of love stories, but I don't really think it is.
There is some epicness to it, and the base of the story is good, but I didn't find it amazing.
However, the imagination of Tolkien is quite amazing, of course.
We do not follow a straight timeline for this story. The narration of the story and its making go back and fourth in time, and not only in prose but also in verse. We get to read different versions of the story where many important events are changed or replaced by others, and even the names of some characters are altered, or some characters are added while others disappear.
Tolkien could spend a long time working on a story with all its details, and then would abandon it to dedicate himself to other things, and then he would have no problems to start from zero and write the story in a different direction and make as many changes as he thought better.
It was both confusing and quite interesting to read the different versions, and along with other small complementary texts that only enrich the world of Middle Earth.
Tolkien spends a lot of time adding a lot of details or creating alternative versions, but sometimes I wish he could spend more time on the same story and give it as much detail as he did the Lord of the Rings, for instance.
Nonetheless, this is a nice book.
There is some epicness to it, and the base of the story is good, but I didn't find it amazing.
However, the imagination of Tolkien is quite amazing, of course.
We do not follow a straight timeline for this story. The narration of the story and its making go back and fourth in time, and not only in prose but also in verse. We get to read different versions of the story where many important events are changed or replaced by others, and even the names of some characters are altered, or some characters are added while others disappear.
Tolkien could spend a long time working on a story with all its details, and then would abandon it to dedicate himself to other things, and then he would have no problems to start from zero and write the story in a different direction and make as many changes as he thought better.
It was both confusing and quite interesting to read the different versions, and along with other small complementary texts that only enrich the world of Middle Earth.
Tolkien spends a lot of time adding a lot of details or creating alternative versions, but sometimes I wish he could spend more time on the same story and give it as much detail as he did the Lord of the Rings, for instance.
Nonetheless, this is a nice book.