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wikitheunicornxx's Reviews (226)
The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the somewhat slow(ish) start. I have read most of John's other books before this, so I could not help having high expectations and I was initially worried about being disappointed by this. Despite the slow start though, I loved this book! The characters were so interesting and heart-warming to see them develop as the story went on, I loved the remote setting, the relationships between the characters...admittedly, my favourite part of the book was John's use of footnotes! This is something we do not often see in YA fiction - or fiction novels of any kind really. After quite a long 'reading slump,' this book has helped me get back into reading and again despite the initial concerns, it certainly has lived up to John Green's usual brilliance.
The Kingdom of Back was a magical book which I will certainly be re-reading in the foreseeable future. The protagonist of this novel is Nannerl Mozart – the sister of Wolfgang Mozart. Sadly, most people do not know that Wolfgang had a sister, never mind that she was pretty much equally as talented as he was. Nannerl wants to be remembered forever yet begins to find herself stepping into her brother’s shadow, preparing to give up her dreams once she reaches marriageable age, as women at the time were not allowed to perform or compose music. The story follows Nannerl and Wolferl – child prodigies - as they embark on their European tour, performing in grand Royal Courts under the scrutinising eye and guidance of their father. Whilst the novel is predominantly a historical fiction, Marie Lu intertwines the story of the Mozart siblings with compelling fantasy tale into this story as we follow the siblings on their adventures in the Kingdom of Back.
What makes this book stand out is the amalgamation of the historical fiction and fantasy genres, which worked perfectly in this book. Without giving too much away, the fantasy element of the story felt very natural and was written beautifully by Marie Lu. The adventures of Nannerl and Mozart in the Kingdom in Back were written with beautiful and vivid imagery. While I am not too familiar with the historical details of the early life of the Mozart siblings, I was so drawn to the characters and began to connect with their struggles and development throughout the novel.
My favourite part of the novel was the relationship between Nannerl and Worfel. Their extremely close bond was written beautifully by Marie Lu, the story continuously built on the theme of ‘jealousy’ and ‘sibling-rivalry’ in a very true and real way. The novel is full of heart-warming moments between the siblings which makes Nannerl’s struggle even more complex. Equally, the descriptions of the collaborative composition of the music in the novel were incredible, Marie Lu is able to capture the emotions of creating and experiencing music in a powerful and entirely captivating way.
Sooo… Overall, I LOVED THIS BOOK, I WANTED TO GIVE NANNERL A HUG, YOUNG MOZART WAS A CUTIE AND I ALSO WANT TO GO ON A MAGICAL ADVENTURE. Highly recommend.
Side note, I would strongly recommend reading the Author’s note at the end of this novel, it provides a valuable and heart-warming insight into Marie Lu’s influences in the writing of this novel which really tied up the story for me.
What makes this book stand out is the amalgamation of the historical fiction and fantasy genres, which worked perfectly in this book. Without giving too much away, the fantasy element of the story felt very natural and was written beautifully by Marie Lu. The adventures of Nannerl and Mozart in the Kingdom in Back were written with beautiful and vivid imagery. While I am not too familiar with the historical details of the early life of the Mozart siblings, I was so drawn to the characters and began to connect with their struggles and development throughout the novel.
My favourite part of the novel was the relationship between Nannerl and Worfel. Their extremely close bond was written beautifully by Marie Lu, the story continuously built on the theme of ‘jealousy’ and ‘sibling-rivalry’ in a very true and real way. The novel is full of heart-warming moments between the siblings which makes Nannerl’s struggle even more complex. Equally, the descriptions of the collaborative composition of the music in the novel were incredible, Marie Lu is able to capture the emotions of creating and experiencing music in a powerful and entirely captivating way.
Sooo… Overall, I LOVED THIS BOOK, I WANTED TO GIVE NANNERL A HUG, YOUNG MOZART WAS A CUTIE AND I ALSO WANT TO GO ON A MAGICAL ADVENTURE. Highly recommend.
Side note, I would strongly recommend reading the Author’s note at the end of this novel, it provides a valuable and heart-warming insight into Marie Lu’s influences in the writing of this novel which really tied up the story for me.
This book follows 10-year-old August Pullman – an ordinary boy, who suffers from a medical condition that has left his face disfigured. Auggie’s condition meant that he was never able to attend school, he has been home-schooled by his mother to allow for his countless surgeries and hospital stays. At the beginning of this book, Auggie’s parents decide that it is now time for him to go to a real school! As such, the story follows Auggie during his first year at middle-school.
I think everyone can agree that the message in this book was beautiful and inspiring to read, the central message being : choose kindness. Although the book featured many sad moments, the overall journey that we follow Auggie and his family through was very heart-warming to read. By the end of the book, there is a sense of pride of how the characters have developed which overall felt extremely rewarding as a reader.
A unique feature of this book is that we get to hear from the perspectives of a few different characters, we get to see Auggie from their eyes which added a lot of depth to the story. My only criticism of the book, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 comes from the authors use of different voices. I felt that some of the voices we read did not add enough value to the story, such as Miranda’s. I think adding another Via chapter would have been more effective than the short Miranda section. Also, when we hear from Justin’s perspective, the author does not use any punctuation and we deal with free-flowing text. I have since read up on R.J Palacio‘s justification of this, however, I do not think it really had the intended effect, it seemed more confusing than anything and I imagine that the literary intention would not be appreciated particularly by the younger readers of this book who would also find this section to be confusing. Nevertheless, I appreciated the multiple perspectives despite these criticisms as an important part of the story is how other people react to and interact with Auggie.
I certainly will be recommending this book, it was WONDERful. Get it?
I think everyone can agree that the message in this book was beautiful and inspiring to read, the central message being : choose kindness. Although the book featured many sad moments, the overall journey that we follow Auggie and his family through was very heart-warming to read. By the end of the book, there is a sense of pride of how the characters have developed which overall felt extremely rewarding as a reader.
A unique feature of this book is that we get to hear from the perspectives of a few different characters, we get to see Auggie from their eyes which added a lot of depth to the story. My only criticism of the book, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 comes from the authors use of different voices. I felt that some of the voices we read did not add enough value to the story, such as Miranda’s. I think adding another Via chapter would have been more effective than the short Miranda section. Also, when we hear from Justin’s perspective, the author does not use any punctuation and we deal with free-flowing text. I have since read up on R.J Palacio‘s justification of this, however, I do not think it really had the intended effect, it seemed more confusing than anything and I imagine that the literary intention would not be appreciated particularly by the younger readers of this book who would also find this section to be confusing. Nevertheless, I appreciated the multiple perspectives despite these criticisms as an important part of the story is how other people react to and interact with Auggie.
I certainly will be recommending this book, it was WONDERful. Get it?
4.5/5 stars! I enjoyed this very much and I learned a lot from it. Prior to reading this memoir, I knew surprisingly little about Michelle, expect who she was and that she was extremely popular. I am not American and I am not too familiar with politics in the US so I did not know much about what Michelle accomplished during her time as the First Lady so first and foremost this made for a very educational reading experience
