At the Water's Edge

At the Water's Edge is Sara Gruen's fifth novel. The story begins in a life most people dream of, one of riches and prestige. Maddy, who is the narrator, is married to a rich socialite named Ellis. One night, she is out with her husband and his "friend" Hank at a party when they get overly drunk and they make a mockery out of their parents - which seems completely normal. Their parents are so embarrassed from the gossip that arises that they kick their son and his wife out of their home and cut them off from all their wealth. A little extreme, but Gruen needs to get the conflict started.

They quickly decide that the only way to get their parent's forgiveness is to seek out the Lock Ness Monster. At the Water's Edge suddenly turns into a mystical story filled with multiple incidences of Scottish folklore.

Intertwined within this story line is this trio's experience during WWII and how the war impacts them and the people of Scotland. Or in Ellis and Hank's life, doesn't impact them. A couple of love stories arise, and a couple of love stories fail.

There are many themes within At the Water's Edge, including physical and mental abuse, that will make a reader reevaluate their own past relationships. Gruen provides a lot of historical detail within the book which would delight any history guru. Maddy's character evolves in a way that the reader will certainly not expect.

Another Sunset by Jason Zandri

another sunset by Jason Zandri 

I received another sunset through goodreads first reads for free in exchange for an honest review.

Jason Zandri is a new author and another sunset is his first published novel (congrats Jason!). His writing style is unique; he uses mostly dialogue to move his plot forward. Style-wise, it's different than anything I have read recently. If you are looking for a "feel good" book with a lot of dialogue, this book will be perfect for you.

another sunset is about a traveling man that stops throughout random towns taking on good deeds and causes in each town. The book mainly takes place in the last town he visits, in a small town in Texas, where he meets a young girl with a dream of making her local library wired for internet. The man, David, decides to help this young girl reach her dream by guiding her along the way. He touches the hearts of all of the townspeople all while hiding a dark secret. Of course, his life secret isn't revealed until the end of the story, so it will keep you reading just to see what the heck is going on with him (because no one can be so nice and wise without having a dark past).

The sunset is a common theme throughout the novel, with David being seen on his balcony numerous times saying, "another sunset, another day done". The symbolism is kind of in your face, but some people like that. My mom eats that stuff up. There is no profanity, no sex, and no violence.  

I won't criticize Zandri too much because this is his first novel, but I do hope that he finds someone else to proofread and edit his next novel, as there were some clear typos and strange grammatical issues. And personally, if I were to edit his novel, I would have suggested that he change either Charlotte's or Caroline's name because their names are so close that when I was reading the dialogue I would get confused as to whom Maria is talking to and have to go back and really look at the name.

The characters are a little too undeveloped for my taste, but it seems to be a common trend in current fiction. I also don't like the fact that Maria is stated to be a "strong and independent woman", because her actions say otherwise. The fact that Charlotte tells her that she hasn't seen her smile in 9 years made me epic eye-roll. I know it's to emphasize the fact that David is bringing light and happiness in her life, but it's kind of shame that it couldn't be shown in a different way rather than making Maria look weak and kind of pathetic. I just hate the fact that Maria had to have a man in her life to make her happy.

Overall, it's a great story line, one that you would expect to see on Lifetime or the Hallmark channel. I would figure a lot of older women would love another sunset. In fact, I am thinking about mailing it out to my grandma who will probably share it with her mates. 

Some memorable quotes:

"There are a thousand ways to be richer than the sum of any money you might have."

"A really strong and independent woman is one that knows full well she can do it all but is confident enough in herself to allow someone to help."

"What you have in your heart, what you pass onto others, while you are here and after you are gone, matters more than anything else."

#184 *The Night Circus*

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Number #184- Make a list of 100 books and read them all.  Looks like I am crossing off number 1 on that list (finally).

And to add to that, I have recently found the local library.  The library in my neighborhood is very small, but is in a walking distance and scanning through the 5 isles of fiction I found this book and remembered it was on my list of books I wanted to read.

The Night Circus initially caught my eye because I saw one of my friends reviews on it, and it also contained the words "circus" and "magic".  Who doesn't love a good magic book?  By the way, there is a "tragic" (depending how you look at it) love story within the plot; The Night Circus is ideal for guilty pleasure reading. 

The Night Circus is about a young woman and a young man who are bound together as children to have a life-long magical battle held within a circus.  What I love about the magic element in this book is that the author implies that anyone can produce magic, it isn't something that you are given the ability to do, but that if you study the right materials you can learn.  It made me excited like a five-year-old girl.  Morgenstern is a very good visual writer.  The descriptions of the tents within the circus were believable and I felt like I was there while I was reading.  However, like most modern books the characters lacked a lot of depth and emotion.  Reading The Night Circus reminded me a lot of reading The Hunger Games because of this writing style. 

Overall The Night Circus was very enjoyable for me.  I wasn't looking for some "grand" novel (thats why the book is listed on my guilty pleasure list).  I was looking for a good story and I got one.

#184 Make a list of books I want to read and read them all

#16- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


Ok folks, now that the semester is finished I can go back to the books I want to read on my bucket list.  I am not ashamed to admit that I read The Hunger Games in one day.  It was really good.  It's not overly poetic or filled with amazing examples of literacy, but it is definitely an enjoyable read.

If you haven't heard of The Hunger Games, then I will assume that you are living under a rock because this book really reached it's height when "they" announced it was going to be a movie.  And of course when a book is about to become a movie there is a frantic line of book lovers at the cash register itching to  compare the book to the movie (hey now, it's ok I do this too).

The Hunger Games is about a young girl named Katniss (comment on this name below- I am still searching for baby names!) who volunteers to take her sisters place in this gladiator horror "reality show" for the superior land of their nation.

This story is basically a wicked twist on communism in the world after ours.

Entertaining, yes. And The Hunger Games is the first book I have read in a while that I actually shed tears (even multiple times) and I will not blame my crazy pregnant hormones!

I know I only listed the first book on my list of books I want to read, and I really want to move on but I have to say I am sucked into the series and will be continuing the next book later tonight.

Book Review- Sula

For my major author class we have shifted from reading Yamanaka to reading Morrison. Morrison's style of writing is very poetic. Morrison gets a lot of credit for her literature because it has this harsh truth behind the meaning of the story. Sula is no exception.

Sula is about two friends that grow up in a black neighborhood on the top of a hillside. In the novel, the white folk have basically pushed the poor people, including minorities up to the top of the hillside so they can have better farming and what not. So on the top is this very close knit community. The two young girls are shown in the beginning having a very close relationship that they even seemed like "one of the same". However they choose different life journeys, one staying in their hometown and the other venturing out to the city. When Sula, the venturing one, comes back to the community after many years she notices that the attitudes of her fellow community members has drastically changed. The reader is then shown the difference between the two women.

I wouldn't say that Sula is Morrison's best piece of work, I did really enjoy The Bluest Eye and I just started her greatest novel Beloved. But it is still a pretty good book, it's definitely an easy read because it's short and the language, although poetic, moves along pretty fast. I also really enjoyed the character Shadrock, as he reminded me of my grandfather for some reason, in a nice way of course!

Book Review: The Jewel of the Seven Stars

Sorry folks, another review on a classic British work. This time it's Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars. If you thinking to yourself "Oh Stoker that sounds familiar," let me remind you that he is the genius behind Dracula. But of course, it is hard for an author to break out after such an iconic novel to write another. I like his style of writing though, it is very straightforward and his characters do not drone on forever with their inner thoughts which I appreciate.

The Jewel of Seven Stars is about a man, Mr. Trelawney (like the character from Harry Potter, except in male form. Weird no?) who is an Egyptian enthusiast.  Mr.Trelawney becomes obsessed with the mummy and her possessions of Queen Tera after reading a book. He surround his life with ancient artifacts and ultimately endangers everyone around him with this magical items. Actually, when the reader is first introduced to him it is through his daughter who is a main character though out the novel when Mr. Trelawney is in a hypnotic trace. In fact, his daughter is a giant mystery to everyone around her also.

The Jewel of Seven Stars really fascinates me because I have been watching a lot of episodes of Ancient Aliens on the History Channel. I don't know if anyone else watches this show, but they frequently bring up the mystery and enchantment of Egypt. I feel like The Jewel of Seven Stars is a realistic interpretation of something that could happen after watching an episode of Ancient Aliens. The Jewel of Seven Stars is a good thriller novel. There isn't a lot of running/ screaming/ murders (I think only 9 people die or something like that), but the basis behind mummies and magical and haunted objects is pretty scary to me.

If you are looking for something unlike the popular mainstream of literature that is going around lately, I would recommend The Jewel of the Seven Stars. If you are one of those people who does not believe in the after life, or of haunted objects, skip this one because I think you will be bored from disbelief. Remember you have to have a little bit of an imagination when reading! Also, it has come to my knowledge that there are two completely different versions with different endings. You want to read the original version, as the ending is more exciting then the toned down revised version.

A book AND theatre review- Night at the Pahala Theatre

Ok, I am going to start off with the book review.

Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre is written by Lois-Ann Yamanaka. Yes, I am sorry folks, another Yamanaka piece of work. This book is actually a story that takes place within several different poems. The book is yet another "coming-of-age" tale. Out of all of Yamanaka's works, I would suggest reading this one first only because she uses parts from this book in her novels. I found that when I was reading this I was kind of bored only because I felt like I had read it before with all the references to taxidermy (Heads by Harry), the molester by the school ground (Blu's Hanging), and the bullying of family (Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers). Like all of Yamanaka's works, this book uses the Pidgin dialect. I feel like out of all of her novels this one really incorporates Pidgin the most, so if you have a hard time reading Pidgin I would not suggest this book.

Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre is about a young 12 year-old girl, Lucy, who lives on Hilo who has to deal with certain obstacles in her life, including a 19 year-old "boyfriend" or basically child molester. Lucy's family is abusive (like Yamanaka's other fictional families) mentally and physically. What sticks out in my mind the most is the poem with the iron hanger. In one part the mother beats her child with a golf club. Pretty serious stuff.

On the plus side, the collection of poems is very short and makes for a quick read. I would suggest perhaps taking Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre on the beach. It's a very good beach book because it is enjoyable and short and easy to pick up where you left off.

Saturday February 26, 2012 I attended a play at Kumu Kahua Theatre for the showing of Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre.

I have never been to Kumu Kahua for a performance yet, so I was unsure of what to expect. As I walked in the theatre I noticed almost all of the seats were taken. I squeezed myself between a tough looking local guy and a group of old white tourists. Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre really brought in a variety of audience members.

The stage was very small, and I give props for the crew for adapting to the amount of space they had for such a complicated play, but they made it work by not using a lot of props and not resetting the background. The only bad thing about the stage set up was that from the middle of the audience it was hard to see a lot of scenes, especially if the actors were sitting down which they did often. I missed a few scenes because of this.

The acting was phenomenal. Seriously, these actors have serious acting skills.

Bouncing off that, Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre was "Meh". To me, it seemed too long and the tone for Kumu Kahua's rendition really ruined the message Yamanaka wanted to display in her original work. It actually made me believe Pahala is horrible place to grow up in with the bullying and the molesters. Also, I felt that the characters were way too "over-the-top". There was one point where the actors dispersed throughout the audience and started screaming in various members faces. They were screaming so loud that I felt I couldn't understand what they were saying, let alone know what was going on in the play, and what the excessive screaming had anything to do with the overall message.

Also, I felt like I could have wrote a better play version of Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre. I felt like scenes were rushed. The transition of comical scenes and a serious scenes were rushed, causing the audience to not feel any sympathy for the very serious matters that were occurring, like child molestation. The audience was laughing at child abuse. It was very concerning, and really ruined the play for me.

Would I go see it again? MAYBE, to see the actors perform again just because they were so good. But, most likely no.

Book Review- Bastard out of Carolina

I had to read Bastard Out of Carolina for my "Gender and Sexuality in Literature and Film" course. After that statement I will add that Bastard Out of Carolina is not a book that will preach "Woman power!". In fact, Bastard Out of Carolina explores the family unit in the south. I will guess the time period would be in the 1980's or 1990's.


Bastard Out of Carolina is about a young mother who is so in love with the idea of the perfect family that in the end her dream destroys what she actually has. The mother, Annie, has her daughter Ruth Anne when she is only 16. The father runs away to God knows where (typical movie/book detail) leaving Annie all sorts of screwed up in the mind. Annie becomes obsessed with having the typical family unit so much that she can't see that what she is doing (or not doing) is really hurting her daughter Ruth Anne.

The book is sad/liberating. From what I read, the basic message seems to be that families go through a sort of "cycle", but you can allow yourself to break that cycle if you really want too. You can't let who your family "is" determine your future.

Overall I give Bastard Out of Carolina 3 out of 5 stars. It was easy to read; I read it in 2 days. The story line was good, but something we have all seen/heard hundreds of times through lifetime movies. Wait, what? Oh this book was made into a lifetime movie? Ok. If you enjoy lifetime movies, you will probably LOVE Bastard Out of Carolina.