I thought the story was good in a way that it was realistic. It challenges a person to say "I wouldn't do such a thing". If you're on the brink of insanity because of grief, who can tell what you can (or cannot) do whether or not you were raised in a "proper" environment. I think it teaches how it's easy to judge based on our own situation. It was interesting to read about how it was in a small town in Australia after WWII. I liked how it showed culture and tradition ... whether the culture or tradition is good or bad isn't an issue.
Moral issues aside, I think this is a good book because of the way it was written. I read a few reviews that says it was poor writing but I have to disagree. If it wasn't for the story-telling I probably wouldn't be able to finish this. I had to keep reminding myself this is not an adventure book but the delivery made me feel that way. I guess it depends on a person's preference but even if the writing wasn't my cup of tea I wouldn't go as far as telling people not to read it. Having said that, this isn't the type of story I normally read because there's so much feelings in it. Lol. I still enjoyed it, though.
I think for a seriously fucked up case, this book is a modern-day fairy tale. Not in a love story kind of way but because the "hero", actually, was able to save the day. I was expecting the usual ending for cases like these. A hopeless one. An it-is-how-it-is ending or an I-can't-do-anything-to-change-things ending.
Had this book ended the way I thought it would, I would've given it 4-stars. The author's ending pretty much changed my mind. Err, mostly because it made me cry. Although it's disturbing and very sad, the ending made me feel ... hopeful that there are still people out there who are trying to make a difference in the small ways they do. And it's not just because it's their job or so they can say on Facebook or Twitter to "Look at me! I'm helping people!" I guess what I'm trying to say is here's a seriously messed up guy who turns to alcohol and drugs when he's really down, whose friends are a bunch of happy-go-lucky guys, who had to hit rock-bottom to be able to forgive his brother and who can't even help his own family but he went out of his way to help Cecil, Katie and the Pearls. Also the family in the end. There's your modern-day super hero, right? And, yes, I think I might be a little bit in love with Pete Snow. Heh.
For the most part, it seemed like this book mocks religion and their avid followers but then it also shows how religion can bring solace to those who needs it. Actually, I think the book has a passive-aggressive relationship with religion and the government. It builds up a person, a law enforcer, for example, as someone who has a bad character. Someone who's going through all the lengths to do his job even if he ends up harassing other people and then suddenly he's all, "OMG this happened? I didn't know! Poor Pearl."
If you're anal about it, there are a few more things that don't add up. Like how much does a social worker in a small district earn? How can he afford to fly or drive around the country looking for his own daughter with his salary especially since he, apparently, doesn't want to receive anything from his rich, deceased, rancher dad? Also, please note that I'm not from the US so I don't know how these things work exactly but this guy broke a bunch of rules (big-ish ones) to be able to help Cecil and the Pearls. Is it possible for social workers to do that? Does no one check on their work and how they do it? Or is it just because he has connections with the judge? Then again, would you really focus on things like those when there are more pressing issues that should be addressed?
I needed this after a very stressful novel. I'm not a dog person (or a cat person) but this is hilarious. Well, most of it is hilarious. Like 90% of it. I think this would be a nice, quick read for anyone. It took me maybe 30-minutes to finish this so it might be good to read while waiting for the ... I dunno, rice to cook?
This book makes me want to stock up on dish washing and anti-fungal soap … okay maybe that's not how you kill this kind of fungus but it's a start. Apparently, the apocalypse will be brought upon us by a new breed of fungi that will somehow enter the human system and turn us all into zombies and you know what they say about prevention versus cure. Seriously this concept is scary. It doesn't help knowing that fungi have a completely different kingdom of their own. It makes sense, right? These aren't plants or animals … and they will take over the world. Wait-what? What's even scarier is these zombies (the book calls them "hungries") can run ... fast. Like World War Z (the movie which I never watched, BTW) run. And you can't outrun them. They're faster than foxes! I didn't like the term "hungries" at the beginning and I was gonna take a star off for that but it kinda grew on me. Lol.
Now, I'm not a big fan of zombie ... stuff (except for WWZ because that's a whole different level of awesome). I watched the first season of The Walking Dead and that's about it but THIS! Normally I zone out when they talk biology and sciences but I really tried to understand the explanation for the fungus ... thingie. That's how much I loved this book.
And the feelings! There's so much of those in here. I liked all the characters. Even the, supposedly, antagonists are not completely hate-able (I'm too lazy to think of a better word) because they make sense. I actually thought the ending would be different. ***SPOILER ALERT*** Like Melanie, I thought, would die at the end since the hungries grow whole trees out of their heads. And in a perfect world (which is my version of the ending) Parks would live and help Helen do ... I dunno. whatever. Although yeah, that's asking for too much.
"A supernatural trilogy set in Cajun Country? I'll take the lot, thank you very much. And no, no need to wrap. I'll read it right... oh, sorry, I already started." I would've said that if I bought this in print but I bought it from the Kindle store so I read it right away anyway. Lol. I might be a bit biased here since I love stories set in Southern America specifically Mississippi and (especially) Louisiana ... history goes way back so let's not dwell on it. Let's just agree I might be a bit biased. Lol.
I was looking for something to get my reading streak back. This one is short and it's not the most complicated story so I thought it would be perfect. In general, the author goes straight to the point. The genre said paranormal/ghosts/fantasy so she didn't beat around the bush. I liked this a lot because of the setting. I already made that clear. It talked of how people in that part of the country live. The language, their history, the food etc. I am biased, yes, but I had to take down a star because I found parts of this (specifically the beginning) a bit awkward. I think it's mostly the prose. It shifts. I'm not an expert, I just read a lot, but I think when describing ghosts and paranormal activity, she hit the spot. The fillers, though ...
"Rhythmic beats of popular songs thumped through my body, pounding in my chest. "
... I don't know about that. It sounded a bit out of place.
Other than that, I liked that there's more to it than ghosts. If it was just that I probably won't be interested in reading the next 2 books.
