For someone who likes fast paced mystery novels this didn't work out for me. I'm not sure where it went wrong; it could be the testosterone or the 60s setting but I thought I'd enjoy it and get through it fast cause it's less than 200 pages. I didn't. It got a bit interesting in the end and the cover's pretty cool.
I know ... I almost always give anything Terry Pratchett a 4 if not a 5. I haven't read all his works but I think I only gave two of them a 3. Couldn't help it. Even though I didn't laugh out loud at this book like the others, I chuckled at a lot of it. I was trying to read another fantasy/satire the same time as this but I couldn't ... grasp ... the humor. I get what it was trying to say and why it was supposed to be funny but ... I think what I'm trying to say is I think Terry Pratchett is still the best fantasy/satire writer there is.
Story-wise, although Truckers doesn't leave you hanging, it's a bit open-ended. I'm actually glad the trilogy was already published when I started reading. So off to the next book.
Didn't know what I signed up for when I got this from Amazon for free lol. I thought it was a great concept and an easy read (prose-wise). I love fairy tales and twisted fairy tales, of course, but this wasn't as engaging as I thought it would be. That was probably the reason why it took a few days for me to finish something I'd read in half a day. I kept finding more interesting things to do.
Probably the most entertaining parts were those with the double meanings ... as in Humpty Dumpty tells Alice to "come bend over my lap and I'll give you a spanking, you bad, baaaaad girl" ... or something of that sort.
A lot of times, for me, the maker and breaker of a novel is the main character. Whether I like them or not. For The Boy in the Suitcase, it's both. Nina Borg is seriously flawed and I loved that the hero of a series is that. No hidden powers or special abilities or out of this world IQ. On the contrary, she's very unstable emotionally ... and I would say mentally. I liked how it makes it possible for anyone to be the hero. Now, to be able to keep a straight face and a clear head in times of distress when you're with OTHER people is awesome but if you can't do that when you're with your family, your kids and your own blood, that doesn't quite sit right with me. I don't know. Helping other people without asking for anything in return is good but it seems like this person has a hero syndrome. Not to the point that she's creating a situation to rescue people but still ...
Actually, scratch all that, my main issue was that I didn't know how to pronounce the names of most characters here. Kidding.
I like thrillers and I like "cultural" books, I learn a lot from them. I like that this is fast paced and didn't drag.
So yeah, I liked it a lot. I'd give it a 4 except if I give it a 4 it means I'd be in a hurry to read the next couple of novels but I'm not so it's more a 3.5.
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Got a couple Terry Pratchett books from BookSale. These are a bit expensive from the usual second hand books I like to buy but the quality is almost new so I'm pretty happy about it. I got A Hat Full of Sky for 180php and Wings for 145php.
I'm liking Granny Weatherwax better in every Witches novel I read. She really grows on you. Or me. Not that I didn't like her before. I did. It's just out of the all the Discworld series my favorite were the Watch novels with Rincewind coming to a second close. The rest, I see as equal. This, however, made me want to read her more than Rincewind. Yeah ... girl power and all. Lol.
This third installment of the Witches novels is all about making your own destiny and all that shizz. It makes a great deal about how stories and the Grimm's fairy tales so everyone should be able to relate to the humor. I might have said it before but I'll say it again, Terry Pratchett writes the best satire-fantasy novels. I don't think I'll ever write reviews good enough to give this series justice.
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?
