Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby tells the story of Nicholas and his family and friends. His father dies and he must now support his mother and sister, Kate. They travel to London to seek the help of his father’s brother Ralph. This does not go quite as planned because Ralph is not a nice person and only cares about money and himself. Things do not get off to a good start when they accept Ralph’s advice and help and only encounter vile people. When they surrender themselves to fate events take a turn for the better and they meet merchants and philanthropists the Cheeryble twins, Charles and Ned. They help the Nicklebys and their lives get much better. Thanks to the Cheerybles the Nicklebys don’t need to rely on Ralph and Nicholas and his sister even find themselves spouses. It’s a happy ending for most that deserve it and an unhappy one for most of those who don’t.

All the characters are well rounded and it feels as if you know them and know how they’re going to react to something before they do. It’s obvious which characters you’re supposed to like and which ones you aren’t and for the majority of them, this was exactly how I felt. I didn’t connect with any of the characters really as they were all a bit plain. Really, we needed the villains to mix things up a bit. I found myself taking against Mrs Nickleby. She is very self-centred and always needs to be the centre of attention, much like Mrs Bennet in Pride & Prejudice. There are a lot of minor characters and may be there mostly to break up the tension and provide some comic relief. None of them stood out for me, they were all just a bit boring.

The plot of the book dragged a bit for me. We didn’t really need to know the fates of all the minor characters. I do enjoy Dickens’ storytelling but, not knowing an awful lot of history, can’t tell which bits are social commentary and which are pure fiction. This is Dickens’ first novel where romance features heavily and it’s not easy to do and avoid offending people. It’s a sensitive subject, especially back then. The end result feels a bit Shakespearean to me; all the characters end up getting married and you can tell who Nicholas and Kate are going to marry. At some points I found it a bit confusing, when Ralph was conspiring against people but I think as long as you got the gist it was okay. It was a nice story and leaves you with a bittersweet feeling.

I love a bit of Victorian England which is possibly why I like Dickens so much. His descriptions of places let you picture them and feel the atmosphere. I certainly wouldn’t want to live there but spending a couple of weeks there via a book is about right. London life hasn’t really changed in two hundred years; it’s still chaotic and on top of itself but somehow gets by. Dickens London is smaller and more manageable so is slightly easier to get your head around where everything is. The centre of London is overcrowded with whole families living in a couple of rooms. When Nicholas moves to the outskirts he gets to live in a nice cottage, which I like.

I didn’t like this book as much as the other two I’ve read but still enjoyed it. I think some of it may be due to Dickens trying a new genre and working out how to tell the story as he wants to. For me the ending made up for parts of the book that were difficult to get through. Although you’re supposed to route for Nicholas, I found myself wanting things to turn out for Kate Nickleby. She has to put up with so much from her mother, her uncle and men wanting to court her that she has no interest in. When Frank appeared I was hopeful for her future. I found myself drawn into their lives and wanting the best for them. Even if Mrs Nickleby annoyed the hell out of me.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Wonder by R J Palacio

Wonder is about ten year old August Pullman who has a severe facial disfigurement. Due to this he has had to have various operations throughout his short life and so has never been to school. His mum has always taught him at home. This year everything changes. This year August goes to school. The book follows him the summer before school and his first year of school. Understandably, August is terrified, but he’s also a bit excited at the same time. Mostly he dreads the way the other children and the teachers will react to him. He gets stared at everywhere he goes; even if people aren’t being rude about it, they can’t help but look.

I enjoyed the character of August. He is determined to have as normal a life as possible. He’s not disabled, he just looks different. Inside he’s just a regular kid, except he’s not really because he’s never been treated totally normal. Even his parents, who try to treat him the same as his sister, can’t. In the beginning it was for medical reasons and now it’s to try and protect him from the reactions of strangers. Having said that though, August and his family are pretty cool. They obviously all love each other a great deal and that is nice to read about.

The way that he is treated by his classmates and teachers felt realistic. To begin with no one will sit with him and the head teacher has asked a few pupils to keep an eye on him and to befriend him. Some are happy to do this, others not so much. That’s the way it is with all schools though, when you have so many different people together; someone is going to get singled out for a reason and someone else is going to do the singling out. They weren’t all portrayed as full-on bullies either, al lot of them were just indifferent and pretty much ignored August which felt more real.

I expected the book to be completely written from August’s point of view but it covers six different characters’ perspectives. They are all connected to August in different ways so it’s interesting to see how and why they’ve found themselves in the circle of protection around him that his parent’s started. It feels like the author really got inside the characters’ heads as the voices sound right for the different ages and genders. It’s not easy to write from a child’s outlook and I think she did well with this. There were quite a few pop culture references peppered throughout the book, some of which I got and others I didn’t. For some reason adding these little bits lets you relate to them easier and feel like you’re in the story.

I would recommend this book to everyone. It was brilliant. I liked all the people I supposed to and disliked all those I wasn’t. I think it gives an important message about tolerance and treating others with kindness. The children in the book are more accepting than the adults, except those with very narrow-minded parents and I think how parents react has a massive effect on how their offspring react. This isn’t just a book for children and teens; this is a book for adults too. My only problem with the book was that it felt a bit Disney. I can easily see this being made into a film and the ending felt too perfect for my liking. However, this didn’t detract that much from the rest of the story and I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush follows Nora Grey as she gets partnered with the new student in her Biology class. She doesn’t know anything about him and their first assignment for the class is to get to know your partner. Somehow he seems to know quite a bit about her already. Nora finds out very little about Patch as he isn’t forthcoming about himself. She finds herself drawn to him but can’t get to know him as she is busy trying to figure out who is following her and possibly trying to kill her. Together with her best friend Vee, Nora sets out t find out what’s going on.

I found the story to pretty much be a Twilight rip off with a different supernatural being than vampires. I was worried that this was what it was going to be but I hoped those fears would be unfounded. No such luck. From what I’ve seen, there aren’t a lot of well-known books about fallen angels so this could have been a different take on them. I don’t know if there are any abilities that angels have or ones they don’t have which leaves room for invention and the fallen angels could have been pretty awesome. Instead they were exactly the same as the vampires in Twilight.

I didn’t find myself connecting with any of the characters, I couldn’t find a depth to any of them which was frustrating. Nora didn’t have any consistency throughout the book. One minute she was terrified of Patch, the next moment she wanted to kiss him. Maybe being scared does something for her, I don’t know. She just kept making the same mistakes over and over again, never learning from any of the experiences. Vee started off as a decent character but after a bit she just turned in to another Nora, acting the same way. The character of Patch could have been so amazing. There was a little prologue and I can’t help but think that the book would have been better if Patch had been the protagonist and we followed his life as a fallen angel.

The writing style made it easy and quick to finish this book which is one positive about it. There was not enough description of the places for me to picture where they were and their location in relation to the rest of the town. I could, however, give you a very accurate description of Patch’s eyes and body as they are frequently mentioned throughout. It’s mostly dialogue with a change of scene every so often. I need a bit more than that from my books.

I think this book would appeal to fans of Twilight but I couldn’t relate to any of it. I started it with no expectations so luckily there weren’t any that needed to be met as I fear this book would not have done so. To be fair to the author I don’t think this was aimed at me so it’s not a surprise I didn’t like it. The simplistic writing style making it easy to read may encourage people who don’t read a lot to pick up a book which I am all in favour of. However, people who read a lot would probably notice the lack of depth to the story and characters. I won’t be continuing with this series but I definitely think there is an audience for this type of book.

Overall rating 1 out of 5.

Looking for Alaksa by John Green

Looking for Alaska follows Miles Halter as he makes a big decision in his life. He decides he wants to go to his dad’s old school, Culver Creek. It’s a boarding school miles away from home so he’s hoping that a new start will be positive for him. Back home he doesn’t have any friends and has no ambitions; he’s fed up with his life. At Culver Creek he has a roommate, Chip or The Colonel, who quickly becomes his friend. The Colonel has a group of friends that welcome Miles into their fold. One of those people is Alaska Young and Miles is immediately attracted to her. The gang mess about drinking and smoking until one day something big happens and their world changes.

Miles is eager to make friends and so pretty much does whatever The Colonel wants him to do so instead of muddling along and keeping his nose clean, he takes up smoking and drinking. He gets himself the name Pudge as well due to how skinny he is. His infatuation with Alaska means he lets himself get led astray when the group pull their pranks. I couldn’t really connect with Miles or Alaska but I did quite like The Colonel. So being from Miles’ point of view wasn’t the easiest read. It was a bit like watching Skins on TV. You have an idea that this sort of thing goes on with frustrated teens but I have no experience of it myself.

I couldn’t quite make out how the school worked. They seemed to be able to leave whenever they wanted and had cars to get around. The school is set in what appear to be large grounds as they have a wood and a lake. But there is a McDonalds and convenience store within walking distance. Like with any school, the teens know all the hiding places and which teachers can be trusted and which need to be avoided. Having said that, it seems like a close knit place and the teachers know all the students and are happy to help them.

The book is very much about the characters and apart from the incident that occurs half way through the book there is no action. Miles changes after moving out of home. He becomes more confident and wants to do something with his life. He’s happy and wants life to stay exactly as it is for a while so he can enjoy himself. Obviously, this isn’t the case and his relationships with his friends are put under strain after the event occurs. He realises that he doesn’t actually know these people all that well. Other than The Colonel and Alaska he doesn’t have a lot in common with the rest of the group. This threatens t put him back to square one and he wants the group together.

I had high expectations for this book as I had heard it was really good. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I didn’t know anything about the content of the story. I’d seen John Green on YouTube so had a preconception of the sort of book he would write. This wasn’t what I expected so it took a while to get into the story. The issues this book deals with appear to be common for him. I enjoyed the way he had the characters deal with it. The second half of the book was more exciting to read than the first. Although, without the first half, you wouldn’t know quite how devastating the event is. I wouldn’t recommend this to younger teens as some of the content is mature. I didn’t like the book as much as I was hoping to but I certainly didn’t not like it.

Overall rating 3 out of 5.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

On April 8^th 1998 15 year old Kevin Khatchadourian shot seven of his fellow high school students, one teacher and one cafeteria worker. Almost two years later, his mum Eva tries to figure out why he did this. Was it her fault? Or is he innately bad? In a series of letters to her husband, who is no longer living in the same house, she tries to explain events as she experienced them. To truly try and get inside Kevin’s head she goes right back to before he was born. She also, as she does every two weeks, goes to see Kevin in prison to try and talk to him about it. But is this kind of thing really something you can figure out? Is it really that black and white?

The premise of the book is fascinating. What would you do if your child committed mass murder? It is not something that people think about because they don’t think it will happen. Eva certainly didn’t believe Kevin would do it. The victims’ families lose someone but, to a degree, the family of the killer lose someone too. The person they thought they knew isn’t that person at all. As the family are not locked up out of reach, they get all the anger and frustration directed at them. Eva gets stared at wherever she goes and has had paint smeared all over the house.

Kevin is a mystery. He doesn’t seem to care about anything, including himself. Several people have tried to explain his apathy, saying he is hiding his emotions because he is scared or angry. To be fair to Kevin, he didn’t have the most positive start to life. His mother wasn’t sure she even wanted a child and motherhood didn’t come naturally. She did try though and Kevin didn’t make it easy for her by refusing to communicate properly with her. He kept everything to himself and although his dad also tried to talk to him just told him what Kevin knew Franklin wanted to hear. From the outside Kevin had everything, a mum and a dad, the three of them lived in a nice house and had plenty of money. Kevin is incredibly intelligent but is also either a psychopath, a sociopath of both.

Eva’s letters are very revealing and she bears all to her husband. Things used to happen around Kevin that Eva knew were Kevin’s doing but his dad, Franklin, refused to see anything bad in his son. Eva is honest about not being the best mother but, especially when he depended on her more, she did everything the books said but Kevin gave her nothing in return. She seems like a bit of a sociopath as well as she doesn’t put Kevin first and would rather not be in his company. You can understand that having a child like Kevin isn’t easy. She had no idea what was going on where he could read her like a book.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology, the human condition and morality. Throughout the book there is conflict between Kevin and Eva, and Eva and Franklin. It appears that Kevin and his dad have a close relationship. In reality I think Eva and Kevin have the closest relationship, even if it is an unconventional one. Although only Kevin himself can know what’s going on in his head, Eva seems to see the real Kevin and not one of the many fronts he presents depending on the situation. Lionel Shriver must have really got inside both characters and it can’t have been a fun place. There is no action in this book. It’s more a character study that encourages you to think. Absolutely brilliant.

Overall rating 5 out of 5.

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson

This book is a thriller and a very good one. Christine wakes up every day with no idea who she is or where she is. Every day her husband, Ben, has to explain to her why she can’t remember anything. She had an accident that left her brain damaged. It took her years to recover and she is still only remembering what happens up until she falls into a deep sleep. Then her mind essentially resets and she is back to square one. Some days Christine gets flashes of memory and knows certain things that happened in her past. She is contacted by a doctor and together they are determined to help her memory get stronger and remember more.

Christine as a character is unusual in that you are reading the story and she knows as much as you do. In fact, as the days go on, she sort of knows less than you. It’s an interesting way to narrate a story. There are some things you read over and over again due to Christine’s illness but the explanations get shorter so it’s not too annoying. You don’t properly get to know the other characters in the book as Christine is meeting them for the first time every day and you are stuck in her head. However, this does help with the ‘thriller’ part of the story.

The book is told in two different ways. The first part is waking up with Christine and learning who she is with her. The second part is Christine reading a journal, so is written as separate entries. The third part goes back to being inside Christine’s head. Really, this is the only way to tell the story, as she has no idea what is going on. One day isn’t really long enough to discover who you are and work out who everyone else is and who these people are that you keep having visions about. That takes weeks to figure out. Although, having said that the book is just set over one day, with the journal as bringing you up to speed on what has happened for the past twenty years.

I did like this book and would like to read it again at some point now that I know what happened to Christine. I’d like to see if there are clues that you can pick up on if you know what to look for. I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery and likes to be scared. For the last 60 or so pages I just couldn’t put it down. I had to know what was going to happen. As I so desperately wanted to know I was guessing, rather than let the story take me there by itself. I did figure I out just before Christine which made the whole thing worse because then I really needed to finish the book and make sure the characters I wanted to survive did so. A gripping read and I hope there are more like this to come from the author.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle is the journal of seventeen year old Cassandra Mortmain. She lives in a house come castle with her father, stepmother, sister, brother, Stephen the son of the, now deceased, house keeper and her dog and cat. Her father wrote a bestselling book but has stopped writing and as a result the family now has no income and are making do as best they can. That all changes when the man they rent the castle from dies. His grandsons from America inherit and come to England to claim what is theirs. This excites Cassandra and her older sister Rose and what ensues is a tale of love, jealousy, family and growing up.

I really enjoyed Cassandra as a narrator. She has some amazing turns of phrase that make me laugh and she mentions that she’s a Jane Austen fan and that comes across in her writing style. Although her family doesn’t have any money and no foreseeable future of that changing, she takes it all in her stride and does what she can to help out around the house. She is a practical person, which I like, and doesn’t understand her sister sometimes, who is less practical. I’m not a massive fan of Rose but I did like most of the other characters, even if it is difficult to tell what they’re really like as it’s from Cassandra’s point of view.

I liked the writing style of having it as journal entries, but some went on too long for me, I prefer shorter chapters. There were also points when it would suddenly jump a few hours between paragraphs, which I don’t mind, but there’s no warning. It would have been nicer to have a space between paragraphs. The book is split up in to three parts because she ends up writing in three different journals. That works out well because the story does take place over several months and a lot happens in that time. The first part is mostly setting things out but the rest is what happens to them when the Americans turn up.

The descriptions of rural Suffolk are beautiful. Dodie Smith wrote it when she was living in America and feeling nostalgic for England. You can tell this from the way she describes it. It does have an idealistic feeling to it, like something out of Midsomer Murders. Nonetheless it is nice to picture their surroundings, living in this strange-looking building sat in the outskirts of a village surrounded by farmland. It’s all very idyllic. They go to London a couple of times and that too is a bit more fanciful than it is in reality. But to be fair I haven’t been to London that much and some parts of it are quite nice. It is a bit of a homage to England.

I did like this book and it felt just really fun to read. Despite not having the best living conditions and having enough food to eat, Cassandra enjoys her life and wouldn’t change it for anything. The family is stuck in a rut when we meet them but their life turns around and it’s for the better. They grow as a family and Cassandra gets to know the male members of her family a lot better. Before she spent most of her time with her sister. In some ways Cassandra grows up a lot but in other ways she stays the same. She doesn’t take life or herself too seriously and that is refreshing to read. I would definitely recommend this book as an easy classic to read, although the end does drag on a bit and gets a bit philosophical.

Overall rating 4 out of 5