Bookish Reviewer

"Brave doesn't mean you're not scared, Starr," she says. "It means you go on even though you're scared. And you're doing that."  I'm an emotional mess right now. This book exceeded my expectations. An apt representation of what Black people have to go through, and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement. At some parts, I couldn't go on; it's like this book broke my heart, but then mended it. Warmed some parts of me. Chanted that sometimes you should try to have things end differently- the right way. ********** The book starts with Starr Carter, a sixteen-year-old black girl, explaining the two versions of hers: the Starr of Garden Heights, where she lives among her people; and the Starr of Williamson, where she goes to school. She reluctantly attends a party with her friend Kenya, with whom she shares a brother, Seven. There she meets Khalil, one of her best friends whom she has not seen in months. Due to some chaotic shots, they h...

Rating: 3.5/5 stars! "Sure, but why not more poems about the sun? The sun is also a star, and it's our most important one. That alone should be worth a poem or two." The Nicola Yoon young adult fiction 'The Sun Is Also a Star' is an enjoyable read. Two different personalities meet in NYC; they click, talk, visit a few places, realise that they've got something, and then ta-da! Life happens. While this is quite Before Sunrise plot, the lead characters have obstacles. Daniel is Korean American, and Natasha is Jamaican. His family has all his life planned out, and it does not include falling in love with a black girl. Her family is dealing with deportation to their country. With Daniel, Natasha is out of character. With Natasha, Daniel is at his utmost self. The novel deals with themes like immigration, the American Dream, and racism. The narration style is quite different as there are entries of things, feelings and minor characters we get to ...

The Necklace  (French:  La Parure ) is an 1884 short story written by the French writer Guy De Muapassant. The charming lady, Madame Loisel, thought that she deserved a better life, better house, better husband and, most importantly, more exquisite clothes and jewels. Chance knocked at her door for a great opportunity for her to show off her elegance and beauty, and she lived it all as she and her minor clerk in the Ministry of Education husband attended a party of the Minister of Education. She borrowed from a friend what she thought to be a diamond necklace, and acted like a rich lady with a high class. But life is unpredictable. The necklace was lost! In the very last line, Guy De Maupassant revealed one of fiction’s master denouements when we get to know that the necklace, which was lost was actually an imitation and not real. For a few moments of sheer Ecstasy Madame Loisel had to endure ten years of paying off debts and working hard all day long to sa...

3.5/5stars. I just do not know how I feel towards all the characters except Nick. Before starting reading the story, I had got to know about the narrator, and I wondered why is not the story written from Gatsby or Daisy's POV. However, once I got to know the characters, I knew that the story couldn't have been well-narrated except by Nick; he was the sane one in the story, the one with self-composition. If others were to narrate it, it would have been incoherent and so confusing. I liked Nick's narration and the rich prose that was written so beautifully. The language was a refreshment while the actions were not appealing. Gatsby spent years of his precious youth to gain fame and wealth, mistakenly thinking that with them he could gain back a young love. In all the haze to get the status he wanted, he forgot to make friends and to live normally. I pitied him at the beginning and I pitied him when he died. What a waste of youth!

5/5 Stars! L. M. Montgomery was at her best here, I think. This book is so enticing and magnificent; a book of revelations that makes you want to question your choices. In this book Anne is a college student, outside of her favourite Avonlea, but Anne being Anne, she manages to find beauty everywhere and have beautiful relationships with amazing friends. Being of the same age as Anne was in this book, I could relate more to this character. I could understand what it means to be at a crossroad and have to make big decisions that were to be for a life-time. I loved the college girls, especially Phil, who was such a sweetheart; her talks were generally hilarious and attractive. As for the romance which was unfolded here, I admit that I liked that Anne didn't take Gilbert's first proposal for granted and consented only when she was so sure about her affections, and that made it worth the agonising two years of a shallow relationship between them. The dialogues of the ...

"Glance into the looking-glass which hangs on one of the walls, and it distorts your countenance in all directions in the most merciless way! The shaving and haircutting is done before this looking-glass."     At the Barber's is a short story by the Russian writer Anton Chekhov. It portrays the story of Makar Kuzmitch, a hard-working and unwashed barber, and his encounter with Erast Yagodov, his godfather. Chekhov starts the story with a detailed description of the setting and Makar.    The shop is described in a poor condition as small, narrow and unclean. This is not something to be taken lightly as we get to know later that the reason behind Erast's rejection of Makar is his poverty. Makar is a well-mannered boy as we can see from the way he greets Erast and speaks with him politely. However, Erast Yagodov seems to be a greedy and stingy old man, who walked a far distance to have a free haircut despite his illness. He actually comes for a haircut just when ...

  Soldier's Home is one of Hemingway's stories in his first collection In Our Time. Hemingway once again takes us to the war, but this time he focused on its aftermath, and the struggle to move on in life. Who could transfer that experience into deep, harsh and heart-touching words more than Hemingway, who had to go through that himself. Krebs came back home two years after the war, and as Cecil Harrison said, the war is never over. When he was back, all the glorifying of heroes and celebrations were done. The story is about Harold's take on life after what he had seen. We get no details about his experiences, but we know the consequences. For him, noting is worth fighting for anymore. He wanted things to happen in their own accord; he did not want to seek anything anymore; he wanted things to come his way by their own without having to work for them because everything was not worth it. He never was desperate to get anything. He never wanted things bad enough that he ...