Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu

Brazen

by Pénélope Bagieu

Spoiler alert: No spoilers this time, it's just a really enjoyable reading,
full of characters that you probably never heard of before or
knew their stories but not their names.

Hello everyone, here there is another review.

Today I'm going to talk about the graphic novel Brazen (originally called in French Les Culottées), written by the French illustrator and comic designer Pénélope Bagieu. I've came across this book because a friend of mine brought me one of the tomes in French when she went back to Paris for holidays and since then I wanted to pay the full version of it, which you can find in different languages such as English, French, Spanish, Italian and so on.

The graphic novel goes across history and the whole globe to describe to us indomitable women, who fought for their rights and to give a better life to their selves and the other generations. These are the stories of women that fought against adversity by raising their voices to be heard and change the course of history.

With her drawings, Bagieu shows the lives of these female role models, some more famous as the Witch of Oz and some less known as Agnodice, the first female gynecologist. These stories are meant to inspire the next generations of brazen and couragous women.

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I mean, what else can I say except the fact that I loved it? It's really enjoyable, because it's made as a comic, so easier to read, even though in some parts approaches some important and cruel topics. My favourite stories are the one about: Agnodice, the first gynecologist in Ancient Greece; Josephine Baker, who was mostly known as a French dancer but was also a French Resistance fighter and a matriarch; and Jesselyn Radack, a lawyer who fought for the rights of whistle-blowers.

This month's recommended books:

Hi everyone, the books recommended for this month are:

«Milk And Honey by Rupi Kaur» 
  
Milk And Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss and femininity. It's divided into four chapters, each one of them serves a different purpose, because it deals with a different pain and heals different heartaches. 

The book will take you through a journey of the most bitter moments in life to find sweetness in them as well, because sweetness is everywhere if you're just willing to look. 

If you're into poetry, this book is totally recommended as well as her other book The Sun And Her Flowers.

✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

«To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee»

To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel published in 1961 by Harper Lee. It approaches the theme of racism and acceptance for the people that are considered different from us. 
The novel is told by the point of view of Scout, the youngest daughter of Atticus Finch, a lawyer that will need to defend a black young man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of assaulting a white young woman. 
The book is full of compassion, drama and is deeply moving and touching. It will take you to the roots of human behaviour, through innocence, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Today it is considered to be a masterpiece of American literature. 

✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧

«Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley»

This novel written by Mary Shelley narrates through an epistolary form the story of Victor Frankenstein, the scientist and his creation that it's defined by him as a monster, a fiend. 
Through the book, though, and the point of view of both characters, it will be possible to understand that the real monster is indeed the human, Victor, while the creature, or Adam, as he will be referred to after, is just an imagine of how we treat who's different from us, who's not accepted, and for this we're afraid of. 
I must admit this is one of my favourite classics ever and I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. 

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov

Spoiler alert: The book is controversial, so not for an easy and
pleasant reading, since it talks about the topic of pedophilia.

 

Hi, here I am with a new review.

Today I'm going to do the review of Lolita, written by the Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. I've came across this book because my cousin suggested me to read it, even though it has been on my to read list for a long time.

The novel is famous because of its controversial subject. The protagonist, a middle-aged literature professor that goes under the nickname of Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with Dolores Haze, a 12 years old girl, with whom he becomes the tutor by being hosted by her mother in their house. He's an unreliable narrator.

Later he will become sexually involved with the girl after he becomes her stepfather by marrying Mrs. Haze. He will give Dolores a private nickname, "Lolita", that gives the title to the book. The name "Lolita" has been assimilated in our popular culture and used to imply that a young girl is sexually precocious. Dolores and him will then travel around the country when the mother accidentally dies. A lot of consequences will happen to both the characters.

Lolita quickly attained a classic status and it's considered to be a cult book. The novel was then adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrik in 1962, and then in 1997 by Adrian Lyne. It has also been adapted in musicals, ballets and operas.

It has been considered as one of the greatest work of the 20th by many authors and listed as one of the best books by Time, Le Monde and many others.

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I need to admit that I was really into reading this book at first, but as soon as I started it, I was really shocked by how he could go around, flirting with her, without any consequences. The more I read and the more I understood that it was going against everything I believed in, but also I was more attracted to it, because the plot was thickening and the situation was getting worse for Humbert, which made me feel better. 

The end of the book is both sad and happy, that's why I liked it, because you have a realistic ending.