A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)

by Sarah J. Maas

Hello there :) Here I am with another review of the first book of a saga that has been populating the bookstagram. 

Check out my last review about One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez :)

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Today's review will be about the book A Court of Thorns and Roses, known also with the acronym ACOTAR, by the American author Sarah J. Maas. 

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It is a pretty recent young adult fantasy novel, written in 2015 and followed by other five books: A Court of Mist and Fury; A Court of Wings and Ruins; A Court of Frost and Starlight; A Court of Silver Flames. 

The story follows the journey of the human girl, Feyre Archeron, beginning with her struggled life with her father and her two sisters, Nesta and Elain. Their survival rests upon Feyre's ability to hunt and kill. The forest where she lives is a cold place with long winter months. So when she finally spots a deer after a long time of starvation, this animal gets followed by a wolf, and she can't resist hunting it for the flesh and the fur. But by doing so, she kills the predator and killing something so precious always comes at a price. 

Turns out, this wolf was Andras, a faerie from an ancient magical kingdom behind the wall that separates Prythian from the mortal realm. 

She is then being dragged into Prythian for the murder of a magical being, which goes against the treaty between faeries and humans, according to Tamlin, her new captor. His face, obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than piercing green eyes. 

Her presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, she will have to deal with an evil blight and curses that are not going to only threaten Prythian, but the human world as well. Her feelings for Tamlin turn from hostility to passion as the lands become even more dangerous. 

Feyre must break an ancient curse to fight the blight that is going to change things forever. Will she able to? Will things change? 

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I started this book because everyone on Bookstagram seems to be obsessed with it, but I've heard lots of reviews, either good and bad, some of them saying that the book was really boring, and to be honest, that's exactly how I felt through the whole book. 

While I was reading it, I was leaving small thoughts about it on Goodreads and Instagram as I do with all the book I read, and some people commented to me that yes, sadly the first part is a bit slow but from the half of the book it becomes more interesting. To be fair, though, I didn't get to the interesting part at all. Once I finished it, I was really glad it was over :/

So my vote is 2/5.

If you like faeries and young adult fantasy, though, you should give it a try. This is just my opinion, maybe you'll enjoy it ;)

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Hi :) Here I am with another review from the Latin America Literature. 

Check out my last review about The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavese :)

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Today's review will be about the book One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. 

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It is a novel written in 1967 and tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founded the fictional town of Macondo. 

He establishes it together with his wife and first cousin, Úrsula Iguarán, after leaving Riohacha, in Colombia, because José killed a man after a cockfight. This founding is utopic, because they idealise the town by creating the perfect one, with no war, no violence, no gambling. Basically with no vices. 

José believes the town to be surrounded by water and thanks to this he invents the world according to his perceptions. Soon after its foundation, Macondo, starts to be populated and visited by individuals, such as gypsies tribes, whose leader is Melquíades. His appearing will lead to a friendship with the patriarch of the Buendía family, provoking also unusual and extraordinary events that will involve and affect also the following generations of Buendías. 

Melquíades will be seen as not such an important character through the book, but a more secondary one, if we can say so. The parchments he will leave to the family, though, at first not readable because they've been written with an ancient language, they will be the answers to all the question relating the family, making you understand the whole point of the book. 

One of the main theme in the book is: the inevitable repetition of history in Macondo, which makes the the protagonists controlled by their pasts and visited by ghosts through the story. The novel is work of magical realism, showing centuries of cause and effect whilst telling an interesting story. 

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I really enjoyed the book and I had high expectation of it, since I've heard many good things about it, and I didn't get disappointed. I must admit that I got a bit lost with all those Aurelianos and José Arcadio in the family, since they all gave the same names to their sons and daughters, but otherwise, it was a really interesting story that left in me a bit of sadness and melancholy for the ending and the fate of the Buendías. But I guess that that's what a good book is supposed to do, no? Leaving you with deep emotions while reading it and after you're done. If a book doesn't make you feel something, should it even be considered as such? 

Here I leave a family tree of the first two generations, to not spoil possible characters, so you won't get confused as me if you're deciding to read it ;)

- First Generation: José Arcadio Buendía, the patriarch, he married his first cousin Úrsula Iguarán. They had three children.

- Second Generation: José Arcadio is the first son of the couple in the first gen, married to Rebeca, Úrsula's second cousin. 

Colonel Aureliano is the second son of the first gen, married to Remedios, the youngest daughter of the Conservative Administrator of Macondo, Don Apolinar Moscote. He fathered 17 sons, all named Aureliano.

Amaranta is the third child of the first gen, never married. 

The Moon and the Bonfire by Cesare Pavese

  The Moon and the Bonfire

by Cesare Pavese

Hello I'm back for a review of a modern classic of Italian Literature. 

Check out my last review about The Mirror Visitor Saga by Christelle Dabos :)

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Today's review will talk about the book The Moon and the Bonfire (in Italian La Luna e I Falò) by the Italian writer, poet, translator, and critic of literature, Cesare Pavese. 

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The book was the last of his published in 1950 and dedicated to the woman in his life: Constance Dowling. It presents autobiographical elements and it takes place in Piedmont, a region in Northern Italy. 

The story revolves around the main character, of which the name is never told, but only his nickname: Anguilla ("Eel" in English). It focuses also on the other characters that he relations with in a town in the Valley of Belbo, of which we also don't know the name of. The book is a mixture of past and present, with events being told thanks to the thoughts and reflections of the protagonist. 

The book begins with Anguilla coming back as an immigrant from America after the Liberation (from the war). He comes back home with the thought of how his life started there, abandoned at the doorstep of the Duomo of Alba and then brought to the hospital of Alessandria, where he would have later been adopted by Padrino and Virgilia. 

After her death and a hail storm that destroyed their vineyard, Padrino decides to sell their house. Anguilla then will be transferred to the farm of the Mora, where he starts to work for the first time. There he finds wealth together with Sor Matteo and his three daughters: Irene, Silvia and Santa (the youngest). 

As a reader I happily got lost in the memories, sometimes sad that Anguilla relives with his friend Nuto because he is able to understand how much everyone needs a town, a family, an anchor, a point of reference that keeps us connected somewhere. Anguilla realises this when he's been called back from that sense of belonging together with a mix of nostalgia.  

Because of this, Anguilla will go to visit the house of Padrino, now belonging to an old man called Il Valino and his son Cinto, a crippled and solitary young boy. Cinto will remember to him how it feels to be young and he will try to be to him what Nuto has been to him. Thanks to this relationship, they will begin to be friends and Cinto feels like he can trust him with a shocking revelation that will happen later in the book. 

Anguilla will then find out about the other people who were part of his life before leaving for America, and it will make him realise that everyone of us needs a town. 

"A town means never being alone, knowing that in the people, in the plants, in the ground there's something yours that even when you go away, it's there, waiting for you."

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At the beginning it started really nice but then got lost in the middle for a bit of boring plot, but I must admit that reaching the end was totally worth it. The revelation of the fate of the other characters interconnecting with him were shocking and unexpected. Especially the fate of the poor Cinto and the three sisters. 

The friendship between Anguilla and Nuto, is that kind that everyone would like to have. Even if he left for America, when he came back, Nuto was back for him, as if, he actually never left. 

If you're into books talking about the after war period, this is totally the one for you ;)

The Mirror Visitor Quartet by Christelle Dabos

  The Mirror Visitor Quartet

by Christelle Dabos

Hi (: I'm here with another review of an entire saga.  

Check out my last review about Mr Mercedes by Stephen King :)

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The review of today is of the saga of The Mirror Visitor (Le Passe Miroir in French and L'Attraversaspecchi in Italian) by the French author Christelle Dabos. 

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The first book of this quartet is called "A Winter's Promise" (Les Fiancés de l'Hiver / Fidanzati dell'Inverno). The story follows the new world after "The Rupture" that shattered it into many floating celestial islands. These places are now known as Arks, 21 that developed in distinct ways and where on each of them a spirit of an omnipotent ancestor abides.

Ophelia lives on Anima, an ark where objects have souls and are (as the name suggests) animated. The young girl has the power to read and communicated with these souls just by touching them with her bare hands (that's why to protect herself from involuntary readings, she wears gloves), and the ability to travel through mirrors. Things changes, though, when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, from the powerful Dragon clan. Because of this, she will have to leave her family and move to her fiancée's ark: The Pole. Why did they chose her? Why can't she say who she really is, but must hide her true identity?

The second book instead is called "The Missing of Clairedelune" (Les Disparus de Clairdelune / Gli Scomparsi di Chiardiluna). Our heroin, Ophelia is being promoted to vice-storyteller by Farouk, the spirit of the Pole, which will put her into the public spotlight and everyone will know her special gift. She will have to read his Book that it's including all his memories in an unknown language that no one can understand. This will lead to the grudge of the other citizens that will see her as a threat. She discovers that the only person she may be able to trust is only Thorn. As one after another influential courtier disappears, Ophelia finds herself implicated in an investigation that will lead her to see beyond the illusions of the Pole to find the actual truth. 

The third book is called "The Memory of Babel" (La Mémoire de Babel / La Memoria di Babel). This time Ophelia finds herself on another ark, the magical city of Babel, guarding a secret that may provide a key to the past and future. 

After two years and seven months biding her time on Anima (I'm not going to spoil the ending of the previous book, just going to say that because of something that happened, she gets sent back to her birth ark), it's time to act on what she discovered in the Book of Faruk. She changed her identity using the name of Eulalia to live on Babel, a cosmopolitan ark where androids have taken over human's jobs. Under this ideal life, though, unrest chaos fed by memories of a purge and the inhabitant fear of being replaced. Will her talents as a reader be enough to enter into the Memorial of the town? 

The last book of the saga instead is called "The Storm of Echoes" (La Tempête des Échoes / Echi in Tempesta). Ophelia and Thorn discover that the truth they have been seeking has always been hidden behind the mirror. 

Finally the distrust between them has been overcome and now they love each other passionately. But they can't show their love, because of the fake identities they've created on Babel. Only like that they can continue their journeys to understand the indecipherable code of God and the truth behind the mysterious figure of the Other, whose responsible for the fall of the arks, plunging thousands of innocents into the void. 

Their journey leads them to the Observatory of the Deviations, where Ophelia will be a sectioned patient. There they will hope to discover the truth that will hopefully bring the world back into balance.

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I need to say, I loved it. All the books are amazing and I felt deeply connected with the figure and description of Ophelia, which resembles me a lot. The love story with Thorn is perfect, because it's structured so good that at the beginning you despise him, just as Ophelia does, but you slowly start to appreciate him and love him at the end.

Mme Dabos clearly knew how to make it this perfect that you couldn't just put the book down anymore. Once you start reading it, you're completely hooked and you want to finish it, even though that makes you sad. 

To be honest yes, the only thing I didn't like was the ending, but I guess that has to do also with the fact that I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Ophelia.

So, I totally recommend it if you like fantasy stories. 

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

  Mr Mercedes

by Stephen King

Hello :) Today I will be reviewing another book from Mr King.  

Check out my last review about the Misérables by Victor Hugo :)

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The review of today is of the book Mr Mercedes by the American author Stephen King. 

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The book is the first one of a trilogy that concentrates around the stories of Bill Hodges, an ex detective now in retirement and Holly Gibney, a woman that suffers from multiple tics. 

Mr Mercedes focuses on the still opened case of the homonymous killer, known as Brady, afterwards in the story, that killed lots of people standing in front of the Auditorium where a job fair would have been taking place later in the morning for unemployed people. 

Hodges is going in retirement right after this case happens and Brady, is somehow obsessed with him that he starts spying on him daily and then risks to send him an anonymous letter telling him he's the one that did it. 

Thanks to the help of Janey Patterson, the sister of Olivia Trelawney, the girl whose Mercedes has been stolen, and later on of Holly Gibney, Janey's cousin, will try to resolve the case, not letting the police know. 

Will everything go according to plan? Will they manage to catch the bad guy? Or is it going to be too hard since Brady will show his true colours of being a complete deviant. 

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I actually liked it a lot but if I need to be honest, I wouldn't pick it as my favourite of his. I preferred way much The Outsider, but we also need to consider that they're two different genres. 

Mr Mercedes is crime while The Outsider is supernatural. 

Anyway, it was a really enjoyable reading even though the guy was a complete psychopath and lots of time I felt like I just wanted to smack the book away haha

At then end I would rate it 4/5 :)

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

 Les Misérables

by Victor Hugo

Hey :) Here I am again with another review. This time it will be about this big big book, a masterpiece of French Literature. 

Check out my last review about the Outsider by Stephen King :)

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Today's book will be Les Misérables (The Miserables) by the French author Victor Hugo. 

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The book is a historical novel divided in 5 volumes, each of them focusing on different main characters. 

Their destinies will then interlace together through the whole book. 

The first volume sees a poor young woman as the main character. Her name is Fantine and she's in love with a young man named Félix that soon abandon here though, leaving her alone and pregnant of a baby girl, Cosette. Being now not alone anymore but having to take care of another being, Fantine does everything in her power to take care of her child. She doesn't have a place where she can stay, so she has to leave her kid with some innkeepers, the Thénadiers. These awful individuals though, they will take advantage of the poor good young woman and ask always for more money, faking Cosette to be sick. This will lead Fantine to the fastest way of making money: prostituting herself and selling her hair and teeth. 

The second volume sees as the main protagonist, Fantine's daughter, Cosette and how her life is going on at the Inn. The kid will be treated poorly and bad, in comparison with the other daughters of the innkeepers, and she will be "used" as the servant of the house. Things will change for her, when her path will cross with another protagonist of this story, the ex convict, Jean Valjean, which, at the end, is really the main protagonist of the whole book. 

The third volume instead focuses on the story of Marius, a French noble man, that moved away from his family, especially his grandfather, because of his ideas. Together with a group of friends and fighters, lead by the charismatic Enjolras, they will make a revolution, trying bringing freedom to the country. His path will cross with the one of Cosette, now grown up into a beautiful young lady that is leaving with "her father" Jean Valjean. 

The fourth volume talks about the barricade and the intromission inside it from one of the characters, Javert, the police man hunting down Jean. The fighters will soon realise though, that he's a spy working for the government. The battle at the barricade becomes more vivid, leading to the death of one of the characters involving Marius life. 

The last volume which concludes the book sees the last days of Jean Valjean, now an old man that has fulfilled his life by making Cosette grew into the woman she is now, making her happy and with a safe future in front of her. 

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Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel talks about the history of France, its architecture of Paris, the moral philosophy and the injustice of those times, religion, romanticism, and familial love.

Les Misérables became really popular through the years in TV and theatres too thanks to film, tv series and even a Broadway musical that then got turned into a film itself of 2012 with Hugh Jackman as Jean. 

What can I say about it? It took me 8 months to finish it because it's a really big book. 1.460 pages to be precise, but I loved it. Loved it with all myself. It was exactly as the film cited above. So full of happiness, sadness, love, war, everything you could ask for in a book. 

The Outsider by Stephen King

The Outsider

by Stephen King

Hello :) It's been a while since the last review, but sadly I haven't had much time to read lately. 

Today's review will be about a supernatural thriller. 

Check out my last review about the Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris :)

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Today's book will be The Outsider by the American author Stephen King. 

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The novel sees the police investigation of a young boy, Frank Peterson, being brutally murdered and assaulted physically, in the little town of Flint City in Oklahoma. 

This case will not be an easy one for the detective, Ralph Anderson and his colleagues. 

All the leads, proofs and testimonies seems to take to only one possible suspect: Terry Maitland, a respectable man, known by everyone in town because he's an English teacher and the coach of the baseball team of young boys, of which Peterson was also part of. 

This will lead to the public arrest of Maitland in front of all the people present at the stadium where he was coaching his team. This act will of course shock everyone, since no one would expect something like this happening. 

Maitland, though, after talking with his lawyer, seems to have a really strong alibi. He was in fact out of town during the day the boy was murdered. To prove his innocence there are also other testimonies from the people who were with him during this book event in Cap City and a video footage of him asking a question to the author being hosted to this event. 

Then how is it possible that on the body of the boy and on the white van that was found abandoned close to the scene, there are his finger prints all over the place? How can someone be in two places at once? 

Nothing is as it seems in this psychological and supernatural thriller written by the master himself :)

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Once again Mr. King didn't disappoint me. The Outsider was a true masterpiece of this genre. 

The story kept me hanging and I couldn't stop reading because one scene after another was just breathtaking and horrifying at the same time. 

With this book, King manages one more time to give you those horror goosebumps you experience while hearing or watching something disturbing. 

From this book, was also made a tv series of last year from HBO, called of course "The Outsider", go check it out too :)

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

by Heather Morris

Hi :) Today's review will be about an Holocaust book based on a true story. 

Check out my last review about the short horror stories by Edgar Allan Poe :)

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Today's book will be The Tattooist of Auschwitz by the New Zealander author Heather Morris. 

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The book narrates the true story of Lale Sokolov, born Eisenberg, a Holocaust survivor that spent 3 years in the concentration camp of Auschwitz - Birkenau.

Lale is a Jewish young man from Slovakia, from the little town of Krompachy, taken from his home and put on the train to hell. 

There, he will have the "luck", if we can say so, to be able to have a job to protect himself and the others. Being the Tattooist of the prisoners of Auschwtiz. 

While on work, his eyes fall on a young girl, another Slovakian as he, Gita Furman. 

From this encounter, their endless love story will begin. 

Lale will do everything in his power to keep her alive during these three years trapped there together. 

After that the Russians will "free" the camp, they will be separated from each other and they will start a new journey to find themselves again. 

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I really liked it. At first I wasn't attracted by the plot because it sounded like a romance set during those times. 

But I was really changed my mind about.

I appreciated the fact that at the end it included also his interview with the writer and he told some more facts about his story. 

My version of the book also included the incipit to the next book of her, Cilka's Journey, another survivor encountered by Lale and Gita. 

I can't wait to start also that one and her new book, Three Sisters :)

Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Short Stories

by Edgar Allan Poe

Hello :) Today's review is about the famous horror novelist par excellence.

Check out my last review about The Picture of Dorian Gray :)

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The book I'm reviewing today is about a group of short stories by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. 

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The stories were pretty easy to read and it was going fluently because it's not so full of harsh words. Just sometimes there are some foreigner words, but thankfully I'm polyglot :)

It's a collection of ten short stories, including: 

The Fall of The House of Usher; The Murders in the Rue Morgue; The Pit and the Pendulum; The Masque of the Red Death; The Black Cat; The Tell-Tale Heart; The Premature Burial; The Facts in the Case of M. Valdermar; The Cask of Amontillado and Hop-Frog. 

The first one hasn't really been the most scariest of them all in my opinion, but it's still pretty enjoyable to read. They probably put it as the first to prepare you for the gruesome ones that will follow :)

The second is definitely one of the most disturbing ones, especially when he's describing the two cadavers of the ladies in Rue Morgue. This short story presents some French words, since it's set in Paris, so be ready with a dictionary if you haven't study French ;)

The third was a bit creepy considering that he's trapped in a cell with rats trying to devouring him, but otherwise it was a pretty interesting one too. 

The fourth started a bit slow and I was really scared I would have been disappointed by it but the finale was just amazing, if we can say that about a horror. 

The fifth, the Black Cat, is, by far, the one I enjoyed the most, I liked how the cruelty of the human against the little creature then backfired him. 

The sixth was quite creepy as well, especially because the old man in it had a scary eye that tormented also the protagonist. 

The seventh, well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that that's probably one of the main nightmares of everyone, being buried alive. Who isn't scared of that? 

The last three were full of death and violence as well, especially the last one, it had a finale that I would have never expected. 

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So to conclude this, I loved it. 

I didn't have many expectations about it, because it was the first time I've read any of his stories, except his poem The Raven. 

I need to say that one story after the other I was captured into this poetic style of writing and right now I can't even choose my favourite one anymore, I adored them all :)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

 The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde

Hi :) Today I'm reviewing a book I read for the second time, because, let's be honest, is amazing. 

Check out my last review about The Life Before Us of March :)

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The book of today is The Picture of Dorian Gray by the Irish writer Oscar Wilde. 

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The novel was easy to read since it doesn't use so many harsh words, and most of the foreigner ones (ex. he uses some German, Italian and French words) are written with notes below to explain the meaning. 

It is the story of a young and easily corrupted man, Dorian Gray, who is sitting for a portrait made by the painter Basil Hallward. This one is so impressed by Dorian's charm and beauty that he feels like he's making the painting come alive for how stunning he is. 

Through Basil, Dorian will meet, Lord Henry Wotton, a dandy and aristocrat who believes in a philosophy of self-indulgent hedonism. Beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only important things in life. 

Because of this meeting, Dorian expresses that he would like to sell his soul if he could stay young forever, but that the picture instead, would age at his place. 

The wish comes true, though, making him appear always young, even after 18 years from the beginning of the story, while the portrait is getting older and showing every sin ever committed by him. 

Will he be able to redeem himself and start acting good again? Or is his soul already damned? 

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I loved it just as the first time I read it. It's a true masterpiece and never gets old, just like Dorian's figure. 

It's the modern recreation of the Faust's myth. 

It's a really short book, so it can be easily read even in one day or two and it's totally worth it. 

Many adaptations were done from it, movies, tv series and even musicals. 

The Life Before Us by Romain Gary/Emile Ajar

The Life Before Us

by Romain Gary/Emile Ajar

Hey, hope you're all doing great :) Today I'm going to review a book that has been recommended to me from my French friend that also recommended me Purple Hibiscus and Ten Days in a Madhouse.  (Check out my recent reviews of them both :) )

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The book of today is The Life Before Us (originally in French: La Vie Devant Soi) by the French author Romain Gary, with the pseudonym of Emile Ajar. 

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The novel was really easy to read, even though I read it in French. It was way easier than the Purple Hibiscus, because it's not so full of slang words, but mostly the "school French". 

It's the story of Momo, a Muslim boy of around 10 years old of age, who lives under the roof of Madame Rosa, an Holocaust survivor Jewish woman. Momo's parents abandoned him and this Madame is being a sort of babysitter for orphan and abandoned children of parents that can't take care of them anymore, or don't have a place for them to live. 

The book revolves around him and the strong relationship she has with Madame Rosa that even though was just doing her job, will end up by being as a mother figure to him. 

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This one has been one of my favourites for this year because it has been a really enjoyable reading. 

I'm looking forward to see the new movie too, with Sophia Loren in the role of Madame Rosa, but I'm so afraid that it won't be as good as the book. 

The only part that really made me sad about it, was the ending, which of course, I'm not going to spoil, but it's totally unexpected :)

Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly

Ten Days in a Madhouse

by Nellie Bly

Hi everyone :) Here I am with another review. This book has been recommended by the same friend that gave me Purple Hibiscus in the previous  review :)

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The short novel I'll talk about today is Ten Days in a Madhouse by the American journalist Nellie Bly.

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The novel was really easy to read because there weren't any hard words that could have been used in the old English of those times, or maybe I'm just to used to read classic book from those days :'D

It was published as a series of articles from the personal experience of the writer that played to be insane to show the people how the patients were really treated in those facilities and what they had to go through on a daily basis. 

She investigated the brutality on women in the Women Asylum of Blackwell's Island. 

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I must say that so far it has been my favourite of this year, also thanks to the fact that I already knew her story that was drew in the graphic novel book Brazen (Culottées in French) by the French illustrator Pénélope Bagieu, which I already did my review about. (Go check it out if you'd like to know more ;) )

Some of the scenes portrayed were, of course, disturbing, because you never realise how much can people be cruel to others until it's not shown. 

The cruelty of the doctors and nurses on the patient, which most of them weren't even really insane, was just too much too handle. 

A particularly memorable scene were the baths that the patients received. The water was way too cold for them to stay healthy, and buckets of water were literally poured over their heads while the other patients were rubbing and washed the other in the tub. The bath water was almost never changed, with many patients bathing in the same dirty water. When the water was changed, rarely, the staff didn't even take care to wash off the bathtub, but just throwing the next patient right into the filthy tub. The most disturbing part was, for sure, the fact that they all shared towels and healthy patients were forced to dry themselves with the ones previously used by others with skin inflammations, boils, or open sores.

The ending part was what I liked the least, because it made me really annoyed by how the facility acted when Nellie finally got the court to investigate into it, but I'm not going to spoil you more, so if you're interested go check this little masterpiece out :)

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hello everyone ;) I'm back again with another review. I've received this book from my ex-roommate and now friend that I've met during my European Volunteering Service experience in Slovenia. 

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The book I'll talk about today is The Purple Hibiscus by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

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The book was quite tough to read, and not because of the language, since, even if it was written in French, it was quite easy to understand, except, of course, for the Nigerian words, which thankfully there was a "small dictionary" for them at the end, which I found helpful. 

The book is set in a postcolonial Nigeria and it revolves around the main character Kambili, of 15 years old, at least for most of the book, the last part will be "the present time" when she's young adult. She's part of a wealthy family, where the Catholic-leading figure is played by the father, Eugene, an abusive man against both the wife and their kids, Kambili and Jaja. 

The story is told through her eyes and will be full of events, all revolving on faith and violence.

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I must admit that I liked the book, but it wasn't my all time favourites I've read this year so far. I've found some parts a bit boring, especially the beginning parts. The ones with violence were a bit disturbing and I had to stop few times, especially on the miscarriage one. 

But anyways it was an enjoyable book that had a sort of happy ending that I wasn't expecting at all, so it managed to surprise me for good. 

I'm planning to read other books from her, so this one was a total yes that made me discover an amazing writer of our modern times :)

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoul

                                                      Small Great Things

by Jodi Picoult

Hello everyone ;) For this month my review will be about a book that I received as a surprise gift for a giveaway on which I choose the book The Colour Purple. The girl was so nice to gift me also another book, which happened to be this one above :)

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I'm going to do a review of Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I had really no expectations because I didn't know the writer before and never heard of the book either. As soon as I read the plot though, I was already intrigued. 

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The book surprised me for good. I like the topic of racism but I was never so into modern novels. Still haven't found so many to actually like. But this one was amazing, and I didn't expect it. 

The main character, Ruth, is a nurse that lose her jobs because of Naziskin Turk, whose newborn baby died of suffocation. The blame was, of course, set on Ruth, because she was the last one that tried to make the kid breathe again, even if she was not supposed to because the parents of the baby didn't want any African-American to touch or get close to them and their baby. 

The book is the experience of a brave woman that tries to get back her job and get justice through the help of the advocate Kennedy.

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The part I've found most interesting, though, is that you have different points of views. You have the chapters through Ruth's pov, or Turk and even the lawyer Kennedy. 

That's what intrigued me the most, because you could see all their thoughts and different aspects of everyone's life that were leading to the same goal, to have justice. 

So it's totally recommended if you like modern novels, a bit of medical and legal terms too and racism topics. 

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The Witches

by Roald Dahl

Hi, sorry it's been a while I've written here, but I've been terribly busy and well, also not okay due to the current situation. Here's my new review for the new year :) Hopefully this one will bring more joy than the latest.

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Today I'm going to talk about the novel for kids The Witches, written by Roald Dahl. I have been wanting to read this book since a long time and finally had the chance when my boyfriend gifted it to me for Christmas. I literally devoured it in one week or less, because well, it's short and it was really interesting. 

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The book really surprised me in a good way. I've never read Roald Dahl's books before, so this was my first and I must say that I love his way of writings and how he described the events, especially the aspect of the witches.

The Grand High Witch was the scariest thing I've ever read so far. The description of her looks was so precise and accurate, you actually believe that you're in front of her at the moment you're reading.

I really loved the boy and Grandma characters, especially their connection. It made me remember of my nonna (Grandma in Italian), which I miss every day since she has been gone. Their special bond and the way how she taught him about witches made me appreciate the story even more.

The book I got even has illustration, which made the story more realistic, like you were actually there with them, hiding with the boy behind the curtains, spying on the witches' council :)

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So, to sum up, I give it a 10/10, because it's seriously not just for kids. If you want a good scare, this is what's good for you.