Review: The Fault in Our Stars

“Okay,” he said. “I gotta go to sleep. It’s almost one.” 
“Okay,” I said.
 “Okay,” he said. 
I giggled and said, “Okay.” And then the line was quiet but not dead. I almost felt like he was there in my room with me, but in a way it was better, like I was not in my room and he was not in his, but instead we were together in some invisible and tenuous third space that could only be visited on the phone. “Okay,” he said after forever. “Maybe okay will be our always.”
 “Okay,” I said.
 It was Augustus who finally hung up.”

Synopsis

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Review

I read this book with the knowledge that I will ultimately fall in love with it, how could I not? John Green is my imaginary literal husband and as a literal husband he irritates and confounds me but without even trying, he wraps me around his world and as a helpless literal wife, I fall helplessly at his feet, weeping for more. 

The story centers around Hazel diagnosed an incurable cancer when she meets the Gus, charismatic and good looking. They go through the trials, emotions ranging from love, death coping with cancer the best way possible with as much humor as possible. I laughed, cried and learned to enjoy life. The Fault in Our Stars is a triumph, John Green is a genius, masterful with a flare for creating all kinds of emotion.

Review: The Rosie Project

Synopsis

Meet Don Tillman. Don is getting married. He just doesn't know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman.

One thing he already knows, though, is that it's not Rosie. Absolutely, completely, definitely not.

Don Tillman is a socially challenged genetics professor who's decided the time has come to find a wife. His questionnaire is intended to weed out anyone who's unsuitable. The trouble is, Don has rather high standards and doesn't really do flexible so, despite lots of takers - he looks like Gregory Peck - he's not having much success in identifying The One.

When Rosie Jarman comes to his office, Don assumes it's to apply for the Wife Project - and duly discounts her on the grounds she smokes, drinks, doesn't eat meat, and is incapable of punctuality. However, Rosie has no interest in becoming Mrs Tillman and is actually there to enlist Don's assistance in a professional capacity: to help her find her biological father.

Sometimes, though, you don't find love: love finds you...

Review

Don Tilman is a clueless professor in Genetics. He's looking for a wife, the perfect wife who must match all his requirements and there are so many requirements including a full survey of questions. I found Don endearing, charming with an innocent quality about him. Although Don is unaware that his habits, extreme time keeping and OCD are conducive to an Autistic sufferer, the reader can recognize that he is slightly odd and can sympathize with him.

The book is narrated from his point of view and this is a great tool, his very matter of fact edging on Aspergers with humor and self deprecation is engaging and I found myself unable to put the book down. 
 He is very straight forward, blunt at times, one of life's truth tellers. He reminded me of Sheldon Cooper on a scientific search for the perfect wife and Rosie, the smart, hapless woman who falls in his path teaches him the truth about life and love.

I wouldn't call this Romcom, I think it's smarter than that, it's not based on cliches and over the top dramatics. Greame Simsion allows for Don to come alive on the page with moments where I could visualize Don and Rosie especially the scenes in New York and unlike so many other Romantic Comedies, the Rosie Project didn't irritate me by trying too hard, it was simply funny and charming, an absolute masterpiece.

Review: Conditional Love

Synopsis

Meet Sophie Stone, a thirty-something serial procrastinator. Tesco knickers, Take That and tea with two sugars is about as exciting as it gets. Sophie’s life is safe and predictable, which is just the way she likes it, thank you very much. 

But when her boyfriend dumps her on Valentine’s Day and a mysterious benefactor leaves her an inheritance, even Sophie has to accept that change is afoot. There is a catch: in order to inherit, Sophie must agree to meet the father she has never seen. 

Not a fan of surprises, Sophie would rather not; why not let sleeping dads lie? Besides, her mother would kill her. 

With interference from an evil boss, bickering flat mates, warring parents and a sexy ex-boyfriend, Sophie has plenty to contend with without an architect who puts his foot in it every time he opens his mouth. But it soon becomes clear that she will have to face the past and learn some uncomfortable home truths before she can finally build a future on her own terms.

Review

Conditional Love was an okay read.  It's not half bad, it's not half good either, its somewhere in between. I wish I was in love with it and as much as I think the author has potential, I didn't believe in any of the character nor did I believe in the plot and the use of "babes" grated on me. I have a distrust of people of people who use the following endearments "baby, babes, babs, bab". This is Chicklit without soul or passion or substance and for those reasons it was greatly underwhelming.

According to a very untrustworthy source (Wikipedia) Chick lit "is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly." This is well and good, problem is that at the moment Chick Lit is inundated with too many uninteresting women and very little substance. In Conditional Love I did not connect with the characters probably because they were too similar to other characters from other books. Also how many times can I read about a city girl inheriting a property in the county without succumbing to brain surgery.

I am not sure if it's the genre I'm out growing or it's the fact that I was reading another book with characters I could not relate to with scenarios I could not fathom and with family dramas that felt forced. It's not because I'm black as a friend of mine pointed the other day when I said I was bored to tears of this genre which to a great extent is inundated with white female authors, no it's the characters I'm bored with. I read all book whether the character is black or white or Asian as long as the character is good and doesn't bore me to tears.  Americanah's Ifemelu struck a cord with me because she had a sharp and intelligent personality, Sophie Stone was just another female on a train I could walk past without a backward glance, she was very purposeless.  I will continue to follow the author's work as I think she is a great writer, the issue I had was with the the characters. 

Review: Americanah

Synopsis

As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. 

Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?

Review 

Once in a while there comes a book that changes your life and for me this is it. The cover is simple, beautiful in its simplicity, its not hiding behind pretty colors or models, its as if the author wants you to look past the surface, daring you to take a chance. I brought this book a while ago, struggled to get past the first page however last week as I gallivanting around Surrey (on a job), freezing and wet from the unstoppable rain, I picked it once again from a sea of books on my over crowded Kindle. It took me by surprise this time with a different frame of mind I couldn't put it down. It is based Ifemelu and Obinze (names I struggled with), they are childhood sweethearts and they are in love but when Ifemelu moves to America, their relationship is tested and inevitably ends. In America, Ifemelu struggles with race, love and becoming a woman in her own right but along the way she discovers her own sexuality, her own persona and most importantly finds out who she wants to be and who she wants to be with. Obinze on the other hand is married with a child also struggled with his mundane life, his lackluster wife and longs for his long lost childhood sweet heart. 

The author is a brilliant storyteller, a literal genius with  a fine and beautiful way of shaping the story.  Americanah can easily be typecast as a book about race since race is on the surface the main component however after careful consideration, Americanah is about immigration, love and to an extent the state of being Limbo, knowing that you can never fit into a particular society or country, but trying nonetheless.  

Although I loved this book, there was an underlying thought that popped into my brain every once in while that because the book was written for a foreign audience, there is an assumption that every detail is required for example the vivid descriptions of hair salons, details I as a black woman did not really need or want as I am very familiar with such hair dressers, the author assumes that her audience is clueless which I found insulting. I also felt as though she was describing Nigeria to Europeans, not to Africans who understand the mannerisms and the weather and the little things that make Africa the great continent it is.

 Apart from that, I thought it was a wonderful story told beautifully. It thought provoking, addressing issues that I as a black woman face every day. Americanah changed my life in that it made me think about who I was and where I fit in the England. It is not just another book about race, it is a book about understanding yourself as a black woman in a multicultural society and how others see you. 

Thoughts- The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Synopsis

Fifteen years old and blazing with the hope of a better life, Hattie Shepherd fled the horror of the American South on a dawn train bound for Philadelphia.

Hattie's is a tale of strength, of resilience and heartbreak that spans six decades. Her American dream is shattered time and again: a husband who lies and cheats and nine children raised in a cramped little house that was only ever supposed to be temporary.

She keeps the children alive with sheer will and not an ounce of the affection they crave. She knows they don't think her a kind woman - but how could they understand that all the love she had was used up in feeding them and clothing them.

How do you prepare your children for a world you know is cruel?

The lives of this unforgettable family form a searing portrait of twentieth century America. From the revivalist tents of Alabama to Vietnam, to the black middle-class enclave in the heart of the city, to a filthy bar in the ghetto, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is an extraordinary, distinctive novel about the guilt, sacrifice, responsibility and heartbreak that are an intrinsic part of ferocious love.

Review

Hattie reminds me of my grandmother, full of energy with a history worth a Thousand words. When I was little I would stare at my grandmother and I would imagine all kinds of things, where she grew up, how she ended up being married to granddad, whether she was happy with her life.  

She also had fourteen children (Yikes).  She never talked about her childhood, she wasn’t secretive, and she just didn’t need to share her story. For this reason I never really understood her, I don’t think my mother understand her either. Reading Twelve Lives of Hattie brought her to the forefront of my mind and funnily enough made me understand her a little bit more.

The novel starts in the 1920, Hattie is seventeen years old, married with twins. The painful death of her twins shapes Hattie from happy and optimistic to a woman hardened by the harshness of life. She goes on have seven children with a husband she hates, her loss casts a dark shadow over her life and she never really gets over it.

Ayana Mathis writes with the style and control of Toni Morrison. She has control of the novel moving from jealousy, love to bitterness and spite. She navigates issues with poise, giving us a glimpse of what life is for all seven children without delving too much. The reader feels like a spectator watching from a far as one by one, the children face life and come to terms with infidelity and crime. I would highly recommend this book, its well written, bold and perceptive. 

The Dead Wife's Handbook

Synopsis

Rachel, Max and their daughter Ellie had the perfect life - until the night Rachel's heart stopped beating.

Now Max and Ellie are doing their best to adapt to life without Rachel, and just as her family can't forget her, Rachel can't quite let go of them either. Caught in a place between worlds, Rachel watches helplessly as she begins to fade from their lives. And when Max is persuaded by family and friends to start dating again, Rachel starts to understand that dying was just the beginning of her problems.

As Rachel grieves for the life she's lost and the life she'll never lead, she learns that sometimes the thing that breaks your heart might be the very thing you hope for.

Hannah Beckerman gives an unforgettable exploration of love and loss in her first novel, The Dead Wife's Handbook.

Purchase