BOOK REVIEW | ON THE OTHER SIDE BY CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER

Title: On The Other Side
Author: Carrie Hope Fletcher
Published: 2016
Pages: 345
Rating: 3/5

"Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love... Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open." 

I was really curious to read this book because Carrie was the person who got me back in to reading. I used to watch every book video of her multiple times. I was so excited to find out that she had written her own novel.

I really, really like the story and the fact that this is not you average love story. It was super cute and whimsical. I really enjoyed the story, it was nothing special just adorable.

The characters were all very likeable and all characters that I would love to be friends with if I would knew them. If you are looking for a cute contemporary which you can fly through I would highly recommend this read. 

BOOK REVIEW | A CLOCKWORK ORANGE BY ANTHONY BURGESS

Title: A Clockwork Orange
Author: Anthony Burgess
Published: 1962
Language: English
Pages: 141
Rating: 3/5

""What we were after was lashings of ultraviolence." In this nightmare vision of youth in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him - but at what cost?"

I was really excited to read this because the title of this book always drawn to me. When I entered it as bookclub choice and it got picked I couldn't wait to pick it up. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy (or understand?) it as much as I had hoped.

We follow Alex in this story, and his friend and the first thing I notice when starting this story is the words that are used. Alex and his friends have their own slang which even after reading almost halve the book, I still didn't understand. I felt like an adult nowadays, trying to understand what their children are talking about but not understanding a crap.

This really, really made the book very unpleasant for me to read. I actually finished the book understanding maybe 60 percent of it. I went and looked for a summary on the internet to fully understand this. From the summary I really liked the story of it, but for me it was not executed the right way so I can't give this more than 3 stars. 

I would recommend this to lovers of classics, who like to puzzle with language. 

Get your copy of 'A Clockwork Orange' here!

BOOK REVIEW | BOY MEETS BOY BY DAVID LEVITHAN

Title: Boy Meets Boy
Author: David Levithan
Published: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 185
Rating: 3/5


"This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance. When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right."

I wasn't planning to pick this up anytime soon, but when this got chosen as the bookclub pick in one of my bookclubs, I picked it up anyhow. I went into this booking knowing that it contained quite the unrealistic LGBT-utopia, but that didn't matter to me. I just saw this as a light and entertaining read.

And both it was. The LGBT-utopia in this book was as said before, unrealistic. Although it didn't bug me, I can understand why this is a thing that make me people like this book less. For me this was definitely a nice, light read and definitely something I would recommend to pick up, when in a reading slump.

I wasn't to impressed by anything, but overall it was fun to read this. I definitely liked the fact that this is quite a diverse read. 

BOOK REVIEW | SAVE ME, KURT COBAIN BY JENNY MANZER

Title: Save Me, Kurt Cobain
Author: Jenny Manzer
Published: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 272
Rating: 3/5


"On a ferry departing Seattle, Nico encounters a slight blond guy with piercing blue eyes wearing a hooded jacket. Something in her heart tells her that this feeling she has might actually be the truth, so she follows him to a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. When she is stranded there by a winter storm, fear and darkness collide, and the only one who can save Nico might just be herself. Nico Cavan has been adrift since her mother vanished when she was four—maternal abandonment isn't exactly something you can just get over. Staying invisible at school is how she copes—that and listening to alt music and summoning spirits on the Ouija board with her best friend and co-conspirator in sarcasm, Obe. But when a chance discovery opens a window onto her mom's wild past, it sparks an idea in her brain that takes hold and won't let go."

I was really excited to read this book and actually pre-ordered it way back when it came out in Spring. The reason I was drawn to this book, was as you might guess, Kurt Cobain. When in high school, I also, had a stage where there went no day by, when I wasn't listening to Nirvana - or any other grunge or rock music for that matter.

I always have been interested in him, and have watched some documentaries about him, so when I heard about this book I pre-ordered it. Now that I read it, I can't say that it lived up to my hopes.

I had quite the struggles with our main character Nico(la). In this book she makes a whole bunch of big discussions, and for me as reader, it was very annoying to see that she wasn't thinking about the consequences and feelings of other people. 

What I did like were all the facts about Kurt that were in it. As I mentioned I find him quite interesting and I now know some more facts about him, which I didn't know at first. 

It is not a story I would re-read and I also wouldn't really recommend but you can always give it a go!

BOOK REVIEW | MATCHED BY ALLY CONDIE

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
First published: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 369
Rating: 3/5


In the Society, officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one…until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

This was the first book club pick from my new book club and although I really wasn't interested I didn't want to ditch the first book of a new bookclub so I picked it up anyway. As expected the book wasn't my cup of tea.

First of all I really didn't like the writing style at all. It was kind of boring and a bit youthful in my opinion. Cassia our main character was in my opinion to standard, like a cliché young adult heroine. 

I do think that 'Crossed' and 'Reached' have potential to make this trilogy a whole lot better, because I can't say that I was to enthousiast about this first one. 

BOOK REVIEW | ER IST WIEDER DA BY TIMUR VERMES

Title: Daar is hij weer (Er ist wieder da)
Author: Timur Vermes
First published: 2012
Language: Dutch (translated from German)
Pages: 320
Rating: 3/5

It's summer 2011 and Hitler awakens on a abandoned field in Berlin, Germany. There is no war, no party and no Eva. Hitler walks through this version of Berlin, which for him is unknown. Soon people begin to recognize him, as a imitator, finding him very funny. Hitler starts to be a happening, he goes viral on YouTube, and people begin to listen. But Hitler has another programme with even greater ambition – to set the country he finds a shambles back to rights.

I borrowed this book from my father, someone who likes to read books about World War II and most things involving it. When I decided to read it, I asked him what he thought about it and he thought it was quite a disappointing read.

I also did not like it as much as I hoped. I expected that Hitler, waking up in 2011, would discover social media. I really thought that he was going to use the internet to make himself 'big' again. This did not happen.

The characters were also quite week in my opinion. Especially Hitler, he was very obedient and sometimes he tried to be mean, but in my eyes he was just a softy.

Although the story was really original, the story wasn't executed the way I wish it had been.

BOOK REVIEW | ILLUMINAE BY AMIE KAUFMAN AND JAY KRISTOFF

Title: Illuminae
Authors: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff 
Published: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 599
Rating: 3/5

"The year is 2575 and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other after their break-up —are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on."

I was so excited to read this book and had the highest expectations ever for it, but I was quite disappointed. The way this story was told through different documents was one thing that really appealed to me, but didn't turn out great. I really couldn't get hang of the story because of the documents.

Because of the fact that this story is told through documents, and chat messages etcetera, I also felt like I couldn't connect to the main characters (or any character for that matter). The romance in this book was also too cheesy and lame for my personal taste, I did not like it!

Another thing that annoyed me through almost the whole entire book was the fact that the swear words were marked black. When you put this much swearwords in a book, don't cover them up! A thing I did really like were Kady's diary entries. 

The story overall is really good, but the way this is told just wasn't put away for me. I am very curious on how the story will continue and I will be reading 'Gemina' when it comes out. Who knows I might like that one a lot better!

BOOK REVIEW | BRAVE NEW WORLD BY ALDOUS HUXLEY

Title: Brave New World
Author: Aldous Huxley
Published: 1931
Language: English
Pages: 229
Rating: 3/5

"Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress..."

I was really excited to read this, especially since a acquaintance recommended it to me. He was really praising it, talking about how it set him to think about our ideologies etcetera. The book started of and it really grabbed me but as it went on it let me go. The story got a little bit boring in my personal opinion, it was really slow-paced. 

I also had a bit of a problem with Huxley's writing style. At one point in the book I was really enjoying it, he mentioned some beautiful quotes like: “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”. But at other points I was just confused because of the way he switched from one character to another. 

My rating is definitely based on how much I enjoyed reading this book. Than again, now I think about it. Was this book designed to be a enjoyable? This book made me feel annoyed, disgusted and made me really think about 'a perfect world/society'. Is it possible for a world where everybody is happy and living for each other to be wrong?