H.L.A’s Comments (group member since Nov 22, 2024)

H.L.A’s comments from the PRSSA WooPee! Reading List group.

I read The Giver by Lois Lowry this month and give it 5 stars, love a good dystopian book!

The Great Gatsby

With my time off with the holidays (woohoo!!), I finally got the chance to sit down with this classic called The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I give it a 4/5 stars!

If you're unfamiliar it follows a group of rich friends and partners living in their lavish houses in a 1920s New York. With this setting, the book is able to explore interesting themes about the American Dream paired with characters still feeling unsatisfied with their lives despite having the ability to buy anything they want. This is shown the most with Gatsby, who is the newest rich guy on the block (or island actually) who throws incredibility extravagant parties in his luxurious mansion yet he truly only yearns to be with his lost love Daisy.

These themes are explored with beautiful metaphors used by the author to show us character's underlying feelings because the narration by outsider Nick Carraway can only give us so much to work with. All in all, this was a VERY solid read that I'm glad I finally had the chance to go through. If you're looking for a book that mixes glamour and darker themes, I recommend it, it's obviously an American classic for a reason!

Little Women

My November book of the month is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott with a rating of 4.5/5 stars from me.

With the spirit of the Thanksgiving and X-mas season arriving, this book was a joy to read during this time of year, as it reminded me of my own family of wild sisters always getting up to some trouble, ha-ha! On a real note, this story offers one of the most beautiful, realistic portrayals of sisterhood despite being written way beyond my time! The way these four sisters argue yet always love one another and have each other's backs is a true testament of the ups-and-downs of sisterhood, and the author captured this perfectly.

All and all, this book really reminded me to feel grateful for my family and gave me a super strong feeling of nostalgia for when we were little. Maybe that's one of the greatest messages in the book afterall - that life goes on, but we still can hold onto those sweet, happy memories of when we were little!