Iwana Cristal’s Comments (group member since May 19, 2025)

Iwana Cristal’s comments from the Lost In The Plot group.

Hello lovelies,

How is everyone enjoying the Jane Eyre story so far?? I held a poll in the broadcast channel over on instagram and we decided to extend our reading time for Jane Eyre by two weeks since most people haven't managed to finish it yet. So instead of discussing it on the 31st of August we will discuss it on the 15th of September. Then for the last two weeks of September we will read a very short book so we still get a 'September read' in :) Hope that's okay with everyone!! Much Love, Iwana !!

Hello lovelies. I hope you’re enjoying Jane Eyre so far. I realised that the old English language used in this story may be too difficult for some as I know we’ve got some people in this group who’s first language isn’t English (including myself). For those of you who are struggling to understand the story because of the language, here is a link to an easier version you can read online (the story is still fully the same)

https://app.adaptivereader.com/jane-e...

Hope this helps some of y’all.

Much love and happy reading xx Iwana

Norah wrote: "This book is very aligned with where I’m at right now. I’m definitely on my spiritual journey, and this book was soo good at putting those values into story. It made it easy to understand and has t..."

100% agree. I love how this book put it all into words

tosia wrote: "i'm so glad it was a july's book! at the beginning of july i took a trip with my friends to morocco and it was so amazing and cool to be reading the alchemist whilst discovering africa and sahara! ..."

I dream of reading a book based in the location I'm in at that moment ( a foreign one preferably ) And I hear you it was definitely a fantasy story but I quite enjoyed the fact that even though parts of the story were unrealistic a lot of it could be applied to our realistic lives.

hailey wrote: "I definitely enjoyed reading the Alchemist this month! Although I didn't feel particularly intrigued with the characters or the story in general I was most interested by the concept of the personal..."

yes yes yessss so agree on how wonderful this quote is: "When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision." and love everything you had to say about it!! The book overall carries this motivational inceptive for the reader (I feel)

Jagna wrote: "I was reading ,,Alchemist" while I was flying to Spain
and it touched my heart so mutch. The book is easy to read and I love the secret meaning and symboles hiden in this book. And this was crazy,..."

no wayyyyy that is such a fun coincidence that the book was just there!! Right in line with what the story is about! And it must've been so nice reading it in Spain where Santiago started his journey

Everyone excited to start Jane Eyre today?? It's been a couple months since I've read a book with over 400 pages but I'm excited to cozy up every night and delve into this classic.

My review of The Alchemist:

This book really put into words a lot of the ways I view life and the way I live it. I truly believe in signs (omens) and listening to one’s gut (or heart) because I have an inkling that my heart already knows the right path to take but also that if I wish (and work) hard enough the right path will present itself. This book presented that entire way of living through a beautiful adventure which I really enjoyed reading. It didn’t teach me a lesson so to say, but had I found this book earlier in life I’m sure it would have. I didn’t find the book particularly emotional nor did I feel super connected to the characters, but I felt super interested in the story and the adventure that was occurring itself. Which was a different way of enjoying a book than usual but lovely nonetheless. I underlined a couple quotes from the book which stuck out to me:

“We, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them - the path to their destinies, and to happi-ness. Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.” - I found this an interesting way to point out that a lot of adults lose this child like wonder and curiosity for adventures and their dreams (which I promise myself not to lose). And also how we are largely in charge of painting our own picture that is life, and we have more power than we realise when it comes to creating the life we want. That same point was pushed on further later on in the book when it stated this:

“The boy reached through to the Soul of the World, and saw that it was a part of the Soul of God. And he saw that the Soul of God was his own soul. And that he, a boy, could perform miracles.”

I thought this was such a beautiful way to express that you yourself, with enough will and hard work, can get to where you desire to be.

Some others I underlined because I wanted to remember them:

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

‘In response to the boy asking what happens if he doesn’t succeed’
"Then you'll die in the midst of trying to realise your destiny. That's a lot better than dying like millions of other people, who never even knew what their destinies were.
"But don't worry,"

They’re obvious lessons about following your dreams, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t nice to be reminded sometimes. That’s what this book felt like. A reminder that I’m able to achieve my dreams if I work hard, follow my heart and believe :)

I would give it 3.5 / 5 stars. What did y’all think???? I'm so excited to hear your opinions!!

hello lovely people, tomorrow is the end of the month and also the day we discuss the Alchemist !!! I am soooo insanely excited to hear your thoughts on this one. Speak to you all tomorrow <3

ahhh soo happy you guys are enjoying the book so far... I'm not even half way through but life's been a little busy lately. I'm enjoying it so far though! so excited to hear everyones thoughts at the end of the month, especially now y'all have given a sneak peak into your feelings towards the book!!

It's Julyyyyyy and this month we are reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. (Thank you to the members of my broadcast channel on instagram for picking this one) I am ready for this book to take me on an adventure!

To those that shared their thoughts on last months book I sooo enjoyed hearing them and found some of your takes super interposing!I hope that everyone else also enjoyed or at least found the read interesting. And I hope you're all participating again this month :)

Happy reading! Speak to you all at the end of the month xx

Salma wrote: "Okay sooo first off, I was not expecting to enjoy The Silent Patient as much as I did. I thought it was gonna be just another psychological thriller with a twist slapped on at the end, but it’s hon..."

yes I fully agree I loved the constant questioning of Theo's motives and equally the questioning of how Alicia was reading into them.

D wrote: "Loved this book recommendation! I was honestly skeptical that I’d enjoy it as much as I did. Echoing the part about this book getting me outta a reading slump and enjoying the Greek Mythology detai..."

yesss I do agree on Alicias ending. the only thing I'm pulling from it is that now she is silent forever (against her will). but I suppose that would be the case wether she was in coma or deceased so its vague either way

Sandy wrote: "I don't know how people could see that plottwist coming... I was in complete shock!
i love how in the end he mentiones the snowflakes disappearing on his hands again, like the day he was alone with..."

omgggg I did not notice this!!! Yes you're so right. that ties the ending together even more!

Dani wrote: "Overall, I was fully entertained by this book. BUT I was cringing and also annoyed by parts of it 🤣 I personally found the plot twist somewhat obvious and the ending was a little bit of a let down...."


I've heard other people say that they guessed the plot twist from the very beginning, especially people who have read a lot of books. Oooh also interesting to hear your thoughts on his possible lack of information on psychotherapy. I don't know much about it at all but agree that it all seemed super stereotypical, because the way he wrote about it was the way that I would have (without any knowledge of it).

And I was actually thinking the same about the misogyny but I wasn't sure if it was the writer or the character. I noticed that a lot of the women are referred to as "bit*ch" more often than necessary. and also it's always the women's fault that the relationships went downhill (at least in the way it was written) Granted the author is a man so it's definitely possible.

Super interesting reading your thoughts on this! Thanks you so much for sharing.

My thoughts on the Silent Patient:

Ive read this book once before, but I have to admit I didn’t remember much of it. I did remember that i loved it and it was hard to put it down once I was reading it and it was the exact same way this time around. The need to know hat happens next after every page is insane. This is the book that got me out of my reading slump last time and re reading it now I understand why. Anyways let’s chat about the story. I know I shouldn’t start with this but I’m gonna… THE PLOT TWIST, oh my goshhhhhh I love it I love it I love it. Plot twists are always fun but this is one is so unpredictable. There are so many seeds planted in your head of who “the killer” or “instigator” may be, but of course it’s all from his perspective. And then once you find out it makes so much sense, the two stories (that I assumed were going on in the same time frame) we’re intertwined. I like that in a way the word “Patient” really refers to Theo as well. He’s clearly still got his issues that need resolving and is constantly reminding us (the therapists) what those issues are. I didn’t like Theo, because I didn’t like his thought processes. It felt like he never asked the right or enough questions. BUT BY THE END WE KNOW WHY LOL he didn’t need to, because he knew most answers already. So in the end I actually appreciated that asset to the story too. I love the through line this story has which makes one debate what his intentions with Alicia are, is he obsessed, in love, has ego issues, or does he really just want to help. This through line makes the twist at the end even more mind boggling. If you can’t tell I basically like that we were constantly misled, pulled this way pulled that way like, a true murder mystery.

I did find it interesting that the books shines a negative light on therapy. Not at first, Ruth is spoken about highly, and Theo seems legit and like he really can help. But by the end of it we find out Theo is still messed up and Alicia was never helped either… idk what I think of that necessarily but I just found that interesting.

In summary, I really enjoyed reading this. It’s a good gripping story with a satisfying end. A very good book to recommend to others.

What did y’all think?

We're officially half way through the month. 15 days left :)) I've gotten couple messages from people who have already finished the book (some were so hooked they finished it in 3 days). So far I've been loving it, I'm about half way done with it. After reading some of the messages from people who have already finished the book, I'm even more excited to hear all your thoughts on it at the end of the month !!! Speak soon <3

The Silent Patient

Hello lovely people <3


Tomorrow on the 1st of June we start reading 'The Silent Patient' !!! I am insanely excited to hear your thoughts on it at the end of the month, and can't wait to share mine with you! I gave a copy to my dad and he finished it in 2 days because he enjoyed it so much!!! Okayyy happy reading lovelies, speak soon :)