Sully ’s Comments (group member since Mar 23, 2015)

Sully ’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

09/05/15 464 pages

Current Total: 1,063,230

03/05/15 312 pages
05/05/15 357 pages
07/05/15 342 pages

Current Total: 1,059,211

25.04.15 384 pages

Current total: 982,435

20.04.15 383 pages

Current Total: 966,916

19.04.15 328 pages

Current total: 909,605

07.04.15 360 pages
08.04.15 128 pages
09.04.15 128 pages
12.04.15 303 pages
14.04.15 296 pages
15.04.15 416 pages
16.04.15 301 pages
16.04.15 432 pages
17.04.15 184 pages
17.04.15 351 pages

Current total: 909,277

Tariro wrote: "Just wanted to ask how you guys interpreted the ending.Did you find sad or happy?"

I found it surprisingly happy considering the rest of the novel. Especially for Viviane, who finally finds love without tradegy. And Ava, who finds love as well and learns to finally fly.

Henry's screaming that Ava is hurt and the warning Henry relays from the ghost is terrifying. Usually, since the novel is written first person, I wouldn't worry about the narrator dying because of the POV. But since we're dealing with magic realism here... I have a terrible twisting feeling in my gut.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Henry's pick of etoile de mer/starfish? I feel like there could be a lot of reasons, even though Ava and the other's couldn't explain it.

Tariro wrote: "I'm scared of what Ava's story is going to like the others haven't fared so well"

I know! Me too. I really want to like her, but I know if I do it's just going to be that much more difficult to deal with when the sorrows of her live unravel. =(

11. What I expected happened, after one final night Jack has left Viviane and she’s pregnant. This book touches on a lot of “adult” situations, more than I expected from a YA novel. What do you think are the situations presented a little much for YA? I do find the writing style softens the harshness a little, what about you?

The wording on this question confuses me "What do you think are the situationed presented a little much for YA?", so I'll just say though it might be prudish of me, I definitely find this novel in the class of mature YA/new adult fiction.



12. Ava is born and with her came a surprise, twin brother Henry. Henry’s strangeness is a little less visible than Ava’s, what do you think is wrong with him?

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with any of the main characters. I think Henry is just as gifted and unique as the others, but I have a feeling his talents are more like his mother's, where they are less obvious as you said.



13. I’m still having trouble connecting with the story and the characters. It’s not the writing style I think, but mainly the characters and the way they react to things happening to them. They just seem to accept what has happened and do not fight for their happiness or their children. Any thoughts about this.

I think it comes back to what the author reiterates regarding Viviane's relationship with her children. They want to care and connect and love, which would certainly make them easier to emphatize with, but everything they love ends in tradegy, which is why they are reserved. I think it's brilliant that it's difficult to connect with the characters, as it is in that way we can relate to the characters, who find it hard to connect with each other.



14. John Griffiths gets what he deserves, his wife left him (or did she?) and he ends up in an asylum. Jack has returned with his rich wife, will he make contact with Viviane and their children?

I'm sure he will. And I'm sure it will end in devistation for Viviane. I do hope Gabe finally socks him.



15. What do you think of the relationship Gabe has with Ava and Henry? It seems to me he is more of a parent to them then Viviane is, he seems concerned about their troubles and helping them. What do you think of the way he tries to do that?

He had a crapfest of a childhood himself, so it's no surprise that he wants to care for them since they don't have that father figure in their lives. Plus, his madly deeply love infatuation with Viviane is sure to be a stimulus for his actions.

Warm Desert Winds wrote: "As someone who almost exclusively reads realistic fiction, it takes a little getting used to. The writing is definitely pretty. I am enjoying the ambience of the novel. However the elements of fantasy create a degree of separation from these characters. It’s hard for me to relate to their stories.

Still enjoying it though."

Totally agree!

) Now that you've read a few chapters, what's your opinion on the writing style? How about the magical realism?

The writing style is very eloquent, the story very well written. While the magical realism was a little hard to digest in the beginning, it now feels like an intertwined element to the story. It's hard to imagine the story without it, and it's interesting think of how it will play out. Especially since Viviane feels just as weird as people claim her mother is.


7) Wilhelmina says that the reason people won't buy Emilienne's bread is because they feel the death that surrounds her. Any thoughts on this? And how did Wilhelmina know, anyway?

Considering how Emilienne carries the death of her mother, siblings, and husband with her in grief and sadness, it isn't surprising. And Wilhelmina seems a little mystical herself, so I have a feeling magic helped play into the way she knew about Emilienne and her ghosts.



8) Emilienne and Viviane don't have much of a relationship. Is this still because Emilienne is afraid to love? Is it just me, or does Viviane not seem to care that she and her mother aren't close?

I think it's partially because Emilienne believes nothing good will come from love, and also from the fact that she never really wanted children. She promised herself she would give her husband a child, but you could tell she didn't want one. Which could come back to the fact that she sees love as a curse.



9) What's your opinion on John Griffith and how he treats his family? Do you think he's secretly in love with Emilienne?

It isn't surprising for a man of his time. And I'm not sure he's secretly in love with her, though the narrative certainly implies so. I think it's more of that the narrative said... that he thought he deserved more than what life gave him, and that he isn't satisfied with his own life.



10) The solstice party and the encounter with Jack in the garden had a very surreal quality to it. Do you think there's a deeper connection between what happened and the history of the house (the girl who never ages and her brother who plans extravagant, sensual solstice parties)?

I didn't really make that connection while reading.

Emma wrote: "Elise wrote: "Juliana wrote: "I already started the book, and the writing is quite beautiful."

I thought the exact same thing! It's definitely unique already, and the writing is very eloquent."

..."

The beginning caught me a little off guard. Even though I knew the novel was going to fall into the magical realism genre, I guess I just wasn't quite expecting the narrator to be born with wings (though it explains the cover). But even though some of the elements of the novel are highly fantastical - Ava's wings, the girl who never ages, Maman's disappearance and Emilienne's, Rene's, Margaux's and Pierette's own strange events - Walton writes in such a way that it definitely has that air of realism to it.

Juliana wrote: "I already started the book, and the writing is quite beautiful."

I thought the exact same thing! It's definitely unique already, and the writing is very eloquent.

04/04/15 344 pages

Current total: 816,579

02/04/15 424 pages

Current Total: 788,774

Thank you so much! =) They even have it at my local library.

rytr_1 wrote: "Kazuo Ishiguro. I recommend Never Let Me Go. :)

Elise wrote: "Does anyone have any recommendations for authors whose last names start with I or X? These are the only two I'm having difficulty f..."

I love discovering new authors and titles, so I'm in to try!

Level: Devil May Care (20+)
01/01/15 - 31/12/15
54/50(?)

January
[01] Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal 01/01/15
[02] Stung by Bethany Wiggins 03/01/15
[03] Danny Dirks and the Heir of Pendragon by S.A. Mulraney 04/01/15
[04] The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer 26/01/15

February
[05] Y: The Last Man, Deluxe Edition Vol 1 Brian K. Vaughan 01/02/15
[06] When We Wake by Karen Healey 02/02/15
[07] 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad 15/02/15
[08] Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay 16/02/15
[09] There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake 22/02/15

March
[10] Red Rising by Pierce Brown 01/03/15
[11] For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund 08/03/15
[12] This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales 09/03/15
[13] The DUFF by Kody Keplinger 14/03/15
[14] The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury 16/03/15
[15] The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall 18/03/15
[16] Blood Red Road by Moira Young 19/03/15
[17] The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 21/03/15
[18] The Rules byStacey Kade 22/03/15
[19] Mystic City by Theo Lawrence 23/03/15
[20] Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern 25/03/15

April
[21] Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes 07/04/15
[22] Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli 12/04/15
[23] Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch 14/04/15
[24] The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton 16/04/15
[25] Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard 20/04/15
[26] Endangered by Lamar Giles 29/04/15

May
[27] Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu 03/05/15
[28] The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey 05/05/15
[29] Rook by Sharon Cameron 09/05/15
[30] Royally Lost by Angie Stanton 14/05/15
[31] A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 16/05/15
[32] An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir 19/05/15
[33] Ask the Passengers by A.S. King 28/05/15
[34] Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt 31/05/15

June
[35] The Martian by Andy Weir 01/06/05
[36] Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis 05/06/15
[37] The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh 08/06/15
[38] The Cage by Megan Shepherd 11/06/15
[39] Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley 13/06/15
[40] Illusionarium by Heather Dixon 14/06/15
[41] Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier 20/06/15
[42] Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige 30/06/15


July
[43] Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway 02/07/15
[44] The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes 07/07/15
[45] All the Rage by Courtney Summers 08/07/15
[46] The Memory Key by Liana Liu 10/07/15
[47] Uprooted by Naomi Novik 16/07/15
[48] The Last Pilot by Benjamin Johncock 19/07/15
[49] Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 21/07/15
[50] Pretending to be Erica by Michelle Painchaud 29/07/15


August
[51] The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent 01/08/15
[52] Made You Up by Francesca Zappia 03/08/15
[53] Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine 16/08/15
[54] Paperweight by Meg Haston 20/08/15
[55] Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis 30/08/15


September
[56] The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness 02/09/15

26/03/15 458 pages

Current total: 737653