Keli’s Comments (group member since Jun 23, 2016)

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

Thank you team and fabulous captains for another exciting round of wheel. Between my dog passing and starting a new job after 17 years at my old one, it’s been a weird wheel for me. But I greatly enjoyed it. 😄

Jhmingos wrote: "I'm not of fan of her writing either, but to be fair, a lot of people love it, and it's gotten a lot of awards. It might be one of those cases where you need to read the first chapter, and you'll k..."

I totally agree. Maybe if I had not just read Sorrowland, which was an amazing social commentary horror. This was incredibly juvenile in its tone and style. I appreciate that the book’s characters are predominantly children, but I thought the book was aimed at adults. The subject matter was so serious and harrowing, made even worse because it was based on a real life event, yet the tone was so off for me. It was a labour. And it’s not even like I can’t appreciate when everything is harrowing and cruel. I was blown away by The Book of Night Women and I don’t think a single positive or joyous thing happened in that book. This felt overly sentimental. All the characters lacked grit, substance or depth. They and the writing felt generic, which kind of sucks for me to say because it was personal for the author. And she did her research. It read more like a mediocre Steven Spielberg film than a riveting tense horror novel.

For the first time I’m structuring my reads. 5 per month but I can include deletions

Jan
1
2
3
4
5

Feb
1
2
3
4
5

Mar
1
2
3
4
5

My goodness that book was terrible. I’m not sure if my dislike for the book was down to the narrator, who I also do not enjoy, or the writing itself. But it’s probably a combo of the two.
Glad my final book was the wonderful Fugitive Telemetry. Murderbot is such a good series.

That’s me done.

Trans-Siberian

Day 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Day 7 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Day 7 Chapters 37 - End

29. Something I found interesting in this last section was Percy's change from arguing with his sister that lashings were deserved, to running to her for comfort when he finds evidence of rape and torture in the shed. This is a three part question.

a. Do you think his sister's words the day before, were what triggered Percy to investigate the shed?

b. Does Percy's response to what he discovers in the shed make him a good person in your eyes, or do you think any good person would have quit the job like Robbie's uncle? According to your moral compass, where is the line between a good and bad person in this situation.

c. "Don't thank me. I didn't do nearly what I should have. I should have shot him first. I knew what he was deep down. I didn't want to believe the stories."

Did Percy's final words and actions redeem him in your eyes?

This is a complicated question. I don’t know if we can allow redemption so simply. But I look towards Rwandan reconciliation as a way to move forward when such enormous atrocities occur. At some point we as communities need to stop assigning blame and focus on truth-telling, confession, remorse, to achieve reconciliation rather than solely punishment. For those who had hands in the

30. In a similar vein, we see both the worst and the best of humanity in this book, with torture and murder being the worst, and sacrificing your own well being to help others being the best. Were you surprised when Robbie went along with Blue's final part of the plan instead of continuing on? Did any of the sacrifices (big or small) made by other characters surprise you?

No, nothing anyone did surprise me. Except how stupid Robert was. He was more like 7 year old than a 12 year old. Why did Ms Due have to make Robert a fool? For example when Blue showed up to show Robbie the way through the fence, but Robbie refused to leave before he found out if anyone was hurt. Wasting time over something he could have done nothing about. But then said he’d blame Blue if he gets caught trying to free the haints’ ashes. Then stood there and had a conversation with him. Then gave himself up to Blue’s crazy plan.

31. As Robbie watches Blue fly away, he thinks he wishes he could write a guide for other children to follow when dealing with haints. 'Haints will get you killed.'

Do you think Robbie's thoughts were too harsh, or were they justified? Do you think the ends justified the means? What are your final thoughts on Blue?

No, I think his words were fair.

32. What are your final thoughts on the book? Was it what you expected? Were there any scenes or quotes in particular that will stay with you?

I really did not like this book. It was about 200 pages too long. The story of Dozier School for Boys is a story to be told, but this did not do it justice.

DAY 3 - CHAPTERS 14-18

1. In these chapters, Robbie’s connection to the haints becomes stronger and harder for him to ignore. How does his growing ability to sense them shift his understanding of the danger he’s in?
Do you think they’re trying to protect him, warn him, or burden him with fear?

Some are trying to help, like his mom. I think many just want to be seen.

2. “Joe Friday wasn’t real. The Funhouse was real.” - Chapter 14
The Funhouse is one of the Reformatory’s most disturbing places, and this quote marks a moment of realization about fantasy vs. lived experience.

What does this line reveal about how the Reformatory crushes childhood illusions, and what does it suggest about the boys’ relationship to fear and punishment? How did your understanding of the Funhouse shift after this chapter?

Well my understanding of the funhouse didn’t change. It was exactly as I suspected and horrid house of pain. It’s horrific that these children have to live in terror.

3. So far, which physical space, such as the dormitory, the fields, the Funhouse, or another area, felt the most oppressive or unsettling to you?
How does Tananarive Due use setting as a tool of control or foreshadowing?

Tananrive Due fails to allow any sort of tension or foreshadowing. I hate to say someone’s writing is poor, but she writes out everything so that there can be zero actual tension. She is very much tell me instead of show me. Everything is said and not just once but multiple times, like readers wouldn’t truly understand the horror if it wasn’t for saying it at least 3 times.

As far as physical spaces they are all oppressive, the McCormicks, the entire reformatory, the courthouse a little less. She even managed to make Loehmann’s car, after the initial excitement, a depressive place.

4. These chapters give us deeper insight into how adults navigate power, respectability, and racial danger outside the Reformatory, especially through Gloria's visits and observations.

How do the interactions among Miss Anne, Miz Lottie, Gloria, and the courthouse officials reveal the different ways Black women attempt to protect their families or assert agency within an unfair system?
Whose behavior or attitude in these chapters stood out to you the most, and why?

Gloria’s naïveté surprised me. In fact, both the children’s naïveté surprised me. I know that some, probably many, black parents tried to shield their children from the degradation of Jim Crow. But these are older children and their expectations and understanding of consequences are so different from what southern Black children know. Regardless of whether or not it’s fair or what one hopes for, there is what is. But Gloria seems to think the world is very different from everything she has experienced or seen.

I really don’t like this book.

5. I think we can all agree that Gloria’s Papa is not going to win Parent of the Year.
Chapter 16 includes the tense phone call between Gloria and her Papa.
What were your thoughts and emotional reactions to that call?
Did it change how you understand their relationship, or how Gloria carries the burdens of her family’s situation?

It confused me. There are so many things in this that are contradictory. Gloria’s dad is a revolutionary. He’s working to make things fairer but his kids are ignorant. How? If any parent would teach their kids about the importance of change but also about following the rules to stay out of the white man’s eye, it would have been Robert. Her dad knew the Negro speed limit, Gloria knew there was a Negro speeed limit, that things were not equal, that her dad had been pulled over countless times for one pretence or other. Yet, “knowing” it’s all unfair, she has such different expectations. It makes no sense. I like Miss Lottie, though.

Edward Rutherfurd celebrates America’s greatest city in a rich, engrossing saga, weaving together tales of families rich and poor, native-born and immigrant—a cast of fictional and true characters whose fates rise and fall and rise again with the city’s fortunes. From this intimate perspective we see New York’s humble beginnings as a tiny Indian fishing village, the arrival of Dutch and British merchants, the Revolutionary War, the emergence of the city as a great trading and financial center, the convulsions of the Civil War, the excesses of the Gilded Age, the explosion of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the trials of World War II, the near demise of New York in the 1970s and its roaring rebirth in the 1990s, and the attack on the World Trade Center. A stirring mix of battle, romance, family struggles, and personal triumphs, New York: The Novel gloriously captures the search for freedom and opportunity at the heart of our nation’s history.

Pages: 862

I have had to listen to the reformatory on 1.5 speed cos the narration is sooooo bad, but so is the writing. There was something I heard the other day when listening that encapsulated the overly verbose and pointlessness of some of Ms Due’s writing. When Redbone and Robert were being taken to the funhouse, Robert noticed the dogs sounded mean not like they wanted to play. Yeah, duh, Tananarive, you literally just wrote how the scary barking dogs are used to keep kids from running away. There have been so many little things like this. I really think she could have reduced her word count by at least 10%, maybe even 20. Anyway, that will be done tomorrow too. I’m only persevering because I paid for it. 🙄🙄

I will have fugitive telemetry done tomorrow and there is an I character in that. senior officer Indah.

Just an fyi- Dolores Claiborne has red and teal text on the cover. It’s been put on black text on cover space, but that is a fairly common colour. So if you’re putting things in places tomorrow or when this is finished, just know there are those two options too.

DQ'S DAY 1 - CHAPTERS 1-8

1." A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead."

MPG's for this book include horror, historical fiction and thriller. Given the above blurb and the MPG's, what are you expecting from this book? Thoughts on what the balance will be between the real life horror of living in this time and place, the supernatural elements of the story and how this will shape the tone of the novel?

I had pretty high expectations for this novel. It sounded like the perfect horror novel for the exact reasons you highlighted in your question. As for balance, I was just hoping the author didn’t lean in too hard on obvious. The mundane degradation was horror enough, the constant sort of threat of having to be deferential not necessarily bodies swinging from trees. This is set in the 50s around the start of the modern civil rights movement, so I imagine that it will be more in that time than the lynchings of the 20s & 30s.

2. The Jim Crow Era of Florida in the mid 20th century - being an Australian I only have a basic knowledge of what this actually was and means. What is your understanding of the time - if you are an American did you learn about this in school?

I grew up in the south. Though I was 20 years after desegregation, that racism is still very much a part of the south. There were still sunset towns.

3. In the opening chapters, the author paints a picture of sad circumstances - the loss of a mother, an absent father and systematic racism. But there is a real feeling of warmth between Robert and his sister Gloria and Lottie their Guardian. Thoughts on Robert and Gloria's character, and how does the circumstances shape their relationship?

I think it is sweet, their relationship. Kind of reminds me of my brother and me. But I am shocked at how ignorant they both are. It’s like they are constantly surprised by the cruelty of segregation. How they truly believe that this system would be fair and wouldn’t exact retribution on a Black boy kicking a white boy, I don’t know. The author has them mention various ways in which the system holds them down, but then are shocked at the punishment.

4. Mr David Loehmann seems like a kind man despite the fact that he holds back on doing more for Robert initially. Why do you think the author includes the line "then he pretended to sneeze, saying " A Jew" where his sneeze should be" (A deputy) Do you have any empathy for Loehmann who knows he should do more, but doesn't?

Of course I do. The children’s own father took off to Chicago to not face the injustice awaiting him. Why would we expect a man almost as hated being Jewish, to fight against a system more than the father. I feel for them both. However, a change has to start somewhere, but just as we couldn’t force that on Robert and Gloria’s father we can hold Loehmann to greater account.

5. First impressions of The Reformatory? Why do you think only the children can see the haints

Not a clue about the ghosts. The reformatory sounds worse than adult prison.

Status update with just over 4 days left
I will have Dolores Claiborne finished likely tomorrow. The Reformatory will be to the wire. It is soooooo boring and the narrator is annoying. But I will get it done. I will likely chang Secrete of Hartwood hall to a different book, but that will probably be my only other read.

I was really rubbish last round. I kind of went awol there and just couldn’t read, even though I had the time. But my head was just not in it. My dog is not doing well, he’s 16 with kidney failure, I just got a new job which is positive, but so much surrounding it has been stressful, like I didn’t get my contract sent until last week after I’d finished at my last job. I didn’t know what was going on. So needless to say, my normal escape was not appealing. I binged watched tv instead. Sorry all. But on a good note, I recommend Murderbot and the Beast in Me.
I’m back now. First book underway!

Definitely not going to reach my target. Might get to 50/60. A goal for next year then.

Well done all of you amazing readers who have finished. 🥳

I’m all about souther gothic. Fun mini,6.

Sammy wrote: "#157

Great little book, even if it is set in Barnsley... 😆"

I’ve talked my friends into having a film club. We all put 4 movies in a tin and we randomly draw one out to watch. One of my husband’s films was Kes. It was so good. I’d never seen it. And luckily for me the really heartbreaking part, with his shite brother, was broken up with a scratch on the dvd. So I ended up not weeping, but still got the story. Really loved the film. Probably can’t do the book. I’d be a wreck!

Jessica wrote: "@Anna, please add Memories of the Lost to your shelf :)

@Jackie, please add The Cottage on Pelican Bay to your shelf :)

@Keli, please add [book:A Prayer for the ..."

Oh no, I only just saw this. How did I miss it?! 😢

I was in Poo with many of you, so I’ll go back to there for inspo.

I’ve finished 4 of my 5. I will have my last book, red sands, finished before the time.