Review: SOMETHING BORROWED by Emily Giffin

TITLE: Something Borrowed
AUTHOR: Emily Giffin
GENRE: Chick-Lit, Romance
PUBLISHED: St. Martin's Press (June 1, 2004)
FORMAT: Kindle
SOURCE: Amazon (for Book Club)

**WARNING: ANGRY SPOILERS**

SYNOPSIS: (Via GoodReads)

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiancé, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way.

As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

REVIEW:

After reading this book I wanted to throw it across the room, but I was reading it on my kindle and my kindle doesn’t deserve that. I read this book thinking it would be sweet and tender because I totally relate with a quiet, “good girl” main character. But she does such ridiculous things and lies and cheats and doesn’t talk and refuses to confront things. Then says, “I never do this.” It doesn’t matter, she’s doing and she wins in the end. Least she could have done is control herself. It was one of the most annoying storylines of the year (for me.)

So this book is one that you will either love or hate. I hated it because the best friend, Darcy, is a total spoiled brat and takes advantage of Rachel. Rachel is a total non-confrontational whiner that can’t even ask the guy she likes to leave Darcy.

Sorry, didn’t mean to get all emotional. This is the third bad book in a row. (I didn’t even do reviews on the other bad books because they were that bad.)  

RATING:

I am rating this book at a 1: Terrible: a total waste of time. All of the characters were irritating for their own individual reasons. (Rachel can’t handle confrontation, Darcy is fatally self-absorbed, Dex is a pansy and the only cool character was her guy friend in England and he was such a small roll that he didn’t even matter.)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

I recommend you avoid this book. If you want to waste your time on this story, see the movie. (I cannot vouch for the movie, as I did not see it because I disliked the book so much--maybe they improved on it, I don’t know.)

BOOK CLUB REIVEW:

We read this book for our monthly book club and I was nervous to share my incredible dislike, but it was share almost completely across the board. The group’s consensus was that the characters weren’t all that likable and the storyline really could have been better. They rated it at a 1.5.

Where Have You Been??

So, I started this year off perfectly. I started blogging consistently. Yay me! The first three months I had content every week books to report and blog posts about the supernatural. Then somewhere in April real life started getting in the way. My apologies blogger friends. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do book reviews weekly or post about the supernatural weekly. I will try to do alternating weeks on these subjects. That is the plan.

Which leads me to the "why's" in all of this. In April, my husband and I came to a life-altering decision. As you may (or may not) know, we have 5 children. My oldest is 10 and youngest is 3. We've decided to homeschool our kids. CRAZY, I know! But I feel they are too awesome with such high potential to just "survive" life. I feel like they are only just surviving the harshness of public school. I believe in quality. Quality children growing into quality adults. I feel it necessary to pull them from the Georgia public school system and teach them myself. Their discipline is all over the place, they go crazy after school, shifting from school rules to home rules. It's a weird thunder and lightning storm that happens. They hurt each other, they come home hurt from other children's brashness. This has to end.

Anyway, we came to this conclusion last month and I've been wearing my keyboard down with researching homeschooling. What grade needs to do what, what to buy, not to buy, will my kids be weirdoes? All of these questions were whirling through my head.

Now, on the other side of the whirlwind, I have all of their materials picked out. I've even laid out a chore list, a yearly and weekly schedule. I'm about to be the busiest I've ever been. I never imagined I would EVER homeschool my children. And here I am, hundreds of dollars poorer and two months from beginning my new job: Teacher. (Too bad I won’t get paid.)

All I have to say is... pray for me. I know I can do it, I just need the strength to be stretched in this way. I plan on blogging as a sort of Journal about the Journey of homeschooling. So, I'll see you around.

~Heatheraine

Book & Movie Reivew: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen

~Book~
TITLE: Water for Elephants
AUTHOR: Sara Gruen
GENRE: Literary Fiction
PUBLISHED: Algonquin Books (May 6, 2006)
FORMAT: Kindle
SOURCE: Amazon (for Book Club)

~Movie~RELEASED: April 22, 2011

Told through a flashback by elderly Jacob Jankowski, he recounts the crazy and amazing months he spent with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. When young Jacob learns that his parents have been killed in a car crash he drops out of Cornell veterinary school jumps a train not realizing it is a circus caravan. He is hired as the on-site vet and cares for the menagerie of exotic animals, including an elephant.

ABOUT THE BOOK

There is no mistaking the quality of writing and amount of hard work and rich history that had gone into this #1 Best Selling novel. Sara Gruen portrays 1930’s circus life as gritty and spectacular at the same time. The illusion of the happy circus performance and the behind the scenes blood, sweat, and tears is contrasted deeply throughout its pages.

BOOK vs MOVIE

Jacob has a strong sense of morality and questions why things are the way they are. In the book Jacob shows strength and virtue. But in the movie, (played by Robert Patterson) he was portrayed as depthless and pouty.

Jacob falls in love with the show's star performer, Marlena. In the movie there was something lacking in the stars’ performance as lovers. There wasn’t much of a spark between Reese Witherspoon (who played Marlena) and Robert Pattison. It was like “Twilight” meets “Legally Blonde.” Their lack of connection left a hollow hole in the movie.

Played by Christof Waltz, August is the dominant husband with a severe mean streak and is the most well written character in the story. He buys an elephant that is said to be as “dumb and as a bag of hammers.” He gets over-the-top angry and beats the elephant after an accident with Marlena. The harshness of August’s character and how he takes his anger out on the elephant, as well as his wife, brought tears to my eyes.

RATING

I’d rate the book at 4 out of 5: Very Good. The storytelling is superb and the story itself is compelling and deeply moving. It’s a grand adventure that is well worth the time to read

I’d rate the movie at 3 out of 5: Good. There are aspects of the film that made it flop: the lack of spark between Witherspoon and Pattinson.

If you’ve read the book, it’s worth seeing for the visual appeal, even if the story is emotionally dumbed down to fit into the two hour time frame. I liked the movie because they omitted the right parts like the “Rated R” scenes and all the narratives from the old man. Even the climax of the movie was fuller in the movie version.

If you haven’t read the book, it may be less appealing because you don’t know the depth of Jacob that Pattinson couldn’t portray. But seeing it on the screen surpasses any book: Marlena’s horse act, the parades, and Rosie the elephant in all her glory.