OTHER STUFF

Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 Book Review

August 28, 2017 / OTHER STUFF / 0 Comments

Hey Again Bookworms! I have an exciting book to talk about today. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware is an exciting edge-of-your-seat kind of book. From its first sentence down to its last paragraph, this book will keep you interested. This is one of those “can’t put down” read that is so riveting, gripping, and stunning, you just can’t stop flipping the pages.

Lo Blacklock is a travel journalist who lives alone in her apartment in which she had just been burglarized. The experience left her shaken and wary. An opportunity to relax, unwind, and distract herself came when her boss asked her to be her proxy aboard a luxurious cruise ship. Lots of well-known guests, lavish parties, and posh cabins are what she had stumbled into. It was elegant by all means, but things took a different turn when one day, she met a mysterious girl at cabin 10 in which she’d never recognized as part of the guests, and then the next day she witnessed a body thrown overboard. Things will get even messier when she found out that there’s actually nobody occupying in cabin 10, and it’s not supposed to be occupied since day 1. Also, there were no traces of the girl she had met nor evidence of the body that was thrown into the sea. Worst of all, almost nobody believes her and that everyone’s accounted for. Was she dreaming? imagining? paranoid? must have been a product of the trauma that she recently experienced? But what about the woman she’d met? Who is she? What about the body that was thrown? Lo thinks she’s certain about the things she saw and experienced inside the cruise ship, which can only mean one thing, there’s a killer among them, lurking inside that luxurious cruise.

This book is full of twists and turns, lots of surprises and shocking revelations. What you may think of as what had happened, is actually not what it is. It’s a story that will grip your attention the moment you start reading its first few pages. The characters are well-developed and there’s an eerie sort of claustrophobic feel to it as you start to imagine what it must be like to be Lo Blacklock inside that ship. It’s a surprising, shocking, and terrifying book to read, but at the same time, it’s a story of survival, friendship, and believing in yourself. A book that truly deserves a movie adaptation, no doubt.

A definite page-turner, fast-paced read, and riveting by all means, this like The Girl on the Train meets Agatha Christie meets Gone Girl. Oh, what an incredible read!

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware is available on amazon

the audiobook is available HERE

Have your read this book already? Did you like it?

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Kevin Kwan’s “Crazy Rich Asians” Book Review

July 26, 2017 / OTHER STUFF / 0 Comments

“I have no idea who these people are. But I can tell you one thing— these people are richer than God” – Peik Lin, character from Crazy Rich Asians.

Here’s a bold satirical book that will surely crack you up. This book is purely entertaining and fun to read. It’s a romantic comedy that will not only make you chuckle but it will also touch your heart, especially towards the end of the book. It’s an interesting fast read with a no-nonsense type of writing. Each character is very well developed, so much so that even if you’re not rich, filthy rich or crazy rich, you will still find this book to be a great summer read.

I found out about this book when I read an article that talked about an upcoming romantic comedy film with an all-Asian cast. I thought, now that’s gonna be interesting, and of course, the upcoming film is entitled and based on this Crazy Rich Asians book by Kevin Kwan.

In the first few pages of the novel, you’ll find a family tree of The Young Family, The T’sien and The Shang Clan. It’s a great reference as to who the characters are, where they came from, and in which family they belong. You will find yourself constantly coming back to this for reference while reading the book. This means to show that there’s a lot of characters involved. But there’s a few main ones that are the main focus of the story. Don’t worry, I won’t be spoiling the entire story here, but I’ll give you a glimpse of what the story is all about.

Rachel Chu is a Chinese-born American and an NYU Economics Professor living in NYC with her boyfriend Nick Young who hails from Singapore and is also a History Professor at NYU. Nick’s best friend Collin, is getting married in Singapore and Nick is invited, so is Rachel. She’s never been there and she has no idea about Nick’s family history nor his complete background. Meanwhile, Astrid, Nick’s cousin living in Singapore is a jet-setting lady with troubles of her own. She warns Nick to tell Rachel about who and what their family really is. Also, Eleanor is Nick’s mom who loves him dearly and only wants the best for him. She’s eager to meet her son when he arrives in Singapore but changed her mind when she found out that he’s coming with his Chinese-American girlfriend, whom she’s never met before. Su Yi is Nick’s grandma who also loves him dearly but she has her own mind and sets of standards. Peik Lin is Rachel Chu’s former classmate and best friend from Singapore. Read how their lives will come together in one big funny mess, especially when Rachel finds out who Nick really is, his entire family and relatives’ history and background.

This novel depicts the lifestyle of the crazy rich Asians in a larger than life way, It’ll shock you to the bones and you’ll find yourself being transported to their world while laughing at the same time. It’s a lighthearted take on the lives of the people who have too much for their own good and also a tearjerker towards the last few chapters. There’s moral lessons to learn and several insights to ponder.

The Crazy Rich Asians Book is a trilogy by the author Kevin Kwan. It is available in amazon.com

The Book 2 (China Rich Girlfriend) is also available at amazon.com as well as the Book 3 (Rich People Problems)

For more book reviews and sneak peeks, follow on Instagram: @reviewsandotherstuff

The Handmaid’s Tale (Audio) Book & TV Series Review

June 21, 2017 / OTHER STUFF / 0 Comments

“Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum”

In what could be one of the most shocking and unforgettable books I’ve ever read, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is classic but at the same time, it’s also timely. It has one of the most terrifying and one of the saddest stories I’ve ever read and it makes you imagine what would happen if the plot in the book would actually come true? This book is a story of women’s struggles in a theocratic military dictatorship called The Republic of Gilead. Written in the first person, we see the mindset of a woman narrating and calling herself Offred, but that is not her real name. She’s just named after her Commander Fred, where she lives with and his wife Serena Joy. She’s some kind of their temporary property, thus calling her “Of Fred”. Offred has a role to fulfill, she’s what their society would call, a Handmaid. Handmaids are women of childbearing age, fertile and had committed gender and social crimes according to Gilead’s law. They’re dressed in almost all red with white-winged hats and they’re assigned to a commander and his wife’s household to bear them a child. That’s because the population of the Republic of Gilead is dwindling and they badly need new births.

Offred is constantly having flashbacks of her world “before” and her world “now”. You see, she once lived a normal life, something close to what we have now, and she once had a family and friends. Life is definitely difficult for her new reality, but it’s not just her. The same is true with all the women around her. In the Republic of Gilead, women are classified as wives, aunts, Marthas, handmaids, econowives, etc. Unfortunately, they all don’t seem to get along and that their government is seriously watching their back. It’s a bleak bleak world, one that you’d never want to happen to yourself or even to your enemy. Offred’s ordeal of giving her commander and his wife a child is something that will shock you, will make you contemplate, and will make you sad. The world of Offred is never easy, but hers is a story of survival and hope even in the faintest way possible.

A lot of people sort of equate the book with feminism, however, I think there is actually a very subtle hint of feminism in it, and the main character Offred didn’t seem to be the type to show it much. What she is in the book is a survivalist and she’s shown endurance despite the world she’s in. Her prevailing attitude is what probably made her a feminist of some sort. She’s indeed an interesting character because she shows obedience and submissiveness on the outside while she’s feisty inside. She remained observant of her new environment without being compromised, and while she didn’t show much defiance in the book, she definitely did in the TV series. Yes, this is the book that finally made me sign up to Hulu and let me tell you, I didn’t regret it. I wasn’t really into Hulu before because I already have Netflix, but hey Hulu’s great, and The Handmaid’s Tale by Hulu is even greater. The series is almost true to the book with a few add-ons and Elisabeth Moss fits the bill as Offred. There are more themes of feminism in the series, and the whole plot seems more shocking and scary. The cinematography is great and the acting is perfect. Serena Joy (Commander Fred’s wife) is being portrayed by Yvonne Strahovski which seems quite a bit young for the role, but she did a phenomenal job. Overall, I love the series a lot even though at times it’s kind of hard to watch. The story is never for the faint of heart, I tell you.

The audiobook is also great to listen to. it’s narrated by Homeland’s Claire Danes and she sounds very convincing in her narrations, bringing to life Offred’s struggle and personality. Another best part of the book is towards the end where you start to understand the real story behind Gilead and what might have happened to Offred. Hmmm, a cliffhanger eh? The Handmaid’s Tale is a speculative dystopian novel that was once controversial but has been awarded multiple times. The book will make you think and wonder “What would happen if one day you lose your basic right as a woman or even as a human being?” What would you do? Would you conform? Or would you not let the bastards grind you down?

The Handmaid’s Tale Book by Margaret Atwood is available in Amazon.com

The Audiobook is available in Audible.com

While the TV series is available in Hulu.com

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