Today’s review is on The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis. Just a note, this book does talk about sexual assault and rape and I will be touching on that in my review, if you are sensitive to topics like this please proceed with caution.
The Female of the Species follows Alex Craft who is familiar with violence, as well as what it is like to kill someone. Her older sister, Amanda was found raped and murdered three years ago, and her killer was allowed to walk free. However, Alex decided to do something about it, and no one knows that she is responsible for his death. As a result she believes that she can’t be trusted around other people, because she never knows when her violent streak will make an appearance. But, the star athlete of her school, Jack is entranced by her and wants to get close to her, even though she keeps trying to find reasons and put up walls to keep him out. Jack also feels guilty for his actions on the night that Anna’s body is discovered and wants to find some way to atone for it. And then we are introduced to Peekay, the pastor’s kid who is trying to distance herself from that label, who gets to know Alex at the local animal shelter that they volunteer at. This is a dark novel that deals with timely topic of rape culture.
This novel deals with several topics such as anger and guilt. One quote that was told from Jack’s perspective was, “Anger makes you tired, but guilt keeps you from falling asleep” (38). In reference to how he feels guilt from his actions the night that Anna’s body was discovered. Readers also learn that Alex’s mom is neglectful, almost to a fault.
Another one of the main themes discussed is sexual assault and rape culture, as well as the societal sin of telling a victim that “she was asking for it” because of how she was dressed. The first time this shows up is when all the students are in an assembly and someone in the audience suggests that one of the popular girls, Branley, would be the one in five girls to hypothetically get raped. Obviously Branley is described as being upset by this comment, and rightfully so.
There is also a lot of discussion about how sexual assault shouldn’t happen and that perpetrators should not be allowed to walk free, especially if they are capable of doing it again. There are a couple of quotes from the book that stuck out that deal with this topic. The first one talking about the law and how it doesn’t always work the way we think it should, “It shouldn’t be this easy. There are laws in place that stop us from doing things. This is what we tell ourselves. In truth we stop ourselves; the law is a guideline for how to punish someone who is caught” (238). Another quote is in reference to the discovery that one of the character’s uncle’s s a child molester and how it is common crime that is committed, “I live in a world where not being molested as child is considered luck” (239).
Mindy McGinnis also makes good use of metaphors throughout the book, one in particular is when Jack finds out that Alex is a murderer and tries to distance himself from her, he goes and cuts down the tree where he told her he loved her.
There is also some exploration about the ethical implications of what Alex did. On the one hand she did rid the world of a rapist and murderer, but on the other hand she still committed murder. She is portrayed as a morally gray character because she has good intentions and motives, however her actions are wrong. And we even see her struggle with that. However, she tries to only go after those who are predators and she does it with the intention of making sure no one else in her small town ends up like her sister.
Another theme that is touched upon is that of identity, especially for Peekay, who is trying to distance herself from being the preacher’s kid. It also touches on that topic with Branley – even though she is more of a minor character – as she has been led to believe that she is just a sex object, and that that is all she is good for and as a result she lives up to that expectation even though there is more to her than that.
The whole novel is a tragedy, especially the ending. This can be a hard book to get through because of the subject matter, however it is an important book to read. 4/5 Stars.
Burn takes place in an alternate world where dragons exist, Sarah Dewhurst and her father are poor and can not afford to hire someone to help get their land ready for sowing crops, but they are able to hire a dragon to do their work for them – in this world, hiring a dragon to do work is a status that you are poor. Even though dragons cannot be trusted, Sarah finds herself getting to know the dragon, Kazimir, and realizes there is more to him than all the legends she has been told about dragons, especially when he goes out of his way to protect her – particularly a corrupt deputy who makes it his mission to target Sarah. Kazimir also knows that there is danger lurking and that someone is coming for Sarah and her life is in danger. We also switch to a prophet who makes his journey from uninhabited Canada down to the Pacific Northwest and the FBI agents that have been tasked with following him. Things aren’t what the seem and things are about to change drastically for Sarah.
While there were some things content wise that I usually don’t like, but despite those things I really enjoyed Burn! Admittedly, it was a slow start, especially since it initially switches between two storylines that made me wonder how they eventually coincide.
Throughout the book there is some discussion of prejudice, one of the main examples being how Deputy Kelby targets Sarah because she is mixed race, and her friend Jason, who is Japanese American. There is also a lot of talk about the Soviets and spies, someone even accuses Sarah’s dad of being a Soviet spy just because he married an African American woman. There is also a lot of prejudice against the dragons and the cult of dragon worshippers simply referred to as Believers.
A quote that stuck out to me while I was reading Burn was, “‘Knowing the future is part of that future’s past. Perhaps the foreseen happens because we try to change it.'” (127). When I read this, I did not know the novel was about to take a turn that I was not expecting at all and basically turned the whole story on it’s head so to speak.
In the second half of the book we are introduced to the concept of the multiverse when the characters are transported to an alternate universe, in which it is still 1957, but there are some differences to the timeline that has already taken place in that universe than the one they live in. The alternate universe they went to was our world, where things are slightly different and there are no dragons.
Another theme in the novel is the realization that everything you’ve been taught has a been lie. This is particularly true of Malcolm, the young prophet from the Believers who realizes that has been lied to his whole life by the person who raised him and that he has been used (under the pretense that what he was doing would save the world) to start a war that would annihilate mankind.
The novel also explores the importance of decision-making and how even that what we might view as a simple decision can change the way things go, or if certain events happened differently. For example, Sarah’s mother died two years before the start of the novel, yet in the alternate universe she is still alive and Sarah is dead, and the implications of that were interesting.
The villainess of the novel was great, especially when she becomes powerful in the alternate universe and she starts to remember who she truly is after not knowing for hundreds of years.
Overall, I enjoyed Burn, however there were times that the pacing seemed off because there were times I was really into the story, and then the plot would seem to slow down a lot and I would lose interest in continuing with it. The ending also felt rushed and some of the explanations about dragon magic seemed to be thrown in all of a sudden and it was kind of confusing and not fully explained. However, I did love that it messed with my head, especially when the multiverse part of the plot takes place, and honestly I felt once that happened the pace really picked up and I was hooked until the end. 4/5 Stars.
Today’s review is a series review of the Netflix series Mismatched which is based on the book, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. Note: there are some subejct matters in this series that I do not promote or agree with. I reviewed this for a project for one of my grad school classes and objectively thought it would be a good one to include in the assignment. Since I reviewed this more objectively, I will not be including a rating at the end.
Based on the best-selling novel, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, travel to India where viewers are introduced to Dimple Ahuja, who’s dream is to become a tech guru like Steve Jobs. However, her parents wish to try and find someone to marry her, but they surprisingly let her go to a summer course on coding in another part of India. But, she soon discovers that the reason they willingly let her go was due to there being a prospective match, Rishi, in the same city, Jaipar, who will also be taking part in the course. Rishi is a hopeless romantic who believes in the tradition of arranged marraige and asks his grandmother to set him up with someone, when he sees a picture of Dimple he is instantly smitten and decides to join the same coding course in order to get to know her and spend time with her. Unfrotunately their first meeting does not go well, but Rishi makes it his mission to win over the reluctant Dimple, meanwhile Dimple wants to prove herself to her professor. Over the course of the series viewers will watch their relationship grow, as well as explore the lives of several of the other students in the class.
For the rest of this post I will look at each episode individually.
Episode 1 – When Dimple Met Rishi
This first episode sets up the series, by introducing viewers to Dimple and Rishi, as well as their reasons for joining the course. We also get to see their first meeting, where the first thing that Rishi says is, “Hello future wife”, assuming that Dimple knows that they have been matched together by their families. The episode then flashes back to the week before in Dimple’s hometown of Amala, whereh sher parents are pressuring her to have a beautiful appearance so that she will get a good marriage proposal, however she is more intersted in coding and app development. It is interesting that this is contrasted with her aunty that visists who is slightly more progressive than her parents and encourages her to continue to pursue her dream.
We then go back to Rishi, in Jaipur, who’s grandma tells him all about matchmaking and seems to have already signed him up to be matched with someone, when he sees Dimple’s picture he is instantly smitten and his grandmother arranges with her parents for the two of them to meet. We also see that this is the reason why Dimple’s parents allow her to attend a summer app development course, which happens to be in Jaipur. It is also revealed that Rishi comes from a broken home which is something that he is ashamed of. One really funny scene is when the manager of the hostel is trying to take a picture of Dimple for the hostel website and she tells Dimple to smile as if it is her wedding day, and Dimple immediately frowns as the picture is being taken.
We are then taken back to Dimple and Rishi’s initial meeting and he introduces himself to her so clumsily and she dumps her cold coffee on him and calls him a creep – which is scene taken from the book. Overall, this episode did a good job of introducing us to the main characters as well as bulding it up to the failed meet-cute between and Dimple’s intial reaction to Rishi.
Episode 2 – Hot Summer, Cold Vibes
In the second episode we are introduced one of the other students, Harsh, who is an Indian American who is a dark horse that has been sent to Jaipur ro visit his grandparents. His only goal during his visit is to find good WiFi so he can download porn. We are then taken back to Dimple and Rishi and their first day of class and she is forced to sit next to him. He officially introduces himself and she discovers why her parents sent her to Jaipur so willingly – so she and Rishi could meet.
While Dimple and Rishi are still the focus of this episode since they reluctantly spend time with each other working on the first assignment together, we also get to see the other classmates working on it, especially since the assignment requires them all to explore Jaipur and take a picture of something that stands out to them. Dimple makes the assumption that Rishi’s life is perfect, meanwhile the audience is given a glimpse that not everything is perfect because we esee him as a boy watching his mother leave. After the assignment is completed, Dimple is teamed up with Harsh for the rest of the class, she is also given flack because of what happened with Rishi in episode 1, and because of who her idol is.
This was a good follow up to the first, however some viewers might be uncomfortable with it starting out with mentions of and very brief glimpses of pornography, plus there is some discussion of pronography in the class and the professor seems to hold it in high esteem by stateing that that was how online shopping and streaming got its start.
Episode 3 – Message Deleted
Dimple keeps trying to come up with app ideas that keep getting rejected by the professor. Rishi decides to quite the couse, however, the professor tells him that has a lot of talent, but unfortunately that most talented people are quitters. This has an impact on him and he decides to stay. Dimple and Rishi keep having some awkward interactions, but Dimple apologizes for throwing coffee on him and they hang out.
Dimple’s roommate, Celina, gets to know Rishi’s best friend, Namrata, a bit better and they find a lost kitten and bond over that. A bunch of students meet up at a restuarant and most of them make fun of Dimple for having a “fat face”, one of the other students is a League of Legends streamer and he tells Dimple that she is a good gamer, but not streamer because she does not have sex appeal to be a streamer. Rishi comes to her rescue when it is time to pay the bill and everyone wants to pay evenly (she can’t afford it) and instead suggests that they all go Dutch. We then discover that Celina isn’t really wealthy and moonlights as a delivery girl. Dimple and Rishi gets caught in the rain and come up with an app idea that is sure to be accepted by the professor.
Episode 4 – Making Moves
Episode 4 starts with a narration from Namrata, and we see her confess to Rishi that she might like Celina. Zeenat, and older student in the class, invites her partner- Anmol- to disccus they app that they are working on, but he invites the whole class to her house for a party. Anmol gets Zeenat drunk because he plans on making her a conquest, however she starts having hallucinations. Rishi goes to the party to retrive Namrata, who snuck out to the partty and her parents call him because they are looking for him.
The party is briefly stopped when the professor comes to Zeenat’s rescue after she calls him, but instead of breaking it up he lets the party continue. Rishi’s brother, Ashish, makes more an appearance and he is very irresponsible. One of Dimple’s classmates tells her that the reason that the professor will never accept her app idea is that her idol stole his idea and became a millionaire. Dimple also tries to stop herself from falling for Rishi because she thinks that he and Namrata are an item, but he proves to her that that isn’t the case.
This episode seemed more like a filler episode and didn’t really seem to do much to further the plot, especially since the whole episode takes places at the party.
Episode 5 – It’s Not a Date
Anmol is the opening narrator. We see that he used to be a sports fanatic until a car accident leaves in a wheel chair. He is also a famous League of Legends streamer – a very rude and edgy one. Dimple deletes her messages to Rishi as soon as she sends them.
This episode does deal with ableism and some of the difficulties that come with being disable, for example Anmol is late for class because he had to go to the bathroom, and thie only wheel-chair friendly one was far away and locked and he had to get someone to open it for him. We also see Dimple and Rishi decide to go on a platonic date. Zeenat finds encouragement from the professor and he tells her not to cave to Anmol, he encourages her to make their app idea more unique. Anmol and his friends scheme to destroy Dimple’s app becuase it has a feature that Anmol wants for his own app.
During their “date” Dimple and Rishi end up at a restuarant that is owned by Rishi’s mother, which he panics about because he still has not told Dimple that his parents are divorced. Things are further complicated when his mther appears and Dimple feels betrayed because he lied to her. However, she refuses to even give him a chance to explain why he didn’t tell her the truth. Dimple walks in on Celina sleeping with a guy and they have a discussion where Dimple reveals that Namrata has a crush on Celina – outing her in the process. Dimple also calls Anmol on his poor behavior – hurling abuses at people. They make a bet about the upcoming League of Legends championship and they are going to face-off against each other in it.
Episode 6 – Games We Play
The last episode of the season is narrated by Dimple. She is creating an app and preparing for her showdown against Anmol. She throws herself into her work and her friends start to worry about her. Rishi is sad after Dimple freezes him out. Harsh realizes that Anmol and his friends are entitled jerks. Rishi makes up with Dimple, and she realizes she is in over her head when it comes to battling Anmol.
The rich kids discover Celina’s secret, that she is moonlighting as a food delivery person, when she delivers food to them. Celina also blows up at Namrata in public and outs her. The day of the tournament arrives and Namrata ends her friendship with Rishi because she feels like he betrayed by telling Dimple her secret. Dimple wins against Anmol, however he victory is short-live when she discovers that someone stole her app – she blames Rishi. Rishi and Dimple have a huge fight because he is mad that she shared Namrata’s secret with someone and she believes that he leaked her app.
Harsh, who is supposed to be Dimple’s partner on the app, apologizes for not helping Dimple with the app like he should have. Dimple kisses him and he kisses her back, and the season ends on that cliffhanger.
Overall, this was an intersting series, and while it is based on When Dimple Met Rishi, it is only loosely so. The story was development and it will be interesting to see if it gets a season two, especially since there will be a lot of viewers rooting for Dimple and Rishi. It was also interesting to learn a little bit more about teen life in India.
Today’s review is on Radioactive! by Winifred Conkling.
Radioactive! tells the story of Irene Joliot-Curie and Lise Meitner, two women who’s scientific discoveries contributed to the study of radioactivity, and in the case of Lise Meitner, the discovery of nuclear fission, both of which would change the world in numerous ways. Unfortunately, for a long time neither of them received the credit they were due and they were almost forgotten by the world, in Meitner’s case it was due to a former colleague who tried to claim that she had no part in the discovery of nuclear fission and for Joliot-Curie, she was the daughter of the Curies and her parents accomplishments often overshadow those that she made with her husbands. Thankfully, scholars like Winifred Conkling are now telling their story and the contributions they made, as well as the story of their lives and the history of atomic energy that led up to their discoveries, as well as their reactions to what was done with their discoveries.
Radioactive! was a fascinating and informative book dealing with the discoveries made in physics, namely radioactivity and nuclear fission, and the two women who were at the forefront of these discoveries. Winifred Conkling does a great job of giving the pertinent scientific details without bogging down the text and conveys it in such a way that it isn’t hard to understand. Readers will also learn a lot about Irene Curie and Lise Meitner, two women, who I personally have never really heard of before, I’m sure like many other people.
One thing that become apparent especially with Lise Meitner and her discovery of nuclear fission is that there was a lot of drama in the scientific community (I can’t speak on whether this is still the case today.) Even though she was the first to come up with the theory based on notes of experiments her old lab partner – Otto Hahn – would send her after she had to flee from Nazi Germany, he never gave her the credit she deserved. In fact, after he initially vaguely mentioned that she had helped him, he turned on her and said that she had hindered him from making the discovery and that it was only once she had left that he was able to figure out nuclear fission. Again, this is false because he would often write to her when he was confused about the outcome of his experiments, and she finally figured and hypothesized what was going on, and she and her nephew conducted experiments to confirm her theory.
While what Otto Hahn did was reprehensible, in some ways it seems at first he was only doing it to save his own skin, and ally himself to the Nazis, especially since he had worked with Meitner for so long and she was considered a Jew by the Nazis. I think because she had been deemed inhuman due to her heritage he felt that it was okay to do this, even though they had worked together for 30 years. Unfortunately, this also meant that for many years, Lise Meitner did not get the credit she deserved because Hahn had done what he could to discredit all of her previous work with him. After the end of World War II he was given an opportunity to give her credit, instead he once again betrayed his old colleague and friend and accused her of being a bitter women who had stood in his way of discovering nuclear fission.
Even though this is a non-fiction book, the main theme of this book is probably how women have made discoveries that changed the world, but yet very few of them are known to us today due to various reasons. In Irene Curie’s case it was due to who her parents are, but yet here and her husband discovered ho to make artificial radioactivity, as well as find ways to harness nuclear fission so that it could be used as a “cleaner” source of electricity. Something else that stands out is how both Curie and Meitner were opposed to their discoveries being used to create the atomic bomb and being used as a weapon of mass destruction. It’s just fascinating, and one can imagine, horrifying to see something you discovered to be used in such a destructive way. However, their discoveries changed the world in other ways, for example, a lot of people rely on nuclear energy to power their homes, and it has been used as a safer way of powering submarines. The world has indeed changed a lot due to these discoveries.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, especially since it is on a subject matter that I really enjoy reading and learning more about! I highly recommend this if you are interested in learning more about some the history behind radioactivity, but also just about these two women! 5/5 Stars.
Today’s review is on The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson.
The Hand on the Wall picks up several days after the end of The Vanishing Stair, and we find Stevie reeling after discovering that her advisor, Dr. Fenton, was killed in a house fire. However, she has also solved the Ellingham case, but has yet to tell anyone. She also has a feeling that Dr. Fenton’s death was not an accident, just like Hayes’ and Elements deaths weren’t just accidents as they appear to be. But with an impending snow storm, all the students are evacuated from Ellingham, however Stevie decides to stay in order to catch a killer.
This last book in the story arc was pretty good, I was intrigued throughout the whole book, especially when Stevie starts putting the clues together. I do wish we could have gotten the culprit’s testimony, but everything we know about their actions is based on Stevie’s deductive reasoning, however I do wish more of the gaps had been filled in, but I also understand why the author chose not to go in that direction.
I’m not going to divulge who the culprit is because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who might be interested in reading this series, I got spoiled for who it was and I regret it because think it was a great pay off for those who do not know who it is.
We also start to see Stevie lose her grip already and it is understandable with what she has experienced over the last few months. I felt that he panic attacks made sense. I also loved how she revels the culprit in the same way that Hercule Poirot, or Sherlock Holmes, in that she explains the details that pertinent to the reveal. I also love how the author uses detective fiction plot devices, such as the red herring throughout the series.
Also, am I the only one that thinks David is a jerk? Sure, I get has daddy issues, but he treats Stevie like garbage for most of the book, and the reason for it is stupid…and then they get together at the end of the book.
I also liked the segments we get from a diary kept by one of the students back in 1936, I also liked how we get interludes from different times when the Ellinghams were still alive, and we find out what happened to Alice.
Overall, a solid conclusion to a great series. However, I do know that is going to be another book in which we follow Stevie try to solve another cold case. It sounds fascinating and I am looking forward to reading it. 4/5 Stars.
Today’s review is on The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson.
The Vanishing Stair picks up shortly after the end of Truly Devious. Stevie is back home in Pittsburgh. She longs to go back to Ellingham Academy, but her parents won’t let her, that is until Senator Edward King – whom they worship and adore – comes and makes Stevie and offer to go back. Stevie jumps at the change to back to Ellingham, even though it involves making a deal with a moan she cannot stand. She arrives back one campus even more determined to find out who Truly Devious is, as well as finding out what actually happened to Element. She also gets paired with one of the top scholars on the Ellingham case and becomes her assistant. Stevie follows some new leads on the case and hopes to be able to solve it before tragedy strikes again.
Even though this book suffered from the common second book slump, it was still a captivating installment in the series. I enjoyed watching Stevie try to solve the case, even though it forced her to get her hands dirty. I also liked how we see more of the anxiety she constantly deals with and how she copes with it.
David Eastman is an interesting character because while there is chemistry between him and Stevie, he is also a jerk to her. And I think he also overreacted with the stuff involving his dad, but then again, I have never been the child of a politician.
I also enjoyed getting to know the new characters we were introduced to: Mudge, the Disney World fanatic (as a huge Disney fan I approve!); Dr. Fenton, the scholar of the case; and Hunter, Dr. Fenton’s nephew. I hope we get to see more of them in the next book. I also found it interesting that Stevie finds out who Truly Devious is, but yet there is still more about the Ellingham case that needs to be uncovered.
Overall, I liked this installment and I dove into the next book as soon as I was finished with this one. 3.5/5 Stars.
Today’s review is on Truly Devious Maureen Johnson.
Ellingham Academy was started by an eccentric millionaire who wanted to create an academy where students could come and learn at their own pace and learn subjects that they are passionate about. He was also a lover of puzzles, and he made sure that the academy was full of puzzles and secret passageways that people could solve. However, disaster soon struck when his wife and daughter are kidnapped and the case was never solved.
Fast forward to the present day and we are introduced to Stevie Bell who is obsessed with true-crime podcasts and mystery novels. Her dream is to become a detective like her fictional hero, Sherlock Holmes. When she hears about Ellingham Academy and the cold case that is in its history, she sees this as a chance to finally solve a crime. However, she’ll discover that solving ninety year old murder is not as easy as it seems, and things get even more sinister when one of the students is found dead, and a letter shows up signed by the kidnapper from ninety years ago, Truly Devious.
Maureen Johnson does a good job of creating the characters in this novel, especially Stevie. There are a lot of great quotes describing her, one in particular that stands out was, “Stevie Bell had a simple desire: she wanted to be standing over a dead body” (38). It sounds ominous, but yet it describes Stevie’s love for mysteries and her desire to solve a crime. We also get to spend a lot of time in her head and watch her as she arrives at Ellingham Academy, and even how she suffers from Imposter Syndrome because she thinks that her classmates are very smart and talented and she is just very into true crime and solving murders. Stevie is also described as being more antisocial and, in some ways obsessed with murders, “Stevie had no fears of the dead. The living, however, sometimes gave her the creeps” (154).
One of the major themes of Truly Devious is that of games and games taking a twisted turn, especially when the dead body shows up and Stevie feels like she is being watched, “Games are not fun when you don’t know you’re playing” (194). This could be the theme of the novel, especially when we go back in time to when Albert Ellingham is being contacted by Truly Devious and he is trying to find his wife and daughter before time runs out. The theme of games is further explored throughout the novel in that all the characters are described as playing the game whether they like it or not. Stevie only realizes that a game is afoot right before the murder takes place. Ellingham Academy was also founded on the premise of fames, a lot of the guests that would visit would partake in the games that Ellingham created just for them.
There are also a lot of references to detective fiction, because they have had a huge influence on Stevie’s character. The two detectives characters that are mentioned throughout the book are Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot and how Stevie tries to emulate their crime solving tactics. It is also fascinating that A Study of Scarlet is a piece of evidence from one of the Ellingham murders.
Overall, Truly Devious is a great novel, especially as an introduction to the mystery novel for those that are new to it. And I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series very soon! 4/5 Stars.
Meanderings of a BookWorm 