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[rvnxclw]

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this book came highly recommended on my to-read list and i think for a very good reason. this read had been a rollercoaster ride, but riveting and also languid in a sense that each incident occurring in the book left you hungry for more. it’s a mark of a good book, i must admit, and this is definitely something up my alley, especially with the overarching smash-the-patriarchy vibe that it seemed to exude. the politics is something that i’d rather not discuss within these confines but it is very interesting how women, at their very essence, in this book are enslaved to being baby-making machines (they’re the handmaids, long story short) and i felt like this mirrored the values held by many traditional societies in this day. even mine.

the dystopia in the handmaid’s tale is cleverly interwoven with politics, governance and what is politics without women or the basic policing of women’s rights and bodies, right? set in a totalitarian state in some western society, everything i mentioned earlier was evident in this book and it shook me to the core to read some of the ordeals that the women of this society went through. detailed through a first-person narration by a handmaid named offred (odd name only because these handmaids are stripped off their birth names and named after men they serve - of fred means this handmaid belongs to fred; you get the gist), the story talks about her experience being a handmaid, being “chosen” as one of the ladies who serve the society’s elite families because she had ~healthy reproductive system~ and therefore could help with the declining birth rate since their actual wives could not (bc of reasons like infertility, age, etc). 

offred’s experiences included the secret meetings she had with the Commander, an obvious authoritative figure, where they played scrabble. spending time with the commander left offred with a lulling, placating effect, especially with the little gifts he brought her, and i think she momentarily forgot her status as a handmaid and her purpose in the grand scheme of things in that society. she was sleeping with the enemy and she did not see this for the fact that the commander treated her nicely, hiding the fact that the last time he did this with the previous handmaid, it did not end well at all. 

the ending of this book left me with many questions and i felt a heavy resignation at the fact that offred’s experiences were but cassette tapes recordings and the book was some sort of a transcript of her experiences as a handmaid. the book ended with a present day lecturer teaching about that society and using offred’s recordings as part of his lecture, diminishing the legitimacy of the recording simply because she was a handmaid and that very position and the nature of the source left it very biased. i am however really interested in watching the series to get the closure i wanted lol... i really wanted to know what happened to offred and there are too many gaps in her story that needed a lot more explanation than constant flashbacks to her past life before becoming a handmaid.

[rvnxclw]

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i’ve always wanted to try reading the classics bc a lot of modern lit takes reference from them and idk, sometimes i’m curious when they do that so for a while now, i’ve started uploading the classics to my kindle in hopes that i’d start. and i did, with jane eyre, and boy do i enjoy it. i had read wuthering heights by emily bronte before (for a levels eng lit) and while i do enjoy reading i do not prefer it to jane eyre. the latter’s a great intro to the classics methinks because it’s got the bildungsroman theme rly well + gothic romance & it’s quite forward thinking for something’s that set in the victorian era. 

jane eyre’s formidable character despite her abusive and tragic childhood was impressive and it got even better when she was sent to school where she excelled and became a governess. despite being orphaned and barely getting any love from her aunt’s family, she steadily grew to be a an educated lady that’s full of grace but also someone who’s strong on her own two feet. 

there’s romance in the story too and many a times when i came across some passionate lines, i had to stop a while to gather my emotions (HAHAHHA, very dramatic i know but this book is full of drama ok!!! i am not an unfeeling robot i must let these emotions out!!!) because i felt like i grew together with jane in the course of the book; when she gushed abt her love for John Rochester (her love in this novel), i too gush along with her hahaha... she’s really very sweet and throughout the book, whenever something untoward happened to her, i’d fret and wish that it’d get better. 

there’s a tiiiny bit of supernatural theme going on but nothing too spooky. some of the heavier parts of the book revealed a lot about the characters and illuminated, too, on their backgrounds and history which made the novel hard to put down because you just want to learn more about them. also, a bit of a plot twist in what’s supposed to be the greatest event in jane’s life in the book and i’m still reeling lmaaaooo because i completely didn’t expect it! or maybe i haven’t been paying attention... but still. it’s a great twist and i’m so glad that all was well in the end and i felt that jane did get the good ending that she so deserved. i’d be so sad if it ended on a bad note for her bc she honestly suffered a lot :(

all in all, this has been an enjoyable read and i’d recommend it to someone who’s just started reading the classics (like me)! just the right amount of drama and romance and lets you have a good insight into the class structures etc during the era that this novel is set in.

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the art of crash landing by melissa decarlo

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it took me a long while to finish this read, not bc it was particularly boring that i dreaded reading it nor was it bc it was so good that i was trying to savor it. more like i couldn’t wrap my head around lots of the issues talked about here which i felt it was largely because of the main character’s serious lack of self-awareness + how... irresponsible/selfish she is at dealing with adversities. she’s reckless, irresponsible (there, i said it again) and it frustrates me to no end that she’s seemingly getting into more trouble than what she already was in.

mattie wallace was orphaned when her mother died, leaving her with her stepfather, queeg, who tried his best to care for her but to no avail. i believe mattie was born out of a casual relationship which also explains her absent biological father. the book began with detailing abt how she just got out of a troubled relationship with boyfriend Nick, pregnant (of course she is bc why wouldn’t she be?! the premise of this story is not that unpredictable tbh) and broke. She received information that her maternal grandmother left her some inheritance and she sets out to get it, thinking that it could help her situation. so the book was mostly about her misadventures in her grandmother’s/mother’s old town where she met their neighbors and old friends and learnt a little more about her family history. the book had long parts talking abt her mother’s life before she was pregnant with her and her curious disappearance from the town so i guess there’s a slight sense of mystery set in the book, too, though it wasn’t exactly the most suspenseful one i’ve read.

i felt as though i could get past most of the writing but the plot wasn’t really my thing, especially when the author grazed over a lot of the details about mattie’s character as well as the people around her. mattie’s ‘complex’ character may be considered well-drawn for some but it didn’t buy me over. the romance in the book was a little out of place for me as well so i couldn’t fully appreciate it.

in all honesty, it’s not compelling enough for me although i found this just a tiny bit moving. i’d rate this 2/5 for its easy read tho and if you’re looking for something quick to pass your time with.