#Jessica knoll

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June 22nd 💕

Books, flowers, art, colour, cats and comfort are key things for this summer.

🎧 the louvre by lorde

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Everyone should stop what they're doing and read Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll.

It's brilliant. It's so emotional - when I finished it, I was sat there in bitter-sweet awe. Gosh damn, what a book!

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Bright Young Women | Author: Jessica Knoll | Publisher: Simon & Schuster (2022)

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Fan Cast: The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll

Fan Cast: Brett Courtney - Barbie Ferreira Kelly Courtney - Maiara Walsh Stephanie Simmons - Teyonah Parris Lauren Bunn - Halston Sage Jen Greenberg - Emma Dumont Vince DeMarco - Toby Leonard Moore Jesse Barnes - Debi Mazar Lisa - Kristin Chenoweth Arch - Ritu Arya Dr. Chugh - Archie Panjabi Yvette Greenberg - Parker Posey Satya - Ace Bhatti

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A cualquiera se le habría roto el corazón con solo mirarle.

La chica que lo tenia todo - Jessica Knoll

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Suspense Readalikes: The Luckiest Girl Alive and Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

In The Luckiest Girl Alive, by Jessica Knoll,  TifAni never speaks about the awful secrets in her past. She’s rebranded herself as upscale Ani, with a high-powered magazine job, an eating disorder, and blue-blood fiancé. But a new movie about the horrific school attack she survived years ago threatens to unearth all her secrets. In Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead, by Jenny Hollander, Charlie…

[the-lost-get-loud]

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My Book of the Month books arrived!!! September is my month of thrillers!

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Luckiest Girl Alive Movie Review

Luckiest Girl Alive centers on Ani FaNelli, a sharp-tongued New Yorker who appears to have it all: a sought-after position at a glossy magazine, a killer wardrobe, and a dream Nantucket wedding on the horizon. But when the director of a crime documentary invites her to tell her side of the shocking incident that took place when she was a teenager at the prestigious Brentley School, Ani is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.            

Trigger Warnings: rape, school shooting

Luckiest Girl Alive is a fantastic, yet horrifying, film. What makes it even worse is that the screenwriter (and author of the novel) Jessica Knoll actually experienced much of what young Ani went through. I was absolutely mesmerised and genuinely couldn’t look away from this film which merges a well written plot with brilliant characterisation. Mila Kunis and Chiara Aurelia (as young Ani) are absolutely phenomenal in their roles and completely bring this film to life. Without their talent, Luckiest Girl Alive would fall flat, because it demands the right touch in order to portray a dizzying array of emotions and trauma responses. They hit the nail on the head each and every time. I immediately added the book to my TBR.

Luckiest Girl Alive goes back and forth between past and present, in order to increase suspense and mystery, as with each reveal the audience is able to slowly piece events together. The shifts between past and present are practically seamless. You get the sense that just as the audience is learning something new about Ani’s past, Ani herself is re-living it. This is the perfect way to present new information to the audience, often through a memory that has been triggered, or ways in which a loud noise or argument can re-traumatise her.

I love that Ani’s narration is such an important aspect of the film, because it allows the audience to see the real Ani whilst she is portraying an idealised image to the world. Ani doesn’t accept or show her true self until the end of the film, meanwhile we come to know and love her along this journey of hers. She thinks no one will ever love and accept her real self and so she creates a persona. I love Ani’s voice – she is blunt and sarcastic and often mean. But she’s also a young woman struggling to survive after some seriously traumatic events and holding on in whatever ways she can, even if they aren’t always positive. Her characterisation hits the right balance, because you cannot help but love Ani and sympathise with her, even when she is behaving negatively and hurting others. Because from the beginning it is clear she’s trying to protect herself, even if some of her survival strategies are toxic. And by the film’s end, she owns her actions.

This film has a lot to say about victim blaming and the lack of belief in sexual assault victims. Most significantly, the persona Ani creates is a way to protect herself and ensure she is the kind of person whose story will not be dismissed. It’s upsetting and maddening that she feels she has to hide her real self to do this. But she’s reacting to the reality that so few women are believed, especially given one of her rapists is a well respected member of society. Even the people who are supposed to love her fail her in every conceivable way, from her mother who acts like she’s some kind of slut, to her incredibly dismissive fiance. I just can’t get over how she compares herself to a wind-up doll, “turn my key and I’ll tell you exactly what you wanna hear.” It’s just brilliant.

The best part of this film is its ending. Ani’s problems aren’t magically solved, and people still hate her, including for finally telling the full truth. But crucially, she has decided to live her truth and be honest with herself. It’s not about simply moving on like her fiance had suggested – it’s about accepting herself and working to move forward in her life. Which she does.

I actually can’t put into words how much I don’t think this review can do the film justice. It’s genuinely well worth a watch, but please keep in mind that there are scenes that include rape and a school shooting which could be triggering for some people.

[klainesheilen]

books read in September

In September I was able to get so much reading done. 10 books yet most of them were for uni. I will give my thoughts mostly to my personal reads but I will add the uni reads too, who knows maybe you are interested in sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome.

read

Unlearn Patriarchy 2 by various authors

Started the month strong with a 5 star read. I listened to the first part as an audiobook and really enjoyed it, so I obviously had to get my hands on the second part. One again there are various authors talking about various topics: law, finances and disability, just to mention some. These were topics where I could already see how patriarchy is represented in the society and how an why this could/has developed through time. It was interesting to learn and see new views, that helped me reflect on myself. But when I started the chapter about architecture, I am not gonna lie, my first thought after the introduction was “ok, but mayyyybe we are getting a little too far into fuck the patriarchy here”. Surprisingly no. There is no “too far” of unlearning patriarchy, when it benefits just a handful of people and disadvantages so many more.

It is a really nice and easy read to see what and where the problems are in our (yet mostly German focused) society.

Lysistrate by Aristophanes

This was a uni read, but it was the only one that I had to read that I actually enjoyed. It’s a play in which women go into a sex strike to force their men to find a solution to the war that is going on. It has some funny moments and it is easy to read. Besides that it really shows the power dynamic between women and men, which makes it sad because we still have this power structure going on OVER 2000 YEARS LATER. In my opinion I’d like someone else more if they told me that they read Lysistrate rather than Homer’s Odyssey or Iliad.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

This. Was. Amazing. I was hooked from start to finish. It does a great job in portraying how it is to be a women. Surely, the time it takes place is a different one, but I could see myself in the main character represented. It shows how journalism can fail someone, because they are focusing at the wrong topics, as well as the failure of police work. 4.75 stars.

Kosoko Jackson’s The Forest Demands Its Due

I think that I am just so done with “I am just an ordinary person, so why ME?” fantasy books. I read way too many of these books when I was a teen and YA. Surely, mostly of them were about white 17y/o girls, so I am happy that we are getting more books with queer and/or bipoc people as the main character. Yet the trope stays the same. If you aren’t fed up with this trope yet I’d still recommend it to you. Especially now at this time of season I’d say it’s a great read ! 3.75 stars for me, but objectively it’s a 4 star.

Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell

This one is tough. I enjoyed reading it, but only because I read most of it as a satire. You can’t convince me that THIS is supposed to be a thriller. The main character doesn’t use her brain. AT ALL. She sees the read flags, recognizes them and still decides to do nothing. Also the plot twist was predictable and what happened at the last few pages throw me completely off. 2.5 stars.

uni reads

Catull’s Carmilla: various poems about sexuality, love, sex

Platon’s Symposion: various people (mostly men) talking about the meaning of Eros

I read a book of essays by Chrostoph Horn that are about Platon’s Symposion

Hippolytos by Euripides

Apuleius’ Metamorphose: I hated to read it. The whole time I complained to my bf about it. So many adventures that are not linked to another. Slow pace. Thou, I can recommend the Armor and Psyche tale which is told.

current reads

The End of Alice by A.M Homes

This is disgusting to read. It reminds of Lolita, but the author does such a great job to make it so uncomfortable to read that I had to take breaks, because I couldn’t believe what my eyes just read.

dnfed

Complete collection of E.A. Poe

It’s good to read Poe’s works one at a time and not one after another. So I don’t know if I can really say that I dnfed it or rather paused it. Because I do enjoyed them, but I am not that kind of person who likes to get in and out of short stories so quickly. It destroys the dark, creepy feeling one gets while reading it.

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“It was one of those awful moments where you have no control over your reaction, when the pain is too exposed to hide”

-Jessica Knoll

“Luckiest Girl Alive.”

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Favorite Sister | Author: Jessica Knoll | Publisher: Simon & Schuster (2018)

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Escape the Readathon Update #2

Escape the Readathon is a readathon created by Lexie from Books with Lexie and co-hosted by many others in the BookTube and Bookstagram community. This year it’s about escaping a haunted carnival. There are prompts, but they’re pretty open and you don’t have to read solely horror/thriller/mystery to participate in this readathon. For more info, here’s the link to the announcement video Lexie did…