This weeks book review is on Divergent by Veronica Roth.
Keith read this book first because he saw the trailer for the movie. I had no intention of reading it until one day, he was taking a long time to go somewhere and the book HAPPENED to be sitting on the counter next to me. I started reading on a Thursday night, and finished it Sunday evening.
I love books like this. The ones that are impossible to put down. I read in every spare moment, in the bathtub, while I was cooking dinner, at bed time, waiting at the eye doctor with my mom. I just read and read.
LOVED every second of it. The first chapter had me so involved that I couldn't stop reading.
Then it gets REALLY good, there is a little love, a little fighting, and a lot of really great story lines.
When I saw this book, I was like "Oh great, another Hunger Games knock-off, but BOY was I wrong. This was nothing like the Hunger Games and dare I say, it was even better.
Synopsis:
In this post-apocolyptic world, society is divided into five factions.
Abnegation (the selfless)
Erudite (the knowledge seekers)
Dauntless (the brave)
Amity (the peacemakers/peacekeepers)
Candor (the honest)
Tris is a young Abnegation girl who has reached the age where she must take the Aptitude Test to determine which faction she truly belongs to. I won't spoil it.
She takes the test, and chooses a faction. Then she makes some friends, and has to go through initiation. She finds a boy named Four, and he is awesome ((I told Keith that I have a fiction crush on him) and I actually had a dream about him last night!) He and she get through a bunch of stuff, and then crap gets real.
I can't tell you anymore because I don't want to spoil it. So go read this book because I give it a 5/5 stars!
It is so well written, and the way Veronica Roth describes and writes about things, it makes it seem like I am there, and I can actually see and feel everything that happens.
The movie came out on March 21, 2014. I plan to write a review on the movie as soon as I see it.
I'll let you know, until then... Watch the trailer.
I recently read My Story by Elizabeth Smart and Chris Stewart.
When I decided to read this book, I had heard a lot about it. I remember when Elizabeth Smart got kidnapped, it was all over the local and national news, and it hit especially hard since I live in Utah, and am just a few years younger than Elizabeth.
I started reading and was almost immediately enthralled in the story. It was captivating. BUT, this book is not very well written. In other reviews I've read, the blame is on the Ghost writer Chris Stewart.
There are WAY too many exclamation points, and it is written in a very naive tone.
The story is amazing, and I really enjoyed the book. The writing style was just not quite my forte`.
The book is also written so that it seems like the entire time, she is trying to convince readers and herself that she doesn't nor did she ever have Stockholm Syndrome (when a kidnap victim feels some sort of affection or attachment to her captors.) I don't feel like she needed to explain herself so much. She was a child, she was afraid for her life. The end. I felt like she spent most of her time explaining why she did what she did, and that she was acting out of fear, not out of affection.
It did keep me at the edge of my seat. She has many close encounters where she was ALMOST rescued, but something always stepped in the way.
Synopsis:
Elizabeth Smart was a young Mormon girl from Utah who was taken from her bed that she shared with her sister. She was taken in the middle of the night by a man named Brian David Mitchell. He claimed to be "Emmanuel, prophet of the lord" He insisted that the lord had commanded him to take Elizabeth to be the first of 7 virgin child brides. He took her, married her, and abused her for 9 months while his wife, Wanda Barzee helped conceal his secret, and watched the abuse.
They lived in the mountains in a secluded camp above Salt Lake for a while, and then as winter approached, they left Utah for the warmer weather in California.
During this 9 months several people approached Mitchell and inquired as to Elizabeth's identity, but somehow, Mitchell would always get out of it...
Great story. Writing Style... not so much.
Over all, I give this book 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
I would recommend this book for the story line, but not for the writing style.
I am terrible at routines. Seriously, I can't do routines. I'm not talking about dance, I'm talking about life. I don't get up at the same time everyday. I don't have a specific go-to-bed routine. I don't have a specific routine for anything. I'm trying to fix that. I was doing pretty good at blogging every weekday.. Until like two days ago...
So... This blog post will make up for those two lost days.
I couldn't think of anything to blog about... so I googled it (welcome to the digital native era) (Digital Native: Noun. A creative term used by my Social Media Marketing professor to mean, we were born into technology, and it is a part of us. Synonym: Teenager. Antonym: My mom. See Digital Immigrant.)
{The Tips}
I found this article. It really helped me. So.. check it out.
Anyway, I decided on the review topic for today's blog post.
{The Review}
Today, I am going to review a movie that I saw this last weekend that I have been waiting to see since Christmas.
{Les Miserables}
This is the trailer.
If you haven't seen this movie. GO BUY A TICKET RIGHT NOW!
It was fantastic... No, not fantastic. It was beyond explanation. It was amazing. I've seen several stage productions of this show. I've read the book. I've watched the 1998 version-see film clip below- (and hated it) and I was very ready to be thoroughly disappointed. I had read several reviews that said that Russell Crowe was horrid. But I went because I LOVE Les Mis.
The movie started and with the opening titles and the prisoners performance of Look Down... I was hooked, wide eyed, and awestruck.
This movie is a must see.
If you aren't familiar with the story, I'll fill you in.
Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is a man who was imprisoned for 20 years for stealing a loaf of bread (yeah, talk about cruel and unusual punishment). When he gets out on parole, he knows he will never live a normal life because he will always be a "prisoner." He knows his jailer Javert (Russell Crowe) will be sure that the rest of his life, he is a criminal. He comes to a town where a priest takes him in and feeds him and gives him a place to stay. Jean Valjean steals the man's silver. Leaving only the candlesticks behind. When the police catch him and bring his to the priest to confess. The priest says that he gave Jean Valjean the silver but he forgot to take the candlesticks. All the priest asked for in return was that Jean Valjean use the silver to make a better life for himself. He rips up his parole papers and starts anew. (Illegal, yes, the right thing.. of course!). He becomes the Mayor of a town. This is where Fantine (Anne Hathaway) comes in, she has a daughter, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), that she left with an inn keeper and his wife so she could go work so that her daughter could have a life. At first Fantine works in a factory, then a dumb lady turns her into the foreman. The foreman fires her. (The mayor didn't save her.) So she has to sell her hair (which was GORGEOUS!!) and turns to prostitution to feed her daughter. She gets VERY sick and Jean Valjean learns about her, and tries to help her. That was until Javert discovered that the Mayor was indeed the escaped convict Jean Valjean. Javert vows to bring Valjean down. Valjean insists to Fantine that he will watch out for Cosette and she will never have to want for a thing in her life. He escapes from the town after Fantine dies, and goes to find where Cosette is living.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine singing "I Dreamed a Dream"
She is staying with Thenardier (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Madame Thenardier (Helen Bonham Carter) and their daughter Eponine (Samantha Barks). They steal all the money that Fantine was sending for Cosette. So Valjean pays them off and takes Cosette and makes her his own daughter and takes excellent care of her. They start a new life. They live in peace until one day, the French Revolution was starting to become a thing. Cosette catches the eye of a handsome rebel, Marius (Eddie Redmayne). Its love at first sight. Except that Javert was also at the square and he thought he recognized Valjean. Thenardier also recognizes him and vows to catch him and take what (they think) is theirs.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Helen Bonham Carter
as Master and Madame Thenardier
"Master of the House"
Young Cosette (super cute) singing Castle on a Cloud
Jean Valjean and Young Cosette
Eponine was in love with Marius but she got friend-zoned. She decided she was okay with Cosette and Marius being in love... but like any normal girl would do, she tucked her hair in a hat and pretended to be a boy and joined the revolution.
Marius and Eponine singing "Fall of Rain"
Jean Valjean finds out that someone has caught onto him, so he tells Cosette they need to leave. Cosette is heart broken to leave Marius. That night (conveniently) the French Revolution starts, and Marius sends Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone)--CUTEST LITTLE BOY EVER-- to deliver a letter to Cosette but Jean Valjean gets it and reads that Marius is in love with Cosette, he is a little sad (as would be any dad) but decides he won't be around forever so Cosette would need someone to take care of her after he died. So he goes down to the revolution to give Marius his permission. I won't tell you the exact details of this part cause it would ruin it. But Marius gets hurt and Jean Valjean has to rescue him. Carries him through the sewers etc. Anyway.. stuff happens....
Cosette and Marius singing "Heart Full of Love"
I can't give away the ending but I'll add this song because it was great.
I hope I didn't giveaway too much.
It was hard to explain
It was great! I give this movie
10 STARS!!!
Now I will present you with some awesome Memes about les mis
favorite quote from the movie. I will post this in my child's room.
I love this song.
Movie poster
Seriously, take tissues
I have always loved these two! Master of the House!!
okay... I guess I'll stop... If you wanna see more... Check out my pinterest board
This weeks book review is on Divergent by Veronica Roth.
