Friday Reviews

Friday Reviews Week 11

November 11th- 17th, 2017

Book 1: All the Wind in the World by Samantha Mabry

Narrated by Maria Cabezas

Listened to November 3rd-12th
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The Characters:
First of all, I want to say that I don't like how at the beginning of this book we believe that the narrator and her boyfriend are cousins. It is not until a little bit in that we find out that they actually are just pretending to be cousins to stay safe. This was something that at first made me not really interested in listening further. I am glad that I continued.

Our narrator, Sarah Jac and her boyfriend, James are trying very hard to survive in the bone-dry Southwest. They work hard in the maguey fields trying to earn money so that they can eventually get enough to get a home for themselves. After a horrible accident at the ranch at the beginning of the novel, they are forced to flee. They travel to the Real Marvelous, a supposedly cursed ranch. Slowly the ranch and the people there start to take over their minds. Their plan for a future with each other seems to fade away with what is actually happening at the ranch.

Over the course of the novel, we find out bits and pieces of their past. It really helps add to each of their characters and their story as a whole. I loved the way Samantha Mabry told this story and could not get enough of the narrative. Sarah Jac is not a perfect character and does many actions that get her and James into trouble. It was probably the best part of this book being in her head and seeing her every thought. She really was a great, developed character.

The Setting:
The visuals that Samantha Mabry creates in this story are incredible. The imagery throughout the book is stunning and this was something that made me really like this book. I have not read many books set in the Southwest like this. It was interesting learning about what Sarah Jac and James had to deal with throughout this book.

The best part of this book for me was the magical realism aspects. There is a large mystery of what is actually going on at the Real Marvelous and I kept wanting to listen to find out more. From chapter 6 until the end I was hooked in.

The Narration:
It took me quite some time to actually get into this novel, especially with the narrator, Maria Cabezas. They really picked the perfect person to narrate this book. Her voice not only felt genuine but also really felt like she was Sarah Jac. Sarah Jac is not a likable narrator at first and does not reveal information in a way that I would have expected. I at first did not really enjoy listening to her every thought and really could not stand her way of narrating. Then chapter six happened and I could not stop listening.  I went into the book expecting one thing but came out somewhat heartbroken and heavily moved by this girl. Maria's voice is soothing which really helps when she is describing the imagery that Samantha Mabry wrote in her book.

* I was given a copy of this book for an honest review. *

Book 2: Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories 
in 25 Words or Fewer 
Edited by Robert Swartwood
Read November 15th, 2017
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As a writer, I really love the idea of being able to tell a story with only a small amount of words. This book was marketed as an experiment based on the story that was supposedly by Ernest Hemingway, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn." I have myself always wanted to write my own six-word memoir and never have been able to write one that I felt fit perfectly. This book was more of the editor creating the hint fiction (25 words or less) with 125 stories by award-winning authors and also emerging writers. So when I saw this at a three dollar a bag sale, I put into my bag interested to read the little stories.

The stories were very strange to me and a good amount of them were just boring. I thought that this would be similar to the book of six-word memoirs that I read but most were not. The point that I always got out of these short stories was that they could stand by themselves and interest you to want to know more. That's the whole point of the one credited to Ernest Hemingway that I mentioned above. These really did not have that feel to them. Most don't even really tell a story.

There are three parts: Life & Death, Love & Hate, and This & That. In these parts mostly the stories focused on one topic. For instance, in Life & Death, almost all of the stories were depressing stories about death and not at all about life. 

That's not saying that there are not good ones in this collection because there are. This just really makes me want to write my own, maybe someday.