Sunday, August 7, 2016

Review: INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai



Rating: 3/5 stars

Written in verse, this book follows Hà, a young Vietnamese girl, through one year during the time of the Vietnam War. It is based on a true story of the author, Thanhha Lai, when she immigrated to Alabama from Vietnam. If read carefully, this book has a lot of deeper meaning to it than the words can simply tell you. It is full of culture. This book is really short and I recommend you read it in one sitting to get the most meaning from it.

Hà lives with her mother and three older brothers while their father fights in the war. They are a poor family living in a desperate situation, and you really get to see this through Hà's descriptions of food and her town and people. The war threatens Hà and her family to flee their home and board a ship in hope of a better life.

Hà said they were a poor family and each had only one pair of shoes. I have an aunt that is from Vietnam, and she told me a story of her childhood when her whole family had only one pair of shoes to share between all of them. I understand that this novel is based on the author's own experience, but her family must not have been as poor as others. It's interesting to me to compare these two experiences of life in Vietnam.

Being written in free verse really adds to the story. It helps you see inside the mind of ten-year-old Hà with her quick, sharp thoughts. I don't think there was any better way this story could have been told.

Review: EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by Seanan McGuire

Rating: 5/5 stars

This book started off in such an interesting way that I was instantly hooked. Seriously, if you're questioning whether or not to pick up this book, simply read the prologue and you'll be in for the whole book. 

Every Heart a Doorway is written in third-person omniscient point of view, which I thoroughly enjoyed because I don't see that very often. I can't decide if this book is magical realism or fantasy or a beautiful combination of both, but it's definitely something different in the best way. 

We start off hearing about Eleanor, the owner of a house for misguided children. We know right away how this isn't actually the case, though, how the children aren't really misguided. Children who have been to other worlds come to stay at her house, and she cares for them and understands them because she, too, has traveled to another world. 

Our main character is Nancy, a teen girl who has been to an underworld. The way she expresses her feelings of it being her home and wanting to go back are so beautiful that I wanted to go to the underworld with her. I love the way the characters interact with each other. I feel like I know each character so personally, even though the story is rather short. 

The descriptions in this book are wonderful. I loved how the author described what everyone was doing and thinking at the same time. The narration was written in such a way that I felt like I was personally connected with every character. It was incredible, and it's rare to see a book narrated so well. 

I would highly recommend this book. I was so excited to learn that it's the first in a series because I want to read so much more about this world and these characters.