Book Review: The Big Rewind by Libby Cudmore

Last night I finished the novel "The Big Rewind" by Libby Cudmore, found in print and Kindle.

To start, the book falls into a fun category that I call Hipster Mystery. The fun part of the book would be all of the entertainment references from the 80's, 90's to today. I will freely admit that I am more mainstream and at 35 years old had a few funny moments where I felt like Captain America "I got that reference!", but it is a fun run.

  At first glance, it really does seem like your average mystery novel that starts with a murder, but the main themes of this novel is not the goal of solving KitKat's murder. The murder is more of an underlining theme to draw Jett along, the main theme that I pulled from it is the different flavors of love.

 The murder occurs during a time in Jett's life when she is going through a transition, and having her first life crisis of what is she doing with her life, and when you go through something like that we often look backwards or pine for someone. That pining often holds us back from moving forward.   It struck me with how daring and forward Jett could be except for in her relationships.

  In all, the book was well-paced, well-written, fun, engaging, not your typical mystery, and possibly a hallmark of a new type of book that we can expect from 30 something's who are not the main stream.

Check out the book. I give it 5 stars.

Review of "Excellent Daughters" By Katherine Zoepf

"Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World" By Katherine Zoepf

First impression is that it is not really what I thought it would be. It is more this journalists view on her experiences and conversations with people (mostly women) there. Not to say that it isn't an interesting read, but it wasn't quite what I expected at first.

Also, I found the first chapter in particular very sad, considering what has been happening in Syria more recently. I cannot even imagine what it would be like ... for someone who came from Damascus to read the book and be able to connect to what the author was saying while also being a refugee in another country.

I find so many views on women in the middle east disturbing, especially the honor killings. On the one hand, I can try to understand the reasoning as an empathic person, but it is terrifying that it is so accepted by so many. How can someone not see how murdering someone could be considered wrong?

Especially and in particular when they did nothing wrong and were victims. Or forcing a girl to marry someone who raped them.

I just don't understand that mindset. I don't understand the absolute lack of empathy or compassion to allow such actions to occur.

In the end, it was still a valuable read because of the viewpoint it was being told from. It was easy for me to connect to the writer because she and I have similar viewpoints on things and try to keep an open mind (the kind conservatives say will fall out of my head, luckily it hasn't done that yet).

Last night I actually considered a world in which I had a male guardian who "lovingly" made sure I was safe and was the one who gave me permission to leave the house, go to school, get married.

As someone who probably had less adult supervision and definitely less guidance than I should have as a young person, I can see the value in that. But I can also see the danger, with all of the horrible stories that sets women up for. But what really concerns me is neither of those, but that as a feminist woman, the idea that I cannot make decisions for my own life is deeply unsettling. Why should men be able to make decisions for themselves but not men?

Another thing that struck me as a personal revelation is the fact that I have always been a fan of bringing democracy (really social democracy but let's move on haha) to all countries and I wish sometimes it could move faster. The one thing this book has shown me, and particularly in the last chapter, is how different cultures are. Sometimes things have to move slowly and they will not look the way they would here, and maybe that is okay. Who am I to judge for them, because forcing a belief system on people is just as repugnant an idea to me?

Conclusion:
This book was fairly easy to read, would jump around a little (which was unfortunate), but generally you got the idea of where she was going. It is more the author's experiences in Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia during a certain time period. It was filled with fascinating anecdotes, stories that both contradicted the authors ideas in eye-opening ways and supported her ideas. There are surprises and disappointments. But.. maybe more this is a book about humanity through women's eyes in these countries. What do you think?

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Last week I invested in a 782 page hard-back novel called "The Passage". Though a little slow at first, I was not so sure about the vampire label it had, it did pick up and keep my interest enough that I finished it off after 4 days with satisfaction. I have to say that though dark this book held commendable elements of humanity, horror, love, suspense, and delved deeply into what it actually means to be a human being.

Who are human beings? Who are we? The basic premise of "The Passage" was that scientists in South America are attacked by bats who carried a virus that could turn humans into a vampire-like creature who craved blood. The US government tested criminals with this virus in an effort to create a chemical that would cure all diseases and help humans live for hundreds of years, rather then just a hundred years. Flawed, of course, since the first ones tested are hardened murderers who were to be put to death and these are exactly the type of people we want to live forever.

Finally, they test a little girl named Amy, who was abandoned by her mother (not willingly so do not be harsh on that poor woman!). It almost seems as if Justin is starting to introduce fate. Amy has an otherwordly side to her, as do her rescuers.

So the world as we know it ends, humans are mostly killed off, and these vampire creatures who used to be our brother's, sister's, mother's, and father's are controlled by the original 12 creatures in a hive-like way.

The main group of characters are not defined until halfway into the book (which is considerable) but this also sets up a good deal of history and mystery. Suspense is the name of the game for this book and though long it does a good job. I did read one review that likened this book as simply a way to pay the bills for the author but I really do not believe that to be the case.

Delve into the book, discover each of the character's and watch them change and their understanding of the world changes. Peter, Michael, Theo, Maus, Alicia, Sanjay, all of these characters are manipulated but by who? Is everyone being manipulated? What does Amy want? What can she do? I look forward to the next book in the series.

A few books that I am going to be posting on:

1) "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

2) The first few books of the House of Night Series by P.C. Cast and her daughter Kristin Cast.

3) "Lonely: A Memoir" by Emily White

4) "Someone Knows My Name" by Lawrence Hill

See you soon!