Hello everyone! This post is about the novels that I have read and would recommend to you all! I generally read fiction novels and the genres I tend to enjoy are thrilling, fantasy and mysteries so feel free to give me some recommendations too!
Liking fiction or thrillers doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy other genres at all. I also love to read above therapists or game devs because I take a liking to psychology and gaming as well :)
The Silent Patient #
by Alex Michaelides #
This book had multiple elements that intrigued me. Psychologically thrilling and solving a mystery so bizarre that it makes you want to become a therapist-cum-detective like the protagonist Theo Faber who is determined to find out the truth about the killing Gabriel, who is the husband of the famous painter Alicia Berenson. The book doesn’t simply follow a ‘finding who did it’ pattern as Alicia has already admitted to the crime. The fact which surprised everyone was that she didn’t defend or protest when she was accused and simply accepted the accusations. Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, takes much interest in her case but the only problem? Alicia will not talk. No matter who approaches her, media, police, her inmates, she never responds. This book may not contain the drama and it may not be that pacey, but its still very addictive. It keeps you at the edge as Theo tries to find the truth of what really happened that night.
With its sizeable cast and various locations, you remain confused yet excited as to what will happen next. Although we stay the most with Theo but we still get to learn a lot about other characters, especially who Alicia, who talks through her art.
The way that the author has put different places, perspectives, timelines and people while still making it easy to understand and feeling excited for what is next to come is just brilliant and that is why this book is liked by so many people around the world.
Personally, I started reading this after a long break from reading books in general and I found it so easy to get hooked and I felt reading books all over again so I’d say this is also a great book if you are new to the genre or just new to reading in general.
I would rate the book a solid… drumroll 🥁 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A 4.75/5 (can not add .75 stars :p)
Goodreads users has rated it a
⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4.2/5
Extra Information #
Number of pages : 368 (paper back edition)
Price (on amazon) : ₹258 (paperback) ,
₹2,806 (hardcover)
E - book price : ₹217 (kindle edition)
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow #
by Gabrielle Zevin #
With “The Great Wave” by Katsushika Hokusai as its cover, T&T&T is one unique novel. Representing the genre of Adventure Fiction and Coming-of-age Romance, this book will surprise you with it’s sub-genres. This book is packed with a lot of emotions so you better be ready with your box of tissues 🙃
Following the story of the protagonist, Sam Masur, we get to read the aspiring game developer making progress in his field and the challenges faced by him in both his personal and his professional life. When he sees Sadie Green on the subway platform, he is instantly taken back to the time when he was hospitalized after his accident when he was just a 12 year old kid, when he met her for the first time. He finds out that Sadie is attending university near his block and also… that she has a boyfriend.
Marx, Sam’s roommate, tried Sadie’s game, which she gave to Sam before leaving the subway, with Sam and both of them absolutely loved it. Sam then thought of partnering up with Sadie to make games together.
The book is not just about making video games or 2 young adults falling in love as I thought it would be… It is so much more. The sentiments displayed by humans in accordance to different relations and how they change with time have been pleasingly portrayed.
Sam’s story has been told delightfully as well. Not just the present but the past as well. The storyline of the book discusses a huge timeline of the protagonist’s life. From his past, and how he came to be what he is, to what his decisions and actions lead him to become, we get to really understand the character.
The part in the middle got a bit boring for me as I was expecting more addition of the game-makers perspective. The author has added all the realistic problems that is faced by young adults making a game company but I would have enjoyed reading more about them making the game and playing the game rather than reading about the pressure and stress that comes with making a video game. My personal favorite part of the book was when Sadie was playing an RPG game and we were reading the story as her playable character. As a gamer myself, it was entertaining to read from the perspective of a character in-game.
The character development in this book is phenomenal. As I said, the book covers a good chunk of the lives of the protagonists (including Sadie), so we get to see them evolve as characters. It is very refreshing to see the interactions between the characters because they represent a lot of our real life situations. It’s not always love and support that we feel even for our loved ones. There are times when we disagree and even fight over things as is very well depicted by the author.
There are a LOT of characters in this book. A lot of them join very late in the book and some of time appear for very short durations but their own life and problems are also interesting to navigate.
My favorite character was Marx. He was a whole lot better than both Sam and Sadie (in my opinion) in all respects. Keeping the team together, taking responsibility, being helpful and caring and patient with everyone. His character was very well written and the change reflected in his behavior later in the book was very freshening to read. And my second favorite character would be Dong Hyun (Sam’s Grandfather) who was the sweetest character and was very proud of his grandson. I also really liked the book’s ending. (don’t worry I am not going to spoil it.) It was just something which I did not expect to happen and I was pleasantly shocked after reading it.
The story majorly revolves around friendship. How it feels - to collaborate with a friend, to fall in love with a friend, to get betrayed by a friend, to see a new version of your friend, to get to know how your friend became who he is, to sacrifice for your friends and the one most experienced by all of us, how it feels after we realize misunderstanding our friend lead to something unwanted. This book is not your typical adventure fiction story with dragons and magic but its an engaging, easy to follow book which very cleverly uses real life topics and issues and combine them with a fiction world to make an immersive world that will leave you dewy-eyed.
FUN FACT: #
This book was gifted to me by my very good friend Pranav on my birthday. I am very sure I would not have gotten it for myself considering I generally do not enjoy this genre as much but honestly it was a very good novel. It might not have given me that element of adrenaline rush when a secret is about to be revealed in thrilling novels but it certainly did teach me a lot about the relations shared by humans and it taught me to enjoy reading light novels and spotting a bunch of easter eggs scattered across the book. So Thanks for this great book Pranav! 💌
I would rate the book a solid… drumroll 🥁 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads users has rated it a
4.1/5
⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here is what they have to say:
“this book made my heart ache.
the lives of sam and sadie are raw and complicated and messy. the narrative is such an accurate depiction of human growth and the adjustments friendships have to go through because of those changes. and, just like real life, not everything goes according to their plans. there were life choices of theirs that i didnt agree with and moments when i was 110% rooting for their successes. some sections where i was bored with the uneventfulness of their careers and other chapters that had me riveted by the worlds they created.
while i do wish there was more of a traditional plot and quicker pacing at times, theres no denying that i came to care about sam and sadie.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Starts off super strong and readable. It felt like YA but for adults. Falls apart as it goes on. Lots of cliche in the 2nd half which starts to feel irritating by the end. It could’ve been 100 pages shorter easily."
⭐⭐
"I have some COMPLICATED feelings with this book. There are parts of it that I truly adored, I couldn't put it down and I needed to know how it ended. But some of it felt unnecessarily dramatic and I felt like it was making certain choices just to manipulate my feelings."
⭐⭐⭐
My favourite Quotes
“What is a game?" Marx said. "It's tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It's the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”“The way to turn an ex-lover into a friend is to never stop loving them, to know that when one phase of a relationship ends it can transform into something else. It is to acknowledge that love is both a constant and a variable at the same time.”
“And what is love, in the end?” Alabaster said. “Except the irrational desire to put evolutionary competitiveness aside in order to ease someone else’s journey through life?”
Extra Information #
Number of pages : 496 (paper back edition),
401 (hardcover edition), 418 (E-book)
Price (on amazon) : ₹407 (paperback), ₹699 (hardcover)
E - book price : ₹309 (kindle edition)