ITT: We share our book reviews.

Hello Southperry and welcome.

I wanted to make this thread for a while. I read a lot of books, probably 3 in a month average, and I thought it'd be cool to post here my thoughts/recommendations/reviews on some books.

I'll start with one of my favourites:

Out. By Natsuo Kirino



[Both bookcovers are fantastic.]

Synthesis:

A suburban Tokyo woman fed up with her loutish husband kills him in a fit of anger, then confesses her crime to a coworker on the night shift at the boxed-lunch factory. The coworker enlists the help of two other women at the factory to dismember and dispose of the body. Readers beware--Kirino's first mystery to be published in English (it was a best-seller in Japan) involves no madcap female bonding. The tenuous friendship between the four women, all with problems of their own even before becoming accessories to murder, begins to unravel almost immediately. Money changes hands. The body parts are discovered. The police begin asking questions, and a very bad man falsely accused of the crime is determined to find out who really deserves the punishment. The gritty neighborhoods, factories, and warehouses of Tokyo provide a perfect backdrop for this bleak tale of women who are victims of circumstance and intent on self-preservation at all costs.

Thoughts:

I thought the book was excellent. Suspenseful writing, nice character development, extremely well-done dark atmospheres and some gore that even Stephen King would envy. Furthermore, how the dark side of the japanese culture is described in a way we don't see in anime, manga, pictures or travel magazines is clearly one of its best resources. However, if you can't stand blood and cold hearted people, this book is a no-no. I would recommend anyone interested in this culture or simply fond of suspense novels to read this, I'm sure you'll love it.

It's a shame Out is one the only books by Kirino translated to English (or Spanish in my case). Kirino is a respected suspense/thriller writer in Japan, and she has been awarded with the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction, one of the most important detective fiction awards in that country.




I expect reviews or thoughts from you too!

Might as well start off with my favorite as well.

It's kind of a funny story by Ned Vizzini



Synthesis:
Craig Gilner is a teenager living in Brooklyn, New York. Once he finally gets into the high school of his dreams, Executive Pre-Professional, he thinks his life is set; That is until his depression kicks in. Everything hits him at once to jump start it. His eating disorder, sleeping schedule, average grades amongst the overachievers, and his best friend Aaron. Aaron introduces Craig to a thing they like to call 'Chilling', which really means going to Aarons house and smoke weed while watching an action flick. But the thing that gets Craig depressed is Aaron's girlfriend, Nia. Craig didn't think she was anything special to himself until they actually dated and his jealousy awoke. Once Craig decides to attempt his planned suicide (which includes jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge), and is overwhelmed to the point of giving up and calling a suicide hotline where he is guided to what he thinks is a hospital for crazy people, but really what hes been looking for all his life.

Thoughts:
Wow, this book was incredible. I think what makes it my favorite book is the fact that I can relate so much to it. It gives you a drawn out picture of what it's like to be a depressed teen, but with an added twist of the teen recovering by making friends crazier than him. The title.. is well exactly what it is. It's a serious subject, but a funny story.

Thank you for the support! ;D

I have one more book to add to my list

-double post-

I want more activity from you!

Can we copy the synopsis from another website? o-o;

of course you can... I'm more interested in your thoughts than the synopsis.