The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (5)

THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS by Jan-Philipp Sendker

I had a lovely trip visiting my sister, her family, & my Dad in Virginia. And now I’m back with a doozy of a book!

RATING SYSTEM

1 – I did not like the book at all.

2 – It was decent, but I would not recommend it.
3 – It was an enjoyable read. Recommendation could go either way.
4 – It was a very good book. I would recommend it.
5 – It was an excellent book! Must read!
6 – I will buy this book for my personal collection. Must read.

BOOK RATING

I give this book a 5.

“THE ART OF HEARING…” SYNOPSIS

The day after Julia Win graduated college; her father woke her up, kissed her on the forehead, told her he had a short business trip to attend to and then disappeared without a trace.

For several years, the family lives in confusion and mourning until an un-mailed love letter is discovered deep in her father’s closet. It is written to a Burmese woman named Mi-Mi and all Julia is left with is an address and a million unanswered questions.

Furiously & impulsively, Julia decides to buy a plane ticket, leave New York City, and go find her father.

Upon arrival to the small, mountain village of Kalaw in Burma, she stops for a cup of tea to rest and meets a man named U-Ba. When sharing the story of her trip, she discovers U-Ba not only knows of her father, but of his current location. He then promises to bring Julia where she wants to go, but only on the condition that she listens to the story he has to tell.

What comes next is the beautiful, complicated unraveling of the story that is her father’s life and secret past. There is so much Julia has yet to learn about who her father truly is, but she is about to find out everything…

STATS

Pages:                          325

Published Year:         2012        
Personal Rating:       5 (of 6)
Type:                           Paperback, Present from David
Genre:                         Fiction, Love Story, Finding Oneself

THOUGHTS

This was a book David gave me and it is one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever read.

Of course, at first, I was mad that her father had seemingly just left his family for another woman, but when you get to hear the full life story of Julia’s father…

I can’t say too much because I don’t want to ruin a thing, but this book is beautiful and I would highly recommend it.

PERSONAL

Only 3 days left until my big move!

2 essays left to write (I was given an extension).

And 14 days left until my last year of school starts.

The World of End (2.5)

THE WORLD OF END by Ofir Touché Gafla

It has been one long, incredibly stressful month, but I am back.

RATING SYSTEM

1 – I did not like the book at all.

2 – It was decent, but I would not recommend it.
3 – It was an enjoyable read. Recommendation could go either way.
4 – It was a very good book. I would recommend it.
5 – It was an excellent book! Must read!
6 – I will buy this book for my personal collection. Must read.

BOOK RATING

I give this book a 2.5.

“THE WORLD OF END” SYNOPSIS

Ben and his wife Marian were completely and utterly in love. So, when tragedy strikes and Marian is killed unexpectedly in a freak accident, Ben doesn’t know what to do with himself.

After a year of careful thought and planning, Ben decides to kill himself and go find his wife in the afterlife.

This, however, proves to be more difficult than he first thought. Once in “the Other World” Ben cannot find Marian anywhere and must hire a private detective to help him.

Will Ben find his true love again after all or was his death all in vain?

STATS

Pages:                        365

Published Year:       2013        
Personal Rating:      2.5 (of 6)
Type:                          Kindle E-Book, Literazzi Book Club Book
Genre:                        Fiction, Mystery/SciFi

NOTE

This is our first Book Club Review! In fact, this book marks the three-year anniversary of my book club being together. We call ourselves the Literazzi because #1) the word “Literacy” & #2) three years ago Lady Gaga’s newest song out was “Paparazzi” & we are five girls and two gay men – so it’s perfect.

THOUGHTS

I did not hate this book and it was a decent read, but first of all, there were way too many characters.

Besides Marian and Ben, there are about six other characters that the author tries to follow during the book. It is true that their lives all interweave in very interesting ways, but there are so many people that it’s hard to keep track of how they all connect unless you are writing it down.

I felt the book could be very unclear at times and I kept being like, “Okay, so… he is who? And how did she know him?” etc.

I did like learning about the backstories of all the other people, but still, like I said, it was hard to keep track of who was who and how they fit into the story.

There were some satisfying parts of the book, like when you find out who the Aliases are (the people who run the Other World) and who Henri is, but even the end I didn’t really like.

I wouldn’t say this is a bad book and if you had it in your hand, I’d say give it a try. It’s an interesting concept, but there’s a lot of chasing for not a lot of reward.

PERSONAL

I have found a new apartment and signed a lease! My move-in date is Sept 1^st! I really like this new apartment and my roommate seems very nice. She even has her own little dog, so mine won’t be lonely anymore.

I still have homework that is due in order to complete my summer classes and I don’t have long to do it, so I really have to keep pushing myself.

After that, I’m going to go visit my sister in Virginia from August 15^th-20^th. I can’t wait!

That is what’s going on with me.