Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything
I read every kind of book from the absolute serious to the downright silly.
Hi Everybody!
I launched the Adapt Me Podcast this week! It’s available on Spotify and Amazon Music as of now. It’ll be on more in the coming future. I plan on releasing episodes on a monthly basis.
If you want to be a guest, feel free to email me here!
Content warning: this book review will discuss gruesome medical details.
Some stories work both as a physical book and as an audiobook. Others tend to fare better in one of those formats. Usually, readers think the novel is superior to the audiobook because the former allows them to imagine what the characters sound like and how the narrator would read it. Even though there are plenty of narrators who do a great job with the material (I should know, I’ve reviewed a handful of them), there are definitely ones that threaten to ruin the enjoyment. One example was last week’s Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, and another is this week’s The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore. The book is great, but the audiobook narration is subpar due to how irritating it can be.
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women is the true story of the women who were harmed by radium and how they fought against it. When the Curies discover radium, it’s heralded across the nation as the fresh face of beauty and a wonder drug. The popular element shines through during the First World War. During that time, radium-dial factories hired hundreds of girls to paint watch dials with radium paint. They would decorate themselves with said paint. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe, and they literally light up the night. These “shining girls” are the luckiest alive until they start getting sick one by one. The factories who gave them opportunities ignore all their claims of radium’s gruesome side effects and the women’s cries of corruption. As radium takes its hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in early twentieth century America and in a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights that still resonates today.
Unlike a lot of nonfiction I read for this website, I actually knew about the radium girls and their story. When I was a teenager, I saw a production of the play These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan during a weekend tour of the college. It was impactful seeing those women slowly die from unknowingly being poisoned at work and fight for what lives they had left.
Moore expands on the characters presented in the play. She takes her time introducing each girl who worked at the radium dial companies in Orange, New Jersey and Ottawa, Illinois. Specifically, she details their physical features, personalities, and if they got married and children. Even though there are a lot of women the author follows throughout, this allows readers to get to know them on a personal level, especially when they start getting sick.
Moore truly tests the word non-sugarcoated by holding nothing back when describing each of the girls’ illnesses. For example, many of them had tooth loss, abscesses, bone decay, tumors on various parts of the body, and intense pain due to radium exposure. One even had her entire lower jaw removed. If that wasn’t enough, Moore informs readers that one former worker Charlotte Purcell had so much intense pain in her arm that she agreed to have it amputated, thus allowing her to live until 1988. The photographs in the book show some of the women before and after working at the radium dial companies. They can be gruesome, especially to those who get weak while reading medical-related stuff.
The biggest strength of this book is the research. Moore mainly relies on court documents, business materials, letters, and diaries to tell the stories of the radium girls, and it shows. One could easily get lost in it, but she maintains the momentum like it’s a play. She always keeps the tales and what the women went through front and center. In addition, the author makes it clear of how popular radium was in the early twentieth century. This was especially true when various corporations declared it to be a wonder drug to cure everything. On top of that, there was a song called “The Radium Dance” that was popular during the 1900s. These help to set up the environment the women were in while they and various doctors were trying to prove that radium was far more dangerous than the businesses and public realized.
There are some readers who have complained about how repetitive it can get with what the women looked like, how they suffered, how they were taken advantage of by the businesses, and how they fought back. To me, that repetition is the point, for it ACTUALLY HAPPENED. And, the most frustrating thing about it is how little things have changed, especially how workers are still being used by the companies and ignored when problems come up. Moore brings up that the radium girls’ tales are important because they led to more regulations in the workplace, especially in regards to how workers handled radium and plutonium during the Manhattan Project and to the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
This all leads to my big complaint, which is the audiobook. It’s narrated by Angela Brazil. She is an actor and member of the Resident Acting Company at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. Moreover, Brazil has recorded several audiobooks for nonfiction books like The Language of Butterflies and The Horse by Wendy Williams (not that Wendy Williams), romance novels by Laura Frantz, and “Mr. Monk” books based on the television show. I’m going to be very honest. Brazil is one of the worst audiobook narrators I’ve ever heard. She’s overly chipper and energetic, which annoyed me highly in the beginning, yet she somewhat dials this back during the course of the book. It also didn’t help that she was super focused more on the words than on the emotions. What bothered me the most was her tone. She sounded like an annoyed flight attendant saying, “Buh-bye” to the guests. I was shocked to read that Brazil is a professional actor because this is a performance I expect more from an amateur. This narrator should have been recast.
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore is an excellent book with a mediocre audiobook. Moore allows readers to be fully invested in each of the women who worked at the radium dial companies even if there’s a lot of them. And, she does a great job with the research and maintaining the pacing and the story. I simply wish that it had a better audiobook narrator. But then again, I have to wonder if it really needed one in the first place because the book itself is enhanced more with the visuals than it is with the audio. This is why I would recommend the physical print to all readers, especially to those who are interested in medicine, workplace tragedies, and stories about fighting businesses. Whatever you do, don’t listen to the audiobook!
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In the 2010s, when a successful film franchise based on a well-known young adult series came to an end, the last book was split into two movies. Now, obviously, this was done to make more money, but this allowed the story to be as faithful to the source material as possible with the conclusion. It happened with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Breaking Dawn from the “Twilight” saga. And, it occurred with today’s subject Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2, which is based on the third novel of the same name in “The Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins. While there was no need to split the book into two flicks, it addressed some issues I had with the story.
The movies are faithful to the source material for obvious reasons. However, there are some changes. First, Effie Trinket (played by Elizabeth Banks) and President Snow (played by Donald Sutherland) are more present in the flicks than they are in the novel. In the latter, Effie’s whereabouts are unknown until the end, but in the films, she helps Katniss with her Mockingjay wardrobe. President Snow is mentioned in the book, but he isn’t shown until the climax. In the movies, he appears at various points, including the aforementioned scene. Second, there are more sections showing what is happening as opposed to viewers being told what unfolded. For example, we see a team rescuing Peeta from the tribute center in Part 1, yet another character relays information to Katniss about it in the book. Finally, the flicks reduce the amount of screentime devoted to the love triangle among Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. This was in favor of the action scenes and elements that advanced the plot. I was very happy about this one. Go read my review of the Mockingjay book to find out why.
As I mentioned before, Mockingjay shouldn’t have been split into 2 movies. Everything in the story could’ve been told in one. But, because Lionsgate wanted to make extra money, we got the two parts. As it stands, both movies drag at various points, yet they feel rushed at times. When I was watching Part 1, I felt that I was dropped into the middle of something. Yes, I’m aware that it’s the third flick in “The Hunger Games” franchise, but it could’ve done a better job with setting things up like showing what happened at the end of Catching Fire. A lot of the pacing issues could’ve been resolved if Mockingjay was one movie.
Despite the films’ main problem, I enjoyed them a lot more than I expected. Director Francis Lawrence (the guy responsible for your favorite 1990s and 2000s music videos) shoots the trauma-inducing action scenes involving bombings and characters fighting various adversaries very well. I was wholly invested in them. In addition, the score by James Newton Howard is foreboding and heroic at various points even if the music when the ship lands in Part 2 sounded a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean. And, I can’t forget about “The Hanging Tree” – the haunting folk song that Katniss sings that inspires a group of rebels to blow a dam in Part 1. Even though Jennifer Lawrence is not a professional singer, her understated voice lends itself well to the tune. Moreover, the production design is impeccable. Granted, it’s great in the previous films, but this is on another level. The rubble after the districts are destroyed appears realistic. When things start blowing up, the destruction looks like it was done through practical effects as opposed to CGI. And of course, the president’s mansion and the victory cottage highlights the growing difference in how the Capitol and the rest of the districts live.
Finally, the acting is perfect. I couldn’t believe how stacked the cast was. There’s Mahershala Ali as Boggs – Coin’s second-in command, and he’s stoic and reasonable, but he will put someone in his place when needed. This is especially true when Boggs takes Peeta down when the latter chokes Katniss after he’s rescued in Part 1. Julianne Moore is Alma Coin. Her character is portrayed more sympathetically in the films than in the book, yet Moore’s performance led me to believe that she had some ulterior motive other than for the rebel cause, especially in her sly looks.
The best performances belong to Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Lawrence, and Donald Sutherland. Harrelson is Haymitch, and he provides the most important truths despite his drunken behavior. One of my favorite scenes from Part 1 is where Katniss is shooting a promo, and Haymitch bluntly says, “This is how revolutions die.”
It’s exactly how I imagined him saying it in the book.
Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss. While her acting can be over the top at times, it’s believable given what the character goes through in all of “The Hunger Games” movies. For example, she screams at Buttercup the cat after the latter comes back to the victory cottage near the end. I was wondering why Katniss would do that since the feline did nothing. But then again, it makes sense knowing what happened to her sister Primrose, and Buttercup was her cat. Lawrence pours her heart into the performance.
Finally, the late Donald Sutherland is calm and evil as President Snow. He’s deliberate in every move he makes, like in the way he barely reacts when he gets a cut that draws blood while he’s getting a shave in Part 1. It may be quiet, but it’s still commanding. My favorite scene in Part 2 is the climax, and that’s mainly due to Sutherland’s sadistic laughing.
Although Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 should’ve been one movie, it was more than I hoped for. Sure, the pacing can feel sluggish at times, but the action scenes, score, production design, and acting made up for it, and it showed more important scenes than the book did. I would recommend watching both only if one has read the Mockingjay book. Quite frankly, I’m glad that the trend of splitting the final novel of a beloved young adult series into two films is no more, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Mockingjay was part of the reason why it died.
Before I go, I want to let everyone know that I’m going to make an appearance on the Stone’s Top Tens Podcast to discuss the book as well as the Mockingjay Part 1 movie. Keep an eye out for the link.
Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!
Hi Everybody,
Grab your paintings and get a person to talk because the latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast is up right now. In it, returning guest Cheyne Nomura and I discuss how we would adapt The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides as a miniseries. We talk about how wonderful the book is and how the screenplay should be the star of the show We also share our thoughts of the upcoming adaptation currently in development. Check it out at this link!
In the meantime, I have a review of the book itself, so check that out too!
Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!
There are certain expectations for the conclusion of a well-known series. Readers want it to be exciting, answer as many of their questions as possible, and provide a satisfying ending. Some do this well, while others not so much. Mockingjay – the third and final book in “The Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins – falls in the latter camp because it slogs and focuses on the wrong elements, yet it has pockets of great moments.
Mockingjay focuses on the revolution in Panem. Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale and Katniss’s family are safe, but Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. She also discovers that District 13 really does exist. There are indeed rebels and new leaders. There is no question that a revolution is unfolding. Katniss was deliberately rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it was intentional that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss. The success of the rebellion depends on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.
Before I get started, I have a confession. I haven’t read the first two books in the series – The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. However, I have watched the movie adaptations of both. I know that doesn’t fully count in the eyes of certain readers, but from what I understand, they are fairly faithful to the source material. So, this doesn’t bother me. Even if I read them, it wouldn’t have changed my views on Mockingjay.
There were three main things that bothered me. I will explore the first two here and visit the third later on. To begin with, the pacing was sluggish. Almost everything moved like molasses. The first half of the novel fares better than the second since things are actually happening. It’s one thing when Collins focuses on describing a certain scene, but it’s another when it’s occurring off screen. She does more telling than showing. There’s not much action throughout.
This brings me to my second point. Collins highlights aspects that didn’t need to be emphasized. Basically, the whole plot is the rebels want Katniss to become the Mockingjay – symbol of the revolution – and kill President Snow. One would think the author would write plenty about Katniss’s inner conflict of being the Mockingjay and the obstacles to getting rid of Panem’s dictator. Those elements are there, but Collins decided to shine a spotlight on the love triangle among Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. I could be wrong about this, but from what I understand, Gale is not that involved in the first two books/movies. It makes sense to focus more on Gale in this installment, but there didn’t need to be a love triangle when the relationship between Katniss and Peeta was growing. This detracted from what was important in the novel. I didn’t care about Team Gale versus Team Peeta when the series/franchise came out. I don’t care about it now.
Even with the criticisms I have, there were some bright spots. Haymitch is a delightful presence. Despite his drunken behavior, he possesses the most keen insight on the situation. For example, when the rebels are making a little film with Katniss, he says, “This is how revolutions die” based on her poor performance because she wasn’t authentic enough. Soon after, he encourages her and the team to think about the moments when she was. In addition, the entire sequence of Katniss filming the spot and the final confrontation between her and Snow were fantastic. I even let out a gasp when the twist occurred in the latter. Furthermore, I thought the ending was poignant. When Katniss becomes a mother, she mentions that she will tell her children her story, including the trauma she endured while fighting in the revolution, at some point. She’s in repair, but she’s getting there.
Now, let’s get to my third point why I didn’t enjoy this book, and it has to do with the audiobook. It’s narrated by Carolyn McCormick. McCormick has done extensive work in theatre, film, television, and audiobooks. Her best known role is Dr. Elizabeth Olivet in the Law & Order franchise. As for the audiobooks, she has narrated several of them by authors like Chelsea Cain, James Patterson, and Suzanne Collins. Yes, McCormick narrated the two previous installments of “The Hunger Games” series. Knowing this makes the performance straight up disappointing. She sounds much older than the teenaged Katniss and unnecessarily condescending at times. And, don’t get me started about her rendition of “The Hanging Tree!” It’s a hit and miss whenever a narrator sings, but this one fell in the latter category because she was rushing and barely in tune. I’m glad that Jennifer Lawrence sang it in Mockingjay Part 1. Back to McCormick, her performance had some great moments. She gives distinct voices to the supporting characters like the pompous Plutarch and the blunt Haymitch. I want to believe that she did better with the first two “Hunger Games” books, for she was able to do this one, but in the end, it’s still mediocre. Quick note: while doing research, I discovered that Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black fame recorded an audiobook version of Mockingjay in 2019. It might make a good installment for my “Audiobook Versus” series.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the unsatisfying conclusion to “The Hunger Games” series. The novel moves at a snail’s pace. It unnecessarily emphasized a love triangle in lieu of action. If it was developed throughout the series, it would’ve been better received. At the same time, there were some great scenes and a gratifying ending. The only way I would recommend it is for readers who’ve read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire and to get a copy of the physical book instead of the audiobook. If I had read the previous installments, I don’t know if it would’ve changed my opinion.
Before I go, I want to let everyone know that I’m going to make an appearance on the Stone’s Top Tens Podcast to discuss the book as well as the Mockingjay Part 1 movie. Keep an eye out for the link.
In the meantime, I will have my review of Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 out later this week, so stay tuned!
Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates. Also feel free to email me here for any review suggestions, ideas, or new titles!
Welcome to Part 11 of looking at various adaptations of Wuthering Heights and seeing if they can capture the spirit of the book by Emily Brontë. Today, I’ll be looking at the 2022 movie starring Bryan Ferriter as Heathcliff and Jet Jandreau (credited as Jasmine Jandreau) as Catherine.
It’s been an interesting journey watching Wuthering Heights adaptations. I especially like how each version tries to be more transgressive than the previous ones. But like everything else, this odyssey has to come to an end. I’m happy that I’m ending with the 2022 movie directed by and starring Bryan Ferriter because it’s the worst version of the story I’ve seen. Period.
Where do I begin? Let’s start with the costumes. If you’ve been reading my Wuthering Heights adaptation reviews, you probably would’ve noticed that I don’t often mention the costumes. This is so because there are people out there who are better at critiquing that than I am. Personally, while I will note if outfits are historically inaccurate (like the Victorian-era costumes in the 1939 movie), it’s more important that they look good on the actors. All in all, the clothing in this version not only doesn’t reflect the 1700s, but they also look cheap. The dresses the women wear came straight out of the Renaissance era. I actually agreed with Heathcliff when he calls Catherine’s dress “a silly frock” when she goes to see Edgar. I’ll never look at Gunne Sax gowns the same way, and yes, I’m aware that they range from $200 to $900. Also, Hindley wears a tuxedo shirt. That truly took me out of it. It was as if their moms went to the store and bought outfits that they thought would be appropriate for the movie. Say what you want about the costumes in the 1939 film, at least they looked good. Even the 2026 movie‘s clothing makes sense in context. If you want someone else to critique the costuming in depth, check out this article from Frock Flicks.
Next, the sound was atrocious. The mixing was terrible. There were times that I could barely understand what the actors were saying, even when it was clearly dubbed. Even regular Joes could pick up on that. The fact that the film did more telling than showing made it even worse. For example, when Catherine is out in the rain yelling Heathcliff’s name, Nelly’s narration tells viewers that Catherine was searching for him in that kind of weather. Instead, blue skies are shown, but the rain is heard. Also, Jet Jandreau, who plays her, appears dry in one shot and wet in the next. It was like a low-grade picture book talking about the things that happened without displaying them.
Finally, the acting was like what if Tommy Wiseau directed a bunch of high schoolers in a production of Wuthering Heights and cast himself as Heathcliff. At best, it’s decent. At worst, it can be either nonchalant or overindulgent. They were also going in and out of their accents a lot. I’m from the Midwest, so my ears perked up when I heard them pronouncing their Rs. Mary Riitano as Nelly is the best performer because she is emotive, but she isn’t performing to the back of the room. Jandreau as Catherine isn’t inspiring. She’s capable of playing the mean-girl aspect of that character, yet she’s mostly expressionless. This is apparent when Edgar proposes to her. While I can see that as a deliberate choice, it would have been more effective if she pretended to be joyous. Ryan Pfeiffer is over-the-top as Hindley and not always in the best way.
And then, there’s Bryan Ferriter. He’s the main reason why this movie is overindulgent. He decided that it was a good idea to cast himself as Heathcliff and to direct the film as well. Ferriter portrays the man as if he’s a romantic hero, but it ends up self-serving, especially when there are shots of him walking with a white horse. It looked straight out of a perfume commercial. It’s the most indulgent when Heathcliff stretches the word “soul” after Catherine dies.
It’s the equivalent of Wiseau saying, “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” in The Room. I understand that this was Ferriter’s directorial debut. I want to give him slack because of that, but the direction and acting are so amateurish that I simply can’t.
Although there are some adaptations that I enjoyed more than others, I always admire at least one thing from each, and this one is no different. I thought that it was interesting to see Hindley drink before Frances died. Once she does, Heathcliff immediately pours a glass for Hindley. That’s an inspired shift from Heathcliff being abused to becoming the abuser. In addition, I admire that this is the only truly faithful adaptation of the story structure-wise. Not only does it include Nelly telling Lockwood about what happened prior, but it also has two catching up at a later time. No other version had done that.
The Wuthering Heights 2022 film is undoubtedly the most incompetent version of the story. The costuming looks cheap. The sound mixing was poor, and the less we say about the acting, the better. I could make some excuse about its budget, yet the 1950 teleplay’s one was limited as well, and it still appeared professional (even if it had similar problems). Above all, I’m not sure why this adaptation exists to begin with, other than being the most faithful structure-wise. It does things that the others executed much better. The only way I would recommend it is to watch the other Wuthering Heights versions first.
Now, let’s see how this one fits into the ranking.
Stay tuned next month when I give my concluding thoughts about all eleven Wuthering Heights adaptations.
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Hi Everybody,
I’m back with part 2 of my 3-part edition of my “Literary Travel” series focusing on my home state of Michigan. All of the photos used were the ones I took, and they can be seen at the bottom of the page.
Today, I’m going to show you my visits to a bookstore in Taylor and a library in Allen Park, both located in an area called Downriver. For those who don’t know, Downriver is the collection of 18 suburban cities and townships located south of Detroit along the western shore of the Detroit River.
Why was I Downriver? Back in July, my husband and I made a day trip to that area to meet up with his friend’s girlfriend, and he wanted to visit a Vespa dealership. We ate at the Bierkeller Eatery & Tavern – a German-inspired bar and restaurant. The food was delicious!
Afterwards, my husband and I visited Another Look Books – a local bookstore in Taylor. It opened in 1995, and it was offering some pretty good discounts to celebrate its 30th birthday as of late. Moreover, it encourages its customers to read, relax, and repeat.
It was a small bookstore, but it was packed with books both upright and laying on their backs. That certainly added to the shop’s quirkiness and call for people to read. It offered a variety of genres for both adults and children along with displays for local authors; banned books; vintage; “Golden Oldies,” which was described as “Your Hard-to-Find Favorites!”; and discontinued titles. The store also provided cute little carts and baskets for those who were looking to buy plenty.
Some shelves were taller than others, but there was enough space between that customers like my husband and I could walk around with no problem. They were decorated in fun ways. My favorite was the Outlander poster that had Jamie wearing a lei.
With the relax part, Another Look Books definitely provided spaces to do just that. At the front of the store, there were two plush chairs with backs perched by the store’s motto. In addition, the main books area contained two other pieces of furniture: a fancy bench that could hold up to two people and another chair in the nonfiction section. Both had the same dark pink upholstery as the ones at the front of the store. The book selection and seats will absolutely have customers coming back for more.
In addition, Another Look Books offers non-book items and special services. Near where the checkout was, book-related items like mugs, book chains, pens, pillows, and signs were available for purchase. I may or may not have bought a thing of that sort for a friend who’s birthday is coming up later this month.
As for their special services, they include trade centers, holds, and a wonderful perk for teachers. Trading in books allow users to receive store credit, so they can spend less on more titles. Additionally, customers can place holds on books not available at the store, so the staff can order them to be shipped in. Finally, if you’re a teacher, you get a special discount of 75% off in-store purchases without requiring trade credit. It’s hard out there for teachers, so I’m glad Another Look Books is making it easier for them.
In case you’re wondering, I bought the books The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (it was on the Banned Books display) and Love Marry Multiply by Sara Geiersbach (she’s a local author).
Throughout our time at Another Look Books, several people came up to the lone staff person working and mentioned that they were longtime customers and enjoyed its atmosphere. From what I’ve seen, I completely understand because of its relaxed, fun, and accommodating environment. You can check out that bookstore on Facebook and Instagram.
The second and last place we went while Downriver was the Allen Park Public Library. It was a quick drive from the bookstore, and we had an ample amount of time to kill before we went back home.
The Allen Park Public Library is located in Allen Park. It was originally a branch of the Wayne County Library before transitioning to a municipal library. Its mission is to “provide and support quality library services that meet the informational, educational and recreational needs of the diverse citizens of Allen Park.”
The library certainly lived up to that motto. Before we walked in, I noticed that it had a well-kept garden surrounding the building to make it look nice. It also had a StoryWalk featuring Butt or Face by Kari Lavelle around the premises. It was funny and informative for both kids and adults because I’m sure that some of the latter would be fooled as well.
Inside, the layout was simple. On one side, there’s the children’s area. On the other side, there’s the adult and teen sections. In the middle, there were a circulation desk, various displays, and a calendar showing what programs are going on each month. In addition, the library had a game out where people could guess how many eyeballs were in a jar. It was one way to keep patrons engaged.
The children’s side contained neatly organized shelves containing a variety of books, displays on the shelf ends, a nice play space, and an Imagination Station. The latter is where kids over the age of 7 can make a craft. It’s right across from the circulation desk. The children’s area also had cute visuals like the birds that hung from the ceiling. My only complaint was that the signs denoting what kinds of books (ie juvenile fiction, picture books) were placed too high. Some kids are not that tall, so they won’t notice them unless they look up. I guess the birds are supposed to help them out.
The adult and teen side was spaced out. The latter was along the wall with its reading challenges, young adult titles, and displays like the “#BookTok Made Me Read It.” The adult area contained books on tall shelves with nice displays on the end caps. It also had a spacious study area; plenty of charging stations; and a board containing information about jobs, training, and volunteering. The most impressive thing in the adult section was the DVDs. Some libraries have the cases out on the shelves, so patrons can take them to the circulation desk, where the actual DVDs are stored. At the Allen Park Public Library, they have binders that people can look through to find the movies and shows they want to check out. Once they find the titles, they have to write down the numbers to take up the desk. It’s a bit more work, but it assures that whoever wants those movies are the most respectful.
The Allen Park Public Library was simple, but most effective in catering to its diverse citizens. Along with their website, you can check out the library on Facebook and Instagram.
And that concludes the thirteenth installment of “Literary Travel!” I hope all of you had a great time on this trip. Next month, I’ll focus on the bookstores and libraries I visited in Petoskey, Michigan.
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Content warning: this review discusses the Holocaust.
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events to have ever taken place on this very Earth. Eleven million people, including six million of Jewish faith, perished under Nazi orders. And yet, there were those who lived to tell the tale. One of them was Elie Wiesel, who was in the concentration camps for about one year of his life. He wrote his 1956 memoir Night about this period. It’s a profound book which proves one doesn’t need to sensationalize the Holocaust because it was already shocking and horrifying.
Translated from French by his wife Marion Wiesel, Night describes Elie’s time in the concentration camps during World War II. Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania (now Romania), Elie was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and later to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of his memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and the despair as a deeply observant Jewish person confronting the evils of man. This story proves that this horror should never be allowed to happen again.
I can’t imagine how difficult it was for Wiesel to write about his experiences. He recalls exactly how it was and lists the things he did. If I went through something like that, I would tell it in a similar way. A reviewer that I know rated this as three stars because of this listing, but that’s the point. This is the way Wiesel chose to process what happened to him in the concentration camps, and he lived with that trauma for over 70 years until his death in 2016. It always bothers me on how people are so desensitized to violence that they want to see more abuse in horrific situations as a way to up the stakes, even in actual historical events. Yes, Wiesel witnessed many horrible acts like watching guards beat up fellow prisoners, but the most horrendous aspect was the fact that they were in the concentration camps with the very real fear of being “selected.” As he said to Oprah Winfrey years later, they were living inside death. Isn’t that enough to show how terrifying the Holocaust was?
Wiesel thankfully doesn’t focus too much on the abuse. Instead, he emphasizes his survival and thoughts. He took advice from those who had been in the concentration camps for a while. Some of this meant lying about his age, but it was all to avoid getting “selected.” He also tried to stay by his father’s side and vowed never to leave him. Additionally, he studied Kabbalah prior to the Nazis rounding his family up. However, during his time in the concentration camps, he started questioning his faith and why God would allow these atrocities to happen. As a result, he began to lose trust in religion through this horrific episode.
One of the most impactful aspects of the memoir is how haunting it can be. There are several moments that shook me to my core. One was in the beginning when Elie’s tutor Moishe the Beadle disappears. He soon comes back to warn the town about what the Nazis are doing, and barely anybody believes him. The other was at the very end when Elie and the other prisoners were liberated by American soldiers. It could’ve stopped there, but it does when he finally sees himself in a mirror for the first time in about a year. Even though he survived, I wasn’t sure how he was going to live afterwards.
Night by Elie Wiesel is a powerful memoir about the author’s experiences in the Holocaust. While his writing is dry, short, and straight to the point, it was no less haunting. His story proves that one doesn’t need to sensationalize this horrifying episode in world history because it’s already terrifying, especially to those who survived it. I don’t say this often, but Wiesel was incredibly brave for sharing his experiences. I would recommend it to everybody who hasn’t read it yet. Memoirs like these demonstrate that not only did the Holocaust very much exist, but it also left a deep scar to those who made it out alive.
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Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Book Publicity Services in exchange for an honest review.
It can be difficult for memoirs to stand out. I’ve been fortunate to have read ones that are able to distinguish themselves. Today’s memoir is no different. Since that genre is essentially a biography that focuses on one specific life-changing event and contains some sort of message, what if the subject’s life is shrouded in mystery? That’s the conflict Sandra Schnakenburg writes about in The Housekeeper’s Secret. With International Housekeepers Week coming up on Sunday, September 13, I wanted to read it. It’s a great story that focuses on what the housekeeper Lee meant to her family even if Sandy knew very little about her.
The Housekeeper’s Secret is about one woman’s journey to uncover the revelations about her family’s housekeeper. When Lee Metoyer is hired to be the new housekeeper, she has no idea that she’s going to be the anchor in an abusive patriarch’s home. This sets a mystery in motion that will take decades to uncover. Then at age, 72, Lee’s on her deathbed and asks Sandy to write about her life. The problem is that Sandy doesn’t know the story. She embarks on a quest to honor the woman’s final wishes, and it unveils shocking truths not only about her housekeeper, but also her upbringing.
I’m usually a slow reader, yet I managed to read this book in about a week, and I’m not just saying that because I had a cat on my lap for part of it. I knew I was going to like this memoir when I read the first few pages. The first half of this book is about the author’s life while growing up. It begins when Sandra visits her mom and Lee in 1994 when the former is dying. Lee instructs her to write a story about her life, but soon after, she dies before she can tell. After the prologue, the book opens with Sandra’s mother lining up the three-year-old and her siblings to meet Lee for the very first time. They want to know what the new housekeeper is going to be like. Both the prologue and the opening beautifully set the scene.
From there, Sandra shows what kind of person Lee was. She was quiet, devoted, and a life-long Chicago Cubs fan. In addition, she helped the family in more ways than one. These include encouraging Sandra’s mom to stand up to her narcissistic husband and caring for Sandra mentally and emotionally after she’s struck by a car. The latter hit me because this is what I wanted from people when I was young. Growing up neurodivergent, people wanted to see me communicate and not be socially awkward, yet they didn’t ask me why I struggled with those to begin with. Because Sandra’s face was disfigured after the accident, her family checked on her to see if she could communicate. It destroyed her self-esteem because no one inquired on how she was on the inside. Only Lee did, and she helped her, particularly with puzzles to build up her patience. These actions bridge the gap between when the author first met the housekeeper and when she’s asked to write her story.
Since the book is called The Housekeeper’s Secret, it doesn’t fully go into that until the second half. Schnakenburg shows her journey with researching and lays out her reactions to discovering certain parts of Lee’s background. What the author finds is extremely devastating. This all helps Schnackenburg to understand why the housekeeper did what she did, which makes her all the more grateful. What she does with the information about Lee is very touching.
The Housekeeper’s Secret by Sandra Schnakenburg is a great ode of gratitude to a family housekeeper. While it’s tough to write the life story of a person without knowing much of their background, the author makes it truly work by placing her relationship with Lee at the fore-front. Schnakenburg is clear that the housekeeper did so much for her family that it couldn’t be repaid while portraying her as human. The way she writes about this made me fully invested in seeing how the story will develop and knowing what the secret is. I would recommend it to all readers regardless if they grew up with a housekeeper. People like Lee deserve love and respect at all costs.
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Full disclosure: I was given an electronic advanced reader’s copy of this book from PR By the Book in exchange for an honest review.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks. Last year, I reviewed the memoir The Road to Yesterday: A Memoir by Maryellen Donovan, which details her journey to overcome her grief after losing her husband in the September 11, 2001 attacks. This year, I’m covering another memoir that involves 9/11 but in a different way. It’s The Soldier That Left: The Untold Story of Loose Change by Korey Rowe, which details the author’s life as a soldier in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the making of the documentary Loose Change. The memoir tells a fascinating story even though I never heard of the film prior to reading it.
The Soldier That Left: The Untold Story of Loose Change traces the author’s journey from soldier to fugitive to unlikely producer of one of the most controversial documentaries of all time. Korey enlisted right before September 11, 2001 and went on two brutal combat tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, where he witnessed the violence, futility, and corruption in America’s wars. Disillusioned by lies about weapons of mass destruction and trapped by a stop-loss order, he faced a moral crossroads. Instead of returning to Iraq, he chose desertion – a decision that branded him a criminal, but preserved his conscience.
While on the run, he reunites with his best friend Dylan Avery, who has been developing a movie that questions the government’s official narrative on 9/11. What began as a creative experiment evolved into Loose Change – a low-budget Internet documentary that exploded into a global phenomenon. Hailed by Vanity Fair as “the first internet blockbuster,” the film spread virtually through torrents, DVDs, and video-sharing sites. Additionally, it ignited the 9/11 Truth Movement, forcing millions to question the official story. Rowe’s memoir intertwines the making of Loose Change with his own battles against the U.S. Army, addiction, media backlash, and his search for identity beyond the uniform. He reflects on the cost of speaking out, the burden of notoriety, and how a documentary made by a handful of young outsiders altered the conversation about truth, power, and history in the 21st century.
As I mentioned earlier, I knew nothing about Loose Change until I read this memoir. It’s a series of films from 2005 to 2017 that argue in favor of conspiracy theories related to the 9/11 attacks. I was coming into the Internet age when the first movie dropped, so I was young-ish. Even my husband, who’s a few years older than me, never heard of it, and he saw tons of videos of the Taliban beheading people being passed around in school. Additionally, I’m not into conspiracy theories. At my day job, I research materials found in the archives, and that consists of primary and secondary resources, in other words, concrete evidence. From what I’ve seen, conspiracy theories tend to be based on hearsay, feelings (even ones based on fact), and misinterpretations of known facts. At the same time, there have been ones that turned out to be true like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972) and the Watergate Cover-up scandal. I also empathize with people who feel frustrated by the government’s lack of transparency and action, especially how they ignored pre-attack warnings.
That’s why the sections involving the documentary were my least favorite parts of the memoir. Despite this, I appreciate reading how Korey and Dylan updated the movie with new evidence and eliminating ones that didn’t make sense anymore. In addition, it was interesting to hear how the documentary mustered up interest from various celebrities. For example, Charlie Sheen was in talks to narrate one of the versions, but the deal fell through. Moreover, radio host and infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was one of the executive producers of Loose Change: The Final Cut (2007). Rowe had a lot to say about him.
My favorite parts were Rowe’s time in the military and him trying to rebuild his life after desertion. At first, he thought that he was making a difference while serving. However, once he realizes that the government is not telling the whole truth based on what he saw in Afghanistan and Iraq, his frustration and depression set in. Rowe provides excerpts from journal entries during those tours. I could feel his sadness and anger in fighting conflicts that were essentially pointless. Furthermore, he tried to build a life outside the military while working on Loose Change. I enjoyed how he wanted to be a snowboard instructor, but he had little experience with the sport, and yet, he still landed the job. During the entire time I was reading the book, I was rooting for him to find stability and his identity outside the military.
The Soldier That Left: The Untold Story of Loose Change by Korey Rowe is a good memoir that deals with one man’s journey to reclaim his self-identity after the military and while producing a controversial documentary. Again, I never heard of Loose Change until this memoir, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should. At the same time, I liked reading about the author’s time in the military, why he deserted, and when he was attempting to rebuild his life despite many struggles. I would recommend it to not only those who were fans of the Loose Change documentary, but also to readers looking for other 9/11 memoirs to read. The Soldier That Left: The Untold Story of Loose Change is out now, so grab it wherever you get your books.
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Content warning: this reviews discusses sexual assault.
On Monday, I looked at the 1967 novel Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin as my 300th review. Today, I’m going to continue diving into this universe with its 1968 movie version directed by Roman Polanski. It’s a faithful adaptation of the story in all the right ways, despite its baggage.
When I talk about adaptations, I start with how different they are from the novels. In this case, the film Rosemary’s Baby is extremely true to the text. Almost every bit of dialogue and story beat in the book made its way to the script. Even Rosemary seeing Minnie Casavet through the peephole is in the novel. There are only two differences. The first is when the baby is born. In the book, the infant arrives on a specific date in August 1966, while in the flick, it comes in June 1966. This change makes it easier to understand why the occult is obsessed with the child since the latter is literally 666. The other alteration was the omission of a major scene, in which one of Rosemary’s sisters, Margaret, calls and tells her that she senses danger and urges her to stay home. That’s the night Rosemary gets drugged and raped.
This is all to say that it’s one of the most faithful movie adaptations I’ve seen. The only other one that includes so much from the source material is the 1943 film For Whom The Bell Tolls, which was based on the 1940 book by Ernest Hemingway. But, there’s a major difference between the two. For Whom The Bell Tolls is a vastly dull flick because the pacing is slow, and director Sam Wood and screenwriter Dudley Nichols either watered down or eliminated the book’s nuance and major points (ie, which side of the war are the main characters on again?).
In Rosemary’s Baby’s case, director and screenwriter Roman Polanski completely understood the gist of the source material. How so? He saw that the novel was about motherhood, specifically about the lengths one woman willing to go to protect her unborn child even when nobody believed her. It would’ve been easy to emphasize the occult and Satanism aspects of the novel, but it would’ve prettied up the window dressing, which is not the point. Every decision he makes sets up what Rosemary or what she thinks she discovers about the apartment building and its tenants. This includes the nonchalant ways she notices certain aspects like how the secretary blocks one of the closets while on the tour of the apartment she and Guy eventually move into or how they hear chanting in the next room. One doesn’t think of those things at first, but they come into play later on. Most importantly, viewers never see the baby in question. This leaves more room for interpretation about Rosemary’s mental state. These are the reasons why I’m happy that his screenplay received an Oscar nomination.
Speaking of Polanski, I have to address the elephant in the room. This movie about a woman with no control over her body was directed by a man who was charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old in 1977. He soon fled the United States afterwards and hasn’t returned. Since then, many women have come forward with sexual assault allegations against him. I don’t condone his actions. At the same time, this is a good example of separating the art from the artist. Polanski adapted Rosemary’s Baby nearly a decade before he committed that heinous crime. In addition, Mia Farrow, who plays Rosemary, has defended him on multiple occasions. Furthermore, who knows if he would have done that if his pregnant wife Sharon Tate wasn’t murdered by the Manson Family in 1969. Again, this is no excuse for what Polanski did. While it’s a lot of baggage to deal with, knowing this didn’t affect my watch of Rosemary’s Baby because his direction is effective in telling the story, and it seemed that he was on Rosemary’s side. If this is a deal breaker for you, I completely understand.
Let’s go back to the movie, and discuss its two other highlights: the music and performances. The score is creepy, especially the lullaby sung at the beginning and end. The jazzy music is more atonal and chaotic as the story progresses. It culminates as Rosemary runs from Guy and Dr. Sapirstein in the apartment building.
The acting was spectacular. Sidney Blackmer is enchanting and devilish as Roman. Ruth Gordon plays Minnie – a role that won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She’s nosy and OCD about cleaning in all the right places. John Cassavetes portrays Guy – Rosemary’s husband. He’s charming, but increasingly insensitive to Rosemary’s pleas. It helps that Cassavetes has a punchable face, which made me want to throttle him even more.
The star performance belongs to Mia Farrow as Rosemary. She holds the film together with naivety, increasing desperation, and later confidence. I loved her acting inside the telephone booth, while she’s confronting the cult after the baby is born, and the sheer horror she has when she looks at her infant for the first time. Her look is also iconic with her short hair. It makes her appear like a skeleton, especially during the scenes where Rosemary is experiencing stomach pains. It’s a shame that she was infamously snubbed at the 1969 Oscars. She would’ve been a great nominee for Best Actress.
The film version of Rosemary’s Baby is a great adaptation of the novel by Ira Levin. Its copy-and-paste screenplay totally understands the book’s core. Polanski crafts the flick around Rosemary’s intuitions. Additionally, the music and performances are pitch perfect. Even though it frustrated me while viewing it again, it was still intentional, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I would recommend it to viewers who love psychological horrors and movies about motherhood. I’m happy that I was able to share my thoughts on both the book and the flick as part of my celebration of my 300th and 301st reviews!
In addition, here’s a friendly reminder to keep an eye out for a future Adapt Me Podcast episode, Matthew Anderson from the Lone Screenplay Nominee Podcast will come on the Adapt Me Podcast to discuss how we would adapt the book into a play in October.
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