Summer Reading, Part 2

Okay, so I've already read All the Light We Cannot See, but keep those suggestions coming!

In the meantime, I've dashed through some fluff.  My reviews on both are. . . check them out from the library, but don't rush to the bookstore or download them onto your Kindle.  Unless it's 5 AM and you can't sleep, and don't plan on trying.

First up, The Knockoff, by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza.

"An outrageously stylish, wickedly funny novel of fashion in the digital age, The Knockoffis the story of Imogen Tate, editor in chief of Glossy magazine, who finds her twentysomething former assistant Eve Morton plotting to knock Imogen off her pedestal, take over her job, and reduce the magazine, famous for its lavish 768-page September issue, into an app."

An enjoyable, if shallow read, I tore through the fluff.  The characters were cartoonish (this one is GOOD, GOOD, GOOD!  This one is BAD! BAD! BAD!) at times, but the setting and details were fun.  Get it from the library, and it enjoy it by the pool.

Next, Luckiest Girl in the World by Jessica Kroll.  Y'all know how I am seriously lacking in book review skills.  I don't know why, but I feel Kirkus reviews puts my feelings best on this novel:

"Knoll’s debut thriller is a dark, cynical psychological comment on our culture of excess and violence.

TifAni FaNelli seems to have it all: an upcoming marriage to a handsome, wealthy financier; a job at a competitive, sexy women’s magazine; and a wardrobe filled with designer names. But buried beneath this surface is a secret past that threatens every day to destroy her success and happiness. As her marriage nears, and she finds herself under even more stress about keeping up appearances, Ani forces herself to participate in a documentary commemorating a violent incident from her high school days, hoping that she might, once and for all, be able to make peace with the past. Knoll’s novel is fragmented and unsure of what tone to take; the first part of the story seems at once superficial but also satirical in its complete obsession with designer name-dropping and diet-worshipping. When Knoll alternates chapters about Ani’s present with flashback chapters, the narrative becomes less commentary and more very depressing movie-of-the-week. The main problem is that Ani, despite the awful things she survives, is not a particularly admirable or interesting character, and she doesn't have the charisma to bring any light to the savage story that unfolds. Even the final suggestion that she will finally break away from trying to be perfect and instead be true to herself lacks punch.

The promise of redemption in the end is not enough to balance the darkness."

Thanks, Kirkus.  That's exactly how I feel.  After Girl on the Train, then this?  I refuse to read anything touted as the next Gone Girl.   Maybe Reese Witherspoon and I differ when it comes to our taste in books, as she said " "It was the most non-stop nail-biting crazy train of a book with one of the most intriguing characters I have read in a long time!"  Hmm.  I did read it quickly, but that had a lot to do with the fact that I had a 24 hour bug and was up all night on a pallet on the floor in my bathroom.

Hmm, maybe those circumstances are affecting my review.

If you feel like being depressed by dark circumstances, reading about brands and social climbing, then you will enjoy it! Ha!