The story of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and reunion between the two main characters, Connell and Marianne. Told over the course of a few years, readers follow their journey through high school and college as they navigate their ever-changing relationship. I really wanted to like this book. After everything I had heard about Sally Rooney, I had high expectations for this book, and unfortunately, I feel like it didn’t quite live up to the hype. Normally I am a big fan of romance, but this one just didn’t cut it for me.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a historical fiction novel with complex themes. It’s centered in Nigeria, and follows the story of Okonkwo, a fierce warrior. Achebe uses vivid imagery to illustrate daily life in his tribe, and uses small details to show the reader the different aspects of the culture surrounding Okonkwo’s village. The book is centered around Okonkwo’s deep rooted hatred of his father, his relationship with his sons, and how he and his tribe will deal with foreign beliefs and ideals.
The main character, Waka, is a straight-A student from Kansas who is sent to Tokyo for five months to focus on her Kanji, when her parents suspect she can’t read nor write basic Japanese. She is forced to live with her strict grandmother, and has to say goodbye to her friends for the summer. While she’s in Japan, Waka gets made fun of by her classmates and struggles to make true friends.
At 18, Andi Alpers has lost her will to live. Her brother Truman has died, her father has deserted the family and is putting her mother in a mental hospital. In Paris, where her father is working on a project on King Louis-Charles, Andi vows to make their three-week visit a misery. But when she finds a journal that might hold the missing key to Louis-Charles history, she completely forgets about everything, including her senior thesis, and focuses instead on solving the mystery of his death.
