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Waterloo School

9,471 pages read and 1,699 team points

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    MSchuler

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Susannah

2,252 pts
(1,835 pages read)

  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

    By Suzanne Collins
    3 stars

    Goodness me what a violent book. I read this partly out of curiousity to see what my daughter was reading, but was also interested in the story that the prequel promised. It was a good story, but I'd forgotten how violent the Hunger Games books can be and didn't really enjoy that aspect of it.

  • Ash

    By Louise Wallace
    5 stars

    This book was phenomenal. Set in rural New Zealand, this book is narrated by young mother and veterinarian Thea. It is incredibly inventive with quirky structure: at one point featuring another story within the story and whole pages full of existential questions or blurred conversations. The book simmers with feminist rage against the backdrop of a natural disaster, and I found it absolutely captivating. This is Louise Wallace's first novel, having previously only published poetry, and each word felt like a jewel in the story. Her writing style was, of course, incredidbly poetic, and I often found myself reading some of her sentences through twice because they were so stunning. I hope this will be in the running to win the Ockham prize next year, it was so stunning.

  • Wild Houses

    By Colin Barrett
    4 stars

    Wild Houses is set in the small Irish town of Bellina, where some young people have got themselves in too deep in the drug dealing world. The characters are all beautifully portrayed: small moments in time are recalled, giving the reader a glimpse into why each person is who they are. The story unfolds very cleverly and I really enjoyed reading it, despite its dark themes. It was long listed for the Man Booker Prize.

  • Green Dot

    By Madeleine Gray
    1 stars

    Ugh. I loved the start of the book - the main character Hera had funny insights into those around her, but as she enters the corporate world and begins an affair with an older colleague, she becomes a character who becomes obsessed with the green dot on her screen, indicating her lover's online presence. When things go wrong she masks everything with alcohol, shuns her friends and escapes to London, but even there she is a desperate loser who is incapable of finding new adventures. She returns to Sydney, reunites with her lover who still won't leave his pregnant wife, and it all ends badly. I just wanted these two people to break up because they were both such self-destructive people and I found it a painful read in the end. The book was a good reminder why I only survived 6 months in a corporate job and much prefer being a teacher too - corporate life is portrayed here as eternally dull where a toilet break is the only saving grace of the day. I only finished this book because of this reading challenge!

  • Victim

    By Andrew Boryga
    4 stars

    Javier has had a tough upbringing as a Puerto Rican living in the Bronx, but doesn't really consider his experiences to be anything out of the ordinary. That is until he is writing his university application and has a school counsellor convince him to play up the role of being a victim of his circumstances to ensure he gets into a prestigious university. He quickly realises that playing the victim has many benefits and he starts to embellish his stories and bend the truth. Where will it lead?! This story was very cleverly written and has a very similar vibe to 'Yellow Face' by R.F Kuang.

  • Grand

    By Noelle McCarthy
    5 stars

    This book was brilliantly written by Noelle McCarthy, an Irish born NZer. She writes of the difficult relationship with her mother and how it impacted upon her own life in significant ways. The timeline jumps all over the place and each chapter felt like a new cryptic challenge to solve: where and when are we in the story? It sounds challenging but it highlighted the nature of the mother/daughter relationship; one that was not easy but had its moments of both anguish and joy. I don't often cry in books and this one got me going! Highly recommended.

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