The Paris Housekeeper

The Paris Housekeeper by Renee Ryan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Started reading this book with a very positive attitude - the issue was serious and important, the stage presented in a convincing way.
And then scratches appeared, most disturbing was a very authoritative, someway pretentious style of writing.
This was followed by many inconsistencies and omissions in the plot.
Only respect to the two main characters in the book kept me turning pages to the end.

View all my reviews

When God looked the Other Way

When God Looked the Other Way: An Odyssey of War, Exile, and Redemption by Wesley Adamczyk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dramatic story of a family caught in a vortex of the II World War.
On 1 September 1939 Poland has been attacked from the West by Germany, this event started the war.
On 17 September Poland has been attacked by Soviet Union - this move has been previously agreed in a secret Molotov - Ribbentrop agreement.
Few months after the invasion Soviet authorities deported from occupied territory to Siberia and Kazakhstan some 600,000 Polish citizens.
Among them was the author of the book - Wiesio (Wesley) with his mother, brother and sister.
Their father/husband was away, he joined Polish Army when the war started, it took few years before they learned his fate.
I found the book quite exceptional, it has been written from the perspective of 8 y.o. boy.
It may be some kind of disappointment for readers who expected to find stories written by adults rationally explaining what was happening around them. 
Wiesio relies completely on his own memory and on what mother or sibling told him. His experiences are very limited - mother decided not to send him to the Communist school so he spends whole days just wandering around a hut in which they are living, he has no company other than an old man nearing his death.
Fortunately I read some other stories covering these events so I could enjoy a company of very young boy telling me about his passage through the hell.

View all my reviews

Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Initially I liked this book very much.
The style, dialogs, surprising associations.
Further in the book I found some quite naive motifs - mostly those touching science and religion.
Not only naive, also angry.
Plus lots and lots extreme exaggerations, arrogance.
Mostly beautiful woman, most clever man, same applies to the dog and to the daughter. Actually I felt very sorry for her - child without childhood.
Finally - on one hand I liked descriptions of TV Shows, on the other one I was confused with a number of contradictory situations and number of manila envelopes sent in many directions.
One more points - the story of Calvin Evans childhood, in my opinion, went completely off the rails.
At that stage I gave this book 3 stars.
After few days I cooled down and thought about it as the author making a joke.
I raised rating to 4 stars.
P.S. I learned that the book has been converted to a TV serial, what is interesting - Harriet, the neighbour is black.
I cannot believe that her husband- a monster, could be black in the movie.

View all my reviews

Good Bones and Simple Murders

Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liked it... cannot say why, just liked :)

View all my reviews