All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Moving back to young adult fiction for a minute, I downloaded All the Bright Places. It immediately reminded me of The Fault in Our Stars, only dealing with mental illness rather than cancer. Violet Markey and Theodore Finch, teens who couldn’t be more opposite on the social spectrum, find their worlds entwining when they simultaneously end up in their high school’s bell tower contemplating jumping. What got them to this point is different for each. Violet is still reeling from the tragic loss of her sister, Eleanor. Finch is suffering from severe depression, an affliction he has carried for years, likely stemming from his less than stellar home life. Theodore eventually helps Violet down, and an emotional, yet sweet relationship begins. Speaking from experience, this book did an amazing job of capturing just how depression and anxiety can feel. I didn’t blow me away, but I would definitely recommend All The Bright Places to teens and adults. I laughed, I cried… It felt complete.
The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo
This book certainly whacked me back into the world of nonfiction. Bad mafia pun aside, holy shit! While I’ve always enjoyed a good true-crime thriller, it has been ages since I’ve read one. The Ice Man came recommended to me by my coworker. Knowing how my husband and I enjoyed the HBO series The Jinx and Netflix’s Making A Murderer, he thought we would take an interest in the story of Richard Kuklinski. And, what an interesting tale it is. The book details the upbringing, family life, criminal history, and eventual investigation of Kuklinski. Sure, there are plenty of mob stories out there, but this one is exceptionally compelling. Perhaps many members of organized crime could be considered serial killers given the amount of murders they commit, but this guy was a legit monster. He beat his wife to the point of two miscarriages, he hunted for wayward people to kill underneath the West Side Highway, and he readily accepted offers of extra money to torture victims. This is all detailed in The Ice Man, creating a sharp contrast against his persona as a good ‘ol suburban dad. Totally worth a read for any of my friends out there who like nonfiction and true-crime and don’t mind a little gore.
No comments:
Post a Comment