Straight to the Plot!

Beware: Full of Spoilers!

[spoiledbooks]

Cleopatra and Frankenstein

Characters: Cleo Frank Santiago Anders Eleanor

Synopsis: "New York is slipping from Cleo's grasp. Twenty-four, at a different party every night and with a student visa that's swiftly running out, she doesn't even have money for cigarettes. But then a chance encounter on New Year's Eve offers her a way out. Frank, successful and twenty years older, can give her the security she craves and the green card she needs, and in Cleo he sees a life filled with beauty, art and freedom.

As the two rush headlong into an impulsive marriage, and their friends are drawn into its tumultuous orbit, what began as a chance meeting will change all their lives forever..."

– I don't know what to feel about the ending about this book. I was going to say it's not a happy-ever-after sort of ending but then I paused and actually...it is. For both Cleo and Frank. The closure they had was the closure I wish I had experienced.

Frank and Cleo were so toxic with each other as their relationship deepens. When they fought, I was on the train and I was heavy-breathing as I read through the episode. I almost want to tear the book. It was a great of an emotion. I began to dislike Cleo's character. I want to blame Cleo for not being responsible enough in taking her medications. Eleanor, on the other hand, has something in her character that she stood out for me compared to Cleo. I almost wanted it to be Eleanor & Frankenstein but it's surely is not catchy as "Cleopatra."

Santiago: I like his character and being the person who has maturity and sense of being. When he went to California to talk with Anders and try to be the mediator. The solver. And Im glad he also found the love of his life.

Anders: Had an affair with probably all of the female characters in the book. Of course the highlight of the affair is with him and Cleo. The bastards! The story ended with two lovers going ready for their separate journeys to start ahead of them and had the most wonderful closure. Closure that I think everyone would have want with their "pasts". As I myself has had a chaotic one.

The most beautiful line that stood out at the end was this: "And when I stood still, (she) was there standing with me. And I think you deserve to be with someone like that, who can provide that safety and that stillness for you..."

[spoiledbooks]

In Memoriam

Author: Alice Winn

Characters: Henry Gaunt Sidney Ellwood

Synopsis: "It's 1914, and talk of war feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. At seventeen, they're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having a clue that Ellwood is in love with him, always has been. When Gaunt's German mother asks him to enlist as an officer in the British army to protect the family from anti-German attacks, Gaunt signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood.

The front is horrific, of course, and though Gaunt tries to dissuade Ellwood from joining him on the battlefield, Ellwood soon rushes to join him, spurred on by his love of Greek heroes and romantic poetry. Before long, their classmates have followed suit. Once in the trenches, Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one another, but their friends are all dying, right in front of them, and at any moment they could be next."

–

I have finished this book after staying up and three cups of tea at four in the morning. Gain and Elly's story is so absorbing and riveting. This book has left me with a lingering feeling that I myself cannot put into words. The detail in this book is magnificently written, though very dark and gruesome. Chapter Fifteen will be the most memorable chapter of all the books I have ever read. I have never shouted so loud on a pillow over my head. What I love about this book is how relatable it is to me somehow. The unrequited love between Elly and Gaunt at first - the shyness; the insecurity; the fear of rejection; the unspeakable tensions; the body languages. I have all experience this and the familiarity has very much left me with goosebumps. Oh the languages of love! I did not cry in this book but I remember how heightened my emotions while reading this book. And this is one of the books that I would probably forget the plot details but would still strongly recommend to everyone. The book ended with Elly and Gaunt living together in Brazil. They are only about in their 20's. 21 and 22 if Im not mistaken. Elly was greatly affected by war and probably is having PTSD and was having difficulty with expressing his words and he has been grumpy and has anger issues post-war. Gaunt says "I love you" in the end but Ellwood is unable to say it back replied with "I cannot heave my heart into my mouth." As Gaunt was staring into his eyes, Elly added, "Shakespeare, King Lear." (Elly loves poem in the early years). And to this Gain replied, "There. It's a start."

I have not read King Lear but the amazing Google has given me a bit of help. It says King Lear's moral of the story is, "a person's actions speak louder than words alone."

[spoiledbooks]

Dear Dolly

Author: Dolly Alderton

"We are all united in our own horribly unique pain."

"What I learnt from sharing my most private pain with a semi-professional problem-solver was that the mere act of asking for help was, in itself, healing."

“…inhabit the stage I’m at right now, and be grateful for what it is at this precise moment, rather than dwell on what it isn’t. Instead of looking at your life and seeking the lack, look for the abundance.”

[spoiledbooks]

Death and Fromage

Author: Ian Moore Characters:  Noel Mabit  Augustine Tatillon  Sebastien Grosmallard   Angelique Royer  Karine Grosmallard  Antonin Grosmallard  Fabrice Menard  Elisabeth Menard  Hugo Menard  Guy Garcon  Rene DuPont  Commissaire Henri LaPierre  Liebowitz Brothers  Senator Royer Murder Sequence:   1st: Fabrice Menard   2nd: Antonin Grosmallard   3rd: Auguste Tatillon  Angelique Royer: Death is unclear whether suicide or murdered. 

Spoiler Plot: "And they did what young people do. They had fun. Then both women became pregnant. ... Both by Sebastien Grosmallard. Fabrice Menard had a congenital heart condition and was unable to have children. But this was woman's work. A mother gives up her child; that child is a constant reminder of that pain." Suspect: Karine Grosmallard  (Accomplices: Sebastien and Senator Royer)