Books-Reading Wrap-Up for July 2024
Hi, and welcome to my reading wrap-up for July 2024.
The Circus Train by Amita Parikh
This was a Book of the Month book. It took me some time to get through it.
At the World of Wonders, Europe's most magnificent travelling circus, every moment is full of magic, and nothing is as it seems--especially for the people who put on the show
Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, despite her father's overprotection and the limits her world places on her because she is disabled. Her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past. Over several years, as their friendship flourishes and Alexandre trains as the illusionist's apprentice, World War II escalates around them. When Theo and Alexandre are contracted to work and perform in a model town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena becomes separated from everything she knows. Forced to make her own way, Lena must confront her doubts and dare to believe in the impossible--herself.
Overall, the book reads as a poorly thought out pile of callouts to what someone believes readers want to see - lip service to disability rep, the horrors of Nazism, POC rep, Anti-Colonial rep, Feminist rep - while mangling it to all.
There were parts of this book I really enjoyed. There were times I was invested in the narrative. Sadly there were other times my mind wandered and I wanted the journey to end. At the end of the book I just began turning pages. I would give this book a 3/5 on my reading scale.
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My Audible listen for July was called "No One to Hear You" by Samantha Hayes
Julia's husband, Murray French, is walking a tightrope. A solicitor struggling with an alcohol problem, he's about to lose his wife and his children to another man: someone successful, someone they deserve. Someone who's everything he's not. Can he ever get his family back?
Just when Julia thinks life is starting to turn around, she stumbles upon the brutalised body of a girl she teaches. And as the terrible present starts to shed light on her mother's past, Julia realises her family's nightmare is only just beginning...
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