Being Unique Being Me Eve: Susin nielsen

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Saturday, 13 October 2018

No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen

In this book we meet Felix and his mum whom live in a van. All their life is packed away as his mum relies on her cunning will to make sure she can provide a little food and a place to sleep that is at least slightly safer than a park bench.

They get his mum's friends to cover for them and not get them found out as Felix enrols in school and makes some friends especially and become a more settled despite their situation.

It seems their luck may change when Felix gets the chance to go on a tv show with a cash prize only then trouble strikes for the pair and their future looks even more uncertain than ever before...

It was a thought provoking book and was realistic as more families fall into poverty and struggle more and more. Though his mum was trying her best we see how she fell into deep times of depression due to their unending situation which is understandable alike Felix's hatred towards their situation which mounts throughout the novel too especially as he grows ill repeatedly and can't face his friends knowing his situation.
I really liked the topic being tackled and would love to see it mentioned more in young adult fiction as it rarely is.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Friday, 22 June 2018

We Are All Made Of Molecules by Susin Nielsen

Stuart and Ashley are forced together as their parents, Caroline and Leonard move in together.

For Stuart he lost his mum to ovarian cancer and used to want a sister as he recalls his childhood early on and Ashley's dad came out as gay and moves on with boyfriend, Michael where as Ashley wished he hadn't and can't face telling people.

Ashley soon warms to Stuart little by little after finding out he gets to be around and talk to Jared her crush. But soon enough after they get talking she realises Jared isn't as nice as she thought he was after an incident at her house where Stuart is to the rescue which also helps her opinion of him improve again.

I really loved the concept of Stewart keeping his mum's blanket and feeling closer to her as he has the idea her molecules are on it, it's a lovely comforting idea.

The book tackles homophobia, being in the LGBTQIA community, divorce, death, step parenting and acceptance. Each issue is pretty much set to one key character and played out through them with an overlap on divorce and parenting being for both Stuart and Ashley. At first Stuart seemed intriguing and Ashley vain and harsh in her attitude but we do soon seen her and Stuart's development character wise as they both change their opinions of each other and their newly combined lives together. I loved the dual perspective of how each now sibling was feeling and adapting to their lives colliding and it worked better than if it had just been from one perspective overall, great work Susin!

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Goodreads Quotes

Eve beinguniquebeingme’s quotes

"You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."— Rosemarie Urquico

Goodreads Quotes

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