Warriors by Erin Hunter has always been my favorite novel series. Starting from my middle childhood, I still cannot stop checking all the bookstores around my house once a new book from Warriors is published until now. Indeed, those are in my mother tongue language.  The reason why I want to continue the series in English is that not because my irrevocable fondness for Warriors (I can get to read new books quickly without translation), but also I truly want to challenge myself to see how far I can get. Starting from a year ago, I am now on the second book of fifth sub-series so far — Thunder Rising.

 

Warriors is a series of novels that follows the adventures of four Clans, which are divided between huge amount of wild cats. At the beginning, I met all sorts of befuddlements such as unfamiliar character names, places, and new vocabularies. Sometimes when a new noun appeared where the cats discovered or entered in the book, I cannot even tell if it is a name of a specific kind of terrain or a just fictitious place. However, as I read more and more, I gradually adapted my mind and get used to it. From bewilderment to pleasure, I found myself enjoying between the words and lines. I especially love when the author used onomatopoeia words such as “purr” and “hiss” to describe how the cats communicate with each other because those words entirely fits the behavior of the cats and has relationships with their satisfying pronunciations, which is the uniqueness I found in English by reading Warriors.

 

Always being satisfied and provoked after reading Warriors, I have bought the third book of the sub-series I am currently on and keen to start a new one.

 

Image source

Since last week I have started a phycological thriller novel called The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. The Girl on the Train is about a middle age women, Rachel, took the same commuter train every morning and gradually saw inscrutable senses at a stop. Rachel was keen to collect the senses into a whole story line as if a puzzle since the train only stopped for an minute. Though I am yet to finish this novel, I have several thoughts to share.

My first instinct is that there must be something wrong with Rachel for her to envy ordinary after reading opening chapter. Every morning Rachel saw a golden, perfect couple living peacefully in their relationships and sumptuous house. While Rachel was imaging what their lives would be all day long, she had given the couples imaginary names —- Jason and Jess. As a reader, I do not see any good reason that why Jason and Jess made Rachel envious. Jason and Jess were certainly living in a pleasant lives, and it should be extremly ordinary to maintain a healthy relationship like them. Therefore, Rachel did not envy Jason and Jess. Instead, she was desperate about herself for not having a common relationship like every couple in my assumption. As I read further, I found out Rachel did divorce once five years ago.

The point of view in the novel confused me. There are two narrator in alternative chapters, Rachel and Megan. However, it is as if  a new story began in every chapter. I believe this is because there were no connective relationship between Rachel and Megan until Rachel recognized Megan as her “imaginary Jess”, whom I believe they will meet eventually.

Through reading The Girl on the Train, my initial intuition of the story plot was right, and I was somehow confused by the narrators. I will continue to read the novel since I am always interest in a story plot like this —- finding and revealing a mystery by any means.

 

Image source

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I have finished a novel called Before I Go to Sleep by S.J Watson. The novel is a psychological thriller about a woman, Christine Lucas, is suffering from anterograde amnesia. Christine wakes up every day with no knowledge of who she is, but own a journal she has been keeping secretly to reconstruct memory. As her journal grows, it casts doubts on the truth behind her knowledge. After finishing Before I Go to Sleep, I have several thoughts to share.

The author picked an innovative theme to challenge readers. I never know a story can be construct when the protagonist forgets every thing at the end of the day. As I first read the brief information at the back of the book, Awe and doubt went over me to provoke my eagerness. Afterwards, I found that the author solves this difficulty brilliantly by letting Christine to keep a journal under a doctor’s demand privately, which paved a new story line that whether her journal will be discovered. If so, what will the characters’ reactions and the consequences be?  Next, the fresh format impulses readers to leaf more and more. The novel is in a diary format because Christine was keeping a journal. By using a diary format, the plot can be blended naturally with it. Also, because the action of keeping the journal supposed to be a stealth between Christine and the doctor, reading her journal gives an enticing and curious feeling. Last, author questions the readers whether memory define us. Throughout the novel Christine was being jittery and suspicious once she started to write or read her journal because her work would be crumbled if her husband discovered the journal, and Christine’s existence was no longer significant because the value of a person is from what the person has done in the past. Furthermore, at the climax of the novel when Christine’s husband burned her novel, but accidentally broke out a fire, Christine confided that she could frankly die since everything she remembered had disappeared.

Before I Go to Sleep is truly a page-turner. The author chose an explosive theme and fresh format to catch reader’s attention among myriad books. Moreover, he left a controversial question at last for readers to think about. I would like to recommend this book to others.

Image Source