Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Bird Box 
By Josh Malerman
Pages: 262
Published: May 13th, 2014 by Ecco

Summary: Most people ignored the outrageous reports on the news. But they became too frequent, they became too real. And soon, they began happening down the street. Then the Internet died. The television and radio went silent. The phones stopped ringing. And we couldn't look outside anymore. Malorie raises the children the only way she can; indoors. The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows. They are out there. She might let them in. The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall. Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them. Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything.

MY REVIEW 

Bird Box is a story about Malorie who witnesses the world go to pieces. It all starts with someone seeing something and then going completely mad. Not thinking much of it at first, she doesn't fall into the hype. She doesn't start to panic until the hysteria falls on US soil and she witnesses it with her sister Shannon. Responding to an ad in the paper, Malorie; who recently found out she was pregnant, adventures to a house where she will live for four years. The housemates: Tom, Don, Cheryl and Jules all accept Malorie into their home. While she lives there, they have curtains on windows and always wearing blind folds. After an event at the household, Malorie finally adventures out into the new world and finds a new safe place to raise her children. 

I had two main reasons for picking up this book. One it was compared to The Road which is one of my favorite books and also I was looking for a good quick horror book to read. I wanted something different. I got one of those reasons. I do see the comparisons to The Road, but it's not quite like Cormac's. This is a book in it's own right. 

The story jumps from Malorie leaving the house and to why she left. It was organized enough so you didn't get lost with the jumping back and forth. It ran smoothly. I had a difficult time enjoying any of the characters. Malorie annoyed me especially when she was calling her child 'boy' and 'girl' the whole time. It felt she had no sympathy for them. I saw the point of this at the very end of the book, but I couldn't get past that. 

When I was looking for a horror book, I definitely got it with Bird Box. I found myself only reading it during day light because some parts where terrifying and graphically detailed. I don't get scared easily when it comes to novels, but this was one that did it for me. It was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be scared and questioning my familiar black shadows. 

This book is DEFINITELY not for everyone. I would say if you can handle The Road or some of King's horror books then you will be fine reading Bird Box. 

The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn

The Last Summer 

By Judith Kinghorn
Website  and Twitter
Published: December 31st 2012 by NAL/Penguin USA
Pages: 433
Goodreads 
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Summary: Clarissa is almost seventeen when the spell of her childhood is broken. It is 1914, the beginning of a blissful, golden summer - and the end of an era. Deyning Park is in its heyday, the large country house filled with the laughter and excitement of privileged youth preparing for a weekend party. When Clarissa meets Tom Cuthbert, home from university and staying with his mother, the housekeeper, she is dazzled. Tom is handsome and enigmatic; he is also an outsider. Ambitious, clever, his sights set on a career in law, Tom is an acute observer, and a man who knows what he wants. For now, that is Clarissa.

As Tom and Clarissa's friendship deepens, the wider landscape of political life around them is changing, and another story unfolds: they are not the only people in love. Soon the world - and all that they know - is rocked by a war that changes their lives for ever.

MY REVIEW

The Last Summer is a story about an upstairs / downstairs relationship between Clarissa and Tom Cuthbert. Clarissa first meets Tom when she is just seventeen years old and have a romance that isn’t what Clarissa’s mother wants. Throughout the novel, you live the affair that Clarissa and Tom carry out throughout their whole lives. Clarissa struggles through her life trying to please everyone else but herself and during this struggle she suffers; not only with her heart but physically as well. 

Overall I enjoyed this novel. I loved how the novel started off with Clarissa’s innocence and we got to watch her grow into a woman at the age of forty by the end of the book. The only downfall to this growth was that I felt it made the book drag on. It was always about her longing for Tom and wishing to be with him, and her struggle of being unable to do so. 

I did enjoy reading the times Clarissa was with Tom. I also did enjoy her relationship with Antonio. I believe that was when Clarissa was truly allowed to be herself. She stopped caring what her mother wished, and it was nice to see that finally come out. Such a shame it happened much later in the book. Antonio was the perfect person at the perfect time for her. 

I loved how Judith writes and describes things. It has been a long time since I’ve wanted to sit with a blank notebook next to me while reading to copy down quotes or passages that I enjoyed. The Last Summer was full of them. My favorite was this 

"No, there's nothing to be afraid of, other than the stars, the universe, and the sense of being infinitesimal."

Overall, this book was enjoyable. Definite recommend to those who like historical fiction or Downton Abbey.