say that I liked this book but I can't say I didn't either
586399
I can't. say that I liked this book but I can't say I didn't either. It is a strange story that rambles about. Half the time I was wondering why I kept reading. I do think this would make a good movie. Not sure I would read another book by this author.
4387968
respect  may be too pc
one of the few books i did not overly criticize
2733592
I'm really struggling with my review for this book. I can't say I liked it. But I also can't say I didn't like it.

Pros:
I thought the storyline was super creepy. Especially the more I think about it.
The action was interesting when it was happening.
I liked the four main characters characters.
I really enjoyed that moment when I finally figured out what was happening.

Cons:
The format.
All the short sentences.
It was like this.
And I kept having the same thoughts:
Why not just write complete paragraphs?!
Maybe this should have been a short story.
Haven't we read this before?
The repetition.
The repetition.
The repetition.
My god, this is dragging.

But seriously. When I started reading, I was loving it! But then I got a little confused. Like I said above, when you figure out what is really happening, it's a bit of a shock. I was hooked for a few pages after that. But then I got bored again. I'm pretty sure I found myself feeling bored more often than I felt hooked. Though I never once thought about adding it to my DNF list.

I just can't say I really enjoyed this read.

Favorite lines:
No one tells you it's all about to change, to be taken away. There's no proximity alert, no indication that you're standing on the precipice. And maybe that's what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you're least expecting it. No time to flinch or brace.

Her breath is wine-sweet, and she has one of those smiles that seem architecturally impossible. It still slays me.

I am not allowed to think I'm crazy.
I am only allowed to solve this problem.
1757269
This is the most unique book I've read in a very long time. I have to admit that it took me a while to get into it and an exceptionally long time to read it. It wasn't that I didn't like it. It just seemed to drag. Now that I've finished it, I think I understand why. I may be reading a little bit more into it than there is or I may be over analyzing it, but here's my take on A Corner of White.

If I would have had to rate this book as I read it I would have given it maybe 3 stars in the beginning - and that would have probably been generous. I wasn't really attached or intrigued by either the characters or the subject. Everything seemed kind of disconnected and the characters were not necessarily flat but kind of shallow. They didn't seem to have any real purpose other than being there. Madeleine was depressed because she didn't want the life she was living with her mother, she wanted the life she had before she ran away with her to Cambridge. She felt cheated and frankly came off as a little spoiled. Her friends were a bit strange at first glance. Even the dialogue seemed to bounce all over the place and the descriptions seemed to be choppy or run together. It was hard to keep up. Even though Madeleine's world was the `real world' in some ways it was just as much of a fantasy as Cello.

Elliot's world was unique to say the least. There were things about it that were fairly normal and familiar, yet there were obviously things that were beautiful and dangerous. I liked Elliot, his mother and his friends. Most of the people in the town I liked too. In some ways, they seemed more `real' than the characters in Madeleine's world. I liked the uniqueness of it and the strength of the characters. Once these worlds came together through Madeleine and Elliot's letter exchanges things started to get a little more interesting.

The more I read this book the more connected it became. I don't think that was accidental. The writing and cohesiveness of the story became clearer as things became clearer for the characters. There are a lot of mysteries, twists and turns in this book. The characters not only learn a lot, they grow a lot. When I first started reading A Corner of White I was wondering how it could possibly develop into a series. Once I reached the end I realized I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. Those characters that you thought you knew were totally different people by the end of the book. Frivolous characters had a depth that you didn't even notice until it was revealed and then you gained a whole new understanding. This is definitely a book that you could look at an entirely different way if you read it a second time.

Like I said, I may have totally missed the mark on this one and I may be seeing something that isn't there at all. Regardless, A Corner of White turned into an entirely different experience than I expected when I started. I can't wait to get to know these characters even better in the next book in The Colors of Madeleine.

I received A Corner of White from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
3965874
This book is, I don't know it gives me mixed feelings. Some parts of me just really enjoys the book and other parts of me is like meh. The story is very interesting and well written. But it feels like something is missing but I cant really say what it is.

The cover is beautiful and do represent the story in some aspect but not in others. This story is a bit different, but that is in a good way. I enjoyed it but I think that due to everything going on around me made me not really appriciate this book as much as I had hoped. The book was a quick easy read. I wish I could tell what I feel is missing but when I don't know myself its hard. I just know I got the feeling that something was missing.

I would recommend for others to read this book because it isn't a bad book or a badly written story, it is just not a book that cought me which is strange due to my love of dogs and animals. The book is worth reading.
1657323
I'm not sure how I feel about this book, but I think I kinda liked it, so I'll give it a 3 stars.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is about Leonard, a teenage guy, who delivers presents to his "friends" on his eighteenth birthday, before he goes to kill his former best friend and then himself.

Leonard is a very strange character. He's pessimistic and sharp, and the way he sees life has made me think a lot, which I believe is the reason why I kept putting this book down. Also, he can be irritating sometimes, and I have to say that I really got annoyed with certain things he said. At first I thought he was being overly dramatic, and I found it hard to relate to his overwhelming feelings. However, I was also curious to know more about him; I wanted to know why he felt the way he felt, and to fully understand why he was so negative about life and his future. And when I finally understood, I truly felt sad for him. I think he is a very complex character. And although I didn't like him at first, as the story progressed he grew on me and won me over.

One thing I really liked about this book was reading about Leonard's inner struggle. He was determined to accomplish his mission, but I kept noticing that he was constantly looking for "excuses" to do otherwise. This fact was what made me think that maybe there is still hope for him.

The side characters were interesting enough, but Herr Silverman was the only one I ended up liking; I wish I had a teacher like him, but I think he's too good to be true.

The ending. Well, I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. <spoiler>I want to know what happens with the characters</spoiler> so I'm disappointed with how the story ended, but at the same time I think the ending was beautiful. So, like I said, I'm very confused.

The audiobook. The narrator did a good enough job narrating the story. I think his voice was a bit harsh, but it suited Leonard's personality well; it didn't bother me so much, and after a few chapters I got used to it. What I didn't like, though, was that I often got confused with the characters because the narrator's voice didn't vary much. Overall, I think it was a decent performance.
3859815
I can honestly say I enjoyed this book, but it's not a book I could read again. I did love the characters of Megan, Rachel, and Anna--but felt they could have been a bit more developed.
2751837
This is going to be a mixed review, there are aspects to this book that are very good and then aspects that are really not up to scratch. So it left me mixed on a rating, I settled on three stars, but would have liked to have given it more.

The storyline is interesting and good, a young girl turns up ragged and starving on the busy streets of Rio, after escaping her captors where she was kept as a sex slave. In the current climate and with the numbers of child sex slaves in the MILLIONS worldwide I was keen to see how this book unfolded. The young girl is likeable, but her character is a bit disjointed, it's written presenting her sometimes as thinking/behaving younger for her age (12) and then sometimes older like sixteen, I found this hard to process considering all she had gone through.

The book covers the entire story of her journey, it has a lot of action, but it's difficult subject matter. It's tackling some not very pleasant issues and some of the scenes made me feel so angry and sad. I found some of the book too wordy and the excitement of the plot got lost in meaningless chatter (like Raul's constant internal thinking processes)

As the book travels on it reveals how she became to be there, in Rio, it becomes very readable, it's also sad, it can make you cringe, but I know that this is a huge issues that's very real. The book is fiction but this stuff is going on in real life (how many really know the scale of it?)

I did find the book easy enough to read quickly, I wanted more from it though, I felt it could have had a bit more depth, the characters are a touch one-dimensional and I was wanting that to be different, but it just didn't get there.

I also think the book title needs to change, it's too long and not appealing to a mass market in my humble opinion, in fact it may put readers off it as it almost doesn't make sense unless you have read the book and I do believe book titles and covers DO make a different to success of a book, regardless of the words in it. The cover I don't like either, again, could be a lot more appealing.

BUT if you can see past these minor faults, the book in itself is like none I have read lately, I did enjoy it and the pace swept me along. The major action scene towards the end was great, although I wanted a bit more from the final ending itself. This will be one of those books you will either like or not.
Comment
630027
I enjoyed it - the characters were interesting, and the plot pulled me in. But it's not a book I'll reread.
1565992
I'm not even sure what to say about this book. I liked most of it and then I didn't. I don't want to spoil anything for the next reader. It's a "nice" book.
63681
I liked this book, but felt that it didn't move quickly enough and I didn't love the ending.
445397
I tried this book based on the reputation of the author. As I haven't read previous works by this author I was rather confused by the story but I did find it made a moderately good read  but I haven't decided yet whether I would read any future additions. While well written I can't give it my total endorsement.
4084071
I really like books so I  wanted to really like this book. I just didn't. It has an interesting approach. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions along the river as they traveled. The characters were  a bit too different for me. I would have liked to see the literary apothecary part of this expanded. This book might be just the right one for someone just not me.
2799739
I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I stayed with it and I did look forward to reading it each evening, but I grew impatient with the heroine. She had a "deer in the headlights" quality. But in order to be frustrated by her choices, I must have identified with her and cared about her.  On a minor point, the heroine's baby daughter Sarah's behavior was not described in an age-appropriate or consistent way.  I often paused to question if a child so young was really capable of doing whatever it was that little Sarah had just done or said. Being a mom, the answer was usually NO. That's not a huge problem, but it was a bit of an interruption to the narrative drive. One character was too conveniently dispatched and the story could have been richer had that not been the case.

On a positive note, the author can WRITE. Her descriptions and sense of place were terrific and the dialogue was very natural. I love when an author places the reader solidly in the locale. This was largely set on Cape Cod, a place I know and love. I wish the ending had been more resolved. I drew my own conclusions, but then I thought I sensed where things were heading a few chapters back. What if I was wrong?

I do look forward to reading another book by Nina de Gramont.
3575940
There were certain things I liked a lot about this book, so I'll start with that. Aspie protagonist Caitlin had a distinct voice and was mostly believable within the story, though I had some trouble with her presentation. I liked that she didn't see herself as autistic and seemed kind of irritated by the idea that others did--it made her more flawed and likeable--and I liked that she had many of her own terms for experiences unique to her, like her "recess feeling" as a bad feeling because she didn't like recess. I liked that traditional dialogue was not used in this book because Caitlin probably doesn't process speech quite the same as other people do; it made the story feel a little more like it was all in her head, which was appropriate. I liked that Caitlin clearly had a connection with her brother that could be felt, even though her emotions don't express like other people's; it didn't feel grafted on that she loved him. I liked that Caitlin wasn't the only person who was suffering because of the death of a loved one--her father's grief, and that of a friend and even a sort-of enemy, was filtered through her viewpoint to show us how others were reacting even though she mostly couldn't empathize or understand why they felt what they did. And I liked the symbolism that sometimes happened when Caitlin would do things like draw a person and leave out the eyes.

I didn't like the following things. I thought Caitlin was sometimes too literal in an exaggerated way; I found her interpretation of "quarter-cut oak" as wood pried from an oak tree with a quarter to be a bit unbelievable (especially since she actually tried it and damaged her hands). This was especially weird since the narration wasn't always overly literal, which probably contributed to my feeling that someone else was showing us Caitlin besides Caitlin. I would have liked to see a little bit less stereotypical Asperger's traits since not everyone on the spectrum is the same; she's pretty much got 'em all if you check off items on a list. Startled by loudness and brightness; super literal; hates eye contact; can't read emotions; hides herself under and inside things; flaps her hands; sucks her sleeve; has weird outbursts; even has a savant-like artistic ability. I didn't like that there were so many references to a movie I hadn't seen, and that they were used to frame the story. I didn't like that sometimes other children who talked to Caitlin were way too mature. I didn't like that certain aspects of Caitlin's Asperger's experience seemed a little phoned in, though that's hard to explain. Not because anything she did wasn't believable for someone of her orientation, but because it . . . sometimes sounded like someone else was talking ABOUT her rather than it being Caitlin talking about herself. Maybe more like the author was sometimes showing me Caitlin while pretending to be thinking as her, but knowing I'm going to "get" a joke that Caitlin doesn't get. And I think most of all I didn't like that certain story-related revelations were very deliberately presented in the right order for the reader so that even when the characters felt real the storytelling felt constructed and "written." (For instance, we begin the story knowing that Caitlin's brother has died in an accident, but we don't know the nature of the accident, and "as you know, Bob" type exposition sometimes filters into the narration.) It also kinda bothered me that there was a school shooting and the only reference to the perpetrator involved a clearly unrepentant ex-student grinning and giving a thumbs up to a camera covering the news story.
2711666
I guess I'm just not cool enough to enjoy this book as much as others seem to have. I waded through it on the recommendation by a friend. I thought I would appreciate the history and love the story, but I just...didn't. It was a great story, but I just didn't feel like I wanted to stick with it at all. I did finish it and didn't particularly care for the ending either. I wish I could've liked it more.
1743238
I wavered about what to rate this book, simply because while it was a fine read for what it was, I didn't really feel confident that I'd remember it later.

Several of the characters did have some interesting quirks that made them more than just archetypes, and I enjoyed them for that--but they began as archetypes nonetheless. So while on the one hand there were some things about the corporate character that made him multidimensional in ways I appreciated and enjoyed, such as his feelings for the various people in his life, I also certainly didn't feel like he was someone new I'd never met before.

As others have mentioned, it's Joe that gets fleshed out the least here. We see him do a lot of cool things, but by and large they're exactly the things you'd expect a similarly positioned character in another novel to do.

So overall, I feel it's a three, because we get solid material, but not in a way that makes the book stand out as different than anything else or makes it stick in the mind.