Living Literarily

OK, before anyone judges my harsh review of this much beloved book, I have to defend my two star review. My first complaint is the voice. I have grown up in a family of 8 children, I have many cousins with young children whom I am close to, I babysit, and I am generally very familiar with children. This book felt like it was going between the voice of a two and twenty year old. That took away from the story to me.  I am also well travelled and have German family. The Holocaust has long fascinated me and I still have memories of visiting concentration camps at a young age and being physically ill over what I learned and saw. One of my favorite movies is La Vita é Bella (please watch it). This book did not line up with a lot of the history of WWII that I have read. Also, the extreme ignorance of the main character is unbelievable.  The concept is good and I feel like putting children in the context of some of the world's greatest tragedies is a powerful tool, I just felt like

I am so excited to share this book with you! In a quick one sentence descriptions: this book is Cinder meets Persuasion. In a world recovering from the effects of genetic modification gone wrong, the population is split between the Luddite nobility and the Reduced. The Reduced have a limited mental capacity which makes them perfect slaves, but that has been changing. Enter Kai (yes, I realize the name is the same from Cinder, but they came out around the same time and he is just as dreamy if not more) and Elliot, both from the two very separated classes, but united in their love for adventure. Their story plays out as an awesome feminist and unique retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I love the original story, so I was wary of anyone messing with it, but I approve and am currently in the midst of the second book which a retelling of *drumroll please* THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL!!!!! One of my all time favorite books, musicals, and my go-to sick movie. I am enjoying it just