iris_ymra's reviews
137 reviews

Everyone joins a band in this life.

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Frankie lived his life nine years in Spain with his papa, Baffa Rubio -- learning to play guitar from his teacher El Maestro that didn't just teach him about music, but also life lessons through the perspective of music and musician -- met Aurora, the girl he then will love, the first and always for forever -- and until he had to flee the country for his own safety.

And Frankie's life afterward had been the records of him joining so many 'bands', because one will always do. His life had been a discovery of music, of fame, of people, and of love -- most importantly of who he really was.

His guitar -- with the magic strings -- had been his all time companion on his journey going through every movement in every piece, every note in music sheets and every record played on a phonograph. And with that six magic strings, six lives had been saved, and every time, the string will turn into a blue colour.

Frankie had touched so many souls through his music, to the last movement, until he took a bow. The show was maybe over but, everyone will come home with a lingering touch of music in their soul.

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When I read this book I was sure myself that I had joined this band of Frankie Presto -- or maybe, I had joined an orchestra and Mitch Albom had been its conductor, Frankie Presto's life had been our music sheets that contained a composition of music piece we read and played -- played through our emotions.

This book has been written beautifully alive -- in several narrations of characters -- people who knew Frankie Presto during his live and the narration of music itself. I feel as if this is not a writing of fiction at all. It's as if this is a memoir of a real -- existed -- Frankie Presto. This book is definitely (for me) a great work, a masterpiece.

Having a good cry along my reading is a proof how this book will catch our human emotion, my human emotion. And that's the very thing I try to find in every book I read. That will Let me feel 'alive'.

'There’s a fullness of time for things, Lily. You have to know when to prod and when to be quiet, when to let things take their course.'

'It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.'

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The 1st pov narration has been always my favourite, adding on when a book with a plot where the MC were on their journey of wanting to find the truth about their life to discover more about who they really are or the people in their life are. The story started with teasing the reader with curiousity about what had actually happened to Lily's mother, and moving on to on how we see the developing characteristics of the characters.

It's not really a roller coaster emotional ride, but rather a smooth sailing feeling throughout my entire reading yet not tedious at all. We learned how the relationship between all characters developed -- a warm relationship you would like to be in one. Though the curiousity bore into me on what exactly Lily's mother had to do with the Boatwright's sisters and on this, is where I find it kind of slow, though I just got distracted with Lily and her beekeeping works that I forgot about it.

There was not really a plot twist I had expected, but all in all was a neat finish and for me it had done justice to everyone.

'One of the worst parts about someone dying is thinking back to all those times you didn’t ask the right questions, all those times you stupidly assumed you’d have all the time in the world.'

'Perfect days are for people with small, realizable dreams.'

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This book has the eye-catching or maybe reader-catching plot, that makes me what to keep on reading. Of course, it's out of my high curiosity to know who's behind SN, and what awaits Jessie in the days ahead her.

This is a book on teenage life -- there are those girls who act bitchy, some bullying stuff, rich people, nerds, love story and yet still kind of different from any other teenage young adult story. Like this book definitely pass my vibe checked -- because I am too traumatized of bullying and too complicated teenage life -- I love that Jessie isn't just an easily beaten up girl, I love how Theo despite being a rich and somewhat cocky at the beginning is actually a smart and okay stepbrother to be around with, and I especially, of course love Ethan, a smart dork -- and how everything ended up between her and Jessie.

And although I must say, my guess was right from the very beginning about who SN is, I still love how the mystery unravels. And I love most about their three things.

This book is a compilation of self-reflection by the author, that she wrote as a letter to her readers.

She shared life event on daily basis, that's full with lessons when one decided to seek wisdom from it. So many things that she had gone through, that had made her started to question her life only then made her realized that everything did happen for a reason.

It's quiet mind blowing for me too, because most of the reflection in this book is kind of answering my loud mind that's been occupied with questions since the MCO.

I feel that it sort of calms my anxiety over the unknown of our future these days.

'Between life and death there is a library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?'

'You can choose choices but not outcomes.'

'Never underestimate the big importance of small things.'

'Undoing regrets was really a way of making wishes come true.'

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I love the idea of this book -- about the midnight library -- which definitely made a nice fantasy book written with the idea of how quantum physics work, and made the possibility of another parallel life. The author stressed on mental health through the MC, Nora Seed, as we can see how she struggles over her mental health in her root life and even in her alternate lives. And I would say that literally this book is definitely well written, I bet you that every sentence in this book is very quotable.

Her journey in the midnight library has brought her into so many possibilities of another live she could live up when she made a different choice and decision in her root life. And through these lives Nora then found what she really wants; what life, what people, and of what of her.

The things for me when reading this book was how I found it to be a really slow paced, the repetitive of Nora choosing life really bored me -- and it was through the entire middle of the story which almost actually through the entire of the story I think -- I get it (or maybe I don't) that the author wants us to go along with Nora -- and together with her -- rediscovered her purpose of living. But it didn't quite sit well with me when I couldn't grasp the idea and couldn't see the insight of what or where the story was going. It was only at the end of the book that I finally felt present in the story and relate to Nora emotionally, and it's only then I felt that I was beside her when she decided to come, alive. And for that I wasn't really felt that disappointed, hence the three stars.

'We can’t change the world, and a lot of the time we can’t even change people. No more than one bit at a time. So we do what we can to help whenever we get the chance, sweetheart. We save those we can. We do our best. Then we try to find a way to convince ourselves that that will just have to… be enough. So we can live with our failures without drowning.'

'If you can do something for someone in such a way that they think they managed it all on their own, then you’ve done a good job.'

'Sometimes we don’t need distance, just barriers.'

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Anxious People; I've never seen (read) too many characters -- too many anxious people -- in a book that have a fairly important role each and every one of them at the same time along the storyline. The author is definitely a genius to come with such plot -- I'd say it feels scattered and all over the place yet organized altogether; and this is a compliment. I'd found myself jumping from a scene to another, yet I didn't lose track of what was happening before.

Along the story we keep guessing about how and what exactly was happening and were going to happen, perhaps you'd think you are smart to (feel) like finally sort everything out before everything ends, but boy you will be wrong because I was wrong too, but that just made this book a whole story of one of a kind for me.

I love my journey throughout my entire time reading this book. I could never able to describe in words, but to definitely recommend everyone to just give this book a read, and we will nod and gesture to the same move and never need to say anything about what we feel.

And, yes, if you were to be held hostage by a bank robber, then there's no better company to be in than all of the characters in this book.

Verity; the opposite of Verity is not knowing what the real truth actually is. This book definitely a dark, disturbing and psychopathic -- for how the author herself and Verity for keeping the thrilled in this book moving.

But, I can see that we were too occupied with the thrilled from the second story through Verity's p.o.v that we were not aware and overlooking the fact of us not knowing anything really is about the characters. Perhaps that's why the suspense will stay even though the story has ended -- at least for me. Because the truth is, nobody knows whether Verity or Jeremy are as they are, when we mostly only know them through another fictional in a fiction. And I don't sit well with the romance between Lowen and Jeremy -- I don't think that their relationship is justifiable at all. Not even if what Verity did was true.

To conclude, this is a great book indeed to have you keep flipping to another page out of excitement it brought, to have your curiosity bore you to keep reading. Although for me the ending was a rush and quite abrupt and didn't match the whole energy from the entire story.

'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves.'

'But we’re disorganized mourners, so a lot of people end up remembering Shakespeare, and no one ends up remembering the person he wrote Sonnet Fifty-five about.'

'Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.'

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This book is a pretty slow paced for me, half through the book (and still) and I could say for me that this book has not so much of solid great storyline -- perhaps I have such high anticipation. The theme of this book is not new to me, and I think that this book particularly written with a mediocre plot. Though I must say the last almost 20% of the book got me shading my tears all the way to the end -- I soaked my bed sheet. And the author is an intelligent indeed for how he crafted his words through his writing.

I think my reading was slightly tedious as well -- maybe because I find it sometimes too much detailed on the narration yet lack of characters' impressiveness. But, what I know for sure both Hazel and Augustus are utterly smart. Though they are a bit cringy for me.

I noticed too that the AIA book, plays a notably significant big role on how this book storyline developed, which I can't help but has more curiosity about the book and even Peter Van Houten as much as I should have on both Hazel and Augustus.

'Your life is a story told about you, not one that you tell.'

'Anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.'

'People always talk like there’s a bright line between imagination and memory, but there isn’t, at least not for me. I remember what I’ve imagined and imagine what I remember.'

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An interesting plot that would definitely make you curious about the whole story about Davis dad, and about how Aza and David relationship will go on, while we know Aza is dealing with her mental health.

This book is narrated from a p.o.v of Aza, so we often got dragged along into her spiral of thought. And Aza's inner thoughts are really maddening, I am not kidding or exaggerate it if I say I am almost feeling crazy myself, like it's triggering and I feel like something inside of me starts crawling. I wanted to scream shut up to her thoughts, but I know I want to finish the book, and so I have to continue reading and so I can't stop her thoughts. So this book, I can say is quite triggering too.

I got the same vibe from this book's characters as The Fault In Our Stars -- not the being having to deal with a terminal illness -- but being how these characters in their relationship, often have their own 'different world' from the real one, we all living in. Like when the are together in real life or through their phones, it's always described that they went into another 'realm' of their own creation.

And I realized too how the author often creates his characters with a smart and intelligent characteristics. And so it made the character development great too.

I love how it ends, like we're not really assured of whether it's really a happy ending or an ending at all. All in all was a relaxing and laid-back read for me, despite the constantly have to deal with Aza's anxiety all along.

Latif merupakan seorang artis -- penyanyi -- yang sedang dan masih meningkat naik namanya di negara Nusaraya dan bahkan di peringkat global juga. Hidup di dunia yang mana status tingkat kedudukan seseorang dalam masyarakat adalah ditentukan oleh pemilikan bilangan kredit mereka, yang diperolehi melalui pencapaian kerjaya atau gelombang persepsi masyarakat. Kedua-dua perkara ini menjadi faktor pengurangan ataupun penambahan kredit setiap individu. Yang turut bermaksud, menentukan samada mati atau kelangsungan hidup seseorang.

Barangkali ada individu yang akan sanggup melakukan apapun juga demi mengekalkan kredit -- untuk terus hidup -- dan dalam keadaan inilah yang Latif perlu hadapi, ketika mana individu itu ialah orang terdekat dalam hidupnya. Pilihan apa yang perlu dia ambil. Keputusan apa yang perlu dia buat.

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Dengan tema distopia, strain pertama buku ini dimulakan dengan world-building yang teliti dan tersusun oleh penulis yang membantu pembacaan kita untuk menginterpretasikan dunia di dalam buku ini dengan mudah. Penciptaan dunia masa hadapan yang menarik dan mengujakan untuk membayangkan bagaimana keadaannya jika diri kita sendiri hidup di dalam dunia ini.

Rentak perjalanan cerita yang stabil pada saya dengan dengan konflik yang memuncak sehingga ke akhir muka surat (memandangkan ini ialah buku pertama untuk siri ini, jadi cerita belum berakhir semestinya). Kita malah semakin menjadi tertanya-tanya tentang bagaimana cara watak utama buku ini nanti untuk menghadapi dan menyelesaikan segala konflik yang timbul.

Perwatakan watak utama pada saya ialah watak protagonis yang klisé -- yakni terlalu baik -- sebaliknya watak-watak antagonis buku ini pada saya yang menjadikan jalan cerita Selamat Tinggal Purnama strain pertama ini lebih mengujakan dan pembacaan menjadi emosi. Persoalan-persoalan yang ditimbulkan penulis juga semestinya mencucuk-cucuk rasa ingin tahu dalam diri pembaca, jadi pembacaan seterusnya akan segera disambung ke strain kedua Selamat Tinggal Purnama.