Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates REVIEW

 Summary:

Meet Quentin P. He is a problem for his professor father and his loving mother, though of course they do not believe the charge of sexual molestation of a minor that got him in that bit of trouble.

He is a challenge for his court-appointed psychiatrist, who nonetheless is encouraged by the increasingly affirmative quality of his dreams and his openness in discussing them.

He is a thoroughly sweet young man for his wealthy grandmother, who gives him more and more, and can deny him less and less.

My Thoughts:

I almost DNFed this book, as the beginning is quite slow.

Quentin is not a likeable character, and Oates doesn't try to make him one. He is a thoroughly terrible person that is not at all sympathetic. I like that. Too many people make their villains sympathetic and likeable. 

The narration is from Quentin's POV and we get a look into his disturbed mind.

I honestly wish that the book was longer, because there isn't really much of a conclusion.

My Rating: 3 stars

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon REVIEW

 Summary:

When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes it's just another one of her sister's episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead, drowned in the pool at their grandmother's estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister's things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. She dives deeper into the research herself and discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have every imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newly wed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, Ethel's husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.

My Thoughts:

I adored this book and read it in only a few hours. The characters are outstandingly fleshed out and the writing is beautifully done.

Jax used to be close to her sister when she was younger, but the condition of her spread them apart. She knows next to nothing about the family and property's history, which she finds out later on. Her aunt and father are there with her when she returns for the funeral.

Ethel wants a baby so badly. When she hears that the water grants wishes, Ethel figures it wouldn't hurt to try, unaware of the coming consequences with her baby being extremely sick when she is born. We later find out that Ethel is Jax's great-grandmother.

The characters' relation to each other is so seamlessly woven. The ending is tragic yet beautiful.

Overall, I would definitely recommend giving this a read.

My Rating: 5 stars