A well-written tale taking place in a futuristic world of robots purchased as friends for children. Ishiguro's characters are well defined and relatable and Klara, the robot, is endearing and almost human. The novel invites though provoking questions and at times familiarity with the world we live in today.

Having parents from the neighboring country of Singapore (which was once part of Malaysia) and family from Malaysia, it was very interesting to read about Malaysian history and the race riots. These also happened in Singapore and was one of the reasons why Singapore became independent in the first place. Additionally, I really enjoyed the main character and the portrayal of OCD.

I had a weird feeling about this book as soon as one character saw a boy bleeding to death in a field and decided it was appropriate and normal to refer to him as the "beautiful boy." I kept going, and this book was just not entirely what I thought it was going to be. The expectation here would have been that this book was about finding whoever was responsible for hurting Karel, the boy left to die in the field, but that's really not the point at all. This is more a coming of age story about the three children who found him. Matthew is dealing with his new realization that the world has darkness and is unfair, and that sometimes finding answers doesn't bring you the closure you wanted in life. Zoe has just found out that one of her parents is involved in an affair that she can tell no one about, unless she wants to risk breaking apart her family. On the same vein, she's exploring the idea of love figuring out who she wants to be. Duncan, the youngest, has taken the trauma of finding a dying boy in a new direction - he has realization that, being adopted, now is the time for him to seek out his first mother, before something happens to her.

I really enjoyed reading this book and learning more about the Deaf community. I have a Hard of Hearing friend and she has expressed many of the same opinions that this book did, such as being proud of being HoH/Deaf and not needing to be fixed. I really appreciated this #OwnVoices book and the research that was done. I also really liked how the author wrote ASL and kept it more with ASL grammar vs writing it with English grammar as other books I’ve read about this topic. Additionally, I thought how the lipreading portions were done well, how it’s impossible to catch every word lipreading and how you have to piece together context with what you caught.

This wasn't bad, it just wasn't really good either. I almost DNF'd within the first 50 pages, because the writing just didn't work for me and I found myself skimming just to see if anything good was going to happen. Once the actual story started to pick up and Jake starts to become famous it was a little more interesting to read, but the slow start definitely hindered things. I also found it unfortunate that for a book about an author becoming famous for his best-selling book with a twist you can't see coming...you could see every twist coming here. There was nothing at all surprising, to the point where I was sure that the author was being obvious in an attempt to confuse me when the real plot twist happened. I don't regret reading it, but there was nothing really memorable or stand out here, sadly.

This was fantastic. I couldn't put it down, and read the entire thing throughout two reading sessions in one day, because sleep was not an option until I had answers. It's like the romantic comedy version of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. August has just moved to New York to try and get lost in the city. She's been alone almost her entire life, as her uncle went missing before she was born and her mother has been dedicated to finding out what happened to him ever since. August learned to speak so she could ask questions, and learned to read so she could help sort through files. She was practically raised to be a detective, but she's done with that now. Now, she's going to finish college and figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. At least, that was the plan, before she a wreck of a first day that is ultimately salvaged by meeting a girl named Jane on the subway. Jane is quickly all encompassing - she has a way of being able to charm anyone - and before August knows what's happening she's meeting up with Jane on her commute every day. But no matter how many times August asks Jane to meet up with her outside of the subway, it just doesn't seem to happen. Because Jane can't ever leave the subway. Originally from the 70s, Jane has been stuck riding the same line for fifty years, with no idea what's going on. August makes it her new mission to find a way to free Jane - even if that means they can't be together anymore. I loved discovering what happened to Jane, and the highly supportive atmosphere August has found herself in. This is such a cute, up-lifting book.

I was encouraged to read this interesting book by my daughter. Each chapter explores a different way that men get things that they feel entitled to, at a woman's expense. It was very cleverly done and revealed a lot of behaviors that I did not even realize that we take for granted The chapters gave just enough information and links to other articles that you could pursue it in depth as much as you wanted. It is a must read for everyone - especially men!

What a great book!!! I loved it and am glad that things worked out for the main character-such a determined, creative thinker looking to better her and her mom's life. I am glad that they discussed the organizations that could help too...DCF is such a saving force in so many people's lives!

A bit darker than I was in the mood for, but I appreciated some of the twists. The love interest piece seemed a bit contrived, but it has served a useful plot motivator. Overall, it makes for a good, solid YA book with a believably flawed male character. The most valuable part of the book was experiencing Jess grappling with his own internal conflicts.

I read this book as I had heard it was really sad and that was what I was in the mood for! It actually is not as sad as you would imagine. There are unhappy parts but mostly it is uplifting. It is about some animals who live in a circus attached to a shopping mall as told from their point of view. A nice quick read.