March Book Reviews

By: Tiana Hayes

We are three months in, not going strong but still going. I have been really busy this month with college things and so I haven’t had as much time to read as I wanted to. One of the books I have read this month was for a scholarship, and so you get to learn about a wonderful book that has been banned from many learning environments due to the content inside. I hope you enjoy.

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins is an amazing story about a women named Rachel Watson whose life got increasing worse when she finds out her husband had been cheating on her. Years later, she is an unemployed, drunk, who takes the train every day to her “job”. But here, on this train is where she sees a lovely couple, every day the train passes by their house. Because of her always watching, she might have seen something she shouldn’t have seen. And against her better judgement, decides to get involved.

I really enjoyed reading this story, had me wanting to come back to it in the middle of the day, at night, straight in the morning. This story has romance, mystery, and many thrilling aspects. This story may contain some graphic information along with an alcohol addiction and little sexual content. It may be a little confusing to follow at first because it jumps between different point of views as long as timelines but as long as you remember who is talking everything will be fine. I really recommend this book and will definitely be reading it again.

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, is a story about a young black girl and her views on everyday life and the beauty she sees in herself. This book not only follows her point of view, but also includes the many points of views of people in her life, like family and friends. Morrison did a wonderful job at showing the different lives these people have lived, teaching the reader of a different side of life they are normally taught in school. The kids of life they are normally shielded from because it’s “too much” even though it is all very real. This book has been banned from many school libraries because of its depictions of child sexual abuse along with having some sexually explicit content.

I enjoyed reading this story, but it was a little hard to read first time through. Now I say this because I really did enjoy the story and I can already tell that the more you read it, the easier it is to understand and learn from it. The only thing that I wish I would have known was when the point of view was on someone new. The story would be following one person, then the next chapter it would change but you wouldn’t figure it out until a little way through. I think it would have helped understanding who was talking and when, but it was still a great book, and I will be reading it again.