The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James // BOOK REVIEW + MY RIDICULOUS THEORY

SPOILERS AHEAD

Book: The Sun Down Motel

Author: Simone St. James

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Paranormal, Adult

Synopsis: The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…

What I thought about it..

This was fun. I never thought I'd enjoy it this much. When I started reading it I was kinda doubtful because I'm in a reading slump and I'm not sure I will enjoy it. Also, because this was under Thriller / Horror genre, I thought that I will need to be super invested in reading this in order for me to feel the right feeling (e.g. be scared lol). I didn't feel scared though but I was still so into it that I stay up 'til 4 a.m. just to keep reading 'til the end.

The Story

It revolves around Carly's investigation about the mysterious disappearance of her auntie - Viv Delaney - thirty five years ago. It was narrated alternately between Viv's point of view way back in 1982 and Carly's that is the present day, 2017. I like this story because there was no character here that I get annoyed with, unlike with most of the mysteries I've read so far. They are nice and even the bad guys are portrayed well. Maybe what I don't like at first was how these young girls crack the crime and the police didn't. That's what I hate about mystery crimes, when the protagonist started to play amateur detective (as Alma Trent, a character from this book, puts it). But this was kinda okay and not exaggerated.

My Theory

By the time I finished this book and knew the ending, I realized how stupid my theories are. I was laughing to myself when I think about it. My theory is that the traveling salesman is a time traveler. He can travel through space and time and I was very sure of it when I've read on Carly's chapter during her first horrible run in with the ghosts of the motel, that there was a guest who signed up under the name James March but she didn't saw him. And I didn't read an explanation about it in the end, so who is it? Was it the traveling salesman's ghost or was it Viv who secretly went there and put her diary in the candy machine and sign his name instead of hers? Because towards the end when Carly actually saw the ghost and he checked-in, he didn't sign his name. So I thought, this is some kind of a horror and fantasy story because of the time traveling part lol.

My Verdict

Although I still have questions where the salesman do the crimes, I think this book is pretty decent and is keeping up with its 4+ stars on Goodreads. This is a good read... thrilling, nice.

MY RATING

★★★★☆

Lord of the Flies by William Golding // BOOK REVIEW

Book: Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

Genre: Classic, Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure

Synopsis: At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

What I thought about it...

I was in a reading slump for months and when I noticed that this is the next book on my To be Read list, I was ecstatic because it's short and is in the Adventure genre. But boy I was wrong. It was difficult to read. When I look at a page I was horrified how long the paragraphs are and how many words there are. I'm in a reading slump, I can't read... so words and long paragraphs annoy me.

The Characters / Story

I hated Ralph to the core, he was mean. I don't like that he called Piggy, piggy. I, at least, want to know what Piggy's real name is. He didn't even redeem himself up until the end. The only characters I like in this story is Piggy and Simon. At first I was kinda liking Roger but then... shh. This story was hard to read and hard to imagine. These are kids and I can't look at it the other way especially when I've read so much about what the story meant. I didn't see the adventure. I want more in the ending. I want justice. Justice.

What went wrong...

There are so many symbolisms in this story that I don't get it. I've read a review where they said that you have to have a child's mind to understand it but the amount of symbolism in this story is so many that I felt like I'm an idiot. I also think that those symbolisms are the reason why so many loved this book. I'm sorry, I just didn't get it and I hate the feeling of not being able to feel or understand when I hated a book others loved.

My Verdict

I might re-read it. I can't blame the book because I read it in the midst of my reading slump. I was forcing my self to read and I guess whatever it is that I read, I will feel horrible about it even when it has a good story.

MY RATING

★★☆☆☆