Shirley MarrRezensionen

Wistful book about looking back in time. James' parents are splitting up. He wishes he could go back in time to when things were better....or were they? Is he remembering the past with rose coloured glasses? His new friend Yan is an eccentric girl with no friends like him, who hides out in the Library and invents a time machine. James travels back to what he thought were the good old days...but he sees that his Mum is much happier now despite living in a tiny apartment, and he must make a decision. Stay in the past ( and never meet Yan) where his parents are unhappy but together or living in the now with Yan and happy, divorced parents. Nice book for kids who are going through separations. Reviewed for VPRC.

7/10

CW: Eating disorder. Suicide

This book blew me away. It's one of those stories that will be with you long after you turn the last page.

It is a little slow to start with but I found myself intrigued by both the format and the main character. Particularly towards the end I started flying through it unable to tear myself away.

I really loved Neil and wish we saw more of him but I understand why it wasn't really about that. The characters were so vivid and utterly flawed. It was nice to see characters who aren't all that likeable. And honestly their whole little weird dynamic was what made it so utterly realistic and honest. The brutal portrayal of school life was what sold it for me.

I doubt it would be everyone's taste but it is refreshing to read something which is so original and well written.

Winner of the 2022 CBCA's Book of the Year for Younger Readers, "A Glasshouse of Stars" was a sweet read. Meixing and her family have recently moved to Australia and are finding it difficult to fit in. Everything is different and not having a strong grasp of the new language makes communication with others almost impossible.

The author did a wonderful job capturing the fear, confusion, anger and loneliness faced by many new immigrants. However, my biggest 'issue' was the second-person point of view. I didn't think it was necessary and it took some time to get used to. I think younger readers will struggle with this aspect. Overall, however, "A Glasshouse of Stars" was a gentle, magical read that many will enjoy.½

Reviewed for the VPRC. Semi-autobiographical story of the author's transition from Singapore to Western Australia as a child in the 1980s as told through the eyes of the character Peijing and her little sister Biju (who is actually I think the author because she is the one telling the stories throughout the novel.) The two must adapt to being thrust into a world where they are so different. They speak little English. Their mother comes to school at lunchtime and feeds them lunch. People in shops don't serve them because they are Asian. Their mother refuses to leave the house. They miss their aunties back in Singapore. They never see their father because he always working. And so they retreat into creating their own "Little World" - a box filled with landscapes and animals and Biju retells the stories their grandmother used to tell using the animals.
But what of their grandmother - she seems not to recognise them? And then one day, she goes missing and Peijing has to call on all the English she knows to try and find her. (Also there is a lovely story about Peijing being friends with a poor girl at school who no-one talks to.)½

Sisterly love rings loud and true with as a girl struggles to figure out her place in the world.

Peijing hopes the family's move to Australia will work out, and she tries her best to deal with the changes, but steering through a new culture, daily life, language, and people is quite the challenge. If that wasn't hard enough, Ah-Ma and Mama are mentally breaking down, which means Peijing needs to step in and help more on that end, too. Weighted down and not sure how to handle everything along with the problems at school, Peijing tries her best to figure everything out.

Note: This one does address themes such as domestic violence, dementia, and touches upon racism.

This is a read with tons of heart. Peijing, is a kind and family orientated girl, who tries her best to keep a positive outlook but often feels like she's sinking, instead. She struggles not only with the new environment and language but can't seem to find her place in school. Still, she does her best and keeps an inspiring and heart-warming attitude...even when it proves difficult, at times. Especially her relationship with her younger sister touches the heart (even when things aren't always smooth) and makes this a wonderful read about the sisterly bond.

While there are difficult issues in these pages, the author does approach them with a gentler touch and keeps it age appropriate. The troubles foreigners face are well-laid and brought across in a way, kids can relate to with scenes where embarrassment and/or frustration are palpable. Even the deterioration of Ah-Ma and Mama's problems are brought across with care.

I especially enjoyed the weave with Chinese myth and paper art as it added the right dusting of magic to keep everything from weighing down too much. There's always a sense of hope as well as a few characters, who really let the light shine in. The pacing remains steady for the most part with only a few sections, which slow a bit, and the writing style hits a younger age group well, although the sentence flow sometimes felt geared for a younger audience. Still, it's a well-done tale, easy to get lost in Peijing's world, and leaves the reader with more than a couple of tidbits for thought. I received a DRC and enjoyed experiencing Peijing's tale.

With a head full of superstitions, a degenerated wishing fountain, a pack of Jason Donovans and a cheap crappy locket, Anna, the ever-present sidekick to the beautiful and shinning Rebecca, is for the first time in her life going to be the star of her own story.

Despite her mother's warnings against ghosts, Anna manages to attract the ghost of a good looking boy. The only problem, besides his annoying eighties attitude, is that no one else can see him and girls who are seen to talk to themselves are soon labelled a little crazy.

After making a promise to reunite her ghost boy with his true love Rebecca, Anna discovers there is more to this love story then first appears. A prelife, a prelove, will bring understanding and new life to a girl trapped by the actions of the past and closure for a boy trapped in the future.

Preloved is a story of a ghost trapped in time in search of his lost love, a story of a girl who is all but invisible to the world, a story of love, heartache and forgiveness. Packed full of ghostly superstitions, eighties references, witty confrontations and unrequited love this charming story is an enjoyable read.

My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murder.

How's that for a first sentence?

Eliza was such a little brat and enjoyed very much making me hating her. Though, she failed to do it for long. As she was narrating her story to Dr Fadden, I started warming to her, her loneliness, her fears, her disastrous life at home, her fuzzy feelings toward Neil, her attempts at staying in control of her friends' group... and then the truth behind the murder, which honestly left me shocked, disgusted and enraged for the injustice of the situation the girls found themselves in.

Mrs. Marr toyed with my emotions masterfully and did a very good job with the mystery, I half-wished she would pull a stunt à la The-Usual-Suspects on me, but the outcoming was just as surprising.

I go along enjoying the snarky voice of Eliza, the Austenian elements of balls, and names, and clothes, the wealth, the architecture, it's all great.

And today I read the last forty pages and I feel gut-shot. Totally blown away. And, of course, filled with fury. Brava, Shirley Marr. Not many books hit me on such a visceral level.

Seriously, I need to go look at video of an extremely fluffy kitten wearing a beret.

Who decided the inmates could be in charge of the asylum? These are characters from a universe I don't recognize at all! The girls are shallow, spoiled, obsessed with superficiality and totally self-centered, as well as being viciously violent. Eliza is a psychopath and I had trouble with her murderous motivation. I'm a bit sick of the bad mother syndrome... The one "good" character, Neil, turned out to be the worst of all, and I frankly didn't understand the serial killer subplot.
Look, this is a passable go for a first novel. It's too long and the characters resemble animals from an African savanna in their desire to savage each other.
Having said that, I couldn't stop reading and really, really wanted to reach the end to find out what happened.
I will wait with anticipation for the next novel from Shirley Marr.

What a great murder mystery! Spoilt, little-rich-girl, Eliza (Lizzie) Boans has just been arrested for murder and is an unreliable narrator with a smart mouth and caustic humour. Tough, stubborn and opinionated, I found her a delight. At first she is quite unlikeable, but gradually as she sits in the police station and her story unfolds, you find yourself admiring her spirit and loyalty to her closest friends, Lexi and Marianne.

From the start the reader knows 'whodunnit' but not who the victim is, and Marr keeps you guessing for quite a while. Alternating between past events and Lizzie's interview with the detective, the book deals with friendship, pain and revenge. Fast paced and tense, with biting humour and clever dialogue this is a fabulous read.

When I found out that Preloved involved ghosts, I immediately wondered what I’d gotten myself into because ghosts and I just don’t get along. If a movie with ghosts is in the theaters and my friends want to go see it, my face starts to have this weird twitch and then my voice raises a few octaves. "Oh that one? Oh, I've heard it is, like, TERRIBLE. Like worse than that Adam Sandler movie where he plays a guy and a girl. Worse than the worst Lifetime movie ever was. No I'm not just saying that because it has ghosts in it!" (that last bit is because they know I am saying it solely because it has ghosts in it.) As it turns out, I will have to carve out an exception in section of my ghost hatred for Preloved. Here's a very scientific chart to explain my interest in literary and/or cinematic ghosts:



If I was being completely accurate, I'd add a few ghosts or pseudo-ghosts from history that I find marginally entertaining: Kevin Costner's dad in Field of Dreams, Marley & Marley from Muppet Christmas Carol (ONLY the Muppet one), Slimer from Ghostbusters, whatever it is going on in The Sixth Sense, and the ghosts from Heart and Souls with Robert Downey, Jr. And now I like them in Preloved.

Whether or not you are familiar with Marr's debut novel, [b:Fury|8159643|Fury |Shirley Marr|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330971889s/8159643.jpg|13002023], doesn't matter one iota going into this book because it reads in an entirely different way. Say Shirley Marr's books are Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fury would be at the serious level of a big fight scene. Preloved is like reading a book about Willow meeting a ghost from the 1980s, if Willow were Chinese with a superstitious mother who ran an antique shop. Amy Lee, the protagonist, is someone who would be the "wacky best friend" or "forgotten girl" in most other stories and television shows. Her best friend is always overshadowing her, she isn't really exceptional in any way, and guys seem to look right through her. On a costume day at school, she finds a locket that makes Amy the only person able to see a boy from the 1980s. The plot follows Amy on her quest to figure out who Logan is and why she is the only person who can see him.

Overall, I liked the campy tone and the numerous pop culture references. I liked being reminded of just how far technology has come in such a short time. And honestly, I don't know if there is such a thing as too many movie references in a book for me, especially when it comes to The Princess Bride and Labyrinth. Another highlight throughout the book was Amy's mother, who peppered the story with her little anecdotes about ways to avoid ghosts or other superstitions. I wish Marr dug deeper into the emotional elements in the story--the moments with Amy and her mother were lovely, but I wish there was more development of their relationship. Preloved moved very quickly, which is fun, but it was to the detriment of the story. Near the end of the book, there is quite a surprise, at least it was surprise to me, and the book takes a more serious turn. I'm not going to say I wish it hadn't done that. It was refreshing to be surprised, even if I felt a bit foolish to not see it earlier, but I still think the resolution was too hurried. All in all, the book could've used about twenty more pages of emotional depth. I have a lot of unanswered questions.

I think readers who enjoy humorous YA will eat this one up. It is a fast read with entertaining characters and I learned a thing or two about Chinese culture. Don't forget to enter to win a copy from us (and Walker Books!) and visit Shirley on her blog tour stops starting next week. There will be tons of fun information to be had, for sure.

3.5/5 stars

Adorable. Veronica read it first and thought it was very like [a:Sarah Dessen|2987|Sarah Dessen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1208460253p2/2987.jpg], and I agree. Amy Lee is sixteen, living with her mother after the divorce in a second-hand shop, hanging with her best and only friend Rebecca. And then she finds a locket, meets a ghost and everything is changed.

Well, of course I loved the extensive references to the 80s: the music, the movies, the clothes. Fun stuff. And I loved the relationships: Amy's devotion to Rebecca, her interactions with other Asians at her school, her closeness with her mum (despite the lack of hugging). But even more than that, I loved the skeptical approach she takes toward the new ghost in her life. I love that her friends and her mum seeing her going through a weird phrase and do something about it, I love that she questions the existence and motives of the ghost as much as Hamlet does.

There is charm here, and the sweetness of daily life, and the difficulties, and an ending that doesn't try to tie up everything in a bow. I didn't actually get to blow out any candles, but for my birthday wish I want a new book by Marr every year.

Adorable. Veronica read it first and thought it was very like [a:Sarah Dessen|2987|Sarah Dessen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1208460253p2/2987.jpg], and I agree. Amy Lee is sixteen, living with her mother after the divorce in a second-hand shop, hanging with her best and only friend Rebecca. And then she finds a locket, meets a ghost and everything is changed.

Well, of course I loved the extensive references to the 80s: the music, the movies, the clothes. Fun stuff. And I loved the relationships: Amy's devotion to Rebecca, her interactions with other Asians at her school, her closeness with her mum (despite the lack of hugging). But even more than that, I loved the skeptical approach she takes toward the new ghost in her life. I love that her friends and her mum seeing her going through a weird phrase and do something about it, I love that she questions the existence and motives of the ghost as much as Hamlet does.

There is charm here, and the sweetness of daily life, and the difficulties, and an ending that doesn't try to tie up everything in a bow. I didn't actually get to blow out any candles, but for my birthday wish I want a new book by Marr every year.

Impressive debut novel with murder, intrigue and a dose of bitchiness for good measure.

Fury begins with our protagonist Eliza Boans telling us readers she is a murderer in the first sentence, yes the first sentence, amazing, if this doesn’t draw you in I don’t know what will.

“My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murder”
- Page 1.

Now your probably asking what’s going to transpire in the rest of the book if you know what’s already happened, well we don’t know who she murdered or why she did it, so what follows is Eliza recounting her story, in flashbacks, of the events leading up to the murder and boy strap yourself in for a riveting ride.

Oh Eliza Boans you are a right old bitch, I couldn’t stand you at all for most of the book and yet I couldn’t put your story down, I needed to know what you were going to do next, your story was utterly compelling. So basically as you can tell I did not like the lead protagonist too much, she was terrible she had no remorse for what she did in any way. I definitely give Shirley props for writing a character who is not very likeable I mean how many books have you read like that, I for one haven’t read many at all and when I do I tend to not like the book which didn’t happen here.

Through the first couple of chapters of the book I found myself disliking Eliza more and more, on the surface here was a girl with everything she could possibly want yet she was so angry for no real reason I could determine. Then slowly as I read more and more I began to understand her a bit better that said at the end of the book I still wasn’t loving her but I didn’t dislike her as much. Whilst to someone looking in it would seem Eliza had everything, living in a huge house in an exclusive gated community, money, expensive clothes, but these are all material possessions, Eliza’s family life was basically non existent her father was absent as was her mother whose idea of making school lunch was to leave $20 in the fridge, there was no love in that house at all. One of Eliza’s redeeming qualities was her love of her friends - who were Eliza’s real family - particularly Lexi who went through something no one should go though. This incident is the driving force behind the murder so finally when the time came to reveal who was murdered I understood why Eliza did it, I mean it doesn’t justify her actions, murder is never a solution to anything no matter what happens, but from her point of view I can see why she did it.

I just have to say that the first chapter would have to be one of my all time favourite first chapters in a novel I have ever read, I was instantly drawn in, I wanted to know who Eliza murdered, but first we had to go through the events that lead up to the murder which was just as compelling as the actual chapter which described the act itself.

As the book is told from the point of view of Eliza I was never sure how believable her account of the murder and the events that lead up to it were, was she telling the truth or not? I guess we’ll never know, some things are best left to the imagination and it’s left up to the reader to decide. I’m still not sure and I read Fury nearly two weeks ago.

Out of all the characters I liked Neil, Eliza’s childhood friend, the best, he was a bit of an enigma to me, there was definitely something about him that I liked though. I don’t want to give anything away but there was this sudden bit of information we’re given that just floored me, I wasn’t expecting that at all, and I found myself really feeling sorry for Neil when I probably shouldn’t.

I also have to mention how much I loved Shirley’s writing, the way Shirley crafted Eliza’s voice was simply fabulous. I especially loved Eliza’s sarcasm I’m a huge fan of sarcasm, as my parents can attest, so anything with sarcasm always leaves me wanting more.

Basically fury is a gripping psychological read with an unlikable protagonist who is strangely compelling. I highly recommend it.

Eliza Boans has everything. A big house. A great education. A bright future. So why is she sitting in a police station confessing to murder? Extract from book.

I loved the way it started “I am Eliza Boans and I am a murderer” – straight away I wanted more so I read this quite quickly mainly because it was hard to put down. The setting is a high school in East Rivermoor. It is told from the voice of Eliza Boans who is confessing to a murder. Eliza’s mother is a famous lawyer and not around very much, she hasn’t seen her dad for years. She is a spoilt teenager who has everything a nice home, nice clothes but is very opinionated and stubborn. It is a story about bullying, friendship, vengeance and violence.
Secrets about Eliza’s life unfold as the story progresses and she ropes her friends into the story of her being a murderer. The circumstances that lead to her confession are revealed….

Eliza is sixteen, finishing her final year of school and looking forward to the new sports car her mother has promised to buy her when she passes her driving test. Until then she has to put up with her elite school environment, wealthy but absent mother and sometimes infuriating but best friends.

The last thing anybody expected to happen in the perfect world of East Rivermoor, the wealthy suburb surrounded by a high fence to keep out the poor and dangerous alike, is for one of their own to commit murder. Eliza's confession is a dark and emotional story told with a raw honesty that doesn't sugar-coat what she has done or why. There is no excuse although she has her reasons but she's not sorry for it, not at all.

Fury is compelling, messy, complicated and just a little bit heartbreaking. When pushed to the edge and broken down with no one to turn to, belittled and victimised, is it any wonder that things turn vindictive? Eliza is selfish, spoilt and stuck up and that doesn't change but somehow her soft and vulnerable core shines through endearing us to this fiery redhead who deep down is as lost and broken as the rest of us. A brilliant debut novel.