Hey all. So I've been reading Good Me Bad By Ali Land and I'm at chapter 4 so far. Decided to do a chapter by chapter review.
Initially I grabbed this book because of the blurb. Since I myself am from a pretty rough childhood, it resignated with me to a level that I thought "grab it grab it!" Which is usually what pulls me to any book either way.
The blurb is the most important part. Also the first line of the book, but if you can't see that part, the blurb is what you go for.
So anyway, since I was able to see the first few lines, I quickly snagged the book to the register, which is what I do, a cashier at a supermarket, and started reading. Literally, if I could be, I'd be that old man from the Twilight Zone episode that kept reading and reading and even went to the bunker to read when the world exploded, and then came out to see that everything was destroyed, just to find a bunch of books. I won't ruin the whole episode, but yea , books equals life.
Either way, back to the initial reaction. So first two chapters are so ominous and confusing. We know she's in foster care, was still confused about the age, And I couldn't really understand who Saskia is. Then slowly it became clear, Mike is the father figure and Saskia was the mother. The things that stood out to me was that Milly, the main character whose point of view we are reading from, always referred to her mother, no matter what memories.
I remember when I was in school and this was back in the 90s where I'm not sure how abused kids were even treated because I never talked, I also stayed mum whenever someone asked me for my real feelings. Not sure if I should shout them from the rooftops.
Coming from an immigrant family, it probably was tough to adjust for them to how things are done in the home country to here in America. Mostly, this was the reason I didn't say much. I must have somewhere in my heart, known that it would be detrimental to expose how treatment went.
Plus as a grade school kid, I really was in the malleable stage of my life, so if one person didn't believe me, I doubted anyone else would. It was extreme for me.
So I understood where Milly was coming from.
The trial and courts kept coming up frequently in the chapters, and if this girl was in grade school that would definitely be so hard on her.
So, Milly tries to be friends with the other girl staying at the house, Phoebe, but to no avail for the time being. Even though Phoebe is being asked to show her around, it is just a flail of the hand towards the most common place things just to get an overview; no real insight so far.
"I whisper my reply through the word--I'm scared--then I go into my room, lay out my new uniform...And try as I might not to think of you, it's all I can do. Our daily drive to and from school. You worked the early shift so I wouldn't have to get the bus. An opportunity to remind me, the song you sang as you pinched me. How my mouth watered with pain. Our secrets are special, you'd say, when the chorus came on, they're between me and you."
Sadly, this is the favorite quote thus far because of the haunting memories it brings back.
Within my own life, I'm not sure if I was secretively manipulated to keeping my mouth shut, but it worked because no one really knew the extent of anything as well. Once I go older, all that dawned to me constantly was that one little phone call could have changed my life forever.
So this is my review so far of the first 3 chapters. Let's see where this ride takes me, both through my own memories and through the chapters.
See ya guys :)
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