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2 1/2 stars
Ok, first of all, this book is trash. hahaha I can't believe I finished it to tell the truth. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was compelling enough so I kept going. Then, basically wanted to find out how it would end. Then, just WANTED it to end. But it is trash nonetheless and in many ways. In addition, it is too unbelievable and too long.

This definitely is not the book I wanted to read. There could be a compelling story of two girls who become best friends, love each other, understand each other, need each other. I was that girl as a teenager. I had a best friend that I loved above all others. Thought about her all the time. Wrote letters to her every day. Felt more myself with her, finally, for the first time in my life didn't have to pretend to be someone I was not. Basically, gave up all other friends because that kind of friendship now felt so shallow, phoney, "superficial" we said to each other. Not like what we had together. We completely "got" each other, were on the same "brainwave" we said. We got in trouble together doing stupid teenage things like ditching school and when her parents forbade her to be with me, it was so painful, our parting. It pains me, still to this day, because I loved her so. I am not exaggerating when I say it changed the trajectory of my life.

So I get that kind of teenage girl obsession and devotion. That kind of friendship is our first time falling in love basically. And, if we were different people, maybe it could have become a physical love as well, but we weren't those girls. Times were different back then and it would have been too weird for 2 catholic schoolgirls. I also do not think every teen girl has this kind of friend. Some people are just not wired that way. They like the more superficial girl friend and save this kind of devotion for their first love affair.

I don't know, teens are sexual, sure, but the sex scenes in this book were so over the top to the point of laughable. It's possible perhaps, maybe some teens are like this, but it definitely was not my experience. Sex as a teen is painful and slightly embarrassing fumblings. And in fact, for me, I was way more interested in the partying and the getting high than I was in the getting laid. So maybe it was just me. I didn't learn to have "real sex" until I was married. But as I say, times were different back then. I'm old, lol.

And the whole devil worshipping angle was just superfluous and silly. Not needed. There were also plot-holes and weird things that had to happen to drive the plot forward (mother/daughter swim party...what?) that were obvious and clunky. Not only that but there was some real sloppy police work in that town, I'll tell you what. haha And if you're going to describe what it's like to be on drugs, make sure you've tried said drug yourself so you can be accurate, jeez.

So, I guess read this if you are looking for an over the top tale of teenage life. Know, going into this, it's not going to be a heartfelt story of two girls who love each other and painfully, move on. It's more a voyeuristc view of girls gone wild in the early 1990s with Nirvana supplying the soundtrack. Kinda trashy, mindless diversion. Not what I thought I was going to read. Not what I wanted to read. So I'm going to hold that against this book haha.

Not just beautiful photographs. Not just interesting, moody pictures of ugly, blighted places. But within each photograph are in depth stories of a certain place in time, the people of that place, the homes inwhich these people live, the factories inwhich these people work, the trains for which these people stop and wait begrudgingly. I don't have to scrutinize these pictures for the stories to form. I could, myself, be just right around the corner of any one of these photos, looking out the picture window of a bungalow, driving by on some side street, tending a backyard garden. Or as a child, prowling and poking around the forbidden places... the undersides and footings of bridges, the elevated tracks of the South Shore commuter train, the dumping grounds and marshlands where we built forts and smoked our first cigarettes stolen from our parents.

I am a Calumet Region Rat, born and raised in East Chicago and living now in Chesterton, Indiana. Never far from the steel mills, never far from Lake Michigan, never far from the Grand Calumet or the Little Calumet Rivers. Never far from a shifting north wind off the lake, changing the weather on a storm front, bringing the sulfury smell of coke gas, naptha odor of oil refineries, or on some days, a burnt metal smell. Flying home from Arizona to South Bend airport we flew right over those rivers and mills I knew so well. With Lake Michigan a hazy darkness on the horizon, I was happy to see the distinctive Y shape of the Indiana Harbor ship canal, the BP (Standard Oil/Amoco) oil refinery, where for many years, my husband helped run the #4 Ultraformer, breaking cyclical carbon rings in huge reactors and yes Inland Steel (it will always be Inland to me) the main employer of my birth city where my father spent most of his working years, himself born and raised in the shadows of that mill.

This region shaped me. This region is still my home. Looking at the pictures I instinctively knew in which city they were taken. They are all very samey but they are all subtly different from each other. It is so familiar to me. Both good and bad, it is what shaped the person I am today. It is home.

3 1/2 stars

I enjoyed Becoming by Michelle Obama. I listened to the audiobook read by Mrs. Obama herself which was both a positive experience and in the end proved to be a negative. Which was weird and which had me feeling conflicted and waffling over what kind of rating I would give this book.

I voted for Barack Obama in both presidential elections. I liked having Obama as our president, and in fact, I think Obama was the best president of my lifetime. I was always proud he and Michelle were representing America when abroad. I never once felt ashamed or worried about Obama's ability to understand the most complicated foreign policies, never felt he wasn't capable or smart enough, never felt he did not have our best interest in mind when making policy desisions. Michelle and Barack comported themselves with dignity and class at all times and at the same time could be playful and have fun when the situations arose. They could laugh and enjoy what life had to offer. They were the embodiment of the idea of this democratic experiment, America. In my humble opinion of course.

I thoroughly enjoyed the early part of this book which follows Michelle's childhood on the southside of Chicago. I grew up about 20 miles to the east of Michelle on the Indiana side of the greater Chicago metropolitan area. I'm 2 years older than Michelle so we grew up at the tale-end of the boomer generation. Most of her cultural references of the time are also mine. We suffered the same winters. Wore the same kind of clothes. Listened to the same songs on the radio. Watched the same tv shows.

It was later on in the book, basically once Barack came on the scene, where things started to drag and I started to hear, "Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Blah blah. Blah blah. Blah... I don't know... it got... boring and tedious and I wished I had the physical copy of the book so I could kind of skim ahead. Maybe, it's just, politics BORES THE FUCK OUT OF ME. I don't know. I understand why she made the choice, but the way she portrayed Barack as this mythical uberman was kind of corny and creepy. Girlfriend, he was a shitty husband. Sorry. Anyone who has a calling, as he did, as any artist or religious or political person does, has to pursue the dream to the detriment of other things in their life. That's just the way it is. You basically raised those girls yourself and maybe you can't admit it but you did. He went after his political aspirations and you took on the supporting role even if you insisted on having your career as well. You just had to work twice as hard. And that's fine. That was your choice.

Plus, it got kind of long winded and preachy at times and believe me, I BASICALLY AGREED WITH EVERYTHING Michelle Obama believed in, was trying to accomplish! We get it... you want to advocate for young girls all over the world just like your mom did for you, just like you do for your own daughters. Got it. Over and over. Got it. You want to help underpriveleged kids because you grew up on the southside of Chicago. Yeah, yeah, it's tough for these kids. Gangs and drugs and drive-bys and unhealthy foods. Got it! Over and over again, got it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, this book could have edited out quite a bit of repetitious meanderings and still gotten the point across. It's a good book, it is. But maybe get the audiobook to enjoy Michelle's melifluous and expressive reminisings of her childhood and family members and school and blah blah through the physical copy when you get to the later years and the politics ensue.

This book was kind of hit or miss for me. The positives- I like southern gothic. I liked the characters.
I like the idea of a snake handling, strychnine drinking, speaking in tongues church. I like the idea of a strong church leader with his cult-like following ala Jim Jones. The negatives outweighed the positives, alas. The negatives- Though I liked the characters, they were not developed fully, fleshed out and brought to life. If they would have been, that would have made the story more enjoyable and perhaps more believable. Some of the events and how they came about seemed very far-fetched and unbelievable. When that happens in a book it takes me right out of the story and has me shaking my head like, nope. The characters needed more backstory and more insight into their psyches, more insight into their daily lives. Lastly the ending was completely unbelievable and just silly.

The pieces of the puzzle were there but they weren't put together. The story was not developed fully as far as I'm concerned. The book is not bad, just it seemed unpolished or rushed.

I'm not so sure about this one. It kind of was all over the place. The magical realism... just no. It would have been a more powerful story if the focus was a son watching a father struggle to come to terms with a traumatizing event as he himself charts his own course through adolescence. Children grow up thinking their parents have all the answers, have life figured out. It can rock their foundations when they realize their parents can fail, can be frightened, can have a have a hard time moving forward after adversity. A young boy entering adolescence is often times conflicted about his parents anyway, let alone if something life altering befalls the family. But, no. The author chose to make it all whacky with zombie dogs and dinosaurs and steal scenes right out of a Stephen King novella. It was a southern gothic coming of age fantasy mystery and thus messy.

It was better than okay, but could have been so much better, imho.