Reah N. > Recent Status Updates

This is so painfully sad! Especially Rill's chapters where I watch her and her siblings torn away from their home and thrust into a reality no child should ever have to face. And they have no idea what's happening, which only makes it worse.

Overall disappointing. Maybe if I'd read this at 8 years old I would've loved it. Maybe not. I definitely would've enjoyed it more than I did now.

Getting a bit sick of Claire screaming for random reasons.
Yes, I'm a quite a bit over the recommended age range. Apparently this isn't the sort of book that all ages will appreciate.

The beginning was cute and interesting. But ever since the action actually picked up - missing sister, magical world, secrets galore, this has become boring. I dont care about Claire anymore or Sophie's secrets or if they'll be ok. I just want the book to be over.

I dont think this book is for me.
Mortal, Mortal is darker and more mature than all the others combined. Also, depressing.
The cure for mortality has been found. And there's one couple that refuses to take it. Theyre the only ones who stay loyal to their friends. Who don't get swept up in drugs, petty arguments or mental illness.
Dark, depressing and full of immature, annoying arguments.

Story 3: The Way of the Oracle
1 star
This was not a story. More like a confusing chapter-long rant involving an unwilling Oracle and Guardians that make her into an oracle.
And then she's no longer the Oracle and she goes exploring. The end.

Hammer the Sky: 2 stars
This supposedly told the story of a war.
I felt nothing. No fear of enemy attacks. No sadness at losing friends and family. No remorse over killing the enemy.
It was dry and emotionless.
The priest lost belief in their gods. The fighter died in a crash. And the peaceful sister miraculously turned into a star(?)
Has the author ever lived through a war?
This is not what if feels like.

First story: The Whipporwind
A sweet, philosophical story about ghosts, grief and moving on.

After all that drama about fated mates and curses, now there's a cliffhanger to deal with? Yeah... I don't care enough to read the next one.

So far, lots of high school drama. Not much else.

Definitely made me think.
I wish it would have focused more on practical tips and actually teaching the skills he thinks are so important as opposed to repeating the same ideas over and over with nothing more. Learn financial skills. Don't just get stuck in a traditional job. Make your money work for you.

Definitely made me think.
I wish it would have focused more on practical tips and actually teaching the skills he thinks are so important as opposed to repeating the same ideas over and over with nothing more. Learn financial skills. Don't just get stuck in a traditional job. Make your money work for you.

A summary of this book:
Don't work for your money. Let your money work for you.
So far, that's all there is to this read. Great advice but feels I should be getting a bit more out of this considering it's an entire book...

"Listen to me, kid. Don't forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore."

"We have been a hundred or so in this wagon. Twelve of us left it. Among them, my father and myself."

I've heard this quote many times, but never knew where it came from.

"I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people."

He seemed to be telling the truth. Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from the ditch. Someone was being burned there... children thrown into the flames...
Still, I told him that I could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes.
"The world? The world is not interested in us."

I wonder, after all these years, how much really changed...

It's crazy how little the Jews knew of their fate, how long they remained in denial. Moishe was forced to dig trenches by the Gestapo then shot into it. He escaped, begged the Jews to listen.
"I was saved miraculously. I came back. Where did I get my strength? I wanted to return, describe my death so you might ready yourselves. Life? I no longer care. But I wanted to come back to warn you. Only no one listens."

Only in the preface to the new addition and already, this is a heartbreaking, powerful read.

Definitely a unique read.

The ending reminded me a bit of Inkheart.

A cross between sci-fi and magic and something completely different where the author is one of the characters of the book. I'm not sure if I thought it was more weird or more cool.

Full review to come

"The good news is that recovery is possible. The bad news is that the path is long and sometimes arduous." This basically sums up the entire book.
People in this book are shown to go through horrific, unimaginable trauma, and yet, they can find the courage to move forward and lead full, fulfilling, productives lives.

"Resolution of the trauma is never final; recovery is never complete. The
impact of a traumatic event continues to reverberate throughout the
survivor’s lifecycle. Issues that were sufficiently resolved at one stage of
recovery may be reawakened as the survivor reaches new milestones in her
development."

"This simple statement—“I know I have myself”—could stand as the emblem of the third and final stage of recovery.
The survivor no longer feels possessed by her traumatic past; she is in possession of herself. She has understanding of the person she used to be and of the damage done to that person by the traumatic event. Her task now is to become the person she wants to be."

"Having come to terms with the past, the survivor faces the task of creating a future. She mourned the old self that trauma destroyed; now she must develop a new self. Her relationships have been... forever changed; now she must develop new relationships. The old beliefs that gave meaning... have been challenged; now she must find anew a sustaining faith...In accomplishing this, the survivor reclaims her world."

The descent into mourning is the most necessary and the most dreaded task of this stage of recovery. Patients often fear that... once they allow themselves to start grieving, they will never stop. Danieli quotes a 74-year-old... who survived the Holocaust: “Even if it takes one year to mourn each loss, and even if I live to be 107 [and mourn all members of my family], what do I do about the rest of the six million?”

"Because the truth is so difficult to face, survivors often vacillate in
reconstructing their stories. Denial of reality makes them feel crazy, but
acceptance of the full reality seems beyond what any human being can bear."

Often it is necessary for the therapist to reframe accepting help as an act
of courage. Acknowledging the reality of one’s condition and taking steps
to change it become signs of strength, not weakness; initiative, not
passivity. Taking action to foster recovery, far from granting victory to the
abuser, empowers the survivor.

Apparently, the therapist goes through a similar sort of process to their patients when treating people with trauma. Which makes sense, since, I mean, they're also humans. But it's a bit scary to realize just how fine the line between healer and abuser is for a therapist.

It's rather scary to read how a past trauma colors the surviver's perspective of everything. Even positives relationships, like therapy, where (in a healthy situation) the other party is only trying to help them, their trauma is still coloring their every thought and interaction.