Author: Stephanie Meyer
One-sentence summary: An alien "soul" takes up residence in her host's human body, finds herself tracking down her host's family, and experiencing a roller coaster of human emotion completely new to her despite her previous 8 lives as other beings.
B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7
Our favorite thing about it: We thought the book brought up several interesting scenarios and things to ponder about an alien parasite/host relationship and what implications that has.
Our least favorite thing about it: There were actually a few things that we could list (and will below), but probably our least favorite was the overall pace of the book and how there was so little driving the story along.
Main Topics of Discussion: Aliens, Human Emotion, Love, Relationships, Ethics, Mind/Body Connection
Our favorite quote: "This was my planet, and they wouldn't make me leave. I would stay in the dirt, in the dark grotto with my friends. A human grave for the human I had become." (p. 590)
Notes: Overall, the majority of us enjoyed the experience of reading this book and liked following along with the story, which most of us thought was interesting. A few of us found the lack of action brought the story down. A couple of other things that bothered some of us were that Ian's love for Wanda just seemed unbelieveable, there were several unnecessary details and scenes, Jared was not a likeable character, several characters seemed one-sided, and some of the vocabulary (hiss, as an example) was overused so as to take away from the powerful description it might have provided.
We discussed how the book brings up several interesting themes like how a body and a mind work in conjunction with each other and although they may seem like they are separate, they never really are. We also discussed this fact in relation to love and relationships. Several ethical questions were posed by the premise of the book, which we briefly discussed and thought were interesting. The concept of the book and an alien invasion of earth, seemed well-explored, including the nature of the parasites, their world, thier tools, and their purpose. We also discussed the survival-mode, or instinct-based human emotions and actions.
Memorable Meeting Moments: This was our 2009 Christmas party, so we did a "Dirty Santa"-style book exchange, explored Amazon's new large-format Kindle, exchanged gifts for each other, played our traditional Jeopardy game about 2009 and planned a few exciting things for 2010!
What We Ate: Garlic and Romano Crostini, Champagne and Pomegranate Cocktail, Peppercorn Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Roquefort Chive Sauce, Gruyere Potato Gratin, Green Beans with Cranberries, Blue Cheese, and Walnuts, and Double Brownie Cheesecake. Recipes are all on the recipe blog.
1 comment:
The host is an idea stolen from an old film similar to the idea the author wrote. I've read this book giving it a small chance, but it just did not respond well to me. I felt like I wasted money on this book. The only thing I saw that was somewhat original is how the aliens came to be and how they stored themselves.
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