Booktalk: One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

Cecelia Ahern

Title: One Hundred Names

Author: Cecelia Ahern

Published: 2012 by HarperCollins

Pages: 327

Find it on Amazon: One Hundred Names

My Rating: 4/5!

I've read two other books by Cecelia Ahern, The Book of Tomorrow and A Place Called Here and had bought them both because I loved their attractive covers! Then there was one moody day when I prowled into a bookstore to make myself feel better and saw a gorgeous cover. I admit. I'm such a cover-lover! That is how One Hundred Names came into my possession. It had no blurb, no storyline, but the cover was too irresistible and I had good experiences with Cecelia Ahern in the past, so I wasn't too apprehensive. I figured it'd be good, and boy, was I ever so right! :D I loved reading this book!

Goodreads Blurb!

The new novel from the bestselling author. Journalist Kitty Logan's career is being destroyed by scandal - and now she faces losing the woman who guided and taught her everything she knew. At her terminally ill friend's bedside, Kitty asks - what is the one story she always wanted to write? The answer lies in a file buried in Constance's office: a list of one hundred names. There is no synopsis, nothing to explain what the story is or who these people are. The list is simply a mystery. But before Kitty can talk to her friend, it is too late. With everything to prove, Kitty is assigned the most important task of her life: to write the story her mentor never had the opportunity to. Kitty not only has to track down and meet the people on the list, but find out what connects them. And, in the process of hearing ordinary people's stories, she starts to understand her own.

My Thoughts!

One Hundred Names is the kind of book that may make you go through conflicting emotions, especially if you happen to be an emotionally sensitive person. Not that it is the kind of emotional that makes you cry, but the kind of book that makes you look at someone's life deeper, with all the nitty gritties, and the anxiety, the fear of impending, unknown implications of a mistake, the loss of friendship and trust. On a very basic level, it's a simple story. Katherine Logan in her mid 20s, is a journalist/writer with Etcetera magazine, headed by Constance Dubois, now fighting with cancer. Constance is like a bubble shield for Katherine (Kitty) as she transitions from an uncertain, doubtful girl to a more confident person, as she brings forward her stories with doubtful anticipation to confident excitement.

But then there was this time when she was also working as a video journalist in a TV show and made a blunder and was suspended. Her career was in a mess, Constance, her only support, was on the verge to leave her (and the world) and she had to face the ugly accusations from society. The only one thing that she kept close to her heart, that made her cling for support at a time when she, and her career was falling apart was a list of one hundred names that Constance left behind. It was once while visiting Constance in the hospital, a contemplative, quiet visit, that Kitty had asked her about one story she always wanted to write but couldn't. Constance asks her to fetch a file called One Hundred Names from her completely disorganized home and when after a few days, she does, Bob (Constance's husband) informs her about Constance's passing away. 

The story then deals with Kitty and the list which is just a simple list of one hundred, unrelated, what-seems-like-random names from the Yellow Pages directory. Pete, the new head at Etcetera, not-so-keen on keeping Kitty anymore, gives her a final chance, a two week deadline for her to come up with a story. It is quite complex if you look at it from Kitty's perspective. A single young woman living alone, dealing with united hatred from the public, knowing her best friend Steve thinks she's the wrong one because she's being selfish and this knowing killing her. She's still got to put up a brave face, fight with her own emotions and get up and work towards her only way to escape: work on the list. 

I won't go into the details of how she went about it, because it'd be like a spoiler, but I have to say it is something really unpredictable and when you do understand it, profound. One of the best things about the way it's been written is how it is so much from Kitty's point of view, even though it's been narrated in third person. As a reader, you're not separate from the characters. Maybe I was personally too much into Kitty's shoes because I could very much relate to her. She's a writer who used to write awesome but because of emotional setbacks, she feels her writing has lost that charm. On the face of it, it seems just like normal, her usual. But they're more like narratives, gradually missing the personal enthusiasm she infused in those words and that oozed out when readers read it. It's such a painful realization to know what you love doing isn't as good anymore, and no one's helping you get it back.

But she does. Constance not only helps her write something she has to believe in, she changes Kitty's behaviour and attitude for the better. She makes Kitty and her team look at the world from her perspective, where she sees marvelous stories in ordinariness, in everybody. She makes her look beyond her selfishness, beyond the materialistic. She makes her understand that there are many different lives and how every single person is a story in themselves. And they're all fascinating. In the whole process, she helps Kitty understand her own life and story as well. This is one theme that touched me. It's just so beautiful! :') 

One Hundred Names is beautifully written, non-predictable (though I so so so wished we'd have had a more elaborate ending, but later on as I thought over possible endings, this one seemed the most fitting. I guess it'd have been hard to end this book!), and I loved the gradual romance setting in the background. :) A few lines from the book I loved:

'Some people say that you shouldn't operate from a place of fear, but if there is no fear, how is there a challenge? Often that is when I've done my best work, because I have embraced the fear and challenged myself'

'Nobody can pretend to know what people want to read or hear or see. People rarely know it themselves, they only know it after the fact. That is what creating something original is all about'

Recommended for: Contemporary Fiction readers, Cecelia Ahern fans, those looking for an emotionally stimulating read! 

Review: Things We Never Say by Sheila O' Flanagan

Sheila O' Flanagan

Title: Things We Never Say... But Maybe We Should

Author: Sheila O' Flanagan

Published: June 2013 by Headline Publishing (Hachette)

Pages: 504

Find it at: Amazon

Genre: Family Drama/Fiction

My Rating: 4/5!

The sweet, simple cover of this new title by Sheila O' Flanagan, author of many bestsellers, gives off a nice, homey effect. It isn't too appealing, the kind you'd be attracted to in a bookstore, but maybe you might. It's something like a combination of look-at-me and something that can easily be overlooked, depending upon the person who's looking at it. I found it sweet, calm and simple. 

The Blurb!

Abbey Andersen is the last person to go looking for change. Yes, it's tough that she barely sees her mother these days - but in San Francisco she has great friends, a steady relationship and a job she enjoys. When Abbey is contacted by Irish lawyer Ryan Gilligan she learns in an instant everything she believed about her roots is a lie. She must travel to Dublin to find out more - but she's scarcely off the plane when she's plunged into a new crisis. One that will change everything not just for Abbey but for the family in Ireland who had no idea that she even existed. Now Abbey has to make a choice that will affect everyone she knows. How can she be sure she makes the right one? And can life ever be quite the same again?

My Thoughts!

Things We Never Say is a story based in Dublin, Ireland as well as in San Francisco. Abbey is a twenty-something girl living in San Francisco, away from her mother, working in an art gallery and then as a very talented nail artist. When she's contacted by Ryan Gilligan, a lawyer a very good-looking Irish lawyer  who's been looking for her mother, things change for Abbey as well as everyone involved in the family, a family she didn't even know existed. There is definitely drama, but the book isn't full of it. It's a big book with a storyline and many characters and it deals with the story at its own pace. I found it very detailed as far as the story and the characters are concerned. There's adequate background to every character so that you know them fully well before judging them for their actions. Even if you don't know initially, you get to know them over time and I found that really good. 

Initially it seems like the plot is dragging and there is some confusion due to different chapters telling stories about different characters and you can't figure out who is whom and what role they play in each others' lives. After about a 100 pages or so, you understand most of the linkages and you've been acquainted with everyone's introductions. That's when the plot seems to start developing pace. There are a series of events that take place in Abbey's life, she's confronted with information she finds hard to believe or deal with, she's already tense dealing with a broken relationship and career decisions and then she's faced with an entirely new set of problems. This is a family issue. She finds out she's related to another family in Ireland and there's a lot of conflict and drama as she tries to live with the the way her life takes turns. I took my sweet time reading this book. It wasn't gripping-engaging, but it was engaging enough to make you remember certain parts even after you've read them and to make you think of it when you're not reading. You can't "not" think much about it. 

I found the writing style simple and easy. It's got that flow which keeps you inside the story like you're a part of it. Once you're used to the different characters, it's easy to read about them and their actions one after the other. It's a big family with their problems and different views and lifestyles. The descriptive part is all cool. Neither too much, nor too little. Although I can't say that for when it comes to talking about the characters in the story. That is because I personally found it like a detailed account of 'people'. Every person was different, with their own story, their own reasons for being like they were. There are ego issues, under-confidence issues, trust issues and a lot of things. Why is it that you don't even say the things you mean to say to your loved ones? Why do you assume so much? Before you know it, you'll die without letting them know what you meant, what you really felt, leaving problems in their wake. 

I have to mention Abbey's character, which was so close to real that I just loved it! I found Abbey to be so much like me. Not in terms of physio-graphic stuff, but more so psychologically. She's confused and under-confident about her career and the way she feels when she says, 'I can't be the best artist, so I'll not do this' is so relate-able. I loved how she transformed and developed her confident personality with the support of all those who cared for her, became more assertive and open and learned to trust herself. There's a past involved, one which has been responsible for all the latest tension in the family, one which is disturbing, but those who're already dead. So how does it affect the ones who're having to face the consequences? Reaching the end of the book made up for all the drag that was in the beginning. It's an interesting end, the kind of which I like. ;) I marked a few lines from the books. Some of those are:

'It was funny, she thought, no matter how much you got over things that happened to you, you never forgot how people made you feel.'

'That was the trouble with looking back. You couldn't help doing it from the perspective of where you were now.' 

'She wondered how many people came home for a funeral and then had to face people they'd rather not bother having to talk to at all. And how many others felt cheated when someone died before they had a chance to say the things they'd always meant to say.'

'People can be very judgmental about religion. They can be equally judgmental about choices.'

'I can never leave a part of myself behind. Nobody can. Everything's that happened to us makes up who we are today.'

Recommended if you are interested in family drama and big, complete stories with a lot of different issues and messages.! :) 

Thank you Hachette publishers for this book! :)