Book and Podcast Reviews

A Scroll column where writer Ella Hayes posts reviews for books and podcasts she has recently read and listened to, and takes suggestions for more books and podcasts to review for future columns.

Book rating and reviews

By Ella Hayes

dear scroll readers

Hello and welcome back to the Book Review Column! First of all, I would like to thank everybody who submitted some book and author recommendations over the last couple months! I have been reviewing and taking note of every recommendation, and you can expect to see those reviews over the next couple of months. For this month, I’ve prepared something a little different from normal. I've included two very in-depth analyses of two novels, one Young Adult Fiction and one Adult Fiction, both of which were recommendations made to me by readers! I also have two new podcasts that I’d like to talk about, as well. As always, feel free to add suggestions of books OR podcasts for me to read or listen to then review! Thank you for joining me this month, and I hope you all had a great winter break! Happy New Year!

-Ella Hayes; Writer and Reporter

where i get my books (and podcasts)

Other than buying physical copies of books at local stores, I also check lots of books out online through the Josephine Community Library. Additionally, GPHS Library has great ways to get library books as well. (See the library page on the GPHS website!)

I use the app "Overdrive," and use my local library card to sign in. (If you have a library card with the Josephine Community Library, you can do this too!) The online library has thousands of books for you to choose from. It’s also easy to find exactly what you are looking for; using the search engine and filters, you can find books easily by their title, genre or format. You can check out books straight from your phone with the app, and read them on your phone, as well. If you prefer audiobooks, you can also check out audiobooks and listen to them with the app, too. If the book you want is unavailable, you can recommend the book or place a hold.

This is a great way to have access to many books for free (if you have a many books for free (if you have a library card)!

Additionally, I’d like to mention the site Goodreads as a resource that you can use. This isn’t a place to buy books, but instead is a good website to find new books and read reviews of books you are planning to read. Goodreads has thousands of reviews on many books, and it’s a great recourse to use when finding a book that you might enjoy. Additionally, with a Goodreads account, you can write your own reviews for books, or just keep track of your books read and make reading goals. Altogether, it’s a fantastic source to use when searching for new books to read.

As for podcasts, I listen to every podcast on Spotify, though you can find any episode on each podcast’s website (linked down below).

podcast reviews

Once again, I’m back with some more podcast reviews! As I know not all readers of The Scroll are dedicated, avid readers, I'd like you to know that there are always alternatives to sitting down and reading a novel cover to cover. To cater to all individuals reading this, I’ve decided to start including podcasts I’ve listened to and enjoyed, so that if reading isn’t your thing (totally okay!), you have another chance to learn new things and listen to engaging stories.

One great thing about podcasts is that you don’t have to devote your full attention to it. You can put in your earbuds and listen to a new podcast while doing your chores, driving to the grocery store, or doing whatever it is you do on a daily basis.

Another thing you can even do is make it your New Year’s resolution! Maybe you can have a goal to listen to at least ten minutes of an educational podcast every day. Or-- you can make it your mission to learn a new fact every day, and podcasts can be your way to do so. Whatever your motive, podcasts can help you tap into subjects that you are the most interested in in a convenient, easy way.

philosophize this!

supernatural

With Ashley Flowers

Title: Philosophize This!

Writer: Stephen West

Focus: Philosophy

Review: This isn’t your typical history lesson. West takes a deep dive into philosophers world-wide, from pre-Socratic philosophers and onward in time. While going over the main ideas of each philosopher, West also talks about the history and climate that each great thinker was living in, and how it may have affected their thought processes and conclusions that they came to. Though I’ve only just started listening to this podcast, I just know it’s going to be a favorite of mine. West’s amazing and engaging voice teaches you about these philosophers in an amazing storytelling fashion, keeping listeners engaged from minute one.

Title: Supernatural with Ashley Flowers

Writer: Ashley Flowers with Parcast

Focus: Unexplained Mysteries/Conspiracies

Review: I mainly include this podcast because of the writer. As mentioned last month, I am a big fan of Crime Junkies, a true crime podcast. This isn’t only because of the content. It is also because of the great structure and professionalism of the podcast and how it is set up. Flowers has a true talent for telling stories, and that fact is evident with every episode. Her captivating storytelling abilities get you hooked immediately to every case. And that is why, this month, I’m including this second podcast done by Flowers: Supernatural. In this podcast, Flowers explains cases that can’t be solved with cold hard evidence, and what could’ve possibly happened in these puzzling cases. Though this is still a fairly new podcast, there are many episodes already published that will pique listeners interest, and keep them asking questions.

book reviews/analysis

This month, I have something a little different for you guys. Though I read a number of books this month, two in particular stood out to me. These two books were both recommended to me by readers of The Scroll, and I wanted to do a more in-depth analysis of each one. Again, thank you all so much for your recommendations, and I’m excited to get to even more books that were recommended to me in the last couple months! So without further ado, here are the two fiction novels, If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin, and The Body Double by Emily Beyda.

if he had been with me

Title: If He Had Been with Me

Author: Laura Nowlin

Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰ (5 stars)

Genre: young adult, coming of age, romance, contemporary, realistic fiction

Quote: "This sweet, authentic love story masks complex characters dealing with complex issues. . .” - Booklist

Review: WOW.

Now, this is the first book that I have EVER reviewed in the history of my book review column that I’ve rated five stars, and it is for good reason. It has been a very long time since I’ve read such a beautiful, real, and heartbreaking piece of young adult fiction, and I just know that I will not forget about this story for a long time. I had heard of this book before it was recommended to me, but after reading the quick summary on the back of the book, I steered clear. I didn’t want to read a sad book. I didn’t want to read the story of tragedy. But as I found out after actually reading the book, it can come with big and significant life lessons.

This book is a long story set over the course of about four years, the entire length of our main character, Autumn's, high school career. The book opens with a short yet haunting chapter where our author, in Romeo and Juliet style, explains the ending of the story at the very beginning, and leaves readers hoping and begging to change the ending of the story before it even happens. Over the course of the story, we see Autumn getting older and learning valuable lessons about life and love. The story is told between two differing perspectives, the main one being Autumn’s present, but also her young, naive self, which gives us readers more insight to her deeply rooted emotional turmoil. Not only are we witnessing Autumn struggle with typical teenage problems, we get a glimpse of very real and prevailing issues in young adults today. Throughout the entire book, Autumn is struggling with the same question: What if? What if things had been different with her best friend and next-door neighbor, Finn? Would their relationship be different, for the better or for the worst? In a very relatable fashion, Autumn tries to suppress these questions, and tries to repress these feelings that maybe she’s making a mistake.

This book deals with many amazing lessons, and looks into many mental health issues such as depression, family issues, and anxiety. Nowlin handles these difficult topics impressively, and presents many unpleasant issues in a mature and relatable manner. In many ways, this book was actually very uncomfortable and even awkward to read. That's what makes this book so perfect: it was so imperfect. I was so tired of reading young adult and teenage books where teenagers entering the real world, entering adulthood, were so obviously written by someone not familiar with this frightening transitional period. It seems that in so many books, teenagers aren’t portrayed as the awkward, uncomfortable kids that they are. They are portrayed as strong characters, ones who are certain of their view on the world and tough issues, when this isn’t even close to reality. Nowlin shows teenagers as they really are: unsure, and learning about life and love, topics so broad and complicated it takes time and experience to learn about. And that’s what readers get to experience with this book; the crazy transition from childhood to adulthood filled with hurt, heartbreak, and growth told in a beautifully relatable voice. Most often, I read stories to feel good, or to look at happy times and adventure. This book was not what I would consider a “happy” read, but it is nonetheless very important, especially for high school and young adult readers dealing with similar issues.

Nowlin’s writing effortly captured me from page one. Somehow, she managed to capture the teenage narrating voice perfectly. She crafted this beautifully imperfect world for her characters, whom she also made deep and complicated. I felt as though I truly knew Autumn and Finn and their friends and classmates. I could feel their pain when they got their hearts broken, and I could feel their joy in their highest moments. I felt as though I could really picture the town at which they lived, and the high school where they grew into adulthood. And though I always knew that tragedy was going to eventually strike, I couldn’t stop myself from getting entirely too connected to every single character in the story. This didn’t feel like a simple story on a page, it felt like a real world that Nowlin had created with her words.

I think it’s very easy to hate a book just because the ending didn’t happen exactly like you wanted to. And I will admit, I literally spent days just sort of wallowing in self-pity because of the conclusion to this novel, angry at Nowlin for putting me through this, as a reader. But once I was able to take a step back and appreciate her choices and why she did them, I was able to recognize what a skillful writer she was for doing just that. And she was able to help me understand that not every story needs to have the perfect, idyllic ending.

So, I would like to give a sincere thank you to the reader who submitted this book, this absolute rollercoaster of a book. Because I am sure that I will remember this book for many years to come.

For some more great reviews of this novel, check out the Goodreads page for this book.

the body double

Title: The Body Double

Author: Emily Beyda

Rating: ✰✰✰ (2.5 stars)

Genre: adult fiction, thriller, mystery, suspense

Quote: "The Body Double is a deft, dark, and surprisingly unusual Hollywood story, cinematic in both substance and in style” - Ivy Pochoda

Review: To be quite honest, I’m not exactly sure where to start with this story. So, I will bring us back to last month’s issue, where I discussed my thoughts on the novel when I was about halfway through.

"The Body Double is certainly unlike anything I have ever read before. For starters: readers do not learn the narrator’s name. In fact, we learn next to nothing about the narrator of the first-person story, which definitely sets an interesting scene for an entire book. In this novel, our narrator is recruited to completely take the place of a very famous celebrity who, at the time, was unfit for any sort of public appearance. This means our narrator has to ditch her old life working at an old movie theater and forget her old life completely to totally commit to her role as the celebrity, Rosanna. Though our narrator is obviously hesitant to sign her old life away, the prospect of the incredible salary and a chance to start anew convinces her to commit to the impersonation job.

"Though this novel isn’t exactly meant to a chilling or horror tale, this novel encompasses suspense, thrill, and mystery in such a way that I can’t help but feel deeply curious about the real meaning behind the need for a celebrity impersonator. Though I haven’t quite finished this book, I have very high expectations for the turning point in the plot, and I’m excited to see how this one ends."

Let me start out by saying that when I wrote that blurb for last month’s article, though I had my speculations on how the story was going to conclude, I don’t think I could have ever predicted how this novel was going to come to an end.

To put it simply, this book is far from traditional. About the first 75% of the book was pretty much the same, with pages upon pages of pure internal thoughts of our nameless narrator. If you enjoy slow burn books, this would be perfect for you. However, I thought this was a little redundant, and probably could’ve been shortened to much less words and pages. This part of the book consists of the same happenings: Over half of the time, our narrator is trapped in her secluded apartment, spending all of her time dedicated to becoming as identical to her celebrity, Rosanna, as possible. This is also where she spends much of her time with Max, who we find out later is likely Rosanna’s personal assistant. Max is the one who pushes our narrator past her physical limits in becoming the perfect image of this famous character. In doing this, however, the audience is beginning to see how this entire operation is much more sinister than maybe previously believed to be. Readers begin to question, why has our main character not even met Rosanna in person yet? Why is Max being so secretive about so many aspects of our main character’s new job?

Speaking of the characters in this book, this is where I found some faults in the writing. As mentioned previously, the main character of this novel (it is told in first person) is completely nameless throughout the entirety of the book. While this is an interesting writing choice, one of which some people praise for taking this unconventional path, I found this makes readers feel even more separated and disconnected from her character, when the entire point of writing from first person is to get readers to further feel connected to the narrator’s feelings. When the audience hears next to nothing about the character’s backstory, and when the main character’s largest goal is to completely separate themselves from their feelings and emotions, it is quite understandable when readers won’t feel any meaningful connection to the character’s development and arc. Speaking of this arc, though I was hoping for a full character development through this story, where the narrator is able to discover herself, and not this Rosanna stranger, I got the complete opposite of this. Without spoiling the end, what I will say is that both our main character’s arc and the plot line were sort of just left hanging. There was not a satisfying resolution, and this made the character really lack depth.

After listening to an interview done with Emily Beyda, I understand that she was attempting to address mental health issues with this novel, and how fame and an obsession with outward appearance can have a serious toll on individuals. However, I don’t think this was done in an efficient way. Though it was obviously addressed, along with some other serious issues concerning grooming and mental abuse by the narrator’s employer Max, as I said before, it was just never resolved. The narrator didn’t learn from her mistakes; she never saw what was wrong in forgetting her own past and her character. Maybe this would’ve been a great lesson to include in Beyda’s writing, only if those lessons had actually been addressed in a healthy manner.

One thing that I did admire about this author is her way to create an atmosphere and a kind of “vibe” to this entire story. Though at first glance, this is an ordinary contemporary story, it certainly had dark twists and chilling turns. Our completely brainwashed and oblivious main character is brought through psychological grooming by the only main character, Max, who also has a mysterious and possibly quite dark past. Though it’s hard to find specific evidence of this, the relationship between Max and our main character slowly increases my feelings of uneasiness as the story progresses, which I admit is probably exactly what Beyda wanted me to feel when writing this. Though I was at first excited, like our narrator, when she was presented with this amazing opportunity to escape her mundane life, I became increasingly detached from this glamorous idea and became consumed with how she was being roped into an abusive and dangerous situation, completely unbeknownst to herself. This continuously enforced the cold and twisted path that I could sense the novel was taking.

All in all, reading this was altogether just a very haunting feeling, which was heavily exaggerated with the strange ending. I won’t get into depth about the last several chapters of the book as to not spoil it but what. the. heck. This ending, in my opinion, resolved nothing at all. It made me feel confused, and I had to reread it just to make sure I was fully understanding what just happened (and not necessarily in a good way). The last few pages of this story were chilling, and all around concerning. This was not the tied-up ending I was hoping for, and again a very untraditional writing route by Beyda. However, even at the very end, I found it very hard to sympathize with the main character, when she was trying so hard to be a blank slate. She was never herself; she was always, Rosanna. In whatever way you interpret this ending, I insists that you experience it for yourself, and tell me what you think! I think this novel can be seen differently through different eyes, and I’d love to hear other thoughts on the writing and plot of this book.

Goodreads reviews here

the body double official book trailer

Here is the official book trailer of The Body Double by Emily Beyda, released by Doubleday Publishing. This book is still very new, and was just released in March of this year.

That will be all of the reviews and analyses that I have for you this month! For more podcast and book reviews, make sure to come back next month and check out what other reviews I’ll have prepared. Or, if you are anxious to see a certain book or podcast reviewed, make sure to submit a recommendation! I love hearing back from everyone, and I’m always excited to hear of new things to read or listen to.

Happy New Year!

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