Monday, July 10, 2017

Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters


                                                       Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters 
                                                                                     ★

I am a huge fan of Eric Walters, and when my friend said that this book was her favourite novel ever, I knew I just had to read it! (Check out her blog called Rafia Tasneem, you won’t be disappointed!) 

I’ll admit, I was intrigued from the start, but a few chapters in I was kind of losing interest due to the constant talk about football! I find that since Walters is a Canadian author, he could have somehow incorporated a little bit of ice hockey instead! That would have kept me interested, but to each his own! Nevertheless, when all is said and done, the sport of football should not take away from the main message of this book, and it most definitely did not.

Overall, this book was interesting, although I was left with tons of questions when I finished the book. It was a quick read, as I finished it within two days. I would recommend that you guys read this book and then comment below what you thought of it. Also, let me know whether or not you were left with unanswered questions.

Aside from questioning a few components of this novel, I believe that the message of this book was clear. The message is that there are always two sides, or perspectives, to a story and one needs to hear out both sides before coming to a conclusion, hence the title of this novel. I felt as though the characters could have been further developed to add to the message, and the book would in fact benefit from being a few pages longer than it actually was to have more substance. However, the alternating perspectives of Jay, who is a high school football player, and Haroon, who is a member of the school's trivia team, definitely added to the storyline and made it more interesting.

I do believe that the content in this book is quite relevant to what is going on today in Western countries, such as racial profiling. This novel does shed light on this issue, which I appreciate. Overall, it was a decent book, for which I have mixed feelings about.

Happy reading! 

29 comments:

  1. I've never read anything from these authors, sounds interesting!
    Just followed you back! Loving your blog! :)

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  2. This does sound incredibly relevant. Thanks for putting it on our radar and for stopping by to see us! Happy reading :)

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    1. I agree! No problem, thanks for stopping by!

      - El

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  3. Heyyy Bestie! ❤️This is amazing! So glad you liked the book too! I forget a bit of the book, but yes I remember that there were a few unanswered questions. But OMG you should read 'Safe as Houses' (Eric Walters) - it's again a quick read but it used to be another one of my favourite books. Also we need to go book hunting together!

    xx

    Rafia

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    1. Awwww, thanks!!! 💜

      I will add that to my list for sure! Let's hit up some old downtown Toronto bookstores soon?

      - El

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    2. Can't wait! Hurry up and come back thou, life is so boring. 😭

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    3. Just a few more days!!! ☺️

      - El

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  4. This title caught my eye as we have a new "younger" reader in our book club and this looks like one I would recommend to her. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. So glad you visited my blog. Happy Reading!

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    1. Hi Martha! I would definitely recommend this novel to a younger reader! Let me know if she enjoys the book! 😃

      - El

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  5. I can see how the constant talk of football would get tiring since I'm not a huge fan of the sport. But I do like the message here that there's two sides to every story. So very true even if this didn't have quite the substance you were looking for. Wonderful review, El!:)

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    1. Agreed! Thanks so much for stopping by!

      - El

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  6. I haven't heard of this one before and I don't think I've read anything by this author. It sounds interesting though! I especially like the message of the book, but I don't know if I could get through all the football talk.

    Thanks for the follow! Followed back.

    Ashtyn @ Wonderland’s Reader!

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    1. Exactly! Eric Walters is really amazing, let me know if you read any of his books!

      - El

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  7. I've seen this one around and have been intrigued! Sounds good! Thanks for following Lisa Loves Literature. I've followed you back on Google Plus, for some reason I can't get GFC to let me follow anymore!

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    1. Hope you read it! And that is no problem at all!

      I followed you back on Google+!

      - El

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  8. This is new to me. The constant mention of football may turn me off too because while I like books with sports, I don't want too much sports talk over everything else. At least it didn't put you off entirely and you were still able to like the story, in spite of being left with unanswered questions in the end. Thanks for your honest review.

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    1. Thanks so much for reading my review, I truly appreciate it!

      - El

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  9. It definitely sounds like a good message to have in a book, but I agree with what others have said--I'm not sure about the constant football! Lovely review though. :)
    (I followed you back, by the way!) XD

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    1. Thanks so much! Excited to read more of your posts!

      - El

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  10. Sounds interesting (besides the football), I might look into this, thanks!!! :)

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  11. Sounds like a nice coming of age type read, learning to be open minded with others. And I don't mind football as much, we live it here with the kiddo. ;) Thanks!

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    1. It was a pretty good book! No problem, thanks for stopping by! :)

      - El

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