Tuesday 24 November 2015

Book Review: Occupied by Joss Sheldon




Summary (from Goodreads)

Title: Occupied

Author: Joss Sheldon

Publication Date: 22 October 2015

Publisher: Createspace







Summary:



SOME PEOPLE LIVE UNDER OCCUPATION.
SOME PEOPLE OCCUPY THEMSELVES.
NO ONE IS FREE.

Step into a world which is both magically fictitious and shockingly real, to follow the lives of Tamsin, Ellie, Arun and Charlie; a refugee, native, occupier and economic migrant. Watch them grow up during a halcyon past, an everyday present, and a dystopian future. And be prepared to be amazed.

Inspired by the occupations of Palestine, Kurdistan and Tibet, and by the corporate occupation of the west, ‘Occupied’ is a haunting glance into a society which is a little too familiar for comfort. It truly is a unique piece of literary fiction…
 


My Thoughts:



I enjoyed every aspect of this book. Every minute I was reading, it gave some kind of satisfaction. I do not know how to explain it, but I believe this is one book that is worth to read! Starting with the cover that is very intriguing and makes you want to start read the book right away, to the story itself. Once you start it, you can’t put it down. When I got the book, I was intrigued by the cover and the title right away, and while I did have some bad experience with the whole “Don’t judge the book by it’s cover”, this time I am happy that I got to read it, as it drew my attention to make issues that are happening in today’s world.

The summary of the book is very vague; we do not really get a lot of information, though I believe the slogan:

“SOME PEOPLE LIVE UNDER OCCUPATION
SOME PEOPLE OCCUPY THEMSELVES
NO ONE IS FREE”

is a fantastic description of the book. I actually felt the atmosphere of the book. It is not something that the average reader will enjoy, as the book dwells a lot on the hardships and negativities in the reality, and yes, not all of us want to read about that in books too. However, that’s is what makes this books so noticeable. The author expertly builds four main characters: Tasmin, Ellie, Arun and Charlie. We experience their lives along side them. Every chapter is dedicated to one characters and that makes us live their lives fully with them. The book is divided in three parts: Childhood, Adolescence and Adulthood. The author fantastically builds his world, first through the child’s eye on the corrupt society, then the naïve adolescence and finally the perception and understanding that the adulthood brought to our characters.


This story is one of the must-reads in today’s world. It’s terrifying how the author makes you think about the issues in the book. The book makes you think if all those events actually happened, and that just makes you google all of the events in the book to know more about them, to know the “real” things! Get your copy now to enjoy this fantastically realistic book!

My Rating:





No comments:

Post a Comment