Review of Life As we Know It

[Eunice Geres]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Life As we Know It" by Marquita Johnson.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Most people have learned the harsh reality of double standards as they grow up with their siblings. There’s always a favored child who gives pride to their parents. There’s always a child who has their parent’s trust because he is perfect, and they trust his every decision. But how about the unfavored child? How about that one child who never felt seen or heard by her parents? Will she grow up always trying her best to earn that motherly love she has always wanted to have?

Life As we Know It by Marquita Johnson is about that unfavored child. This novel is about the author's past experiences and struggles to earn the love and respect she has always wanted to have. This book is also about her journey to recognize her self-worth.

I want to start my review by stating that I grew up with enough love from my parents. I’ve always felt their support and trust in everything I do. Maybe it was the reason why I got so hooked on this book. This book gave me a different perspective on life. It made me know the struggles of a person who had been through things I have not. While reading, I felt like I was listening to a new acquaintance as she shares her experiences and struggles.

I truly enjoyed reading this. There is something about the author’s ambiance that makes her so friendly. Her journey interests me so much. The author conveyed her emotions very well, and her writing style feels like a continuous stream of narration. The author wrote the book in a past continuous tense, which means it was like getting to spend a Sunday afternoon listening to your favorite Aunt’s life story.

For my critique, I would like to point out that there were times I felt lost in the narration. The author is not like those authors that create a whole paragraph for just a single thought. She was direct and straight to the point. However, there were instances that she squeezed three stories, irrelevant from each other, into a single paragraph. It was so weird and confusing to follow. There were also numerous grammatical errors. It didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book, but sometimes it was too noticeable.

In conclusion, I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I like it well enough to recommend it to others, but I reduced the rating by one star because it needs another round of editing. I truly enjoyed reading this book. It’s not every day I get to read a book that feels like reading a friend’s letter.

I would recommend this to anyone who has ever felt they were not enough in their parent’s eyes. To people who have spent their lives trying to get everyone to respect them. Maybe this would give them the realization they needed to value their own life. I would also recommend this to readers who want to read a book with an upbringing different from how their parents raised them. On the other hand, I would not recommend this to people who think highly of themselves. To read this, you need to have some sense of compassion for other people.

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Life As we Know It
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[Priya_Singh]

This book seems an interesting read. I would love to read it. Also thanks for the wonderful review. It is very informative and sums up the complete book in just few paragraphs.

[Tarie07]

Most parents have preferences among their children and this kills the self esteem of the less favored child. It's a sad truth and it always ends up affecting children even after they've grown up. I would love to read this book. Thanks for the great review.