Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions is complex. Poldi's aspiring author nephew is telling the story. He tells the story to us as Poldi told it to him. (I forget what point of view this is called). Unfortunately, at times this point of view makes the story confusing. …more Sometimes I did not know who was speaking or when the story was taking place. Perhaps this is because this book was translated from another language? Poldi reminds me a bit of Ove from the book A Man Called Ove in that she is older (over 60), eccentric, and is a bit suicidal at times. Otherwise, this book did not remind me of Ove. It took me longer than usual to get through this book than other books perhaps because the story ebbed and flowed as Poldi discovered evidence in the case. All in all, it was an okay read. (less)

I tried, but I just could not finish this book. I could only make it to chapter three. It is way too similar to several books that I have recently read, i.e. Starfish, (and I enjoyed those books so much more than this one). Asian boy wants to be an artist and struggles with …more finding himself as an artist. He also meets a potential teacher/ inspiration and I felt like he was not going to take her advice. I feel like there was probably a lot more to this story, especially with the main character's friends and parents, but I just could not get there. Maybe if the book led with what happened to their friend group (which I did not get to) I would have enjoyed it more? The story was going along really slowly and the prologue really confused me. (less)