After finishing my last review, which was a massive task! Still can’t believe I wrote  11K words for a review.

Understanding ‘A Silent Voice’: A Review of Themes and Characters

I was feeling a little…. Depressed? Empty? Hollow?….. Not sure what the correct word is.  This ALWAYS happened with me after finishing a project, and I don’t know why.  If anyone has any information or can name this feeling, please let me know so I can do something to help me cope better.

 With me feeling this way, I was looking at my bookshelf for something lighter. Then I thought, I just recently bought this book….

  

Who knew that the best therapy (this year) would come from this wonderful little book! 

While im doomscrolling, I’ve seen clips on socials about The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse and I love the quotes from the story. So I went and read the book.

Such a unique experience! 

I was a little worried at first that I would have struggled reading the book because the words are… Drawn on? Or painted on the page.  Took me some time, but eventually I got used to the handwriting, so it’s all good!  

I was surprised that, once you get past the introduction, the book is half drawings and half text. 

Which I was perfectly fine with! It’s just made for a quick read.

I even had to force myself to slow down and appreciate the drawings a little more.   

There are a couple of beautifully illustrated paintings, fully coloured and polished, which are stunning!  

I also love that they are pictures that are ‘unfinished’ or “bare bones”. You see the artist beginning sketches (cycles, squares, triangles, etc.) that also go with the landscape drawings.   Which, surprisingly, doesn’t take away from the story.   

(I have a perfectionist personality type, which drives me CRAZY at times. I have to constantly tell myself it’s ok to make mistakes.) 

That’s a funny segway to one of my favourite pages in this book.

There’s a page where he painted a page about  “perfection”, and his dog walked all over it, and the author left it in the book.   Pretty ironic, haha, I like that page as that ‘mistake’ just adds character to the book! 

With that said, the next page is a strange one,  where he left a tea cup stain. And the characters actually see it on the page…. Which got me thinking…  No, I can’t think too much about the “world-building” of the story! Haha.  

This book is like a series of motivational quotes that are stupidly* simple but say a whole lot.  

Which I definitely need to remind myself more and more often. 

          I don’t know about you. Sometimes when I try to read a motivational or inspiring book, I get bogged down by long storylines/metaphors, and I get overwhelmed and bored very quickly.  

 With this book, you get one simple message with a ton of meaning behind it!  

You know what this book reminds me of.  Back when I was a kid,  it reminded me of stories like:

1.  The Hare & the Tortoise!
2. The Ugly Duckling. 
3. Jack and the Beanstalk.
4. The Three Little Pigs.
5. Little Red Riding Hood 

Very simple stories, but they pack a ton of meaning! 

I think that the review is done!  I just needed a quick, simple writing time.  

If you are interested in more book reviews, please go and check them out!

Hopefully, I can get one more review before 2025 ends? Or perhaps I can do a yearly recap on the books I read this year….. Who knows? 

*I don’t know if there’s a more positive word to replace this word!

Lastly, a quick shout-out to my book: The Hardship of Growing Up on Wheels: A Memoir