As for the topic of satire, this novel delivers a perfect depiction of it. From the brainwashed Stepford women to the men who secretly try to entrance them, this novel is satire at its finest. I highly enjoyed the deliverance of the satirical themes and thought of it as highly progressive, well done and realistic to the issue women face in contemporary society.

For a book released in the 70's, Levin created a book with progressives themes and a character who so accurately represents modern feminism at its core. During my time examining and reading this novel, I felt drawn in by the ominous feeling of Stepford and the multiple plot twists that took place. I truly felt scared for Joanna during my reading and could feel the pain she experienced due to her suspicions about her husband while also constantly trying to compete with the men of the town.

This book will have you at the edge of your seat every second.

(I won't spoil anything lol)

André Aciman has created a novel that exemplifies the fiery passion of romance and summer lust. When reading this book, I was immediately drawn to Elio as a character for a variety of reasons. Mainly, he was just so human and naive to love, which I could relate to. His initial connection to Oliver was confusing for him, creating a high sense of uncertainty within him. However, the love subtly grew into something beautiful and the dynamic between these two completely changed

it was amazing

“And on that evening when we grow older still we'll speak about these two young men as though they were two strangers we met on the train and whom we admire and want to help along. And we'll want to call it envy, because to call it regret would break our hearts.”

Yeah watching her lose everything is heartbreaking. Ellie is losing her reason to live, and Abby is finding hers. I love how that Pearl Jam song is used as this reference point for Joel too. And I thought it was so devastating how, right at the end, you realise Joel and Ellie made up. I think some people will say that the game has a clear ending and then goes on for a few more hours, but I think that’s entirely the point. Ellie and Dina get to a place that is for anyone else the perfect life, for the reality they live in. The farm house is beautiful, they have peace, and they’re looking after a baby. It’s the end for a normal person – but not for her. That final stretch in Santa Barbara is supposed to, in my interpretation, feel like one step too far. The game is making you feel this weird dissonance between leaving that idyllic place and going back to something horrible.

Mechanically, I think the companions were way better to fight alongside as well. They helped kill infected more efficiently and solved puzzles, and it felt like you had a human person there with you rather than just an NPC waiting for the next narrative beat. Speaking of companions, what did you think of Yara and Lev?

Joel obviously isn’t a good guy, but there’s a kindness in him and he does care about Ellie. I love that he keeps a book, An Idiot’s Guide to Space, on his bedside. He’s devoted to learning Ellie’s interests so they have some common ground. But he’s done unforgivable stuff. Even outside of the final scene of the first game, there’s that bit where they’re ambushed by raiders on the roadside. Ellie asks how he knew it was an ambush and he replies, “I’ve been on both sides.” He’s a killer and a torturer. His fondness of Ellie doesn’t absolve him of his sins. But still, when he’s lying there on the floor, leg shattered from a shotgun blast, hair sticky with blood, you feel what Ellie feels.

In that sense, the political Biden is not the man who can change America. It is that other, richer persona, the private self, shadowed by time and loss and a sense of tragedy, that must come into its own. His supporters understood this in November – they voted for him in unprecedented numbers, less because of what he said he would do and more because of who he is: a man of sorrow acquainted with grief.

The darkness, as Trump’s antics and the violence of his most loyal supporters have demonstrated, is not going to go away at the flick of a switch. Biden’s great strength may be that, because of what life has done to him, he knows his way around in the dark.

In November 2014, when Biden was serving as Barack Obama’s vice-president, he found, where the house should have been, an empty space marked out by yellow police tape. The building, he wrote in his memoir Promise Me, Dad had “finally run out of safe ground and run out of time; it had been swept out into the Atlantic”.