Too Damn Dumb to Think
Diana Wright with Dr. Bernie Decoke
Diana Wright’s founded a medical device manufacturing company after getting started in the work force sewing pig tissue into heart valves. She modified the orifice of the valve using engineering concepts. The book touches on the key moments through her life that were critical to forming her value and belief systems. The book itself only touches the surface of how Diana founded her company. There is a much larger focus on the self-discovery that occurs during her husbands attempts to take over her company, her self-realisation of personal preferences, and hospitilisation/rehabilitation from a sudden protracted illness. As well as how these events changed how Diana prioritised events in her life.
That self-discovery has Diana forging and growing beyond the company that she built and changing her mindset following being hospitalised to pursue exactly what she wants both personally and professionally. I do admire her stubbornness to protect her kids, it comes out that she has separated from her husband to prevent them being hurt by a parental figure as she was. The commitment she demonstrates to asking herself the hard questions even when it hurts was incredible to read. It served as a reminder that just because something feels wonderful in intervals does not mean it’s what you need. And that even people that love you may be more in love with the idea of loving you than the reality of making it work.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read, to see how another person learnt and grew through hardship. There were moments where you could feel the heartbreak and pain. It easy to say as an outsider that of course someone should give up on something that causes so much confusion or walk away from someone who wouldn’t just commit. That said it takes amazing courage and strength to be the one to decide. Particularly as people can only control what they fell. You can never control how another person is going to response to anything. Accepting that can be one of the hardest lessons but reading Diana’s journey was heart wrenching but satisfying in the closure from her experiences.
Part guidebook, part travel diary, this book explored backpacking with two young children in tow – and that it can be done! One thing that made no sense to me was that the family had a whole heap of debt, and basically had nothing at the end of their trip. Yet they were sure their jobs would still be there when they got home? I couldn’t imagine going overseas with so little cash that a flight out might actually could have been impossible. Also, the last chapter jumps forward a year, and I felt cheated that I didn’t hear about how they readapted to living in a Western society.
What was with Simon’s grandfather? Reality vs non-reality was really quite confusing. And the ending was too neat to be true. In a true dystopian setting, this wouldn’t have happened. I didn’t want there to be a happily ever after. I had engaged with the characters to the extent that I actually empathised maybe a little bit too much with the ‘bad guys’? I never liked Simon that much, so I would have been happy to see him killed off.
I somehow didn’t have as much empathy as I could have for the Children. Real AI, that knows it’s alive and can think for itself? That hasn’t freaked me out for a while, I accept the inevitability of robot overlords eventually! And I’m quite cruisy with the idea from 
The opening scene of this novel took me off guard, because I didn’t really want to read about a self-absorbed rich kid who had a giant nose. I couldn’t have cared less about whether he was 6 foot and sunbathing naked on the lawn. I definitely couldn’t have cared less about the fact that his parents didn’t like him, and that his dad took his driving iron to his expensive, fancy gear.
This was almost real-world believable. Apart from the ghosts. But she hadn’t known about the ghosts. It’s fascinating how LaCour is able to step inside a tortured psyche and make it so that her readers are imprinted into the novel themselves. By this I mean that almost any person who has undergone trauma could see how this related to them.
Let’s start off by stating that this is not an easy read. This is a terrifying read. It is not comfortable or comforting. You’re going to want to put trigger warnings on it for suicide, bullying and child sexual abuse. This is an #ownvoices novel from this author, and the authenticity of the writing is heartbreaking in parts. It lead to this being a compulsive read for me.
The set up of these books is that each one of the five dragonets of the Prophecy get a book to themselves. The first two books really only rely on the main characters (Clay and Tsunami) to carry them. Naturally then, I loved Clay the most – he might not be the brightest, but he is certainly the friendliest (plus he likes eating). After that point, we start seeing a bit more variety in the dragonets involved, particularly in book 4 (Starflight – Dark dragon).
Oh dear. I had to look up the main character’s name. I at least remembered Bailey’s name, probably because I used to have a guinea-pig named Baileys (after Bailey’s Irish Cream liquor). Veronica on the other hand is a blank, boring slate with nothing unique about her. I mean, I felt for her having an unexpected pregnancy and having to drive a bloody long way to get an abortion, but it’s not like she was actually a 3D character I could care about.