 Welcome to the video. Hey, wow, this is truly honestly like my second book review video I've done. So I'm still kind of learning the ropes. But my name is Nika. I'm 29 years old. I'm a graduate student that lives in New York City. Suscribe if you haven't already. I make videos about like New York City life when it's like being a graduate student at Ivy League University. Book reviews, plans with me, all those fun sorts of things. So my goal for the end of the year is to 5,000 subscribers. We are very, very, very far away from that goal. So if you can subscribe right now, I would love you forever because I'm still trying to cross 1,000 subscriber mark. Anyways, so in today's video, we're going to be talking about Holly by Stephen King. I truly enjoyed this novel. There were like a couple of points that kind of irked me a little bit, but let's just get right into it. So Holly is honestly a book that made me feel like I was missing something. This is the first Stephen King book I've ever read. And it's very apparent as you're reading it that there was some stuff that happened beforehand. Like I think it's a part of a series that he was doing. So like there was references to like um, I think his name's like Chet or something, Ozinski or Ozempic. Whatever his name is, that kind of really affected the characters in this book. Probably another like murder mystery type thing. And literally that went over my head. Like every time they brought him up, they're like, Oh, it was so frightening. He nearly killed me. I was like, Oh, it really made me go maybe I should go back and read like the prior novel, but probably not going to do that. The plot of the book. So I'm trying to figure out like what kind of structure I want to have to these book reviews. I'm thinking starting out with the plot is a great one. So Holly is obviously a character that was in other Stephen King novels that I did not write. But she is a private investigator and she's like investigating a missing person's case in her hometown. And so she is trying to figure out like what happened to this lost girl. And what's really good about this novel is that you actually start with the point of view of Holly and then also the point of view of like, yeah, kidnappers slash murderers. So right away, you're kind of like, okay, this is what Holly thinks. Okay, this is what like the murderer thinks. And like the entire novel, you're kind of like, just waiting for them to collide, which is really fun. So it's really great. Like tension building throughout the entire novel, which I really like for diversity, like equity and inclusion, there are some black characters in here, which I appreciated. But what I did not appreciate is some one, okay, there is a character her name is Barbara. And she's like a black like, not teenager, but maybe like 21, 22, like early 20s. And I'm like, I don't know a single black girl whose name is Barbara. And like 2020 at all, like I feel like that's an old black person name. I just don't think people are named anymore. So that was just kind of weird to me. But honestly, Stephen King is also pretty old. So that's probably where he's getting his name and spoke from. And what's really interesting is that there are a lot of like, different side characters that have a pretty huge influence in the novel. So Holly has these like a sidekick that she works with and he's like sick with COVID the whole time. Oh, also, I should mention this happens during like COVID. So 2019 2020 2021. So that's also really interesting that it's like so current like that makes it kind of a really fun read and seeing them kind of battle and think through that. And then there's also like a lot of influence from like Donald Trump in here and like the election and the political climate and just like how politicized like COVID was. So that's also really interesting. There's a really good diversity of characters. There's another black character. Her name is Keisha. And she's a friend of the person that's missing. And what really kind of throws me off No spoilers. Literally someone called Keisha Keesh as like a nickname. And I'm like that is just not never like I've never heard anyone refer to someone whose name is Keisha as like Keesh as like a nickname. Like I think that's just like a little cultural thing because obviously Stephen King is like a white man. But yeah, like Keesh is not short for Keisha. Keisha is already short for like like Keisha. So it's like people don't like I don't know. Black people just don't call Keesh Keesh like that's just not that's just not what it's giving. So there was like little things like that throughout the novel that kind of like annoyed me. But overall it was a really good novel. And I did appreciate like the diversity that was kind of woven through it. Like you do have a lot of black characters in there. And yeah, I really appreciated that. Overall, I would probably give this like, um, let's see out of 10. I don't know. Maybe like an a and a half out of 10. Like I definitely would recommend this. It is very, very big. I think it's like 300 pages. Let me see 400, 400 and like 45 pages. And honestly, I still got through it pretty quickly. Like I think I read this all within the month of January. And yeah, there are nights where I was like, okay, I want to go to bed early because I want to read this novel. So it is really good. I do wish like I would have gotten a bit more of the insight about what happened with this person that they kept alluding to like throughout the novel. But I guess you have to read the one that was before it if you want to kind of be included. I do really like the class like there's an element of class within the movie or in the movie within the book as well because the main character suddenly her class changes and she doesn't really know what to do. But then it's also like the halves and the half knots because the setting of the book is on like this college area like campus type town and I grew up there also in the Midwest too. So I really like that. I grew up near Ann Arbor, which is a very wealthy like city, but there is like Ypsilanti and that's like kind of a little bit less like, you know, to do but so close to like Ann Arbor. And so that's kind of like how their town is as well. Like there's a places right near the college are like really affluent and they have all these really nice like $100,000 homes or whatever. And then you have people who live a little bit further away and like trailer parks and stuff. So that was really interesting to see as well. And then I did like that there's like a lot of like elderly people and the novel. I mean, when we talk about diversity, equity and inclusion, I feel like we never really talked about older people. So it was nice just to like see like like that life perspective when you are like a bit older and more season and kind of know what's going on. But yeah, the murderers or the kidnappers, they're like kind of crazy, which is really thrilling to read. And like honestly, I learned a lot about racism from this book. Like no spoilers, but throughout the book, he actually acknowledges at the Christie's novel that like one of her debut novels that was like super racist, like it used to be called like 12 little inwards or something. And then they changed it to like 12 little Indians. And now I think if you want to buy it, it's called and then they were none. And I had like never heard of that before ever. Not that I've read any of the Christie novels, but like I read a lot. So I know who she is. She's a very prominent author from the UK. And I was just like, wow, I was like, okay, Stephen King call your girl out. Like I had no idea that that like had even existed. But obviously Stephen King is a little bit older and athlete Christie is a little older. I'm not even sure she's still alive. But that novel that he references in here that came out in like the 50s or like the 40s or something. So racism was still very much a thing. Overall, yeah, I would give this book like, I think I said a nine out of 10 or maybe an eight and a half. Like I definitely would recommend this. It's really, really good. Yeah. So I hope you like it. Let me know if you read it or if you're thinking about reading it in the comments below, like, what kind of books do you read? Like what kind of books are you into? I've really been into like thrillers lately. So the book I read before this was Verity, which is really good. If you're looking for a thriller, I'll leave the link for that here or in the comment section below. And then also what I'm reading now is wait, let me go get it. Okay. So what I'm reading right now is Pineapple Street, which is really good. It's not a murder mystery or a thriller at all, but it's more like a social commentary. I'm like what it means to be rich in America and what that has to do with like race. And like, honestly, I really love this novel and I wanted to read it because it's based in Brooklyn, New York. And I actually used to live a couple of blocks away from Pineapple Street. So when I saw it, and then I read the premise, it's about like people who obviously live in these like mansions that are on Pineapple Street. I was like, ooh, I really want to read that. And like, they make references to like, buildings that I used to live in and streets that I used to walk on when I lived in that neighborhood. They are primarily set in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, which is a very, very affluent neighborhood in Brooklyn, like Sarah Kajeska Parker used to live there. I think she might still have a house there, like very wealthy people live in Brooklyn Heights, but then also like college dorm that's there too. So I lived there when I was in my undergrad program at Pace University. So it's just really interesting to see and I always love reading books based in New York because I live in New York. So if you're looking for something that's a little more light, you can check this out. I haven't finished it yet. I am about, I'm here. So I'm about halfway through. And yeah, keep watching and subscribing if you guys are avid book readers. I'll be posting a video about Pineapple Street once I'm finished reading it. And if you are thinking about reading Holly by Stephen King, I definitely recommend it. A lot of diversity, equity, inclusion in there, really good storyline, a lot of tension. Like I love when books go like this, like the whole time. I don't even know what this means, but you know what I mean, you know, it's like the protagonist and the antagonist, you're just kind of waiting for them to meet. So that was a really good book for this. And yeah, I really liked it. So I have to go return this to the library now because I had been reciting, I'm making this video. So it's a little bit overdue, but if you are interested in reading the Holly book, I highly recommend it. And if you want to feel like you're not missing something, maybe you should read the book that he wrote before this. I don't even know what it is. I'm being completely honest, but you can still not read that book and read this one and like have a really good time. Like it's a really good book. And I see why Stephen King is like the legend that he is. So yeah, keep watching. If you want to hear about Pineapple Street, make sure you subscribe. I love you guys so so much and I'll see you in the next video.