melissa
It's the stream of consciousness of an overthinking self absorbed fickle teen. i think what people liked was this lifestyle reminiscent of the 60s, no mentions of phone or technology, days spent under the sun, reading playing classical music on the piano. Throughout i could not understand in which decade the story is supposed to happen in cause it did not mention anything of the present so it could've happened at any time, which adds to the ephemeral mood of the book, but other than that there really is nothing (I had to google to see that the story was happening in the 80s, which makes a lot of aspects of the book anachronistic, I'm sure the writer didn't care one bit about the period of the book, only reference of time is “after ww2” and “televisions exist cause there were mentioned once” homosexuality doesn't seem to be an issue and no pop song was mentioned in that supposed 80s book)
It seemed the writer wanted to reproduce a 60s book where being gay felt tragic in itself, for that you might read Tenessee Williams, Truman Capote, Baldwin or Isherwood. This is just a cheap knockoff and if it weren't for the film no one would've care about it. Where is the damn conflict? You have a teen overthinking a relationship no one minded (that summarizes the book well)
*** I had in mind rating it 3/5 cause of the mood, but minus 1 star for the two positive mentions of Israel.
Loved the titular novella, it's exactly what i want from an Agatha Christie story. The shorts are fun, some better than others but Three Blind Mice is now one of my favourites.
I don't know what i expected of Jules Verne but it wasn't that. Hollywood adaptations has turned Verne into a shallow adventure writer, when i've never come across such a well researched work. It was very impressive, from the history, geography, physics and marine biology written in this book, everything i searched was accurate. This book was more of a journal of travels than an adventure book, where i got to learn about every corner of the world (except the then undiscovered ones, where Verne's imagination was quite interesting). Then there's Captain Nemo, the actual hero of this story.
Turns out there was a book released about him before this one, so i will have to read that. But coming in blind like the narrator and trying to figure out Captain Nemo, i loved the mystery even if not much is answered. I just know that i empathize with this man's hatred of the so called “civilized world”.
I'll end it with this quote from him:
«Je suis le droit, je suis la justice ! me dit-il. Je suis l'opprimé, et voilà l'oppresseur ! C'est par lui que tout ce que j'ai aimé, chéri, vénéré, patrie, femme, enfants, mon père, ma mère, j'ai vu tout périr ! Tout ce que je hais est là ! Taisez-vous ! »
This is such an intense book. It's heavy. You're inside the mind of a person with OCD, bombarded with intrusive thoughts, and it's so real. John Green is writing about what he knows, and it shows. The story in itself is good, but mental illness is the main player in this one.
It takes a while for you to really dive in, probably around a quarter in, at first it veers towards the Young Adult novels, it's a first person 21 yo describing her friends and college life, but then it starts digging in, on what constitutes relationships the power-play and dynamic of a conversation, i like how at times instead of writing the dialogue, the main character describes it as a fight or dance, a very aptly named novel.
I really enjoyed it, i enjoy Rooney's characters and how they interact, it's basically what her novels are, people interacting without any major events happening. Basically life is happening and it's complicated as it is.
It did not really end, nor did it really begin. It was more like a visit through a time machine even if i believe 50s Naples to have been severely exaggerated and made more mean than reality. Still a good visit.
I think my least favourite of Oseman's. I'm glad she didn't fall in the “girl chooses pop culture and it clashes with her muslim religion” trope, and the story was interesting, but the rhythm is off. Things start becoming interesting half way through, it really picks up at 90%, and as usual a very brief resolution which doesn't give us enough time to enjoy the ending.
Every time i read an Agatha Christie book i'm surprised how someone could perfect a genre like that. That plot kept on thickening and later every small detail was explained. Beautifully crafted mystery.
It's impressive how quickly you can get immersed in a Sally Rooney story, it's unfair how short that one is.
Sci-fi has always questioned the morality of Science and Technology, and The Island of Dr Moreau is one of the classics on that subjects, but as usually with Wells, the plot is very interesting, but the story doesn't go much in depth. It always feels more like a movie than a book, it's fun, but not much analysis. This one is better than his others at least.
That was really enjoyable. When it comes to detective work in books, and trying to guess the culprit as a reader, Agatha Christie's seems the best to me for now. You actually get all the information (not like with Holmes), the answer at the end actually makes sense, and not some weird deus ex machina, and no weird shoved in your throat romantic tension. I do enjoy detective stories where you have a few suspects and the more you read the more you switch your suspicions from one to the other. I understand now why everyone has been the singing the praises of Miss Marple.
I love getting random books from flea markets based on their cover and them ending up being great finds. In this book Karinthy shows us the alienation of the metropole and modern society. The story is quite similar to the ones where a person finds themselves on a deserted island, but here we have this city's continuous traffic and rush that creates the isolation. And even though i expected the book to turn into a scifi or magical realism on how Budai found himself in this strange place, it was more a study of human resilience and creativity.
There are a few things working against the story, first it happens in 24h which makes a slow burn kind of love story development impossible. Second, it's in first person, with the author trying to imitate teen speech(“it was mad real yo”), not a fan, and this style of having the characters speak to us as if breaking the 4th wall continuously, also brings me out of the story. Finally, the message of the story was too on the nose and i don't even agree with the message. All in all it's a meh from me.
Supposedly this could be read as a stand alone book from the Tensorate series, but it felt like a book written around the action. There was not much backstory, no foreshadowing and no building up to the action. It was fine, not a bad read, but it just felt rushed and unfinished.
Apparently [i]The Red Threads of Fortune[/i] which actions happen after this one, was written before it, yet both books were released together, and that might be the reason why this one felt off to me?
Higashida's first book seemed to be written for parents of kids with autism, however this one, 5 years later, seems to be written for younger kids with autism, for them to learn of his experience. I really like his books, they are definitely helpful, even if we know not all neuro-atypicals have the same experience.
However, I would LOVE a book of his short stories. There's a haunting quality to them, that remind me of Kafka's magical realism. Yet sadly, in this collection of works and the earlier one (The reason I jump), there's only one short story in each. It's like, the only way for people to buy his work in English, is by saying he's an autistic writer writing about Autism, and i really want a collection of his work as a fictional writer. He's such a good writer.
Something i think about whenever i'm reading an american teen novel, are america's kids' problems so big or are they dramatized and exaggerated for the sake of fiction. And if so, won't at some point life imitate art, and have teens juggling life's biggest challenges cz they believe they're supposed to. Seeing how many teens are driven to suicide or shootings, i guess many do believe the highschool experience is that important to perfect, when i have no idea how the social life in school as a concept started (might be another thing started in movies that life decided to imitate). Like couldn't all these films be made about college kids instead of highschool kids? Isn't worrying about getting good grades and accepted in colleges enough?
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I had started writing that review not knowing where the book is going, but it did give me that feeling of anxiety and suffocation, and not to spoil anything but it makes sense.
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It's a good book, the mystery part is intriguing, u can build ur own theories while reading the book, there's nothing the protagonists know that u don't, which is always more fun when reading a mystery. The reveal was good, made sense, and the book gave us enough time to say goodbye to the characters, also an important thing for me. Also it really made me hate cops, the book gets an extra point for that.
I loved it. It was eerie, and creepy, and suspenseful. Lovecraft really knows how to write surreal and horrid creatures.
It's a five star book for the main reason that Dubois' witness account of post-abolition America is priceless, however, if I had to study that book in college and be told to agree with him I would've been quite incensed. According to Dubois, the ex-slave must work to be respected by the white man, he should be educated and “civilized” is the word used, and the main idea being, having been a main part in the construction of “America”, the black folk are as equally deserving of the stolen land as the white men. Of course Dubois never refers to America as stolen land, he never even mentions the presence of the natives who like the kidnapped people of Africa have experienced unbelievable sorrow on the hands of the pilgrims and white colonizers, and that to me makes his whole analysis baseless.
It's a 3.5/5. It has been weird reading books for children and instead of them being quick reads i find myself getting bored by the over explanation. I would've liked it at 12 probably, but it's not as complex plot-wise as the other things i was reading at that age.
It does have a good message which is the reason for the higher rating, accentuating the importance of not giving in to mass thinking is crucial, it just doesn't feel like a complete book and not much was explained about the universe we were immersed in.
I much preferred the first chapters before the journey starts.
Even tho Keller was obvious in her preface not finding it interesting to speak about this subject it still was very informative. Also she's a great writer, tho i prefer her later writings. Her vocabulary was still a bit colonialist during that time. Anyway, if you're interested in the world of Helen Keller, recommended.
This was a really fun read. Basically 6 people come together (Miss Marple included) to share their stories of crime, and you get to play along on solving it. Very enjoyable.
It's more of a 3,5 then a 4/5 but basically it was exactly all i want from a YA novel. I will not elaborate cz spoilers, but definitely prefer Leah's POV to Simon's.
It's perfect if, like me, you have no idea where to start with the overwhelming Greek Mythology.
I really liked it, though I wish I'd read it 10 years ago when I was obsessed with the concept of sound and the different ways we can experiment with it. But it's more of a 3.5/5 than a 4 (just cause my interests have changed.