Fiona
I would recommend this to a student doing a project on NYC but if they wanted to read an interesting book, I wouldn't because this is a slog through everything but the kitchen sink. Mr. Aronson covers the history from indigenous people to present day very thoroughly with plenty of visual supplementation like maps and photots; there is also bonus content to be accessed online. But it is a large heavy tome and what I would describe as an intellectual exercise rather than a good read.
A big thank you to Candlewick Press for sending me an advance copy to review.
An easy read that had me up way past my bedtime. I don't know what the point of the plane ride was though; it seemed superfluous. And I would have liked a little more resolution on the Alicia situation.
A big thank you to Candlewick Press for the free review copy. And to Mrs. Paterson for still churning them out at 89: you're an inspiration!
Cannot cope with this much sex and sexuality right now when my health is shit and libido nonexistent so I'm abandoning this after chapter 2. The writing isn't bad and if Joshua Whitehead had some escapist lit to offer I'd be very down with that. (Oh look! Joshua's got some speculative fiction in a short story anthology available from the library. Bring it!)
A bit heavy-handed with the social justice themes at times, when the story should have been left to speak for itself. Intermittently funny with decent character development and plot but no coherent sense of setting (probably a reflection of the English author not having a clear idea of what small-town America is like).
Cute and charming while dealing with serious issues. Bonus points for being semi-autobiographical.
Note: I picked this up because some parent somewhere (in ‘Murica natch) was terribly aggrieved that thier precious child had been exposed to all the sordid evil this book contains by an educator and that sort of thing always piques my curiosity.
This book is specifically targeted at Kendrick Lamar fans and I, as a general aficionado of hip-hop history and culture, didn't get much out of it. The author inserts himself and his experiences into the book far too often for my taste and spends the rest of the time dissecting lyrics and interpreting supposed influences. Usually, I'm all for books that are secretly love letters but this feels more like a test of pre-existing knowledge on said rapper than a reason to fall in love. Artwork is kinda cool though.
I was sent a free copy of this book for review by the publisher.
Eunsun clearly has no flair for storytelling and this is a fairly boring from a narrative standpoint; there's never any dramatic tension. It only merits three stars writing-wise but since she wrote the book as a sort of “fuck you” to the North Korean regime, I'm giving her a bonus star just to be supportive.
