mari
incredibly self indulgent romp but hey she's getting paid for this so who am i to judge
the ending was a pleasant surprise but otherwise what the hell did i just put myself thru
well, i have to say that went better than anticipated.
** MILD SPOILERS AHEAD! please be wary! **
it felt silly at first, especially now being so far removed from my k-pop days (k-pop peaked in 2013-2016 and that's all i'll say) but over the course of the book it became an interesting take on the netizen culture of k-pop and south korea (from an outsider's perspective). sure, it was a tad ridiculous at times, but it does touch on the root of the problem, which is the weird and sometimes harmful parasocial bully culture that transcends from fans to idols when fans aren't being pandered to.
interestingly, they touched on the fact that such scandals hurt women, regardless of status (e.g. idol vs. regular person), much more than men, but the conversation was never extended to female idols, who infamously receive the worst of internet vitriol (rip sulli and goo hara, i miss you both every day). again, not necessarily detrimental, but it stuck out to me.
did not care for the romance at all, and i'm still trying to figure out how i feel about a drummer singing. in the spheres i've been in, drummers are specifically not allowed mics for a reason. no, this is not something that should bother me as much as it is, but it does lmao
much more interesting plot and much more motivating characters, but still... ah.
lots more gripes with the writing and usage of korean language this time around. struggle struggle struggle
but again, touched on an important topic with regards to toxicity within the k-pop industry, and while it was resolved in a highly idealistic (and thus unrealistic) way, at least it was talked about.
(also: if your first strat is your “baby”, why are you letting someone play it? why are you still using it? display cases, bro, i recommend them)
dnf @ 10%
yeah this is a no from me. cannot seem to care one bit about what's going on or find it in me to learn the world. thankfully i got this secondhand for cheap so i'll be rehoming this and not continuing with the series
uh... sorry?
i guess i just don't get it. while the writing was immersive and beautiful, i just didn't really understand enough of what was going on, and wasn't lost enough to just vibe. i found the jump between the fantastical and real world to be really jarring throughout the book, and as we dove deeper into the fantastical world, i missed the boring (and honestly irrelevant) real world part of the book (seriously, what was the point of the first like 100 pages?)
perhaps i wasn't in the mood for this but man do i feel catfished lmao
to my family on here seeing this: we're not ever going to mention that i've read this book okay?
this had no right to be as funny as it was
hmm, might change the rating in a second
i think the story and the writing were beautiful, but what frequently got in the way was my inability to wrap my head around the plot, what was going on, and the relationships between some of the characters. i don't know why, but the transitions between the very magical realism bits of the story and dealing with real life were jarring for me.
perhaps, once again, i'm the wrong time wrong place to fully and properly enjoying an anna-marie mclemore book
these stories were compared to shirley jackson (aka my favorite horror author), but i honestly think these were far superior
don't get me wrong: i was TERRIFIED after every story. i made the mistake of reading this over my lunch break and losing my appetite on more than one occasion (i'm a weenie eek). some of these stories are properly scary and horrifying, and enriquez does an amazing job at unsettling you in that way.
but the rich and tumultuous history of argentina and enriquez' consequent criticisms being woven with the horror aspect made everything much more real, and thus much more terrifying. i don't want to spoil anything, but there were non-gory parts that made me squirm more than the gore.
bangs fists on table I WANT MORE (but also... not during lunchtime lmao)
a fantastic retelling of mary shelley's frankenstein that unfortunately fell short of personal expectations
as the title would suggest, i was expecting the descent of elizabeth frankenstein. from the start, she is postured as the orphan girl who would pursue any means if that meant surviving, even covering up dastardly deeds of victor frankenstein. victor is much more terrifying, unhinged and outright bad in this retelling, and so i had expected elizabeth to descend into madness with him – again, as the title suggests. as much as i hate the harley quinn & joker dependency/toxic relationship trope, i think it would've been interesting in this context (what with the time period, elizabeth's characterization of a morally f***ed-up teen, etc.) but was not at all pursued.
in fact, i would say that elizabeth's character changes halfway through the book, and she is no longer as motivated by how badly she wants to “survive”, rather she is motivated by “love” and “friendship”. which, i guess ended up being an interesting take, but i can't say this enough: it's really not what i expected nor wanted from a book entitled “the dark descent of elizabeth frankenstein”
so while this isn't a bad book by any means and i was entertained for most of it (there were some third act pacing and plot issues that i wasn't a big fan of), the execution did not live up to the promise of the title nor the synopsis alone
nina lacour strikes again!
i loved so much about this book, from the roadtrip aspect to the all-girl band to the journey of meeting people throughout the roadtrip. nina lacour's eclectic and poignant writing leaves enough unsaid while addressing everything at the same time.
had gripes with the main character because he was a Teen Boy but otherwise, chef's kiss!
i'm not entirely sure how i feel about this overall, but i can say that i really enjoyed the conversations and scenes regarding genderfluidity, which i thought were beautifully done. i think that this book's shortcomings fall with the overall storytelling, as the plot meandered and the pacing felt off after the first 30% of the book
also, i'm a sucker for a good book with sibling heroes (see: the bone witch trilogy) so i had gotten my hopes up that there was going to be some of that in this book but uh... mild spoiler alert? i was disappointed?
I AM ABSOLUTELY RUINED GOODBYE
despite how emotionally wrecking this book is, i couldn't put it down. TJR's writing shines in this book as you are drawn into emma blair's life story and can't wait to find out what happens next, or how the characters are going to deal with the situation. i felt everything emma was going through despite not going through a single thing she had, and felt genuine anxiety when jesse resurfaced at the worst possible time.
while navigating the whole being married and engaged scenario definitely made this a worthwhile read, what really drove home how much i loved this book was how we saw emma grow over the years. whether that was through her relationship with her family's bookstore, or with her sister, or even with herself and how she started listening to what she really wanted, deep down, it was amazing to see her character adapt and change. the ending made perfect sense, but it also had me wrecked.
TJR... bring me more
undoubtedly a waste of time.
what was the point? nishino SUCKS. he dates two women at once, always going between relationships like a monkey on tree branches and somehow NEVER getting attached. i didn't want to read 200 pages of women getting treated like crap for a good for nothing guy!!
also, what was the allure? can someone mcfreakin explain to me? did he shit gold or something?
one star for the audiobook narrator, two for connell's mental health journey, three for connell's anti-rich people snobbery. but let's be clear; otherwise, i really didn't care for this book
the main issue of this book is that it features two people who desperately need therapy and to work on their communication issues, but only one of them does, and we're left to suffer with the other one wandering about life with seemingly no purpose. i liked connell especially after starting university, since a lot of his depression and anxiety was relatable and understandable, but i would literally roll my eyes whenever marianne tumbled back into her life.
better than conversations with friends, made even better thanks to the audiobook and irish accents, but still... not something i really enjoyed in total
i get the comps to daisy jones & the six, but honestly this was a beast of its own
delving into the world of late 90's/early 2000's teen popstar-dom had me skeptical at first, but i'm glad that we got to see extremely realistic of the behind the scenes actions of a girl group from start to finish. the fact that the girls didn't like each other, all of them had no idea what fame would entail, and the ugly business behind the curtain with directors and managers and execs all felt incredibly real and equally heartbreaking. it was great to see how each of these girls handled the limelight during and after gloss' peak, and i could have honestly imagined each of them being real people.
i think my only gripe (and it's a big one) was that their time in the limelight felt so short-lived, and there wasn't really a description of how ubiquitous and popular gloss became. popstars and celebrities can cause entire revolutions, from hair and fashion trends to political campaigns. like, ok, we heard how popular gloss got and that it lead to some unruly fans, but what was the scene of america like in the wake of gloss? were people dressing like cherry? did americans explore japanese culture because of yumi? these are the things missing from this book that i think would've really made it all feel real. but with that missing, it felt like they were one-hit wonders, a blip of fame before fading into the limelight with no reason to be in the history books.
lots of great commentary, but i read this in the wrong place and the wrong time and i think i accidentally sunk deeper into a depressive episode?
it's easy to see where the author is making clear commentary about the role of women's bodies in society, particularly korean society, and how women are viewed throughout life. but it's done in a subtle enough manner that you don't feel like you're getting slapped in the face moira rose style with the author's thoughts. until the end, that is, when you're bombarded with the complexity of being the eldest sister in an asian family. if you're in a similar situation to me and that character, there's no such thing as too much criticism of the undeniable and unavoidable pressure and impossible situations put upon us. super props for talk about that
but the whole ‘wanting to be unalive' bit kind of resonated with me too hard and now i am stuck in bed, thinking about this book. yikes.
far from perfect and definitely rough at the start but god DAMN did i love me the undying loyalty of two fine af princes
this was so fun! highly recommend the audiobook (and huge thank you to shai for recommending the audiobook to me in the first place)!
a lot of the reservations that i have with Adults Writing Teenagers were dashed away in olivie blake's YA debut. both of the main characters, and even all of their friends, felt refreshingly authentic and real. there wasn't any forced teen speak, and the inner monologues of both main characters was fun to listen to. i think there was room for more conversations about privilege, but i had so much fun with this and generally enjoyed myself, so i won't complain too much.
MORE ALEXENE FAROL FOLLMUTH YA. NOW.
i've been in the mood for this kind of slice-of-life novel lately, and i absolutely adored that it was all centered around a bookshop
definitely comparable to love actually, but imagine instead of the big reveal of how everyone is intertwined at the end you have that reveal at the start