Paige
a true potato chip book. once you start, hard to put it down but the whole time you're not really enjoying it all that much and it's definitely not good for you? but you're absolutely going to keep reading anyways
delivers on a light hearted, spooky romance without too much thought into it!
I love audiobooking memoirs (or in this case, not a memoir?) and this one especially was produced with the listener in mind. A beautiful production thoughtfully arranged, Amy's voice and stories were poignant, timely, silly, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.
I followed up listening to this book with her NYT article “You May Want To Marry My Husband”, published 10 days prior to her passing of ovarian cancer, and her husband's response to this love letter she left for him one year later. AKR has left the world works of art to be cherished. In her words, I, too, want more.
wow. funny, insightful, and brutally honest. this book left me with so much to think about and the urge to reread already
whew.... i wanted to love this so much but an acotar book that takes me TWO MONTHS to finish?? ...... read for the smut, not the plot :(
as an aside, nothing will ever bother me more than knowing that Prythian doesn't have a word for shampoo (“Vials of what had to be concoctions for washing one's body and hair”) yet everyone and their mother says “smutty smutty smut smut smut books smutty romance novels” all the time. SJM please make it make sense
i liked this book, it was a cute story with some good quotes, but was often predictable/redundant in a way that lost my attention. overall, a nice read that left me with some stuff to think about (and shed a teeny tear at the end)
the first book that every girl needs as they're growing up is that american girl doll ‘care and keeping of you' book. the second is florence given's Women Don't Owe You Pretty.
i cringe thinking of all the times in my life this book would've come in handy as near-free therapy. while from the outside it seemed like very live-laugh-love feminism, instead we got class-conscious, privilege-acknowledging, girlbossing feminism. love the book, hate that it took me 24 years before reading it
this book is NOT for the faint of heart. i generally can stomach gruesome horror, but this is high on my list of most disturbing things i've ever read. the writing oscillates rapidly between deranged, disgusting, and heartbreaking, but never once did i want to do anything but keep reading, like a car crash you can't look away from. certainly a good spooky season read!
edit: i've also never been more happy to be a vegetarian than while reading this novel
i loooved this book. Ma's voice and writing style immediately captured me and it was hard to believe this was written years prior to 2020. dystopian, unsettling, and highly reflective on how our society is clutched by capitalism, and how quickly things can lose meaning in the face of global disarray.
this one i struggled with. i was really into the style of writing in the beginning of the novel, but less than halfway through, the choppiness and dry irony and monologues on random topics got to be less endearing. very much a no plot all vibes kind of novel. excellent writing and character building, just not my style, probably would've enjoyed it more had it been shorter
the girlies are gonna hate me for this one!!!
a better title would have been: “Pretentious College Kids Murder Friend After Their Friend Wants to Expose Them for Murdering Someone Else - Group Feels No Remorse For Any of This”
nothing of interest happened .... all unlikeable characters... plot holes and time inconsistencies .... it was a no from me :(
4.5 rounded up. this book falls into one of my favorite genres - messy, problematic, uncomfortable, unlikable female main characters. something about a first person rendition of women railing against the call of the void is so fascinating to read about, if for nothing else than its novelty compared to the typical FMC tropes we see over and over again in fiction. the vibes are like watching someone through a window doing something perverse, and you're physically cringing away from it but also winking an eye back open trying to figure out wtf they're doing? thank you ottessa moshfegh you truly never miss