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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
tw antisemitism, death, homophobia
“Death was not kind or glorious; it was not the Lord's kiss that claimed Aaron and Moses. Like a greedy child gorging on clusters of grapes, the Angel of Death tore all of the beauty and dignity from a person and left l behind a terrible, dripping mess. What was the end? The end was blood and piss and shit, and trying to move frozen limbs without resorting to dislocating them. The end was typhus.”
god, this book was…there really are no words for it. it was recommended to me by chava, and i am so grateful. this book was like coming home. the way grief is depicted all the way throughout and how palpable it is. i also really enjoyed learning new jewish & yiddish words and concepts, as well as seeing the amount of similarities there are between jewish and islamic practices.
this was truly an emotional journey, as well as one of the best pieces of art i’ve ever read, from start to finish.
“Death was not kind or glorious; it was not the Lord's kiss that claimed Aaron and Moses. Like a greedy child gorging on clusters of grapes, the Angel of Death tore all of the beauty and dignity from a person and left l behind a terrible, dripping mess. What was the end? The end was blood and piss and shit, and trying to move frozen limbs without resorting to dislocating them. The end was typhus.”
god, this book was…there really are no words for it. it was recommended to me by chava, and i am so grateful. this book was like coming home. the way grief is depicted all the way throughout and how palpable it is. i also really enjoyed learning new jewish & yiddish words and concepts, as well as seeing the amount of similarities there are between jewish and islamic practices.
this was truly an emotional journey, as well as one of the best pieces of art i’ve ever read, from start to finish.
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The City Beautiful is a standalone Jewish fantasy novel, where Alter Rosen, a Romanian immigrant that came to America, Chicago 1893, and is working hard to get his mother and sister to join him. His best friend becomes a victim in a chain of mysterious Jewish deaths in the city, and he gets possessed by his dybbuk.
first of all the premise of this book? wtf was I even waiting for? I’ve had this book for a few years! this might be a fantasy, but for me it was a story of Jewish immigrants in America facing the antisemitism they were running from when immigrating from Europe. it’s a book that shows the Jewish experience everywhere around the world throughout the years, antisemitism wasn’t new to the immigrant characters and it definitely isn’t new to us today.
this book was written way before the current war but it had some quotes in there that just hit home, with everything we’re seeing happen around the world to Jews and also online, it was pretty emotional to read this book now, and especially since I read it a few days before Yom Hashoah.
and on top of loving this for the powerful message it sends out to the world, I love the concept of dybbuk so the story itself was incredible to me, I just couldn’t put it down! this is definitely a must read imo!
“That was the awful irony of it all. He targeted us because he could see us, but the moment I took away identifying clothing, I became invisible.”
first of all the premise of this book? wtf was I even waiting for? I’ve had this book for a few years! this might be a fantasy, but for me it was a story of Jewish immigrants in America facing the antisemitism they were running from when immigrating from Europe. it’s a book that shows the Jewish experience everywhere around the world throughout the years, antisemitism wasn’t new to the immigrant characters and it definitely isn’t new to us today.
this book was written way before the current war but it had some quotes in there that just hit home, with everything we’re seeing happen around the world to Jews and also online, it was pretty emotional to read this book now, and especially since I read it a few days before Yom Hashoah.
and on top of loving this for the powerful message it sends out to the world, I love the concept of dybbuk so the story itself was incredible to me, I just couldn’t put it down! this is definitely a must read imo!
“That was the awful irony of it all. He targeted us because he could see us, but the moment I took away identifying clothing, I became invisible.”
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The mystery and historical elements were good overall, it seemed to drag, though. And could have benefited from further editing
One boy, stuck between the boy who represented his present and the boy who was his past. Alter Rosen has moved to Chicago in hopes of achieving the dream and building a life for himself and making enough money to bring his family over from Romania. However, one day Alter’s best friend Yakov mysteriously disappears and is found dead the next day. Alter cannot believe it and investigates the body... but soon finds strange things happening to him including visions and feeling as if he is losing control. But than a boy from his past, a boy who means more to him than anything reappears again and they find themselves intertwined once again. Frankie was the boy Alter ran from, but he is also the boy who makes him feel more than anything else. Alter realizes that he is being possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk and if he doesn’t find someway to find peace for Yakov he will die too. Now Frankie and Alter must find out who killed Yakov as well as many other jewish boys who have been dying before time runs out for Alter and they must try and avoid having the killer claim them next. This was a really interesting story! I had fun reading it and getting into the atmosphere of the story. It takes place during the World Fair and the struggles that time of being a Jewish boy in a place that isn’t so accepting. The relationship between Alter and Frankie was sweet and their struggles were understandable. I absolutely adored Frankie! This was honestly such a good read, it mixes history with queer romance and a little bit of fantasy to create something quite memorable.
*Thanks Netgalley and Inkyard Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*
*Thanks Netgalley and Inkyard Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes