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zombiezami's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Alyssa Cole, who simply cannot pick a slay, has come for my edges yet again. I was so haunted and enthralled by this book the whole way through. As with her other books, this was very well researched. I also genuinely didn't know what was going to happen throughout. I do hope that this gets turned into a movie or TV show. I just loved this so much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racism, and Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
Minor: Vomit and Excrement
Gentrification,astereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When No One is Watching follows Sydney Green, who's trying to protect her house and her neighborhood from a pharmaceutical company that wants to take over her community.
I found out about the book from a Goodreads article (yes, it's been helping me pick up my next read), and I fell in love from the first time I read the synopsis. This is actually my first time reading the book with the gentrification theme.
Honestly, the writing style is not for me. I don't know why, maybe because I feel like the writing is too complicated for me to understand, sometimes I need to re-read the sentence. That's probably just me. The first half of the book is rather dull for me, while the second-half is keeping me on the edge of my seat. I feel so many things throughout the book, but one I didn't expect is warm at the end of the story. I can feel the contrast between the two. But the way the author describes the close-knit neighborhood makes me easily picture it in my head, and I love the place. Also, It's a fast-paced story, and I personally think it works well with the theme.
I love most of the characters, but those people sided with the pharmaceutical company AND Theo. He is just so annoying for me, IDK??? But I realized, he is the representation of myself in the book, because I know nothing about this theme. I don't think we learn about this in school (the whole gentrification cycle in Brooklyn from the past? No, my school mostly covered only the history in my country, Indonesia, and I'm probably just too ignorant to learn about it myself, so fiction book it is). He asked questions I want to ask myself. So, although he appeared annoying for me, I'm grateful for his existence.
I'd recommend this book to you if you want to learn about gentrification, and you enjoy thriller novels. If you enjoy the close-knit relationship like the one in K-Drama Reply 1988 and When the Weather is Fine (lol). The fact that they really care for each other impressed me.
I found out about the book from a Goodreads article (yes, it's been helping me pick up my next read), and I fell in love from the first time I read the synopsis. This is actually my first time reading the book with the gentrification theme.
Honestly, the writing style is not for me. I don't know why, maybe because I feel like the writing is too complicated for me to understand, sometimes I need to re-read the sentence. That's probably just me. The first half of the book is rather dull for me, while the second-half is keeping me on the edge of my seat. I feel so many things throughout the book, but one I didn't expect is warm at the end of the story. I can feel the contrast between the two. But the way the author describes the close-knit neighborhood makes me easily picture it in my head, and I love the place. Also, It's a fast-paced story, and I personally think it works well with the theme.
I love most of the characters, but those people sided with the pharmaceutical company AND Theo. He is just so annoying for me, IDK??? But I realized, he is the representation of myself in the book, because I know nothing about this theme. I don't think we learn about this in school (the whole gentrification cycle in Brooklyn from the past? No, my school mostly covered only the history in my country, Indonesia, and I'm probably just too ignorant to learn about it myself, so fiction book it is). He asked questions I want to ask myself. So, although he appeared annoying for me, I'm grateful for his existence.
I'd recommend this book to you if you want to learn about gentrification, and you enjoy thriller novels. If you enjoy the close-knit relationship like the one in K-Drama Reply 1988 and When the Weather is Fine (lol). The fact that they really care for each other impressed me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Gore, and Torture
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