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abigail_lo's reviews
379 reviews
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
somehow i’ve never read jandy nelson before — and boy am i realizing that was a mistake!! her writing is so stunning and explosive + the characters in this huge family epic all intertwine in such beautiful ways. it reminded me of isabel allende’s house of the spirits, which is one of my favorite generational stories. and you know i’m always a magical realism fan — that aspect of it was so wonderful. i also loved how nelson filled in missing parts of the story through other characters’ perspectives — it made everything feel complete, and of course it still managed to tug at the heartstrings.
my only real qualms with this book are: 1) there’s frankly too much going on. i think nelson could have afforded to cut down on some plot lines so that she could spend more time with the more compelling stories — which brings me to 2)cassidy and wynton … the more you point out that it’s not weird, the weirder it gets! i do think that nelson tried to pull most of the storylines into romances (see dizzy and tristan at the very end), which is fine i guess — but i think she should have cut those two romantic storylines. it’s perfectly believable (and more compelling in my opinion) if cassidy comes back to meet her family purely because she wants that community so badly.
my only real qualms with this book are: 1) there’s frankly too much going on. i think nelson could have afforded to cut down on some plot lines so that she could spend more time with the more compelling stories — which brings me to 2)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
what a sad little book — my heart breaks for little sherman alexie <3 inevitably pulled at my heartstrings as i remembered just how devastating it is to experience real, life-changing grief as a child. there’s just nothing quite like having your world change forever when you’re only 14.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Ableism and Drug use
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
it really was a solid 3 or 3.5 until the last few pages. i could feel how meticulously planned this book’s plot was — if anything, it was almost too convoluted to follow. my critique of the first 90% of the book is that i had to spend quite a bit of my brain cells just figuring out the timeline, which means i couldn’t get invested in the characters. but for the last bit, the plot (and specifically the mechanics) just made no sense to me. the book presents itself as a harder sci-fi book, but then it completely glosses over any explanation of the ending? i get the poeticism of it and everything coming full circle, but like — i’m still a bit annoyed that after wracking my brain over this plot for 300+ pages, it doesn’t even make sense in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Police brutality, and War
Moderate: Xenophobia
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
the only reason it took me so long to read this book is how goddamn infuriating it is. multiple times, i had to close the book before i became overpowered by sheer rage at the fucking nerve of the sacklers + everyone else they bought off. in terms of my takeaways: immense wealth and nepotism will be the literal death of our society. when corporations are allowed to buy their way through all the regulations in place in what amounts to a caricature of free-market capitalism, real people will always suffer. like he says in the afterword: while pain management is a very complex question and opioids are helpful to many people, my heart aches for those who lost their lives due to big pharma's (and specifically purdue's) lust for money. fuck capitalism -- eat the rich <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicide
Moderate: Mental illness and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership by Heather Plett
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
i dunno ... it was fine? it felt like a very basic book on how to hold space, which is fine in and of itself. i definitely would have liked it more if plett didn't go into such weirdly intrusive details about her husband's mental illness. it felt super icky to read, and it was also in some of the first few chapters. these types of self-help / advice books really rely on the reader thinking that the author is admirable (or at least someone to look up to), and that just didn't happen here because of how much detail she went into. super weird vibes when she would talk about how you shouldn't hijack the space, but then she talked for pages and pages about how hard her husband's mental illness was on her? like yes, i'm sure it absolutely was hard -- caring for those who are struggling is never easy. but the balance just felt off in terms of how much she was talking about his struggles vs. herself. and most of all, it truly just felt way too invasive. i sincerely hope she got his permission to share those details before publishing. i did manage to achieve my goal though, which was to pull some good excerpts for a training i'm coordinating -- so i will be noting down her bibliography and then promptly donating this book <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ugh i just love everything about this book!! like tilly and oliver are so lovely and the neurodiversity is handled with such love and the talk with her mom at the end did make me cry — i have nothing further to say other than i love romance <3
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
objectively, this book should be a 3.25 — it’s very feminism / antisemitism 101, and rowan feels too much like a self-insert from someone who had a wildly different childhood than i did. like i just genuinely can’t imagine a world where people are that explicitly discriminatory against jewish people? i feel like most discrimination in today’s day and age is more implicit than anything. but also consider that neil is kind of my dream boy and i’ve also dealt with a lot of nostalgia about the high school and college experiences that will never be — so yeah i cried (several times) and it gets a bump up for that. one of those books where i completely understand why someone would say the technical elements aren’t perfect, and they’d be right! but solomon does capture that feeling of nostalgia so well, and that’s really what ya books are all about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
thanks to the publisher & netgalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
so, me and irinya (the main character) got off to a rough start. i thought she made some ... questionable decisions that play right into the "girl who's never seen a man in her life" trope -- very miranda and ferdinand of her, for any other fans of the tempest out there. i literally have so many notes just talking about every infuriating thing she does in the first 25% of the book. but from there, it turns into a pretty decent fantasy book! i was truly on the verge of rating it 3.5 stars (or potentially 4 stars for the wazir -- but with deep shame in my heart). sure, she didn't pick up on some of the reveals that she should have, and i was a bit frustrated with the pacing. but it is a ya fantasy book, and i'm willing to forgive a lot of technical errors if i still get swept away in the magic of young love, and it was truly happening. and then: the ending happened. mild spoilers ahead:i just don't think it was set up well? it feels like we spent the whole book concentrating on the wrong characters, and then we're supposed to care about these people i know nothing about. like, why should i care? there wasn't enough development of the relationship between those characters, and it was bothering me. all things considered, it's still a fun book, and i love the desi representation! but i think i'll be sticking to re-reading laini taylor before another ya fantasy can disappoint me.
so, me and irinya (the main character) got off to a rough start. i thought she made some ... questionable decisions that play right into the "girl who's never seen a man in her life" trope -- very miranda and ferdinand of her, for any other fans of the tempest out there. i literally have so many notes just talking about every infuriating thing she does in the first 25% of the book. but from there, it turns into a pretty decent fantasy book! i was truly on the verge of rating it 3.5 stars (or potentially 4 stars for the wazir -- but with deep shame in my heart). sure, she didn't pick up on some of the reveals that she should have, and i was a bit frustrated with the pacing. but it is a ya fantasy book, and i'm willing to forgive a lot of technical errors if i still get swept away in the magic of young love, and it was truly happening. and then: the ending happened. mild spoilers ahead:
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
disclosure: this will be a very personal review, since my own dad was physically and emotionally abusive.
it's fascinating to me that abuse can result in so many different types of trauma. mccurdy romanticizes her mom in a way that i've never felt about my dad -- i think my struggle has always been that i've never felt loved by the person who's supposed to love me. it's almost like (as terrible as it is to say) mccurdy has the relationship with her mom that i wished i had with my dad. and although she didn't have a childhood due to icarly, she still has memories of those times, which is more than i can say. there's something so disorienting about knowing next to nothing about your own childhood.
long story short: i felt way more emotionally distant from this book than i thought i would, mostly because her experiences with eating disorders and her mom are so different from my own experience with abuse. but i deeply admire the courage it took for her to share her story, and i hope the act of writing this helped in her journey towards healing.
also -- she read this audiobook?? i'd rather skydive from the highest plane than read a 6.5 hour audiobook about my life. that is literally a feat i cannot even conceive of.
it's fascinating to me that abuse can result in so many different types of trauma. mccurdy romanticizes her mom in a way that i've never felt about my dad -- i think my struggle has always been that i've never felt loved by the person who's supposed to love me. it's almost like (as terrible as it is to say) mccurdy has the relationship with her mom that i wished i had with my dad. and although she didn't have a childhood due to icarly, she still has memories of those times, which is more than i can say. there's something so disorienting about knowing next to nothing about your own childhood.
long story short: i felt way more emotionally distant from this book than i thought i would, mostly because her experiences with eating disorders and her mom are so different from my own experience with abuse. but i deeply admire the courage it took for her to share her story, and i hope the act of writing this helped in her journey towards healing.
also -- she read this audiobook?? i'd rather skydive from the highest plane than read a 6.5 hour audiobook about my life. that is literally a feat i cannot even conceive of.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual assault