Scan barcode
absolutereality's reviews
44 reviews
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
David Starr Jordan is one of the main founders of the eugenics movement that resulted in tens of thousands of forced sterilizations in America and inspired the Nazis to do their Nazi shit.
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
3.0
I was so ready to DNF and give this one-star halfway through the book. Luckily, I was on a road trip and decided to keep going because I didn’t have anything else to do. Then, the penny dropped, and all the red flags you thought weren’t being picked up on by the author come back around and are explored in-depth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Sexism, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Murder
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.0
It’s pretty good at what it’s trying to do. A fun little twist on the cozy murder mystery.
Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire
Did not finish book. Stopped at 60%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 60%.
MIDDLEGAME remains one of my favorite books from the past ten years. SEASONAL FEARS is a faint echo that spins its wheels going nowhere fast. One of the central conceits of the book is that a main character literally cannot comprehend what another character is telling him, but instead of skipping over the conversations where the information is repeated to him, we as the audience just get to sit through 10+ repetitive conversations.
Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Did not finish book. Stopped at 60%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 60%.
I really love the Apple TV+ show, I watched all four seasons in about 10 days. The story makes a better show than it does a book. This book is very much an airport vacation read, which is not my preferred style of writing.
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.
This is really painful because I loved MEXICAN GOTHIC and THE DAUGHTER OF DOCTOR MOREAU. However, SILVER NITRATE does not have the lush writing style I loved about the other books. There are excessive descriptions of character actions, flat dialogue, and I don’t really care about the characters. It’s supposedly a horror story but I feel no tension building at all. This feels more like a rough draft of a screenplay than a completed novel.
Kittentits by Holly Wilson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
The plot is meandering and the vulgar 10-year old schtick gets old real fast. I read some other reviews that say it picks up in the last 20%, but I’ve been “meaning to get back to” KITTENTITS for 5 months and I’m not excited about wading through another bad 50% to get to the good 20%.
The City & the City by China Miéville
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Dune by Frank Herbert
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
4.0