amselot's reviews
346 reviews

Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5 Stars. Unequivocally.

This is without a doubt the best book I have read this year so far. Others have been much more eloquent in describing why it is so profoundly moving and beautiful. It has been a long time since a book has moved me so deeply. I loved every single page of this. Danticat showed me the power of short stories.
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Excellent and informative. Sadly, due to the format of just collecting many speeches and interviews in full-length, it was a little repetitive. I look forward to reading something more cohesive by Davis.
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I ended up skipping through the second half. It was quite repetitive and I realised I was only really interested in the relationship between Elishva and WhatsItsName/Daniel. Unfortunately, the story revolved mostly around the men of Baghdad. Most of the characters haven’t really the most interesting POV to read from and blend into each other with their corruption, malice, and despicable behaviour on different levels.

I wonder what this story could have been had it been told primarily from Elishva’s, Nawal’s and Umm Salim’s POVs. This book had a lot of potential but ended up being not quite down my alley in the end.
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, George Bernard Shaw

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4.0

A clever and lighthearted play, and the first play I ever read out of school. Very easy to get into, very funny at times, surprisingly thoughtful and all over just a fantastic read. It didn't end like I expected it to, but the afterword made up for that and was just extremely intelligent, modern and satisfying. Can't wait to see some of the locations when I got to London in March.