annoyedhumanoid's reviews
166 reviews

142 Ostriches by April Davila

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

didn’t enjoy. the whole plot was almost excruciatingly task-oriented, like just watching someone check off/add to their to-do list, and it wasn’t entertaining. i was hoping for a mystery surrounding her grandma’s death and the ostriches ceasing to lay eggs (you know the trope of a parental figure’s death sparking a mystery for a protagonist to solve—The Da Vinci Code, The Cartographers [haven’t read it], etc.). halfway through i felt like it had thoroughly acknowledged this loose thread but not actually started to unravel it. when it finally did, it was mundane and disappointing. also, is it just me or was everyone, especially Tallulah herself, melodramatic about

her shooting her uncle when it was textbook self-defense? like, consequences for your actions (@ Scott)

i’m literally a vegan anticapitalist and yet i wasn’t against Tallulah’s plan to sell the ranch to the meat and leather business. Grandma Helen knew Tallulah’s intentions but forced the ranch on her anyway (assuming the car crash wasn’t an accident), and her reasoning for wanting the forest ranger job was admirable. even at the end i still wasn’t convinced that the only ethical option was to maintain the ranch. i did grow fond of the ostriches though.
cover design review: ★★★★☆. all the text is very good and i like the feather illustrations but the colors, not so much. way too bright and colorful for the contents of the book, and beyond that why have pretty oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and purples just to ruin it with brown?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Fire/Fire injury

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

emotional hopeful 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

3.25

it was alright. the curve ball third act tragedy was disappointing but i appreciated the reveal at the very end (don't know how i didn't guess it). i just wasn't that into it. i think this book would be best for someone in a similar situation to any of the book's characters who find the titular reading list—lonely, grieving, isolated, etc. reading the eight/nine books on the reading list along with the characters might feel like kind of a static book club, with some interpretation of the books plus insight into how these books' characters, plots, and themes affect the lives of The Reading List's characters.

i listened to the audiobook and read the ebook, and it seems the ebook went through more rounds of editing than the audiobook script did, unfortunately.
cover design review: ★★★★☆. the colors, illustration, and title are all very nice. i like the typeface for the author's name and "A Novel", but i don't like that this subtext is black while the title and tagline are white, i think it detracts from the legibility. and of course i hate the tagline and that it even has a tagline, what is this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional reflective 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

4.0

i really enjoyed Evelyn's narrative, but the ending, specifically

Monique's father being the passenger in Harry's fatal car crash

, just felt cheap, as well as a lot of Monique's character development. like she interacts with Evelyn and then

asks for a promotion and divorces her husband

—that's great but i'm not entirely convinced it was necessary. would the story not have worked if it was only Evelyn's autobiography?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Classism

Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

emotional hopeful 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

4.25

I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom

funny reflective fast-paced

4.75

i’m in love with Rachel Bloom
this was funny, thoughtful, touching. i just wish more time was dedicated to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, and Excrement

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

re: transphobia: a preface to a Harry Potter fanfic acknowledging and condemning JK Rowling's problematic views towards trans people

Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken Liu
Did not finish book.

oopsie, found out i just don't really like short story collections

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i'm impressed
hot take, i'm not that big a fan of Shakespeare because so many of his plots (at least, his tragedies) are like, if any one thing in this series of unfortunate events had gone differently then we wouldn't be in these tragic circumstances, except the series of unfortunate events is ridiculous and arbitrary. best example: in Hamlet (spoilers), when Hamlet stabs and kills Polonius, who was eavesdropping behind a curtain, because Hamlet thought he heard a rat. that's just undeniably stupid for a major plot point. Miracle Creek has the same concept—if anything had gone differently we could have avoided tragedy—but pulls it off expertly. Shakespeare could never??
could this be considered southern gothic? it's set in Virginia, nearly everyone is a grotesque character, and there's some truly disturbing content, plus themes of racism, sexism, and poverty.
this review has been completely shaped by my English class experience
cover design review: ★★★★½. love the colors, the scenery, and the burn holes, but it starts to feel crowded with the addition of glitter and stars. not a big fan of the typeface, makes me think of Papyrus 😬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Excrement, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Stalking

Heartstopper Volume 3 by Alice Oseman

emotional funny 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

5.0

sobbing (in a good way)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Eating disorder, and Homophobia

Moderate: Self harm, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, and Vomit

I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves by Ryan O'Connell
Did not finish book. Stopped at 36%.

i loved the tv show Special, but this was just millennial self-help and not for me

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

i honestly loved this. it was funny, fun, and had a lovely ending. :dustystick:
cover design review: ★★★★★. it's what made me pick this up in the first place. it just looks so tactile, like the Windows 11 UI, specifically in the trailer lol. i literally just noticed the sunset—very nice touch

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Excrement, Kidnapping, and Alcohol