annoyedhumanoid's reviews
166 reviews

The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

i can't tell if the main character was purposely insufferable—this reads like autofiction—but he was insufferable nonetheless. with his public health background and anti-capitalist anti-colonialist anti-imperialist enlightenment, you would think—and so does he—that he has all the answers for why life is harder for some. but when it comes to actual people in his life (namely his childhood friend Simone and his brother Henry), Andrés fails to apply those principles to lend any compassion. as someone with mental illness, i feel like Andrés is my nemesis: someone who by all accounts should be a mental health advocate but remains ignorant and fearful under a facade of politeness, perpetuating stigmas that kill. i don't know what all a public health education entails in regards to mental health, but how about as a crash course the stats that each year 1 in 5 adults in the US experiences mental illness (HHS), mental health conditions are increasing worldwide (WHO), and people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violent crime than the perpetrators (NIH). if that doesn't place it under the purview of "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health", i don't know what does. this isn't itself a criticism of the book; in fact, Andrés is seen reckoning with his errant beliefs as part of his character development. but it did get annoying to have the book narrated by him, especially because he's also just very self-righteous and kind of annoying. i'm usually down for unlikable characters, but they're usually not thickheaded towards people with mental illness but rather themselves experiencing mental illness (i love sad girl literature).

as for non-Andrés-related criticisms, the writing was tbh pretentious, though i think the list motif grew on me, and the pacing was wonky. it took a while to get interesting—i feared my lack of motivation to continue but stubborn unwillingness to DNF would mean a reading slump stalemate—and there were other times in the middle it similarly dragged. i liked how Andrés and Jeremy's past was gradually unraveled—it reminded me of Beloved's non-linear storytelling. i found Paul's story line unsatisfying because

i wanted some form of justice. like, sure Andrés confronts him about it, but that's really all he did. i think this stems from me currently trying to get justice for myself, as inspired by another book i read recently, Hurricane Girl. i love psychoanalyzing myself through literature!

also, wild that the audiobook for this novel chock-full of anti-capitalist sentiments is exclusive to audible… i got a free trial so amazon didn't get any money from me but still. Sally Rooney would never do this. also pissed that it's 299 pages so it counts towards the <300 pages category in storygraph stats. one more paragraph break somewhere and we would have been fine 😐

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Dementia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

violent homophobic hate crime, depictions of schizophrenia and OCD, stigma towards mental illness

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

mysterious reflective slow-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 loved the narration. i understand why it isn't for everyone, but my brain works in the same way so i felt at home. i also appreciated how this book advocated much more strongly for the humanity of its characters with disabilities than Miracle Creek (Angie Kim's debut novel) did. and that it took place during covid times. my main issues were that, compared to Miracle Creek, the plot:

1. wasn't as gripping. it started to drag three-fourths of the way through, and i got fed up with all the cheap foreshadowing of the form "looking back, i wish [x] hadn't happened".
2. didn't feel as expertly-crafted. though i recognize that's kind of the point—
   not all mysteries, especially missing person cases, have neat solutions; that's life
   —it was still somewhat disappointing. i'm trying to
   learn the lesson Mia did and
   accept an open ending—
   i choose to believe that her and John's mind-meld recreating the accident was a display of fraternal jeong, just the tiniest bit of magical realism.

nonetheless, this has cemented Angie Kim as an author on my radar, and i'm looking forward to her next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Hate crime, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Alcohol, and Deportation

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Did not finish book.

my 10th grade English teacher made me read this and i read like the first three chapters and then when he asked said to his face “I think I got everything I needed out of it”. girlboss shit

One's Company by Ashley Hutson

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

disappointing. i loved the idea—protagonist goes insane in her own little fantasy land to escape trauma—but the plot didn't serve that purpose.

Bonnie doesn't go insane in complete isolation; in fact, those are the times she's happiest. rather, her spiral is caused by being denied compete isolation by a series of unfortunate events. so sealing yourself off from the rest of the world to reenact your favorite '70s sitcom is a good idea, it's just hard to execute

. which makes the "lesson learned" at the end—

i was wrong to distrust humanity, i should let people in, etc.

—simply the wrong takeaway.
edit 2: or maybe i'm wrong about that.

if Krystal wasn't stabbed despite Bonnie's vivid memory of it, what else might Bonnie have hallucinated? the documentary crew trespassing? Rita's whole existence? maybe she was in complete isolation, but her brain kept her in fight-or-flight mode as a PTSD-induced coping mechanism—"letting down your guard is how they got us last time, so here are fake scenarios to keep us prepared". if that's the case, it becomes a parable for trying to escape trauma without processing it, exactly what it says on the tin.

sometimes i worry i'm a bad reader! with this in mind i'm bumping my review up from 2 stars to 2.5. (this realization doesn't change the fact that i overall didn't enjoy the book.) or maybe the only reason i'm amenable to this theory is because it's been long enough (two weeks) since i read the book that i can't remember specific details to refute it. i suppose once an unreliable narrator, always an unreliable narrator—it's just ingrained in me to believe women 😫

beyond that, i didn't like the writing, it felt like the author was trying too hard while simultaneously neglecting the basics. sure this is nitpicky but who let "they could transform themselves into alien versions of themselves" be published.
the parts i liked best were its commentaries about gender and gender performance, how it blurred gender and sexuality. i wish Rita had a bigger role.
edit: THREE'S COMPANY IS A REAL TV SHOW??? i have no reference for '70s television so this whole time i was pretending it was a duller version of Friends

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, and Alcohol

sexual violence is never described in detail but it's plot-critical

Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

(adjusted from 4 to 4.25)
the writing style was alright, like why don't characters use contractions in dialogue. that's so weird. but i loved the main character. she just wanted to swim and that's it. me too girlie. i wish there was more at the end though, like a confirmation that

she wasn't pregnant

.
also Fleabag reference. we stay winning

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Carly was really giving 2012 fanfiction main character with her “i’m not like other girls, no one would find plain old me attractive, i only wear black and Doc Martens” and it was annoying. the first major twist was good but i guessed the later one right away, so after

the halfway mark

the story felt predictable

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, and Car accident

Teen Titans: Robin by Kami Garcia

adventurous 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

3.75

this picks up right where it left off so if, like me, it’s been a minute since you read the predecessor, i’d recommend refreshing your memory.
there wasn’t much plot to this one, it was more laying the foundation for the next installment. i still found it enjoyable though. my biggest complaint is that the romances progressed too quickly and felt unearned—trauma bonding i guess?? also the heterosexuality. i was about to write that Robin and Starfire better both be queer, which is possible, but in the source material they’re love interests. (i am curious how it’ll play out, given how much of a slow burn their relationship is in the source material compared to how fast Garcia has written the romances of this series.) that leaves only Cyborg, which feels like too few queer characters for this group of eventually at least seven. the lack of queer rep so far is especially conspicuous with the dedication praising the characters’ creators for “making outsider teens the heroes of their own stories”. here’s hoping the next one delivers! also that we get Starfire’s perspective and she’s a boho urban chic LA girlie living the life

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

my second go with Sally Rooney (first being Normal People), and this time was much more enjoyable. nowhere near as bleak and depressing, but still very emotional. i found the narrator’s desperate need for validation relatable; me too girlie. really well plotted. don’t be fooled by the title though: it’s a lot of internal monologue and more about the conversations that didn’t happen than the ones that did.

i have to comment on the US cover, especially for the audiobook (storygraph shows a different one but you can see what i’m talking about here: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DTekX2n4L._SL500_.jpg). first of all, i don’t mind the composition but i dislike the art style, its flatness and lifelessness when this book is all about complex characters. but what really bothers me is that i think some other artist was given the task of adapting the cover art to a square aspect ratio for the audiobook, and literally copied, pasted, and mirrored the original tightly-cropped faces, adding in the nose bits. because, why are they so symmetrical?? why are their facial features so small?? it’s firmly in the uncanny valley. shoutout to the Danish cover, though, so pretty: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/0bf9c4f3-3123-4d7b-a6b5-8955ff06e5f6
edit: the Russian hardcover is also beautiful: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/183d6a3b-d207-4cfb-aa9e-e36bc6df3f84 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Curses! Foiled Again by Jane Yolen

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.75

the Aliera-Avery dynamic was so annoying; i get it, she can’t stand him and he’s beholden to her. got old very quickly. and the plot felt haphazard. i appreciate the twist ending reveal, though

Never Use Futura by Douglas Thomas

informative reflective fast-paced

2.5

as someone with an amateur passion for typography, the technical details went over my head while the universal takeaways for each chapter were pretty dull—basically nine variations on “Futura is timeless”. this is so insulting to the author and i’m sorry but i think it would have worked better as a coffee table book with just the images collecting the diverse uses of Futura and its cousins