arieslofi's reviews
88 reviews

Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro

Go to review page

emotional funny informative sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

i don't have a lot of thoughts right now, i'm a little exhausted because this book does mean a lot to me as just a person in general, and i hadn't felt this attached to characters in a long while. the only real complaint i have is towards the end of the book: the pacing feels off, there's a lot of rushed action and i do wish the book was 100 pages longer if it meant it was as natural feeling as the rest of it. (i suppose the beginning could be read as sped-up too, but i didn't feel like that at all!)
the ending isn't my exact favorite, but i did enjoy a lot of it and the glimpse into victoire's past.
anyway griffin PLEAAAAAASE return my fucking calls

Content Warnings

Idol, Burning by Rin Usami

Go to review page

dark informative sad fast-paced

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

4.0

i think i understand why a lot of people dislike it, or just didn't find it their thing, but i really connected with the themes of loneliness, rejection, inability to be and live like other people and the whole dedicating your entire existence to someone who does not know you (i'm not off the deep end anymore, but i've been there as a preteen). it's just a very light and easy read that, despite that, still managed to weigh heavily on my heart at certain points. it reminded me of the movie "tamako in moratorium" a little, which i really like.
i really enjoyed a lot of the translation, it felt super breezy and fluid (a lot of japanese translations feel extremely stilted and awkward), but i think it should have cut out on the usage of oshi? it didn't bother me a lot, but just enough to be distracting, given how much the word is used (151 times, no joke).

Content Warnings

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Go to review page

Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.

this is just genuinely one of the worst books i've read in a long while. i'm happy a lot of you enjoy this for the "fluff" and the "escapism" it brings you, i cannot read this without being reminded the white author is writing from a latino pov, making white people jokes that they've seen on twitter and tumblr, leaving horrid implications as the book goes on, such as the latino character excusing america and its colonial past because "at least" they don't have a monarchy. casey mcquiston's writing is insanely juvenile, making the sex scene (that i skipped to read out of curiosity like a teenager) read like someone who's afraid of sex wrote it—it's all just making out in detail and then being too scared of writing the word cock, or dick, or even penis, and instead using extremely vague language that left me wondering what the fuck they even did, since no one is said to be coming anyway, you just are supposed to know that from the moans and the "implications". they make usage of "tell, don't show" an insane amount of times (seriously, quit telling me alex deals with horrid shit for being half mexican, you never show it happening). they wrote a main character that is so annoying and unlikeable, mostly because this is a white author writing from their pov (genuinely, it sucks, they cannot pull this off), that it genuinely made me stop reading.
it pissed me off that alex didn't know he was bisexual. how do you write 28% of your book in the way you do, with the flirting and etc, and then suddenly give us three whole pages about how he never knew because he was a son of DEMOCRATS so he thought that was normal and he never questioned it, because he's the son of DEMOCRATS.
the overusage of american politics is annoying in and of itself, but when paired up with this fairytale about how democrats are the good ones (they're not, they're fucking centrists), it becomes a headache inducing paradox.
you can have a latino main character, but the president of the united states is a white woman! also the prince has an indian man serving him! that's not weird!!!
tl;dr.: congratulations, you managed to join nightbitch in books that make me violently angry. at least nightbitch was short and wasn't afraid of writing about sex.

Quarto de despejo - diario de uma favelada by Carolina Maria de Jesus

Go to review page

dark informative fast-paced

4.0

vi alguém aqui a dizer que este livro é importante por ser um documento histórico, não tanto uma obra literária, e concordo plenamente.
é-me um pouco difícil fazer resenha de um livro assim já que é tão pessoal, mais até que uma memória, na minha opinião. uma memória é um livro escrito após o facto, um diário não; vemos a repetição e a dor enquanto ela acontece, não numa lembrança.
também vi alguém a dar 2 estrelas porque a autora é hipócrita, que odeia a favela e os favelados sendo ela mesmo uma — deve ter sido ou falta de contexto ou tradução impessoal, porque não achei nada disso na versão original. não acho que seja hipocrisia, uma vez que as pessoas tratavam-na mal só porque sim, apesar dela os tratar com o mínimo de respeito em primeiras interações.
por isso, fica a 4 estrelas porque sim, é importante, mas sendo algo tão pessoal deixa-me meio desconfortável dar mais ou menos que isso, lol. também porque admito que havia partes em que eu não aguentei e dei umas risadas, como "cala a boca, tuberculosa" e uma das mulheres a dizer que já não se ia suicidar porque d--s a vinha salvar...
enfim, é uma leitura um pouco difícil devido ao facto de ser real, mas ao mesmo tempo lê-se bastante bem e rápido.

Content Warnings

Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0

true to its title, it's a very sweet book. it's kind and cozy, and it feels like a very warm hug, or a gentle breeze in a summer day. with a plot as simple as this, it's easy to dismiss it as "boring", though it's anything but. it's kind of just perfect, and you can tell sukegawa listened to his words and his characters as he was crafting this book. an instant favorite of mine, and i'll have to revist the movie soon.

Content Warnings

The Vessel by Adam L.G. Nevill

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

a slog to get through, the ending gives you enough of a catharsis that the book itself is almost forgiveable. almost because it's not, it relies too much on flowery prose and descriptions that are mostly empty. the author understands what "show, don't tell" means and still manages to do the opposite while using this literally; the amount of times he "shows" us tony was/is abusive is excruciating, like he doesn't trust his readers with this information.
overall very dull and full of itself, with a meaningless core, it never truly delivers on its scares. the ending was good enough to get itself more than 1 star, though, if that moves you to read it.

Content Warnings