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aruarian_melody's reviews
437 reviews
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 4%.
Couldn't get into it. I think it's jus too bleak for my current mood.
Quallen altern rückwärts: Was wir von der Natur über ein langes Leben lernen können by Nicklas Brendborg
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Picked this up by chance and had a good time with it. Interesting and entertaining, this book found a great balance of details and the big picture. While I personally don't care much for finding ways to live longer, the book contained many interesting things about how the human body works in general. I have a background in science but very little knowledge about biology, so this was a cool excursion. At times I felt like some nuance was missing, but overall the author did a great job.
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.
I tried to overlook some things because it is such a beloved classic, but the way women were treated was despicable and apparently you spend most of your time in the head of a rapist that gets a redemption story at the end? No thanks. My dealbreakers were
- Rosa. Only characteristic is how beautiful she is, she exists only to cause pain of loss for her deranged fiance and when she died the mortifician kissed her corpse on the lips, between her breasts and between her legs............
- Esteban, said deranged fiance, deciding that his urges can't be denied anymore so he goes out and rapes a 15 year old girl. You get it from his POV and apparently many similar things follow. Looked up some reviews at this point and decided this isn't worth my time.
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
For a book that is constantly criticising propaganda, this sure felt like a propaganda sledgehammer. That being said, I don't know a lot about Vietnam's history, nor do I think it is particularly fair to expect a story based on the author's family history to be very nuanced. So I will try to not let this influence my review.
I did like that the book covered a lot of ground concerning Vietnam's history of the last century and I liked the concept of showing the effect of the different wars and political reforms by following one particular family. It is a large family, which allowed the author to intertwine different fates and roles of people of that time. But I think this is also the downfall of this book. It tried to cover too much ground for its length, which resulted in a lack of depth. Most of the time the characters felt more like caricatures than actual people. The main character is growing up during the book, but her voice is the same as a middle schooler and as an adult. Because of this, I felt very detached throughout the whole book, despite it depicting many horrible events. But we just weren't given enough time to sit with these events. Everything moved on very quickly. Many (huge) interpersonal conflicts were resolved within a few pages due to the pacing. In a way, this felt like a very clean cut, black-and-white parable-esque book. The message was very clear and the path to it was as straightforward as possible.
I appreciate the concept and I'm glad that this is available for English speakers, but I hope it opens the door to similar books with a writing style that is more to my personal taste.
I did like that the book covered a lot of ground concerning Vietnam's history of the last century and I liked the concept of showing the effect of the different wars and political reforms by following one particular family. It is a large family, which allowed the author to intertwine different fates and roles of people of that time. But I think this is also the downfall of this book. It tried to cover too much ground for its length, which resulted in a lack of depth. Most of the time the characters felt more like caricatures than actual people. The main character is growing up during the book, but her voice is the same as a middle schooler and as an adult. Because of this, I felt very detached throughout the whole book, despite it depicting many horrible events. But we just weren't given enough time to sit with these events. Everything moved on very quickly. Many (huge) interpersonal conflicts were resolved within a few pages due to the pacing. In a way, this felt like a very clean cut, black-and-white parable-esque book. The message was very clear and the path to it was as straightforward as possible.
I appreciate the concept and I'm glad that this is available for English speakers, but I hope it opens the door to similar books with a writing style that is more to my personal taste.
Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 5%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 5%.
The writing style didn't work for me at all (mostly sentence structure) and after a serious first red flag concerning how women were described I checked some reviews. Looks like many people pointed out misogynistic writing, so I'll honor my first personal red flag and move on to another book.
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Super interesting setup but the book lost me half-way through. As soon as other humans were introduced, the pacing increased too much and with the introduction of 40+ people, there just wasn't a lot of character depth. The named characters felt more like tropes than fleshed out characters. Because of this I found it hard to keep being invested in the story. While the characters were diverse from a racial point of view, the cast and relationships were very heteronormative, which hasn't been the case in other books by Butler. I did not like that rape was clearly stated to be unacceptable but a scene involving a man being coerced/forced into a sexual act was brushed asides with very problematic language (reaction of the body being seen as consent despite very clearly being denied consent). As much as I liked other books by Butler, I will not continue the series.
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.
As much as I have fond nostalgia for the discworld books, this one really didn't work for me. The jokes weren't funny and Emse and Nanny were much more crass and casually cruel than I remembered them being. I'm starting to think that the witches books just aren't my cup of tea. This one in particular also had a fairytale theme, which is a hard sell for my anyhow. Struggled to pick it up so I decided to dnf and move on.
Sounds Fake But Okay: An Asexual and Aromantic Perspective on Love, Relationships, Sex, and Pretty Much Anything Else by Kayla Kaszyca, Sarah Costello
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
2.0
I'm so grateful to the publisher for supporting this wave of books on ace/aro identities and I have also enjoyed episodes of the podcast by the authors before. Still, this book wasn't at all what I was hoping for. Who is the audience for this? It is simultaneously too general and too specific, as it skips over the most important and interesting aspects (like the split attraction model) that would make it easier to understand the gist of the topic. Quite often they would say "we could write so much about this but we won't" - why? The book is super short, a little more depth wouldn't even have led to a large/challenging book. Instead, they include half a page on why not abandoning Harry Potter as a fandom is valid, despite criticism of JKR. I would have loved some actual recommendations in the media section, instead of this defence of JKR out of left field (by two cis people). Overall, this skimmed the surface of many topics and taught me more about the authors than about asexuality and aromanticism. I appreciate the effort, but the podcast is probably the better medium for their style of storytelling.
Message Of Tomorrow by Elia Emory
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
I think someone who likes action packed fantasy stories might really enjoy it but since that is the opposite of what I tend to reach for I decided to put it down. Picked it up for some ace representation but didn't get to that part. I appreciate the rep regardless.
None of the Above: Reflections on Life beyond the Binary by Travis Alabanza
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Such a small book that is packing quite a big punch. I took my time with this as many things made me want to pause and reflect for a bit. The author effortlessly blends memoir with societal commentary. I thought the mix was great, as any empathic reader gets a very specific personal perspective to connect to themes that might be more or less familiar to the reader themselves. I just really like their writing style and their openness and honesty. Picked this one up after their essay stood out to me in an anthology (We can do better than this) and enjoyed spending more time with their experiences and ideas. As someone who perpetually lives in grey areas of different queer identities, I appreciated the depiction of being unsure and how our choices (and perceived options to choose from in the first place) are impacted by society around us.