aubreyhi's reviews
877 reviews

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

House of Leaves remains one of my favorite novels. The playfulness with which the author looks at cinema, academia, Hollywood, masculinity, photography ... literature. It's a gorgeous piece of art, doesn't seem like it would be as much fun without the physicality of the book. Like a film, the author uses font and typsetting to engage the reader in time and space. You sit with the novel, it sits with you.

I won't tell you what it's about ... plenty of other reviews do that. Instead, I will say if you are interested in language or film or space or placemaking or grief or mental illness or explorations within this is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Violence

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cannibalism, and Sexual content

The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution by Dan Hicks

challenging informative slow-paced

5.0

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire

challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.75

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone by Kat Howard

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Clarity of Cold Steel by Kevin P. Wright

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Medical trauma, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

The Atmospherians by Isle McElroy

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Eating disorder, Violence, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual harassment

The Preserve by Ariel S. Winter

adventurous fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence and Murder