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badspringbye's reviews
194 reviews
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
I've been having this earnest dream of experiencing to read a book that's told through the cycle of four seasons until the discovery of this piece of literature, only in a completely unexpected circumstances. one element that I remember the most is the excellent association of human beings and materialistic things:
p. 35 "The furniture had aged without ever having become familiar. People owned it, but never known it. No one had lost a penny or a brooch under the cushions of either sofa and remembered the place and time of the loss or the finding."
it started off with the unharmonized pattern of furnishings, then ended up with the cause of it: irrational and made-up hatred, fused by a single scratch. it's also hard to describe the vividness of the young children's hardships, especially Pecola, through the eyes of Claudia and Frieda while sustaining the adults' perspective nonetheless... from the comparison of envy and jealousy, distorted notion of their 'kind', being restricted to do, to act, to have rights. another noteworthy writing style by Morisson going beyond language:
p. 159 "The pieces of Cholly's life could become coherent only in the head of a musician."
"{Only those who talk their talk through the gold of curved metal, or in the touch of black-and-white rectangles and taut skins and strings echoing from wooden corridors, could give true form to his life.}
{Only they would know how to connect the heart of a red watermelon to the asafetida bag to the muscadine to the flashlight on his behind to the fists of money to the lemonade in a Mason jar to a man called Blue and come up with what all of that meant in joy, in pain, in anger, in love, and give it its final and pervading ache of freedom.}"
in the 1st phrases with curly brackets, she mentioned different types of sounds. in the 2nd one, she gave an example with scenarios from our character. again, extreme geniusness. she implied the parallelism so freaking well.
reading Morrison felt like getting lost in an otherworldly forest. I don't really think I can encapsulate everything into a brief review. the best that I could do is to leave some beautiful and powerful lines here.
excerpts:
p. 20 "I knew that the doll represented what they thought was my fondest wish." ... "What was I supposed to do with it?"
p. 21 "Had any adult with the power to fulfill my desires taken me seriously and asked me what I wanted, they would have known that I did not want to have anything to own, or to possess any object, I wanted rather to feel something."
p. 45 "She squeezed her eyes shut. Little parts of her body faded away." ... "Only her tight, tight eyes were left. They were always left." ... "They were everything. Everything was there, in them."
p. 92 "Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed , they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between."
p. 122 "...physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion."
p. 138 "They beat their children with one hand and stole for them with the other." ... "All the difference was all the difference there was."
p. 206 "Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover's inward eye."
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"There is really nothing more to say—except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how."
I've been having this earnest dream of experiencing to read a book that's told through the cycle of four seasons until the discovery of this piece of literature, only in a completely unexpected circumstances. one element that I remember the most is the excellent association of human beings and materialistic things:
p. 35 "The furniture had aged without ever having become familiar. People owned it, but never known it. No one had lost a penny or a brooch under the cushions of either sofa and remembered the place and time of the loss or the finding."
it started off with the unharmonized pattern of furnishings, then ended up with the cause of it: irrational and made-up hatred, fused by a single scratch. it's also hard to describe the vividness of the young children's hardships, especially Pecola, through the eyes of Claudia and Frieda while sustaining the adults' perspective nonetheless... from the comparison of envy and jealousy, distorted notion of their 'kind', being restricted to do, to act, to have rights. another noteworthy writing style by Morisson going beyond language:
p. 159 "The pieces of Cholly's life could become coherent only in the head of a musician."
{Only they would know how to connect the heart of a red watermelon to the asafetida bag to the muscadine to the flashlight on his behind to the fists of money to the lemonade in a Mason jar to a man called Blue and come up with what all of that meant in joy, in pain, in anger, in love, and give it its final and pervading ache of freedom.}"
in the 1st phrases with curly brackets, she mentioned different types of sounds. in the 2nd one, she gave an example with scenarios from our character. again, extreme geniusness. she implied the parallelism so freaking well.
reading Morrison felt like getting lost in an otherworldly forest. I don't really think I can encapsulate everything into a brief review. the best that I could do is to leave some beautiful and powerful lines here.
excerpts:
p. 20 "I knew that the doll represented what they thought was my fondest wish." ... "What was I supposed to do with it?"
p. 21 "Had any adult with the power to fulfill my desires taken me seriously and asked me what I wanted, they would have known that I did not want to have anything to own, or to possess any object, I wanted rather to feel something."
p. 45 "She squeezed her eyes shut. Little parts of her body faded away." ... "Only her tight, tight eyes were left. They were always left." ... "They were everything. Everything was there, in them."
p. 92 "Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. Unblinking and unabashed , they stared up at her. The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between."
p. 122 "...physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion."
p. 138 "They beat their children with one hand and stole for them with the other." ... "All the difference was all the difference there was."
p. 206 "Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover's inward eye."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
The Promised Neverland, Vol. 3: Destroy! by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu
medium-paced
4.0
so far, I liked the pacing of this one the most and how it has been carried out. more revelations and really exciting, can't wait to see what's about to happen next
The Promised Neverland, Vol. 2 by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu
medium-paced
2.0
something about the execution of the plot is off... maybe it's the overdone dialogues. or the random demon sketches that appears out of the blue (+ I still don't like how they were designed. they're not scary at all, just weird and gigantic). sister krone's exaggerated representation also made me so uncomfortable. I think they've done it to match the character's eerie aura but, such a bad idea man
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
not the coming-of-age story I was expecting it to be. it took a huge turn after john's hunting standpoint. gabriel (the father)'s life's a drag. john (the son)'s part, which was mostly only on the first 1/3 of the book, was frustrating yet gripping. that's the only thing that made me look forward to how it's gonna turn out at the end. the whole point of the story is a bit... out of shape..?
excerpt:
p. 20 "And this is why, though he had been born in the faith and had been surrounded all his life by the saints and by their prayers and their rejoicing, and though the tabernacle in which they worshipped was more completely real to him than the several precarious homes in which he and his family had lived, John's heart was hardened against the Lord. His father was God's minister, the ambassador of the King of Heaven, and John could not bow before the throne of grace without first kneeling to his father."
excerpt:
p. 20 "And this is why, though he had been born in the faith and had been surrounded all his life by the saints and by their prayers and their rejoicing, and though the tabernacle in which they worshipped was more completely real to him than the several precarious homes in which he and his family had lived, John's heart was hardened against the Lord. His father was God's minister, the ambassador of the King of Heaven, and John could not bow before the throne of grace without first kneeling to his father."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Religious bigotry
The Promised Neverland, Vol. 1 by Kaiu Shirai, Posuka Demizu
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
4.0
really like the storyline of this one so I decided to start the manga again from the start though I've already seen the first season of the anime. apparently, the 'kids' who got exposed to the 'real situation' could also act well. that was the only downside. I wish there was more time for the two to hesitate or panic or anything more realistic reaction? of 11 years olds?
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez
dark
mysterious
2.0
I stumbled upon this collection that I thought was going to be a dark literary fiction novel but that was totally wrong. not even sure how can I describe this genre... magical realism? search up the trigger warnings and you’ll see. it’s not simply horror.
maybe the best way to explain this thing is to leave my ratings per section. here are the stories described in few words:
- angelita unearthed - the rotting baby’s bone ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- our lady of the quarry - teenage insecurities & lust ⭐️
- the cart - suspected curse from the poor old man ⭐️
- the well - nightmares & the woman & the witch & evils & sacrifice & betrayal ⭐️
- rambla triste - rotting smell of the ‘police city’; there was a shift. political matters mixed with horror stories based on true events? sick & twisted & I enjoyed this the most ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- the lookout - ? ⭐️
- where are you, dear heart? - lust again; jane eyre; heartbeat obsession ⭐️⭐️
- meat - musician and his album; cannibalism case ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- no birthdays or baptisms - furrowed brows while I was reading the whole thing. thought it was just a disgusting porn but the open(?) ending left me confused and wanting to know more who was the ‘he’ ⭐️⭐️
- kids who come back - missing kids ⭐️
- the dangers of smoking in bed - ? ⭐️
- back when we talked to the dead - scanned/mostly skipped because ouija plot wasn’t interesting at all ⭐️
at first I found no values with the stories. boring. then after fifth one, the content started to get better, but narration is still meh at times or maybe it was the translation. idk. this will give you everything you’ll least expect from the title and cover art. the last stories were weak though. overall, I think it’s better than my most recent horror-ish read (the houseguest and other stories). that one had a theme whereas this one’s more diverse, just not as gripping as I would like it to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
I wish he just stopped writing at 300-page mark. even an open ending would work better than having more characters I no longer care about (coughs. the last one). this is mostly (maybe) because the brother-sister foundation was strong enough to keep me intrigued but the more the construction of respective stories of secondary characters broadens, I became less absorbed. I felt the disappointment after reading past the first half or almost 3/4 of this because I was starting to appreciate it at that point.
if you read the first two books of Hosseini, you would definitely recognize this book's his most recent one. the setting, dialogues, modernistic approach of building the mutual relationships... not bad, just a little odd. when you think of it as a finished story, it's good. but the process of reading it, I'm not quite sure what to say, a bit bland at times? when you put it down for some time, it'll feel distant, just as much as the characters does. whenever I finally get to link-up with one character, one second and the story switches up. their part gets cut off and we never get to hear them again. I can't even count how much I felt interrupted because of this.
I do think that the stories are all connected in the end and utterly shows how single decision at one point of a person's life can affect generations and a lot more individuals one can think of, regardless of the time/setting (this book spans decades and continents apart). final thoughts: I think he tried to cover way too much. that's why I'm struggling to explain it.
excerpts:
p. 13 "When you have lived as long as I have, you find that cruelty and benevolence are but shades of the same color."
p. 78 "A story is like a moving train: no matter where you hop onboard, you are bound to reach your destination sooner or later."
p. 137 "..I know now that some people feel unhappiness the way others love: privately, intensely, and without recourse."
p. 218 "'Are you pleased with any of your work?'
'...if only I could keep them apart from the creative process itself.'
'You mean separate the end from the means.'"
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
"What was I, Maman? A seed of hope? A ticket purchased to ferry you from the dark? A patch for that hole you carried in your heart? If so, then I wasn't enough. I was no balm to your pain, only another dead end, another burden, and you must have seen that early on."
I wish he just stopped writing at 300-page mark. even an open ending would work better than having more characters I no longer care about (coughs. the last one). this is mostly (maybe) because the brother-sister foundation was strong enough to keep me intrigued but the more the construction of respective stories of secondary characters broadens, I became less absorbed. I felt the disappointment after reading past the first half or almost 3/4 of this because I was starting to appreciate it at that point.
if you read the first two books of Hosseini, you would definitely recognize this book's his most recent one. the setting, dialogues, modernistic approach of building the mutual relationships... not bad, just a little odd. when you think of it as a finished story, it's good. but the process of reading it, I'm not quite sure what to say, a bit bland at times? when you put it down for some time, it'll feel distant, just as much as the characters does. whenever I finally get to link-up with one character, one second and the story switches up. their part gets cut off and we never get to hear them again. I can't even count how much I felt interrupted because of this.
I do think that the stories are all connected in the end and utterly shows how single decision at one point of a person's life can affect generations and a lot more individuals one can think of, regardless of the time/setting (this book spans decades and continents apart). final thoughts: I think he tried to cover way too much. that's why I'm struggling to explain it.
excerpts:
p. 13 "When you have lived as long as I have, you find that cruelty and benevolence are but shades of the same color."
p. 78 "A story is like a moving train: no matter where you hop onboard, you are bound to reach your destination sooner or later."
p. 137 "..I know now that some people feel unhappiness the way others love: privately, intensely, and without recourse."
p. 218 "'Are you pleased with any of your work?'
'...if only I could keep them apart from the creative process itself.'
'You mean separate the end from the means.'"
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
out of the three books, this one's the hardest to take in. what's complex with the first two books is even more bewildering here. (no, not only because it's science fiction.) I am not completely sure if I understand what I just read but... evil earth, it's so good.
summarization: everybody is a human being. substantial gap between different creatures (stills, orogenes, stone eaters, guardians) made them believe otherwise. and so confusion shaped the foundation of their diversified beliefs. what's even more fascinating is how you could never hate on any of them. you will come across the parts of separate stories and witness the contrasting desires and objectives of two main characters, the mother and the daughter, but for some reason, you would want both of them to succeed. but it's impossible.
excerpts:
p. 101 "It has never been clear to us whether we were built wrong, or whether their understanding of us is wrong. Or whether either matters."
p. 216 "How can we prepare for the future if we won't acknowledge the past?"
p. 229 "You know the end of this. Don't you? ... But sometimes it is the how of a thing, not just the endgame, that matters most."
p. 299 "There is life here, among these people. It isn't life as she knows it, or a life she would choose, but life nevertheless."
p. 305 "...sometimes she is surprised to realize Nassun is still her name. How much more different will she be in three years? Ten? Twenty?"
p. 313 "No one really wants to face the fact that the world is the way it is because some arrogant, self-absorbed people tried to put a leash on the rusting planet. And no one was ready to accept that the solution to the whole mess was simply to let orogenes live and thrive and do what they were born to do."
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
5.0
"You can reject these dregs of your old self and pretend that nothing and no one else matters...or you can embrace them. Reclaim them for what they're worth, and grow stronger as a whole."
out of the three books, this one's the hardest to take in. what's complex with the first two books is even more bewildering here. (no, not only because it's science fiction.) I am not completely sure if I understand what I just read but... evil earth, it's so good.
"Life is sacred in Syl Anagist — as it should be, for the city burns life as the fuel for its glory." ... "...for a society built on exploitation, there is no greater threat for having no one left to oppress. And now, if nothing else is done, Syl Anagist must find a way to fission its people into subgroupings and create reasons for conflict among them."
summarization: everybody is a human being. substantial gap between different creatures (stills, orogenes, stone eaters, guardians) made them believe otherwise. and so confusion shaped the foundation of their diversified beliefs. what's even more fascinating is how you could never hate on any of them. you will come across the parts of separate stories and witness the contrasting desires and objectives of two main characters, the mother and the daughter, but for some reason, you would want both of them to succeed. but it's impossible.
excerpts:
p. 101 "It has never been clear to us whether we were built wrong, or whether their understanding of us is wrong. Or whether either matters."
p. 216 "How can we prepare for the future if we won't acknowledge the past?"
p. 229 "You know the end of this. Don't you? ... But sometimes it is the how of a thing, not just the endgame, that matters most."
p. 299 "There is life here, among these people. It isn't life as she knows it, or a life she would choose, but life nevertheless."
p. 305 "...sometimes she is surprised to realize Nassun is still her name. How much more different will she be in three years? Ten? Twenty?"
p. 313 "No one really wants to face the fact that the world is the way it is because some arrogant, self-absorbed people tried to put a leash on the rusting planet. And no one was ready to accept that the solution to the whole mess was simply to let orogenes live and thrive and do what they were born to do."
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky
medium-paced
the first two nights was filled with something very dostoevsky — a dreamer's life is brought up in the most moderate manner, and how he enjoys and gets weary of the pattern of his day-to-day affairs, all at once.
the last two, however, was a bit anticlimactic. to put it simply, it showed how love at first sight, friend-zone, and ghosting was done in the 1840s, lol. it was okay, but surely will never look back on this again. personally, Nastenka's side of story is just easily forgetable and uninspiring.
I should say it would still be nice to start with dostoevsky with this novella.
excerpts:
p. 13 "Then how how you lived, if you have no history?"
p. 19 "To his corrupted eyes we live, you and I, ... in his eyes we are all so dissatisfied with our fate, so exhausted by our life!"
p. 20 "...he desires nothing, because he is satiated, because he is the artist of his own life."
the last two, however, was a bit anticlimactic. to put it simply, it showed how love at first sight, friend-zone, and ghosting was done in the 1840s, lol. it was okay, but surely will never look back on this again. personally, Nastenka's side of story is just easily forgetable and uninspiring.
I should say it would still be nice to start with dostoevsky with this novella.
excerpts:
p. 13 "Then how how you lived, if you have no history?"
p. 19 "To his corrupted eyes we live, you and I, ... in his eyes we are all so dissatisfied with our fate, so exhausted by our life!"
p. 20 "...he desires nothing, because he is satiated, because he is the artist of his own life."
花樣年華 HYYH The Notes 2 by Big Hit Entertainment
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
3.0
the dialogues and narration still felt flat and if not for their names it would have been difficult to distinguish one from another, still.
first and foremost I'd like note that I would die for these seven characters, for the BU, as a whole. I would engrave HYYH in korean & chinese characters on my tombstone if I can (I'm being serious). such a complex and promising and cool story. overall, it's top tier. the problems are, I guess, the way these novels are written. I like how it's told from broadened perspectives more now, but the execution is just poor. the monotonous storytelling is not doing justice to the plot... again, this is an objective rating solely for this specific book. it doesn't erase the fact that 'once you enter the bangtan universe, you could never get out of it'.
excerpts:
p. 13 "His eyes that seemed of so many different colors, or all the colors meshed into one, or that seemed to have so many stories to tell but were unable to tell any."
p. 14 "...I didn't want destiny to exist. I didn't want anything to be decided. I wanted everything to be possible or to be decided by one's choice."
p. 32 "Everyone must have their reason for wanting to be dead. And for wanting to be alive."
p. 74"I also recorded that day in my own way. The day when we'd all laughed together, the happiest day of our lives, and the time we spent together. It was in my music."
p. 210 "It wasn't really a promise. It was what we hoped for."
first and foremost I'd like note that I would die for these seven characters, for the BU, as a whole. I would engrave HYYH in korean & chinese characters on my tombstone if I can (I'm being serious). such a complex and promising and cool story. overall, it's top tier. the problems are, I guess, the way these novels are written. I like how it's told from broadened perspectives more now, but the execution is just poor. the monotonous storytelling is not doing justice to the plot... again, this is an objective rating solely for this specific book. it doesn't erase the fact that 'once you enter the bangtan universe, you could never get out of it'.
excerpts:
p. 13 "His eyes that seemed of so many different colors, or all the colors meshed into one, or that seemed to have so many stories to tell but were unable to tell any."
p. 14 "...I didn't want destiny to exist. I didn't want anything to be decided. I wanted everything to be possible or to be decided by one's choice."
p. 32 "Everyone must have their reason for wanting to be dead. And for wanting to be alive."
p. 74
p. 210 "It wasn't really a promise. It was what we hoped for."