bella_mckinnon's reviews
53 reviews

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

challenging dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Loved it, loved it, loved it. Some hilarious remarks, but ultimately a crass yet beautiful commentary on how powerless we are to fate and the inevitability of war. Really enjoyed it, and found the main character Billy Pilgrim’s indifference at the horrors and misfortunes of his world fascinating. Gave me similar vibes to Albert Camus’ ‘The Stranger’. Great book.

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

3.0

Eh. Franny section was alright, had some really good lines, but the Zooey section bored me outta my mind.

The Cid, Cinna, the Theatrical Illusion by Pierre Corneille
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

got bored

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Dark and cynical, excellent commentary on the human condition. Related a lot to the character.

The Penguin Book of Women Poets by Various, Carol Cosman, Joan Keefe, Kathleen Weaver

adventurous informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

Great solid poetry! Were definitely some lines that stood out and that I loved. Really enjoyed the historical aspect of the book, reading poems thousands or even hundreds of years old…fascinating. Only critique is that I did feel like some of the poems were maybe mediocre or uninteresting, but that’s no one’s fault, just comes down to personal preference. Great book.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

challenging dark slow-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

Mirrors me precisely, I felt everything. Beautifully written. Tragic.

I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Horrific. Fascinating. Wholeheartedly epitomises dystopia. Terrifying, the thoughts of what an AI takeover could eventually entail for us. Terrifying, painful, isolating. Beautifully written.

To Build a Fire by Jack London

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A short, simple, but harrowing tale. The simplicity made it easily accessible, but the visual imagery was immaculate. I really got a sense of this impossibly cold climate, and seeing the man's increasing realisation that he was essentially hopeless was just, it felt like I was observing a tragic downfall of a woefully underprepared and overconfident novice who didn't fully understand the implications of what he was doing. Well-written, I thought. Eerie, cold, isolating landscape. Made me grateful for the relative warmth of my own home.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Just, wow. Disgusting. Horrific. Depraved. My god is this a story. There were moments where I genuinely cringed and gagged when reading some of the exchanges or what some of the characters did. I'll just mention one thing, without spoiling the story: rotting meat. Anyway, I do not think this is a bad thing. LaRocca is an incredibly talented writer who writes incredibly horrifying, cringe-worthy, disgusting stuff, exploring some of the deepest desires and perversions of the human mind. The beginning is so, so unassuming. I was so fooled by its innocence. Incredibly well-written. Just disgusting, but so beautifully written. I could never justly explain this book and its impact on me, or just how well I believe it is crafted. I'm completely taken aback. In shock, I believe, as I've just finished reading it a few minutes ago, and am STILL processing everything I've read. Just. Wow. Delicious depravity, LaRocca.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.

Just didn’t love Joyce’s style of writing; including the way the dialogue is separated by hyphens instead of quotation marks, that was — I didn’t enjoy that. But also it is true that there are such constant and many intertextual references and all that, like in Ulysses. I just felt they kind of disrupted the flow of the story.