bklassen's reviews
744 reviews

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

Eh, this one really isn't for me. I really wanted to read a story set in Cuba, but I feel like I'm noticing a trend of books relying on a present-past dual POV writing style that really falls flat. I can't put my finger on it, and I may be noticing a pattern that isn't there, but I intend to look into it.
 
The writing style felt mediocre and relied on so many phrases or idioms that feel lazy or cliché. The main characters felt flat, the impending romance already felt too insta-love and contrived for my taste, and the writing was just descriptive in a way that feels like they're describing every micro action like it's a too-detailed screenplay. The same style as "I sat on the couch, crossed my feet on the coffee table, opened up my laptop in my lap and typed in my password so that I could open my favorite internet browser." SNORE. It's repetitive, unnecessary, and doesn't propel the story or explain the character in any way.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.

This book really isn’t for me. I got through a third of it before I had had enough. And it’s a shame because I like Xiran Jay Zhao’s YouTube videos (they’re really snarky and have a wealth of entertaining information on Asian and Asian-inspired pop culture, among other things), as well as multiple things that I love to read about: Chinese fantasy worlds, female rage, giant robot battles a la Pacific Rim, queer representation, etc. 

Needless to say, I was disappointed that I didn’t love this; I just don’t think this book is for me. 

This book felt very YA in a way that doesn’t jive with me: purple prose, inconsistencies galore, poor or shallow characterization, not-like-other-girls-itis, and I hate to say, a lack of realism that has nothing to do with this sci fi/fantasy world and more like inconsistent world building or a lack of understanding in human nature and what causes people to act the way they do. 

For starters, I love that this is sci fi dystopian novel set in a traditional Chinese patriarchal world: women are considered the lesser and meeker yin to a man’s stronger yang, they practice lotus feet  binding, and women are disposed of for men to be powerful and strong. There are so many aspects that are ripe to be ripe and challenged, many views that are still held today, and not just in China. 

However, this book has all the subtlety of a dump truck racing toward you at 100 mph and the only progressive characters are the three main characters, but it’s hard to understand how those three became so progressive in such an old fashioned society. I grew up in a household that was quite conservative and held traditional values, but only by leaving home and meeting other people, gaining new experiences, and being exposed to new ideas did I gain a different ideology. So how did Zetian become so liberated? Why is her childhood friend/crush/obviously future romantic partner so liberated when they live in a world where literally everyone else still holds traditional and backwards views. I want to see the why and how they became who they did. 

Also, this is getting nit picky, but for a society that is supposedly super traditional and stifling, the most Zetian gets when she yells like a modern-day teenager in her fit of teenage rageTM is that she gets a stern talking to and gets sent to her room. 

The shallow reason given is that Zetian’s sister died as a concubine for this Chrysalis pilot that has killed so many girls and women over the years, and now Zetian is filled with feminist rage and wants to avenge her sister. And yet, we don’t get a great view of relationship with her sister. We don’t get to see any scenes of them together. Show me why I should care about these sisters and show me why how much they love each other that results in Zetian going on the warpath for revenge! I know plenty of people that have distant or disconnected relationships with siblings. It’s not enough for the author to tell me about a character’s personality or relationships – you need to show me. 

For a book that is pitched as super feminist, I didn’t feel like it was actually feminist. The main character rages at every woman and girl, who are all silly and stupid for believing this outdated and unjust patriarchal views. The other girls are vain,  catty, petty, selfish and willing to pick a fight over a hair pin. Oh, and they all fight over the super hot popular guy. Not once does Zetian actually form friendships with other women or try to change their world views. Nope, it’s just call them stupid and shallow and that’s that. But oh, this super hot, edgy, mysterious guy that she gets paired with is worth talking to and examining. Let’s only give him the chance to grow or show that he’s a complex human being. 

The final nail in the coffin, besides the contrived future romantic relationships and the hypocrisy of a book claiming to be feminist, was these really powerful leaders who are traditional patriarchal assholes and have complete control over what happens to Zetian. She has shown insane skill to use the chrysalid and kill the original pilot, but she mouths off to them and they just roll over and say “wow, you’re a very powerful teenage girl; we would be really stupid not to believe you”. 

I can see the appeal in this book, but like I said, it’s not for me. I think I need a more nuanced and less YA take on dismantling powerful and long-standing misogynistic systems. Also more female friendships, please. I want more Mad Max Fury Road for female strength and complexity, and less YA “girl power”. I also feel encouraged to seek out more fantasy or sci fi based on or set in Asian worlds, countries, or settings. 

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was just a lot of fun to read. Black girls in a post antebellum (or maybe antebellum, as the Civil War was put on hold due to the zombie infestation) killing zombies? Hell yeah. I’m a sucker for historical things, and ones with a twist like this can be a blast if done correctly. 

I loved seeing this alternate past, especially one in which an author has put a great deal of research and thought into world building. The two main characters, Jane and Katherine, are fantastic. Jane is much more impulsive, almost arrogant, and definitely a competent fighter. Katherine is more into fashion, society rules, being proper, and is certainly more rigid than Jane. This leads to a great dynamic between the two girls, almost like the fairly odd couple, that involves plenty of friction and banter. You don’t need to worry about a love triangle, either, because

Katherine is asexual, which is some nice representation! And Jane is bisexual! Absolutely fantastic.

. 

It does take a bit of suspension of disbelief with the concept of a teenager being so much more competent than a group of adults, but hey, it’s YA. And it’s fantasy because zombies don’t exist, so all good. Oh, and I suppose I also sort of rolled my eyes at every crush or description of attractive men in the book because Jane is a bit boy crazy, but thankfully there was no romance in this book. I am so primed to think that in YA any description of an attractive male means the main plot becomes sideline for a half assed romance story, but I should have given the author more credit. She wrote from Jane’s perspective, who notices attractive men, but didn’t lose sight of the important plot. 

It was a fast read full of fun and zombie slaying set in a Civil War period and I loved how Ireland (the author, not the country) interprets what racism would have looked like not only back then, but also during an apocalyptic time. 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Grady Hendrix, you old sun of a gun! 

This one scared me so much that I actually went out to find spoilers because I was so tense and apprehensive. Kudos to you, Hendrix. 

This book is about the consequences of denial, secrets, and childhood trauma. Sweeping things under the rug never helps anyone, and the longer things fester, the worse they get. 

I loved how Hendrix redeemed the brother, Mark. From Louise’s POV, Mark was clearly the bad guy, a failure in life, and solely there to torment her. Then as the book goes on, you see that thread of secrets and trauma wound around the two siblings’ relationship and how it soured them. True friendship and healing couldn’t begin until they faced reality, opened up, and told the truth. You also get to see the past from Mark’s perspective and how everyone deals with trauma in different ways. Your concept of someone is purely based on your perception of them, but that’s all we really have to judge on. Once Mark opens up about his past, Louise can see him more for who he is and understand why he acted the way he did. 

I did hate Mark in the beginning, and I did think that their family was very strange, and I also felt secondhand anger at the fights and pettiness between the two siblings who had one of the most dysfunctional relationships I’ve seen depicted. 

This book had an absolutely bonkers premise that scared me half to death at times, and I did like the somewhat unconventional structure, which follows the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I know that the model is actually referential to a person facing their own mortality and upcoming loss and not grief of a loved one, and that everyone experiences a different order and combination, but it’s still a nice framework for the book that uses shorthand for grief that everyone is familiar with. 

As usual, the depth of characters and bananas story makes this a wild ride that I enjoyed every second of. 

Oh, and puppets and dolls will never not be scary, and that’s a fact. 

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

 

What a fascinating account of the history of North Korea and why it has become a dictatorship with some of the worst records of human rights. It is heartbreaking to read the accounts of people just struggling to live, never being able to voice their true thoughts and opinions for fear of being arrested, and kind of being gaslit into thinking that everything in North Korea is great when it so clearly is not. 

I certainly wouldn’t call this a fun read, but it provided historical background to explain why North Korea got to the point that it is and told the much needed stories of citizens’ experiences while they lived in North Korea and afterward, having defected. I can only imagine the struggle someone must experience attempting to live life in the outside world after having been brainwashed and struggled to survive for most of their life in North Korea. The rest of the world is just as hard to live in, but for other reasons. I suppose it becomes more complicated when life doesn’t just mean “find a way to feed yourself and your family”. 

Even more tragic are the reasons other countries have for not doing more to disassemble this dictatorship abusing its citizens, although I wouldn’t exactly nominate the US for the job. We have enough history of overthrowing governments and then seeing an even worse result for the denizens of that country. 

I truly hope that we can see a better future for North Korea in my lifetime, but I wouldn’t count on it.  

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Did not finish book. Stopped at 54%.

 

I tried. Really, I tried. I gave this book past 50% and it wasn’t getting better. Based on reviews, I’m glad I stopped where I did because it didn’t improve past that. 

This book’s main theme is: PREGNANCY. All the main characters (all of which are female, which is nice, but all of them are obsessed with pregnancy, which is less nice. I suppose the 12-year-old isn’t, but she thinks periods are caused by ghosts, so yay?) revolve around pregnancy. Either they want to be pregnant or regret not having been pregnant. 

Note: This is not to shame anyone who dreams of becoming pregnant. Everyone has different life goals, and if you want to be a mother, all power to you! It’s a terribly difficult job and often feels thankless (or so I’ve heard), but it’s still a very important job. I just personally don’t want to ever be pregnant and don’t really care to read about it. It’s fine if it’s in the periphery, but as a main component of a book? Yeahhhhh, no. 

Beyond the theme that I just don’t connect with, the book wasn’t terribly well written and everyone feels rather flat. Oh, and the main character in the modern time is an idiot. She has a bad case of “not like other girls” – you spent time reading in the library instead of sitting in cafes? How special you are! You decided to do some base level investigation or source finding? You must be a historian! At that point in the book, my eyes rolled out of my head and straight to Panama. 

The frustrating thing is that she can’t seem to parse out that you can have hobbies. Your favorite thing doesn’t have to be and often shouldn’t be your job. You can be an accountant by day and read 18th century literature by candlelight for all I care, but you can’t blame other people for choosing a dependable, steady job and not going into mountains of debt getting your masters in a niche or obscure topic that really doesn’t benefit many people. In an ideal world, yes. But sorry, that’s not the way the world works, and your husband isn’t a jerk for suggesting that you get a “real job” and leave old books to a hobby. He is a jerk in other ways! But not for being practical. 

I also felt like I had to keep fact checking the historical elements. Like, was it called pearled barley in the 18th century, or was it just barley? Did they actually use certain expressions. Little things kept popping up that set off a little sensor in my head that the author didn’t actually research the time period, but just wanted the set dressing of a past time/place and got lazy. And it annoyed me. 

Anyway, this book was not very interesting and the characters are flat and it’s just not very good. If you would consider your taste even close to discerning, I wouldn’t waste your time. 

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat

funny informative medium-paced

4.5

 This book was probably the first cookbook I’ve actually read through instead of reading just the recipes. I think it’s because it takes more of the Serious Eats/Food Lab approach and tells you HOW to cook, not WHAT to cook. Obviously this could not replace culinary school, but I felt like I learned invaluable lessons about why you bring your meat up to temp, why my boiled veggies are bland, what flavors go with each other, and the biggest one: if something feels “off” in a recipe, consider if it needs more acid, more salt, more fat, or different heat to really find that balance. 

I feel like I’ve gotten much better at balancing dishes or tweaking recipes when I ask myself about those four main components. 

Of course, Samin’s writing is very accessible and I really enjoy her professional yet conversational approach to the book. The watercolor diagrams were really nice (and the shortcut charts are handy to boot), but my gripe, as with many other cookbooks, is pictures!! You eat with your eyes, they say, and photographs not only entice you, but they give a good reference for what the final product will look like. 

Granted, I think experienced chefs literally go based on a title and list of ingredients because the rest is just knowing the processes and steps to execute meal components (or at least that’s what I’ve cursorily grasped from Epicurious videos and The Bear). They don’t need photos. But dang it, I’d like them! 

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

 What a disappointment. This book got so much hype and praise, especially from John Green; I loved Zevin’s other book, “The Storied Life of AJ Fikry”; I love video games and themes of friendship or collaboration – so why didn’t this book work for me? 

In a word: melodrama. In multiple words: Way too much melodrama. At times it felt like a more grounded soap opera. 

I have never wanted characters to get more therapy before, even though I actively know that characters becoming mentally or emotionally healthy resolves most, if not all, of the tension in a book. It actively hindered my enjoyment of the book, and I think the biggest issue is that there didn’t feel like enough growth, or any growth that occurred felt like it was in the last 10% of the book. 

The rest of the book felt like emotional torture porn. If you liked A Little Life, you might like this book! 

It starts off well with these two kids bonding over video games. His foot was destroyed in a car accident and she was visiting her sister with cancer, and they bond as two friends never have before. But then the “secret” of Sadie using their friendship for community service (or at least that’s how it started – she was a little opportunistic, but then she actually became best friends with Sam) comes out and he won’t talk to her for years because he’s hurt. 

Understandable! Kids don’t usually have the emotional reasoning to process and talk through that! Oh also he had just lost his mom in a car accident and his foot was mashed and he was in incredible pain, so he’s already not in the right mindset and is incredibly vulnerable. 

Years later, they into each other while in college and they agree to put the past behind them and become friends again because they used to be the best of friends. And they’re both brilliant when it comes to coding and video games. 

But then something else major happens, like Sadie accusing Sam of pushing her into an abusive relationship, and instead of talking it out, they just “break up” again.  

Rinse and repeat but with alternating characters initiating the cold shoulder for the rest of the book. Oh and throw in a love triangle, too. 

Want to know the full list of drama and awful things that occur in the book? 

Parent and grandparent death, suicide, abortion, unplanned pregnancy, estranged fathers, racism, abusive relationships where the two people STAY FRIENDS FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES, a love triangle, a shooting/death of a partner, amputation/medical trauma, depression, and more.

 

The whole book was a codependent relationship where the two main characters hated each other off and on – I wanted them to either get therapy and figure their shit out or just stop being friends because they’re both toxic. 

I am very aware of the conversation circling books: can you or are you supposed to enjoy a book with unlikable characters? I’d say it depends on why you read, the purpose of the book, and what you like in books. 

To me, it’s like the difference between Friends/Seinfeld, It’s Always Sunny, and Succession. The first shows have pretty terrible people in them but they try to convince you that they’re good people, the second show knows and revels in the fact that the MCs are all terrible people but it’s for comedy, and the third show knows you want that good, good drama about terrible people. All valid and great shows, but it’s crucial to know what you want to watch and what you’re getting into. For instance, I know I wouldn’t like Succession, so I don’t watch it because I wouldn’t enjoy it. 

This is all to say that this isn’t objectively a bad book, it’s more a warning to readers who are interested. KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING INTO. If you don’t like melodramatic books about friendship that feels more off than on, then you’d almost certainly not like this book, especially if you despise love triangles. 

However, if you enjoy books with lots of dramatic life events, friendships that do feel real between people with lots of unresolved trauma and issues, and more, then you may enjoy this! 

I personally don’t enjoy those things and really did not connect with this book, so it wasn’t for me. 

To Zevin’s credit, she has an astounding vocabulary. More than 10-15 times I found myself looking up a word. And both the characters are almost too smart for their own good, so the usage of such words felt apt. 

Secondly, she did do a great job of putting forth one point of view or perspective so that I would understand, empathize with, and side with that character. But then the next POV switch would occur and I would switch sides. This shows a fundamental understanding of her characters that she was able to do that because context and understanding is more than half the battle.  

Another book about two best friends creating art together alongside the crazy ups and downs and trauma of life that I really enjoyed was The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker. I can’t put my finger on why I enjoyed that book more than T & T & T, but perhaps it was that I actually felt their friendship better and that even though the two characters go through highs and lows and insane shit, they at least felt like real friends and worked through it. I felt a deeper connection to the two of them and wanted them to work out whatever they go through. So maybe that is the difference. Oh and no love triangles! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

What absolutely stunning writing – this tells the story of 2 sisters from the same mother who have no idea of each other’s existence. The mother of one runs away during a fire and later has another daughter. Told in alternating chapters of each blood line with descending generations (for instance, the first 2 chapters are told from the perspectives of the two sisters, then the next 2 chapters are told from each of their child’s perspectives), we see these fully fleshed out lives of these generations of one family, one raised in America and the other in Africa. 

Besides the writing being absolutely gorgeous, I loved the storytelling method and the sheer quantity of characters who all feel so different and yet so similar, gathered by shared experiences. I was blown away by the different personalities, perspectives, thoughts, behavior, and lifestyles of all the characters – Gyasi truly has a talent for creating little vignettes that give you great insight into each character and how their parent affects their personality or opinions. 

It is also fascinating to read the myriad of perspectives of race, gender, class, and sexuality from each person. As you can imagine, race and the relationship of white people and colonizers has a great impact on each generation in different ways, especially in the Antebellum South. 

This book felt similar to Pachinko in that we get all these different perspectives across various eras and locations, all tied to one lineage and one where a previous generation still effects the later ones. Fascinating. 

I also really enjoyed the tie in of African values, beliefs, mythologies, and more that I don’t often get in other books. Mythology, especially, is a fascinating subject as it shows how a group explains the natural world. 

The Time in Between by María Dueñas

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I told my friend that this book feels a lot like a character study of a single person’s life, except that I wouldn’t say Sira Quiroga had THE strongest personality I’ve ever read. Sure, you get some qualities and personality from the writing, but the book takes a bit more of a distant, almost bird’s eye view for the most part. It’s more like if that bird is flying fairly close and just following one person, if that metaphor makes sense. 

The back of the book describes Sira’s life from poor seamstress in Madrid to jilted and broke lover in Morocco, then to accomplished seamstress and spy in Madrid again. If you hoped for a fast-paced spy story, this is certainly not it. The book is more content to move at its own pace and examine events as they happen with small moments of excitement. I think the spy stuff doesn’t even enter the scene until at least 50% or even 66% of the book. 

I liked that Sira was resilient and gained skills that served her later in life, even if her character development doesn’t feel quite as strong as other books I’ve read. Sure, she gains skills and learns lessons, but it almost feels matter-of-fact, rather than the whole point of the story. 

If anything, I’d say that the author really did her research into World War II in Madrid, how Spanish politics were affected and affected the landscape around them, and the history of the country during that time. I can’t say for certain that the fashion or sewing aspects were right on, but they seemed right to me! I have very little sewing experience, however. 

The closest book in terms of themes and writing style would be A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles – slower paced, follows one character during revolution and great change over the course of years, and really pays attention to the political landscape of the country during a period of unrest.