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bloop's Reviews (102)
Felt so relieved to be done with this book. The subject matter was very upsetting, and the author presented us with a very unique perspective of the Cultural Revolution from a young child’s standpoint. This book really served to show the ills of communism (as in, when it is taken too far and its bastardization leads to the brainwashing of citizens) and according to my parents, their lives were similar under Vietnamese Communist rule. I think the book could’ve done a few things better. It recounted a lot of events without really emphasizing impact. Also, I’m just being nitpicky, but I HATED the audiobook narrator. I can’t deny her voice acting talent, but there was just something about her voice that was so grating and annoying that it was hard to listen to. Seriously dreaded turning it on every time I sat in my car.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Love, Theoretically just put the nail in the coffin for Ali Hazelwood books for me. Hazelwood’s writing, remarkably, gets worse with each new book she publishes. I normally get through romance books pretty quickly, but this book in particular took me nearly a month. I attribute this to the lackluster characters and lack of an actual conflict. Everything was solved so quickly and then tied up with a bow that it wasn’t even satisfying to read. Furthermore, I once again take issue with her excessive millennial humor that seems like it’s from the 2013-2015 iFunny era. They were SO CRINGE. Additionally, the main characters are literally copied and pasted from her other books, without true depth of character, and the *spice* was just terrible. Of course there’s always one nice guy who turns out to be the big, bad guy in the end and the predictability of it all made the book so jejune. Her first book, The Love Hypothesis, was far superior, and as long as Hazelwood keeps following this repetitive formula, I can’t ever foresee a future where I read another book of hers.
I have such conflicting feelings about this book. Emrata seems like a smart gal, but the way this book is written is giving pseudointellectual. A lot of the stuff she talks about is v unrelatable and just sounds like a pretty girl complaining about being too pretty. Additionally, she tries to separate herself from other girls in the industry but ends up unintentionally sounding like "I'm not like other girls" which rubs me the wrong way. At the same time, Ratajkowski opens up about the traumatic experiences that she has had in the industry, and I admire her candor. There are a lot of interesting themes that could have been explored in this book but were unfortunately barely touched on. Finally, I listened to this on audiobook, and I'm so sorry but her narration was so bland...
Loved listening to this on audiobook. I think some parts were a bit repetitive but for the most part I liked it.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is the first short story I have read that has absolutely captivated me. I was engrossed throughout the whole 20 minutes it took to read—I honestly wish this was a fully fleshed out novel because the premise is so interesting, and there are a lot of fascinating characters I wanted the author to explore. The writing was very beautiful as well, and I hope to pick up an Alix Harrow novel in the future!
I don't think I have ever been as incensed while reading a book as I have while reading this one (well, listening to it). If you can, I would highly recommend listening to this memoir on audiobook. The emotion in Chanel Miller's voice was so raw, and I almost wanted to cry a few times myself, especially when she was reading her letter to Brock Turner. In this part, her voice was quivering, and she paused multiple times. You could hear her breathing to steady herself, and then beginning her words again. No notes, this book was so well written and so powerful, and anyone who has a negative review of it sucks and/or is a victim-blamer and rape apologist.
slow-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I’m missing something. I’ve seen people say that this is one of their favorite books of all time but it just didn’t have that same emotional pull for me. Kazuo Ishiguro is clearly a gifted writer, but his prose was a bit boring and dry for me, so none of the emotional moments really packed a punch or I just missed them entirely because I had to go back and reread to understand what was happening. The latter wasn’t because the book was difficult to read, rather a symptom of the lackluster prose. The plot itself was a little bland and the most sympathetic character (the MC), Kathy, was a little bit annoying to me. I also hated Ruth, but that’s not why I rated the book low. I believe Ruth is the most well-written character in the book and manifests through her infuriating behavior, which is why my frustration with her is so real. Overall, I didn’t really enjoy the book but I still want to look into his other work.
The writing was soooo clunky and heavy-handed. Needed some major editing as I definitely read the same paragraph twice in different places. I also was uncomfortable with the manner in which Blake Butler portrayed his late wife, Molly Brodak, and if I’m being honest, including her suicide note, personal text messages, etc. in the book was kind of off-putting to me and comes off as exploitative, mainly because she can’t even consent to his usage of them. It feels like I’m peering into a part of her life that she never intended anyone to see or know about except Butler. He also regularly quotes Brodak’s memoir and it’s like… am I supposed to be reading her book or yours? The lack of paragraphs also deterred me from reading further. Yuck.
I wasn’t really engaged enough with the material. 25% of the way through, I realized I don’t care about the intricacies of the wool industry.
Super disappointed in this book. I should have listened to Jillian!! I feel like a lot of the topics he covered were pretty trite, and he oftentimes went on long diatribes that either rubbed me the wrong way or left me thinking "Ok...and?" What is the point of this book? The people that would pick up a Neil deGrasse Tyson book would already be aware of the topics he talked about, so why drone on about them? The dumb*ss people that really need to hear it would not even read this book lmao. There were some parts of the book that got a giggle out of me, and my favorite part of the book was when he was talking about the lottery of life, which I already heard him talk about from an interview clip... So really I didn't really learn anything new except for an interesting fact here or there that I probably will not remember (e.g. a bullet can pass through your body before you even hear the sound of the gun go off). I also felt he was humble bragging way too much. No one gives a shit about your Twiter following, Neil. I still want to give his other stuff a try, but I was not impressed with this one. Overall, Starry Messenger read as hackneyed, self-serving rant.