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bloop's Reviews (102)
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was really pondering my rating for Wish You Were Here for a couple days. I settled on a 3.25 for a couple reasons which I will now describe. LOL.
Negatives:
Negatives:
- I found the main character, Diana, to be quite annoying and entitled at times. She makes questionable decisions, but I guess that's how the plot of this book moves along.
- I agree with Picoult's politics that she heavily emphasizes in the books, but it comes off as too preachy. Then again, not sure how to make the issue of COVID and wearing masks not preachy. I don't know. It just didn't seem too well-incorporated to me.
- I really liked the plot twist at first. But now that I am thinking about it,
I realized that I hate cheap plot twists wherein the main character was just hallucinating something, it was all a dream, i.e. nothing was real. I get that this is a real phenomenon that happens to peopleespecially based off accounts of those who had COVID but just based off of personal preference, I grew to dislike it. It just felt cheap to me. - The pace of the book was slow at first, but then picked up a little more than halfway through the book. I think it took too long for this to happen.
Positives:
- The characters, despite how annoying they (Diana) may seem, are really accurate and well-fleshed out to how I imagine people behave in real life.
- I was always looking forward to reading this book in order to figure out what was going to happen next. I was almost late to work one day because I was too engrossed in it!
- Picoult's writing is beautiful and very descriptive so I could really envision what was being illustrated.
- The book seems very well-researched and I learned new things about COVID and the beginning of the pandemic when reading this book. I also learned about Sotheby's which I had no idea what it was until reading. Very cool.
- I love Finn. In my mind, he is very attractive and hot.
Overall, I would recommend this book to other people (although it wouldn't be near the top of my list). Is it the best book I've ever read? Certainly not. I think it's worth reading but not an absolute must.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Paul Kalanithi flexed so hard on all of us and then died.
On a serious note, this book made me reconsider my motivations for pursuing medicine, and it inspired me that even during his final months, he was longing to pursue neurosurgery. No doubt Kalanithi was an amazing writer that just knew how to effectively connect to his readers without the need for excessive, grandiloquent diction albeit his MA in English. Lucy’s epilogue was what really got me, and I sobbed reading about Paul’s final days, his decision to be taken off the ventilator, acceptance of his death, to his last breath on Earth. It was beautiful. I definitely see why it’s kind of like an unspoken requirement to read for pre-med students.
On a serious note, this book made me reconsider my motivations for pursuing medicine, and it inspired me that even during his final months, he was longing to pursue neurosurgery. No doubt Kalanithi was an amazing writer that just knew how to effectively connect to his readers without the need for excessive, grandiloquent diction albeit his MA in English. Lucy’s epilogue was what really got me, and I sobbed reading about Paul’s final days, his decision to be taken off the ventilator, acceptance of his death, to his last breath on Earth. It was beautiful. I definitely see why it’s kind of like an unspoken requirement to read for pre-med students.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book was so well-written but so painfully boring at times. And at times, I mean the at-length deep dive into DSJ’s life. I understand that it’s supposed to be a semi-biography, but I wished the author focused more on aspects of her life rather than glorifying this raging eugenicist (mainly in the beginning). I was definitely shocked by learning the history America has with forced sterilization, and I learned so many interesting things I never would have figured out for myself had I not read this book. All the reflection and introspection is beautifully written and drives home the point that chaos is the ultimate ruler of life. Not only that, but instead of trying to tame the chaos, we should accept and embrace it.
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I can't believe I forgot to write a review for this book. It did take me a while to get through, given I work a full-time job and was applying to med school during this time. I don't remember a lot of the small details, but V.E. Schwab is an incredibly talented writer and describes things with the most beautiful language. I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending, but tbh the tension between Addie and Luc was so so good and well-written.
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was hyped up by BookTok during the summer of 2021. I just now got around to reading it, and I have to say, it didn't live up to the hype but it was still a decent book. Getting to experience Nora's different lives with her was fun, but like many others, I felt like the glaciologist storyline was a bit boring and random. For instance, that weird plot point with Hugo took me out of the story and was unnecessary. Now, the reason why I did not rate this book higher was because the different lives felt repetitive at one point, and some were dragged out. I disagree with others that say this book seems to romanticize depression and suicide, it in fact, does quite the opposite. The ending of the book tied the story together nicely, but I think too many things fell into place for Nora instead of her following the moral of the story by putting effort into changing the course of her life.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is the first time I have read anything from Alex Michaelides, and I decided to pick it up because I was drawn by the cover and description, since I have a minor in Classics. Not going to lie, I was stoked when he slipped a quote from Aristotle in the book because I literally had to annotate Poetics in one of my Ancient Literature classics.
To me, the book just didn't flow well. I did appreciate the short chapters, which helped me move the book quickly. However, I didn't understand why Mariana was so fixated on the murders and dedicated her time to solving it. Additionally, I found Henry to be such an irrelevant plot point and just added in there for shock factor. The reveal at the end seemed cheap, something that a 14 year-old on Wattpad could just write up in order to produce the most twisted ending possible. Overall, it was underwhelming for me, but still an enjoyable read.
To me, the book just didn't flow well. I did appreciate the short chapters, which helped me move the book quickly. However, I didn't understand why Mariana was so fixated on the murders and dedicated her time to solving it. Additionally, I found Henry to be such an irrelevant plot point and just added in there for shock factor. The reveal at the end seemed cheap, something that a 14 year-old on Wattpad could just write up in order to produce the most twisted ending possible. Overall, it was underwhelming for me, but still an enjoyable read.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was absolute insanity! Going in to it, I had no idea what to expect. All the reviews on BookTok say that it's good with a crazy twist; my friend read it and all she told me was that the book was good but she didn't know how to feel about it because it disturbed her. Now, I would take my opinion with a grain of salt because this is the first "thriller" type book I have ever read. However, the book didn't have as much as an amazing plot twist that I thought it would.
Another reviewer mentioned that it would have been a great choice to reveal the main character as the antagonist at the end, but alas. I'm still satisfied with the reveal because it leaves it up for interpretation of whether Verity really was psychotic or not.
Overall though, I was always left wanting to know more, since the foreshadowing of tragic events was quite evident. I could quite vividly imagine all the creepy scenes and it definitely had me spooked at times. Would recommend for anyone looking for a quick read, but beware of the trigger warnings because there are mentions of blood and child abuse at times.
Overall though, I was always left wanting to know more, since the foreshadowing of tragic events was quite evident. I could quite vividly imagine all the creepy scenes and it definitely had me spooked at times. Would recommend for anyone looking for a quick read, but beware of the trigger warnings because there are mentions of blood and child abuse at times.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
I didn't realize this was YA fiction. But regardless, I was a little turned off by how much a lot of the situations were dragged out. I hated hearing about taking the SATs and high school, but I guess that just comes with the YA territory. No amount of Vietnamese references could save this book for me.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I definitely enjoyed this book more than Ugly Love. I think it's just cause I ended up liking the two characters more; their love was not only passionate but also cute and sweet. I love how Colleen Hoover sprinkles little plot points here and there to keep you guessing. The only thing keeping me from giving this a four stars was the inner dialogue of Ben's mind when he first sees Fallon (and also what he says aloud to her) because it was definitely a little gross; had Ben not been as attractive as Fallon describes him, that definitely would have been a turn off. The reveal was definitely shocking but I think I should've expected it. To me, I don't think there's anything that can top It Ends with Us yet.
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I did like the two main characters on their own, but was confused at the development of the relationship and how Miles treated Tate the entire time. The reveal of Miles's backstory and why he can't "commit to a relationship" definitely makes sense and was more complicated than what I was expecting, but I will have to say that it felt like I was reading the script of an LMN movie at times. It was very spicy though which I always appreciate.