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blueberryhotel's reviews
49 reviews
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
300 pages to finally reveal what i knew all along…. elena is in love with lila
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Classism
Minor: Gun violence and Toxic friendship
My Lesbian Husband: Landscapes of a Marriage by Barrie Jean Borich
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
ahhhh… one of the best books i’ve ever read. undeniably VERY dense and it took me almost 3 months to get through, but i can’t take off any points for that because it was just SO good. gorgeous prose. made me feel seen, understood, validated in so many of my inner musings - and not just the ones about being a lesbian! i also connected so much with barrie’s reflection on her young adulthood, her struggles in finding her place, and later, her recounting of when linnea felt her career aspirations were defeated. at times it was difficult to follow because of all the time skipping and jumping around from different periods of barrie’s life (and aforementioned gorgeous prose, which could be on the wordier side), but i wouldn’t have changed that. if i was writing a memoir i would want to be as verbose and descriptive to convey my life experiences and feelings too. i could write an essay on how much this book means to me. i felt so deeply connected with queer (and esp lesbian) history reading this. i love how barrie grapples with the dilemma of where lesbian marriages fit (and more often don’t fit) into the heterosexual mainstream. i think the review blurb on the back cover from rosellen brown says it best, that barrie writes “as if she herself were curious to discover what she is thinking about their relationship.”
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
this is one of the most unique books i’ve ever read in that it was so unexpected and honestly, a little bit confusing! definitely liked it better than my year of rest and relaxation though i will say i like that both books captivated me and kept me reading - i couldn’t put them down. i love the unreliable narrator aspect and the mystery that draws you in and makes you want to forget the narrator is, in fact, unreliable.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
not sure what to make of this book. it’s definitely not for everyone and i can see why it’s so controversial. on one hand, i really appreciated how true to life it felt in portraying a depressive episode that robs you of any ability to feel or operate like anything resembling a human being; however, that felt a little TOO real for me at times, which is more of a personal thing than a complaint about the book. obviously the narrator is unlikeable, and i kind of liked that because it’s different and challenging and i hate the trend of audiences gravitating solely towards media with a clear-cut, black-and-white portrayal of a hero with perfect morals. but i can also understand why some readers hate the narrator so much they find it unbearable to read, and it’s certainly difficult to really connect with her. i liked the writing and i was very impressed by the fact that a book where virtually nothing happens could have me hooked to the point that i read it as quickly as i did. for some reason i did expect some more dramatic twists or turns in the plot and was left a little disappointed and wanting more from the ending, but i can respect that it wouldn’t have really represented the character or the experience of depression. overall i liked it but it wasn’t my favorite book i’ve ever read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Drug use, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Body shaming
Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abandonment, Cancer, Classism, Grief, and Pregnancy
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
gorgeous gorgeous book. it felt like reading a novel-length poem, which i loved. i think i could spend years picking apart each sentence and passage and weaving together all the meanings and symbolism and still not cover everything. so unique and captivating and heartbreaking - this book made me cry and i rarely cry while reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, War, Abortion, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Car accident, Excrement, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Cancer, and Medical trauma
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
this book pulled me in like a block of cement dropped into the harbor, then the waters immediately became far too murky for me to stay immersed in the experience. in other words, the concept behind this book is incredibly interesting and attention-grabbing, but i had a lot of difficulty remaining attentive because of calvino’s excessively verbose prose. there were a lot of really long, hard to follow sentences that were made even harder to follow by the fact that he went into extensive philosophical and immaterial tangents. it took me a lot longer to finish this book than i would’ve liked because i kept getting caught up on difficult passages. anyway, the plot itself is one of the most inventive i’ve ever read, and it was very satisfying to unravel little mysteries only to discover they’d transformed into more complex ones. i just wish i was more engaged so i could have paid even better attention to all the little details calvino weaves together.
also, if you think about it, this book is basically a sophisticated iteration of a self-insert fic. lol
also, if you think about it, this book is basically a sophisticated iteration of a self-insert fic. lol
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
the most unrealistic part of this book wasn’t the two moons in the sky, or the weird cult that makes doppelgängers of young girls, or the parallel universe thing. it was that aomame is supposedly heterosexual
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Incest
Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
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