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booitsnathalie's reviews
94 reviews
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Child death, and Abandonment
Temporary by Hilary Leichter
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
A curious magical realism novel about the anxiety of temp work that gets too caught up in its fiction to construct a coherent theme. There’s definitely something here about how living under capitalism puts you in a constant state of precariousness you are then left to try and outrun, but it’s muddied with this strange romantic notion of being middle class and eventually a girlboss at the end of the world. I like the whimsical prose but there’s only so many homophone jokes I can take before I’m dying for real character development.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Rape
The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide, and Death of parent
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream: Stories by Harlan Ellison
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, and Body horror
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts
Blindness by José Saramago
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Excrement, Sexual assault, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Murder, Ableism, and Blood
Minor: Suicide
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Bullying, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism and Child death
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
What an exasperating novel! Literally half of it is made up of the most inane, indulgent emails where characters ponder about consumerism and cosmetics and the philosophy of relationships, with zero theoretical background. Literally hundreds of pages of people just saying shower thought nonsense about labor and the exploitation of the global south and being like "idk if that makes sense, I've just been thinking about it." These are the sorts of conversations I have with friends over coffee and they tell me to read a fucking book.
The parts that aren't Wikipedia rehashes are also bizarrely inert. Huge chunks of the book read like alt text (constant plain descriptions of characters opening messaging apps), with almost no character voice because it's written in this detached third person style where everyone is a soup of the author just trying to have a single coherent idea. The back third of the book is the best by a wide margin because the emails go away and characters actually interact, but even that is too little too late because it's coming in with dynamics that are explicitly pulling from decades of friendship we barely see. We're meant to assume these characters are best friends despite only having uncomfortable interactions and bizarre emails. Then - psych - it's COVID time and we're talking about how actually nothing changed and isn't it sad we can't go to the cinema. Just exhausting stuff.
Finally, there are ongoing gestures at queerness which are so fucking obnoxious. Two of the characters are supposedly bisexual but everyone craves the traditional stability of heteronormativity. The book literally ends with a character getting pregnant and talking about marrying her childhood best friend and moving to the country.
This will certainly appeal to a certain type of middle class liberal that fancies themselves progressive but refuses to engage with actual materialist reality. Why consider decades of theory when you can act like you're the first person who has ever thought maybe it's wrong to subjugate much of the world to preserve an expendable lifestyle. Rooney is so transparently trying to come to terms with her own wealth and celebrity and it's just embarrassing.
What a fucking let down after Normal People.
The parts that aren't Wikipedia rehashes are also bizarrely inert. Huge chunks of the book read like alt text (constant plain descriptions of characters opening messaging apps), with almost no character voice because it's written in this detached third person style where everyone is a soup of the author just trying to have a single coherent idea. The back third of the book is the best by a wide margin because the emails go away and characters actually interact, but even that is too little too late because it's coming in with dynamics that are explicitly pulling from decades of friendship we barely see. We're meant to assume these characters are best friends despite only having uncomfortable interactions and bizarre emails. Then - psych - it's COVID time and we're talking about how actually nothing changed and isn't it sad we can't go to the cinema. Just exhausting stuff.
Finally, there are ongoing gestures at queerness which are so fucking obnoxious. Two of the characters are supposedly bisexual but everyone craves the traditional stability of heteronormativity. The book literally ends with a character getting pregnant and talking about marrying her childhood best friend and moving to the country.
This will certainly appeal to a certain type of middle class liberal that fancies themselves progressive but refuses to engage with actual materialist reality. Why consider decades of theory when you can act like you're the first person who has ever thought maybe it's wrong to subjugate much of the world to preserve an expendable lifestyle. Rooney is so transparently trying to come to terms with her own wealth and celebrity and it's just embarrassing.
What a fucking let down after Normal People.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol and Toxic relationship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent
Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Decent body horror novella with a lot of queer subtext. I think it tries to be about too many things and doesn't end up having coherent thoughts about any of them (transhumanism, being trans and beholden to the pharmaceutical industry, trauma from complicity with a dehumanizing corporation), but it's pretty sick when a lesbian turns into the monster from Carrion and eats Newark.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Body horror, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Murder, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual assault and Murder