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brannonkirkhuang's reviews
504 reviews
Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
4.0
Came into this expecting a horror book for spooky season. I ended up getting a scathing, haunting critique of capitalism and the meat industry. Astoundingly haunting. Something we must avoid and resist at all cost is the normalization of man-made horrors.
Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
You mean to tell me that the first 225 pages of this book take place before the ending of the last one??? And these pages have seemingly no bearing on the story except to establish that everybody is dreaming about two redheads? Then we finally get back to Lestat where the last book left off, which was seemingly at the start of a massive climax, and all the energy is just gone??? And the book thinks I’ll read it????
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
I don’t believe that the character who “found” the book would actually take the time to read through it, organize it, find translations, sort out the footnotes, and write about his sexcapades and weird friend in new footnotes of his own making. I simply don’t believe that he has that in him. I know many reviews have talked about how deeply unsettling and disturbing this book is, but it didn’t hit that way for me at all. It’s just too overstuffed for the sake of being overstuffed.
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Lost interest at the switch to her being in college. Too many books on my tbr at the moment which may be influencing me to put this one down. Lots of stuff from the library to get through.
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
4.0
When this book cooks, it’s the most delightful reading experience of all time. Never before has a vampire drinking blood been so sexy. I do cringe at the scattered worship of the “western world” as being morally superior, as caring for all human life, when this is observably false. Even within the first book in the series we see slave ownership in the U.S. That doesn’t scream “western morality” to me.
The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 3 by Wu Ch'eng-En
3.0
This book is incredibly delightful, with really cool moments, specifically the city with no men was a treat. I do think I’m starting to feel the fatigue of reading something SO. LONG. though. I want them to just get to the west already and end this endless repetition of battling demons. That’s all.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Did not finish book. Stopped at 66%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 66%.
I simply can’t finish it. The way he writes women is abysmal. The way the men just go about like clueless fools day after day, not managing to be of any meaningful help, while someone is being absolutely SUCKED DRY is crazy. I can’t bear it. How do I have over 100 pages left and I want it to be over RIGHT NOW.
Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson
5.0
Adorable book that’s also strangely dark as you can clearly see how the comet is meant to represent the threat of a bomb during wartime.
Exemplary Novels by Miguel de Cervantes
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.
While I greatly enjoyed the first few stories, I found the story about the Glass Lawyer to be simply dumb, and was then horrified to read The Novel of the Power of Blood, which is a story about a man who abducts and rapes a woman, then abandons her to find her way home to her family, abused and alone. Instantly I had a bad feeling about this story. Based on how many of the other stories tended to turn into cheesy romances, I feared that in the end, instead of punishing the man for raping her, they would justify the rape by having the two get married and fall in love. My fear was exactly correct. It was awful. A classic rape-victim-to-lovers story trope that I wish I’d never had the misfortune to read. At one point, the man’s mom showed a picture of an ugly woman to her son and told him she’s chosen her to be his bride and he responded, “I don’t want a noble, intelligent, rich, or wise woman because I already have all that stuff in me. I just want a beautiful girl.” He was a pig from start to finish, but somehow his rape was justified because he married the girl just because he found her beautiful - that’s all his feelings of love were based on. I’m sorry, but of course these stories are from the sixteen hundreds and of course the author is Catholic, and holy shit, sure, that explains this bullshit, but it doesn’t justify it. I don’t think I can read any more of this just because of how awful that story was.