bwandyn's reviews
175 reviews

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

My Side of the River by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

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1.5

Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

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adventurous funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

More of the same. Which isn’t my issue, I enjoyed Whitehead’s tangent approach back in Harlem Shuffle. It’s not about plot swings, it’s about vivid characters and backgrounds. Stuff you can’t adapt, the reason why you read in the first place. I just don’t engage with the three vignettes here as much as I did previously. If anything, they get progressively weaker.

I Came as a Shadow: An Autobiography by John Thompson

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informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

Bigger than basketball. Thompson’s humble stories touch on the racial politics and financial corruption that still surround sports and education today. I respect the personal depth he could bring to these issues, and the fact that he took some stories to his grave. Manages to reenact some of his highlight years without being exhaustive, while also speaking extensively on star players like Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson. Didn’t know a thing about college basketball prior, and still found this very accessible.

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang

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dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Starts strong and ends well, but I found it hard to care about every interpersonal relationship here, and it absolutely loses steam in its last third. That random little bio on the scientist that developed this world’s pain enhancers is what started losing me. And I got the themes early on, man, I promise I don’t need a footnote explaining what tear gas is and why it’s bad.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced