You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

cassbarker's Reviews (71)

On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint

Maggie Nelson

3.25

August Blue

Deborah Levy

3.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i found it bizarre, but levy is very good at painting exactly who the speaker is, she is so good at crafting a distinct person leading the story.

The House on Via Gemito

Domenico Starnone

DID NOT FINISH: 21%

bad time for me to read, and was dragging with little momentum. i liked the style though, and think i will try and give it another shot soon

Sex and Lies

Leïla Slimani

3.0

informative reflective fast-paced

I wish there was more social-cultural analysis, the glimpses Slimani gave of examining this intersection between islam and sex in a more in depth, historical and analytical manner were great, but there was so little immersive, ground breaking analysis. it was incredibly well put together, she paints the image of modern morocco for women very well, the collection really stands as a snapshot in time, a momento of real stories. i think i was expecting more essay style work, hence why i feel like its a lacking in some ways. still a solid, insightful read, hopefully this will spark my own research and further reading into the intersection of islam and sex.

Salt: Selected Stories and Essays

Bruce Pascoe

4.5

Men Have Called Her Crazy

Anna Marie Tendler

1.75

I really wanted to like this - I really love her as an artist, and think the work she creates is stunning, and I sympathise with what she went through over the past few years. However… this book was not very great, sure it had good moments but…. overall felt like it was trying to be introspective and deep and interesting and failing to do so. Even just the way she describes her work, like the characterisation of an ‘actual job’ ? Bizarre as it feels like she is just discrediting people who have the same interest and work passion as her… like artists..,? Ultimately so much of it unfortunately falls into the category of white woman feminism that only seems to be able to discuss how misogyny affects her directly, rather than anything slightly deeper. So much of her frustration seemed to come from just not having inspiration like yes darling, you reap what you sow, that’s apart of work, it’s ups and downs. I don’t know what else to say, just felt very… meh.