catmech's reviews
32 reviews

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Oh my god this book was a journey. I wanted to read it because every time I looked up gothic book recs it was on every list, and also my good friend Nellie recommended it to me. There were some parts of this book that I flew through because they were very very interesting and other parts that I slogged through. I think I can separate the book into a few parts:

1. Jane growing up (mostly miserable)
2. Jane working as a governess for Mr. Rochester
3. Mr. Rochester and the party of people
4. Jane running away and being her own person
5. Jane goes back to Mr. Rochester

Sections 2, 3, the beginning of 4, and 5 were the most interesting. This book is so long that the last half of 4 took me like a week to build up the energy to read. Also St. John haters rise up he is so annoying.

Have fun colonizing India you idiot.

Anyways now that I have read Jane Eyre I am going to give a big side eye to anyone who says that Jane and Mr. Rochester are a romantic couple. Yes they feel very strong emotions for each other but whenever I started to go "aw...." I had to remind myself that she's literally 18/19 for most of the book and he is (this is said multiple times!!!!!!!!!!!) 20 years older than her. Yikes central!!!!!!

I do like that Mr. Rochester mellowed out after Jane left him for a year. He really was scary when he was desperately trying to get Jane to marry him AFTER she found out about him being married to another woman and having her locked up in the third floor for years.

Man. Mr. Rochester kind of sucks.

Was not fun to read all the stuff about his first wife and him insulting her family and also him being like "she was so dumb she was stupid she had mental problems so I HAD to lock her up please believe me I did everything I could" like ok my guy. Sure you did.

Anyways this book has a few gothic tropes but not as many as I thought there would be??? I thought that Jane was going to get married to Mr. Rochester first and then do some digging and realize oh crap I've married a guy who is already married and his wife is living in the room DIRECTLY ON TOP OF MINE. That would have been fun.

Instead some guy just comes in while they are about to say their vows and is like "I object to this marriage!!!!" Cool but I wish there had been more buildup.

Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

This was a good Temeraire book but the whole time I was reading I couldn't stop thinking about how this was the second to last book and how sad I'm going to be when I've finished the series. Other than that this was the book I've been waiting for since literally the second or third book?

Amnesia-ed Laurence my beloved. It wasn't as angsty as I thought it would be (and wanted it to be) but it was still nice to have for like. 1/3 of the book. I think my least favorite part of the book was the whole Russia war thing.

I know like half of the draw of these books is the actual Napoleonic War, but I was struggling the whole time trying to remember a whole bunch of new names and keep track of who was where and what was happening. Not a fun time for me. But the

Japan section was nice, if short, though I thought Junichiro was kinda forgotten halfway through and then written away.

I hope he's doing well.

Anyways I can't believe Laurence remembered himself when he saw Tharkay.

The power of love!!!!!!! Also every time Laurence and crew call each other by their first names my brain just goes AAAAAAAAAAA. Ok on to the next book!!!!!!!

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.

I probably will finish this book but just. Not right now. I gotta speedrun the Temeraire books first and then I have like 10000 other gothic books to read. Sorry Anne Rice!!!!!!!! The pace of it is pretty slow too. 

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.

I WILL NEVER NOT BE SAD ABOUT THIS BOOK. Ok let me tell you about all the good good gothic elements that were so so tasty at the beginning of the book. Alright so 

1. (this isn't gothic I just like it) Marriage for reasons other than love????? We love that for us. 

2. Medical mishaps (there is a lot of blood and the doctor is very competent which is nice. Also gore and organs body horror etc etc) 

3. They literally know nothing about each other when they get married and also the doctor has a secret (of course. He is almost the perfect Byronic hero) 

4. HE HAS A BIG HOUSE THAT HE FEELS TIED TO AND HE WON'T LET ANYONE STAY THERE AT NIGHT. CMON. 

5. The house is really big and Jane explores it which is nice. Good for her (wish that were me) 

6. Jane explains her clothes and probably the other guy's too (I forgot his name it's been like five months since I stopped reading this book) and I just like that. It's not gothic though. 

7. The guy had a wife and something bad happened to her? I don't know exactly what but I think it was magic related. 

8. Jane kept having spooky dreams about another woman and also I think she saw ghosts (I am trying so hard to not get Dracula and this book mixed up right now). 

Okay so all these elements were really nice and made me really excited to finish but the book but oh my god why was there so much magic stuff. Like did we really need all the magic stuff. Couldn't the guy just have been a weird guy and have murdered his wife or something. I don't know. I felt like it got in the way of the gothic-ness. I did like all the descriptions of his ghost wife though. They were nice. 

Also, contrary to many people on Goodreads, I did like that Jane liked the guy immediately. I thought it was romantic (even though I normally don't care too much for that) and endearing. Yeah, she's been alone for a while. Just like the doctor. And she finally found someone who kind of has similar interests!!! I would latch on immediately too. 

Also I think around the halfway point Jane starts having just like. Nonstop hallucinations. I'm sorry authors I refuse to read long scenes that just make no sense whatsoever. I refuse and I Will just stop reading your book. I'm sorry (I'm not). 

Anyways I'm sad about this book. Sometimes I do check it out on Libby just to read the cool beginning medical scenes. And then I return it instantly. Thanks Libby. No thank you to the second half of this book. 

OK I JUST REMEMBERED THAT THE GUY'S LAST NAME IS PROBABLY LAWRENCE. BECAUSE HER NAME IS LAWRENCE. Or is that her maiden name????? I have no idea. Anyways I like the name Lawrence but Laurence is superior (no I haven't read Temeraire what are you talking about I must leave I left my oven on).

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

This is my favorite book thta Emily has ever read. Thots? Gone. Head? Empty. Bobby Lister? The only man EMily talked about for a solid 4 months. His majesty himself. MEntioned for the intro alone. For sheer level of vicarious enjoyment, pls make all of your friends with slightly morbid intersts, obsession with Jacob geller, vague interest in victorian medical history, or were intrigued by blood and gore and gallbladder removal from a young age, read this.
Just learned emily wanted her appendix removed for the clout. Yeah that scans.
Emily also is a reverse hydochondriac. If she says that she has the bubonic plague, don't trust her, and when she tries to show her her tuberculosis scars, know that she's luring you in for untoward purposes that definitely aren't going to result in the long, gristly road to mad sciecne. Brb gonna go make her watch the reanimator with me to see what monster I create. I'm the doctor frankenstein in this scenario, only I'm not a coward. I will care for and tend to my bestie, and not just go on the lamb from my college loans to like. Vienna or whatever. Emily, if ur reading this, be the Jekkyll to my Hyde <3 <3 <3. bb i passed biochem, and I know so many sexy sexy lab safety protocols, just to break them. OSHA violations? Verbatim? u kno it, just to spite those wimps i will be creating man made horrors beyond their imagination.
Magnum opus? More l454rfrr43dwaxytgike Magnum don-

Hi michael, wmily here.rfffrfrrrrffdfrdedededdeffce

Ok Emily review time it is me.

I started reading this book like months ago and then stopped and read it really really fast before I had to return it to the library!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways my favorite part of the book is still the intro where she talks about Robert Liston. It did propel me into a Robert Liston rabbithole for like. Several months. I made and printed and put up posters about him. I am not ashamed. 

Anyways I normally can't finish nonfiction books but this book had a nice balance between fiction-like descriptions and facts (and also I like weird gross medical history) that got me through it. Also I can't believe Listerine and Johnson & Johnson were like. Lister byproducts. I owe this man my life? Probably a lot of people do? That's cool. 

Something I wonder is how much sugarcoating the author did for this man. Like he was probably not a perfect guy? I would like to know more about him (even though his death wish was for the opposite of that) but also I guess it doesn't really matter in the light of his medical discoveries. Also I did look up carbolic acid halfway through reading this book and Google told me it was poisonous so. My first reaction to seeing carbolic acid being "NO DON'T USE THAT" was not entirely off. Good for him for making it work though. I am so glad that rubbing alcohol exists. Also plumbing. I love modern plumbing. I will kiss it on the mouth.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja
Did not finish book. Stopped at 47%.

This book made me realize that I cannot stand stream of consciousness and I will do anything to not have to read books in stream of consciousness ever again!!!!!! I like to know what is happening and not have to parse my way through :(. Though I wish I could have finished the book because the premise seemed very very much up my alley (and I still do think of this book whenever I have eczema flareups on my palm). Body horror yeehaw!!!!! But too much in the way.

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.5

Oh boy this book was just. Very sad almost the whole way through. I did read this all through dead week and also a bit of finals week so now that association is going to live in my brain forever. Anyways all I want is for Temeraire and Laurence to live happily in a nice little house with Granby and Tharkay nearby, and their dragons can sleep and eat as they please in a nice large field right outside. Is that too much to ask? I just want them all to be happy and stress free :-(

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book of all time!!!!!!!

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0