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catsteaandabook's reviews
450 reviews
Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, and Transphobia
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
adventurous
funny
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really enjoyed this book! It was excellently written. It’s the funniest book I’ve read in a while and made me laugh out loud several times. The humor reminded me of Melissa Broder, but in my opinion funnier. It also had a good balance of seriousness, though.
It was a very frustrating book. It’s essentially 300 pages of Hera (the main character) making the same horrible choice over and over. It made its point though and the ending brought it up from 4 to 4.25.
I definitely don’t think this book is for everyone, but I enjoyed it and will definitely read more from Madeleine Gray.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
hopeful
inspiring
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
The Free People's Village by Sim Kern
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It was cool to read such a brazenly leftist book, though it did kind of read as “this is what leftism is” at times which was just not what I wanted. I can understand its value though. The prose also was not my favorite, though it wasn’t bad.
Also, this is a very small portion of the book, but I kind of didn’t appreciate how Christianity was portrayed, like I believe we can understand and condemn all of the terror that has been inflicted using Christianity as a front and all the oppression still perpetrated by Christian leaders and organizations, while also recognizing that they do not define the religion as a whole. The book basically calls Christianity inherently evil, using European Christian conquests and white Christian nationalism as reasoning, which I just think is belittling to progressive and non-European Christians. (Christianity literally started in Palestine.) Also not all preachers are rich? Like? Most aren’t?
Anyway, I appreciated a lot of what this book had to say. I loved the concept and I think it did an excellent job showing how democrats won’t save us. I also appreciated seeing different opinions within leftism. And neopronoun rep! I loved its portrayal of white guilt and how, while it’s well meaning, it frequently ends up hurting people of color. Liberal white guilt runs deep and I’m still in the process of unlearning it. It’s admittedly only recently that I learned about the harm it can cause.
This book wasn’t perfect, and honestly I think part of my feelings are just it not really being my style, but I still am glad I read it and I would like to read more from Sim Kern.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt