chocopankek's reviews
77 reviews

Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe

5.0

i definitely don't understand people who pick up an ultimately slice-of-life novel and then complain when nothing that interesting happens. this book is what is says on the tin. it's funny, heartwarming, and extremely authentic all the way through. if you were looking for a book with emphasis on the plot rather than the characters, look elsewhere, but this is definitely a fun if lighter read.

Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm

4.0

i mean. can i say i knew what was going on throughout 90% of this book? not really but i was enjoying it so

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

5.0

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

4.0

Bad Fruit by Ella King

5.0

i actually flew through this book. what a great representation of the pervasiveness of generational trauma and how to escape the cycle of abuse. more and more is revealed as the book goes on and i felt like the ending was very much earned.

Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero

4.0

not really sure what the proper way of rating memoirs/autobiographies is because the story in this book is objectively good, i just wish it was told at less of a breakneck pace. i don't think that's geena's fault, though; this book is basically 30+ years of her life condensed down into a few hundred pages- anyone would struggle with going into much detail there. does it make me a little sad to hear about all of the progress that was made for trans rights, not only in the US, but internationally, knowing that a lot of it would be stripped away in the years since? yes, but this story is still worth reading as an example of what transgender people are capable of, provided they can be their truest selves.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

5.0

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

5.0

The Donut Legion by Joe R. Lansdale

3.0

The mystery was pretty engaging and I liked a lot of what actually happened but I wish less crime fiction was filled with this "edgy humor" style of writing and political commentary. Was I supposed to like these characters? Other than Charlie, who is bearable because he's the main character and therefore the audience surrogate, most of the other characters on "our side" are difficult to root for. Felix has the dialogue of every typical smartass of all time, which is okay occasionally but gets annoying further into the book, both major female characters (Cherry and Scrappy- seriously, Scrappy? whatever) exist essentially to have hot sex with Charlie and Felix and to talk about having hot sex with them. I genuinely couldn't tell (mostly because I don't know anything about this book's author, having never read his other works) whether I was supposed to agree with these badass, non politically-correct, old-fashioned main characters or whether I was actually supposed to find them annoying. I kept imagining having to suffer through a dinner party with any of these people and I could not stand it.

Again, I do think this problem I have with the protagonists of this book is a problem with crime fiction as a whole. I would've enjoyed this one more thoroughly if Felix's personality was completely different, and I don't think it would've taken much away from the story itself. It's a shame, too, because the stuff about the cult/Mr. Biggs/Cowboy was all genuinely pretty fun and interesting. Oh well.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

4.0

really, really weird in a good way. i wish there was more buildup of supporting characters, and that there was more time spent on some of the scenes towards the end, but really it was very weird and good the entire way through. so much weird sex stuff, though, so if you're not into that give this one a miss. it wasn't gratuitous because it made sense for the story, but there was kind of a *lot* of it.