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craiglister's reviews
92 reviews
In the Woods by Tana French
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-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
4.0
Book Rating: 7/10
I’m going to do something I don't often do and have some spoilers in this review. Because I feel I can't convey everything I want to say about this book without going into spoiler territory.
I enjoyed this book a lot. I like the first-person narrative the author went with and wished more writers did that more often. While I saw the true culprit coming from a mile away, I, however, enjoyed the journey to the reveal. I loved Rob and Cassie as characters. They played well together until they slept with each other, and this is where it started to fall apart for me. Their friendship/partnership just disintegrated in a matter of minutes after the deed. If Rob slept with Cassie and moved on to the next conquest, it would have been more tolerable than what we got. Instead, Rob becomes a petulant child and stops talking and starts acting unprofessionally towards Cassie like she committed some unspoken crime between the two. Then the book starts getting more and more depressing. The banter between the characters evaporates, and Rob pretty much goes on strike. Why? God knows. I like damaged characters. They make for better reading. But this guy isn't just damaged. He's utterly broken, and for the life of me, I don't see how he was able to get on the murder squad as he barely functions as a police officer or a human being, for that matter. So as you can see, it upset me that the author went down this path. He even states near the end; no one could have predicted Rosalind being a psychopath. But like I said, it was pretty obvious she had something to do with her sister's death. I think you would need to be a total idiot not to see that Rosalind wasn't an ordinary girl. Cassie ending up with Sam also made zero sense to me since she shown zero interest in him until we find out they're engaged.
I don't think I would read book two if Rob were the main character, but thankfully, I've been told each book has a different character as the main protagonist. This means I will now read book two at some point. However, the fact we never truly got any resolution towards Peter and Jamie’s disappearance still bothers me. I understand in real life, you don't always get all the answers to all the questions, but since we more than likely wont see Rob again, it leaves me wondering why not wrap that up since you wrapped up everything else?
TL:DR Enjoyable read mostly. Well written. The plot twist was quite evident. Characters are likeable until something happens between the two. The ending was a tad unsatisfying. It's worth the read, and I will be picking up book two at some point.
I’m going to do something I don't often do and have some spoilers in this review. Because I feel I can't convey everything I want to say about this book without going into spoiler territory.
I enjoyed this book a lot. I like the first-person narrative the author went with and wished more writers did that more often. While I saw the true culprit coming from a mile away, I, however, enjoyed the journey to the reveal. I loved Rob and Cassie as characters. They played well together until
I don't think I would read book two if Rob were the main character, but thankfully, I've been told each book has a different character as the main protagonist. This means I will now read book two at some point.
TL:DR Enjoyable read mostly. Well written. The plot twist was quite evident. Characters are likeable until something happens between the two. The ending was a tad unsatisfying. It's worth the read, and I will be picking up book two at some point.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Abortion
Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin
4.0
This book was amazing. It elicited so many emotions in me. As a white man, I’ll never know the struggles people of colour have faced and still face today. But I think this book brought me as close as possible to understanding how it would feel. Going to Meet the Man is my first James Baldwin book, and you can tell he had a very refined style of writing that I can say is timeless. There's a quote in one of the stories that follow:
”Goddammit to hell, I'm sick of it. Can't I get a place to sleep without dragging it through the courts? I'm goddamn tired of battling every Tom, Dick, and Harry for what everyone takes for granted. I'm tired!”
I honestly don't know why but that passage of text just floored me. Something so simple as having somewhere to rest your head at night something we all do take for granted being so hard to obtain and once you got it so hard to keep when you're a person of colour in the ’50s.
So why not five stars? There were a couple of stories that I felt dragged and didn't equal the quality of the stories that came before and after it. For me, five stars means perfect and although if I could have I would have given this 4.5/5 stars as it's close to being perfect. But I must be genuine when I rate a book. Either way, this is a must-read book that I recommend everyone reading when they get a chance. I'm going to want to read more from James Baldwin in the future.
”Goddammit to hell, I'm sick of it. Can't I get a place to sleep without dragging it through the courts? I'm goddamn tired of battling every Tom, Dick, and Harry for what everyone takes for granted. I'm tired!”
I honestly don't know why but that passage of text just floored me. Something so simple as having somewhere to rest your head at night something we all do take for granted being so hard to obtain and once you got it so hard to keep when you're a person of colour in the ’50s.
So why not five stars? There were a couple of stories that I felt dragged and didn't equal the quality of the stories that came before and after it. For me, five stars means perfect and although if I could have I would have given this 4.5/5 stars as it's close to being perfect. But I must be genuine when I rate a book. Either way, this is a must-read book that I recommend everyone reading when they get a chance. I'm going to want to read more from James Baldwin in the future.
Act of Passion by Georges Simenon
4.0
Set in a first-person perspective, Charles Alavoine writes a letter to a judge in hopes to make him understand why he murdered his lover.
I enjoyed this book. I love the first-person perspective it immerses oneself in the narrative in a way you as the reader are apart of the story in ways a traditional novel can never do in my opinion. This book has a lot physiological exploration going on in the narrative; Charles isn't trying to buy his freedom nor is he trying to excuse his actions what he's doing is explaining why he did it and how the final outcomes was inevitable. Charles does come off a little cold at times, and he does often question his role in society but finally rejects it with the heinous crime of murder. The book, at times, is rather chilling at times because of this.
I don't think this book is for everyone as it does deal with some heavy topics some might find triggering. But overall, I did enjoy it.
I enjoyed this book. I love the first-person perspective it immerses oneself in the narrative in a way you as the reader are apart of the story in ways a traditional novel can never do in my opinion. This book has a lot physiological exploration going on in the narrative; Charles isn't trying to buy his freedom nor is he trying to excuse his actions what he's doing is explaining why he did it and how the final outcomes was inevitable. Charles does come off a little cold at times, and he does often question his role in society but finally rejects it with the heinous crime of murder. The book, at times, is rather chilling at times because of this.
I don't think this book is for everyone as it does deal with some heavy topics some might find triggering. But overall, I did enjoy it.
Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist
3.0
A decent story with themes that we can relate to even to this day. I enjoyed the writing style and was intrigued by the main character Michael Kohlhaas. However, I felt the story was missing something for me, and I'm not quite sure what that something was just that it was missing it.
The Rider on the White Horse by Theodor Storm
2.0
It just didn't connect to me. I think the characters felt like at times they all blended together and made it difficult to distinguish who was who. This is due to the fact the stories just didn't resonate with me.
The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat
4.0
This story about love, madness, loss, spiritual degradation, and fear. This is a short tale and my first ever Iranian novella I have read and I loved it. It's well written and I find the main character to be written in a way that you can't help on some level relating to him and his plight. Despite being wrong in his approach to his relationship or lack thereof with her. I can see why this is such an important work in modern Iranian literature. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this work, and I found the translation to be great.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
5.0
I love what if stories and this is such a magical story. The Midnight Library is such a clever and engaging concept. The story is about Nora a woman at the bottom. Friendless, jobless, and hopeless decides to kill herself. She is then given the chance to live all the lives she could possibly want to live to find the right life for her. But will she find it? Does such a thing even exist? I won't go further into the plot further as this is a book you have to read. It's important to remember as long as you’re live it doesn't matter how bad life seems to be there's always the potential for your life to get better. It might be corny but where there's life there's hope because when you die that potential is gone. I’m not going to lie but I can relate to Nora a lot and this book has given me a different perspective on life. I loved this book.
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
3.0
A quirky character driven story. I felt it didn’t meet my expectations that were made from what other people told me of it. I liked it but it wasn’t very memorable but it does have a strange ending. In my opinion, this book is a marmite book you will either love it or hate it. There is no middle ground with this one I’m afraid.
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
2.0
Forgettable plot and boring characters. This books saving grace was its world. I found that mildly interesting.
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
4.0
I tried to read this in 2020 and it ended up in my DNF pile. Usually, that would be the end of it. I rarely go back and try to read it again. But I kept hearing so many peoples’ praise for it that I just had to give this novel another go and I'm glad I did.
This is a wonderfully crafted novel. The characters are all well written and although Rin can and does come across as annoying sometimes I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. The world building will leave everyone satisfied. I really enjoyed the mythology as well. I‘m looking forward to the other two parts in this trilogy.
This is a wonderfully crafted novel. The characters are all well written and although Rin can and does come across as annoying sometimes I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. The world building will leave everyone satisfied. I really enjoyed the mythology as well. I‘m looking forward to the other two parts in this trilogy.