criticalgayze's reviews
178 reviews

Tremor by Teju Cole

4.5

A slim book that I felt was a little overstuffed with ideas, not all of which I completely understood including, but whose voice and thoughts and intelligence I appreciate.

Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti
Did not finish book. Stopped at 54%.

While an interesting book in concept, I found that as a text it becomes redundant. Some of this is due in large part to the lack of an introduction, which would have provided some contextualization and the author’s reflections on themes she found to be of interest. While an interesting work of personal scholarship, it was not engaging as a book-length work.

The Heroic Slave (an African American Heritage Book) by Frederick Douglass

adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar was my last read of 2023, which I requested largely based on its striking cover. I was also very interested in the formatting concept of plot, poems, and interstitials as I am finding format to be a bigger draw for me.

I will say there’s a lot here to like. As individual pieces, a lot of this works; however, I thought this was lacking cohesion. While some of this may be impacted by eARC formatting issues, I didn’t think everything blended.

Trying my very best not to spoil, the back third also did not end up working for me. I was more disappointed than gagged.

Finally, for a novel by a poet about a poet writing a novel, I was not wowed by the language.

Overall, I did like this, and please check out the lovely reviews I mentioned earlier!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Vomit, War, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content

A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat

funny reflective medium-paced

3.5

If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams

funny mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

Undressing the Duke by Erica Ridley
Did not finish book. Stopped at 29%.

First, my thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
Okay, I’m not sure if it is because I did not realize that this is book 7 in a series or if exposition is not high on this author’s priority list, but there was no exposition. We jump right in to Donovan wanting to dismiss his valet without having an attachment to either of them.