crywithclaire's reviews
48 reviews

Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

5.0

this made me laugh out loud and also verbalized things that i had thought but never put together in that specific way before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, War

Moderate: Religious bigotry

True Biz by Sara Nović

emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i wanted more! i learned a lot. i thought it was very clever that the author used the Deaf history class as a means to educate the audience through charlie 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism, Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

really good but a bit incongruent plot wise between the essays. like he ends up repeating backstory and exposition a lot. that’s really just a small quibble tho, this is definitely one of the better memoirs i’ve read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racism

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

4.0

Very interesting read, and feels contemporary even in 2023. Butler’s prose is both digestible and compelling, and I would have gotten through this book quite quickly if not for the challenging subject matter. Lauren’s a fairly likable protagonist most of the time and it’s easy to root for her. At first, I found the way that she bluntly and nonchalantly described the violence surrounding her to be grating, but over time I realized I could not fault her for this as it’s all she’s ever known and despite her hyperempathy, in many ways she is desensitized to it. However, I absolutely HATED the romantic relationship she gets into near the end and felt as though the darker side of what Lauren was doing with Earthseed could have been addressed more (why criticize organized religion just to have the solution be to start a different organized religion?). Overall though, if you’re looking for a book with strong ideas about the effects of climate change, late-stage capitalism, globalization/imperialism, religious institutions, etc. this is definitely for you.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

2.0

Honestly, this just didn’t do it for me. I really wanted to like it because I think Kang had interesting things to say about topics such as trauma, abuse, and misogyny, to name a few, but I don’t think any of the themes introduced were really explored enough for me to get a solid grip on Kang’s message, much less appreciate it. I didn’t feel like I got to know any of the characters enough to really care about them either. The structure of the book is interesting, with three different parts each told from a different character’s perspective, but again, I don’t think Kang did enough to make me invested in any of them or their outcomes. Despite this, the plant motif throughout was very interesting and well-used. I’d heard really good things about this book, so maybe it’s just me, but I was disappointed.

Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory by Emma Perez

4.0

I actually really loved this book! It’s basically a Western infused with the real history of Texas after the fall of the Alamo, with a Tejana lesbian cowgirl protagonist. What’s not to love?

Pérez explores the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality through a genre and setting that does not address these themes nearly enough. Though the book is fiction, she tells a history that is vastly underrepresented and forgotten all too often. Aside from that, this book is (though bleak) genuinely fun to read. Micaela’s adventures are compelling and her motivations are sincere. Her flaws are logical given what she’s been through, and I really enjoyed getting to know her.

I rate this book 4/5 because its unique protagonist does not save it from falling into kitschy Western genre tropes. Most of these tropes are super fun so I didn’t mind too much, but I did get a bit tired of the whole “introduces new character that the protagonist gets attached to and then they get instantly killed off or disappear, further driving the protagonist’s anger and desire for revenge” thing. Like, I feel like a lot of those characters were not particularly distinct from one another or they just borrowed traits from Old West stock characters. Maybe that was the point? But either way whenever Pérez introduced any character that was particularly likable I would realize pretty much instantly that they had, like 20 pages to live at a maximum. Still a great read though!!

Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill by Robert Whitaker

4.0

The premise of this book was excellent. Whitaker seamlessly weaves together both primary and secondary sources, forming a clear narrative and reaching a disturbing conclusion that paints a harrowing picture of mental health treatment in the United States. I would probably give it 5 stars if not for the fact that Whitaker relies on a lot of medical jargon which causes the book to be dry at times. Also, I spilled wine on it (it’s a dreary book, who can blame me?) by mistake and then the whole book smelled like wine the rest of the time I read it which got a bit annoying. In conclusion, definitely not a bad choice for my first foray into nonfiction after college, and very impressive that I found it interesting despite writing a term paper on a similar topic last year and finding the topic to be absolutely agonizing. Highly recommend to anyone interested in medical history, specifically the history of insanity and mental health treatment.

Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta

3.0

sorry i’m back! the sound and the fury was so awful that i literally could not read anything else for a hot minute. BUT this book here was alright. really really really interesting concept and good beginnings of world building but it could have been fleshed out SO MUCH MORE and it just wasn’t. the most interesting stuff happened in the last 15-20 pages and it felt rushed honestly. anyway i’m back woohoo!!

How to Be Human by Paula Cocozza

slow-paced

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

2.0

it would be one star but i give it two because the prose wasn’t horrible. everything else was though. this seems like one of those books the author wrote just deliberately to make the reader uncomfortable, but why? what was the point? also, very tired of the “woman gets broken up with and goes crazy” trope. every single character was extremely unlikable, and i didn’t know anything about the protagonist at all by the end of the book, except for the fact that she is terribly annoying. everyone in this book was either whiny, a creep, or both. the author could have done a lot of interesting things with this book like foray into magical realism or explore the fox’s perspective more with the stream of consciousness stuff she does near the beginning of the book, but she doesn’t. instead, she just writes weird af scenes that bordered on pedophilia and bestiality when there is no plot add other than “look how crazy this woman is going”. was i supposed to empathize with mary at all? was i supposed to want it to work out with the fox? cause i sure as hell didn’t. if the authors only goal was to write a disturbing book, she succeeded. but again, why? what was the point? overall, not good, don’t recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Incest, Pedophilia

Spare by Prince Harry

1.0

read this for a book club a while back. it was readable and i did feel bad for meghan. however, other than that it was mid as fuck