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dawndeydusk's reviews
200 reviews
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read in years, especially of its kind. Zevin's construction of a chapter should be studied. I have read books on grief, on trauma, you name it, and yet I can't remember the last time a book made me burst out sobbing like this. Its exploration of work, love (including, and arguably primarily, platonic!), and self is brilliant. Zevin builds a world, then builds worlds within those worlds, and then refracts those worlds back to the characters and you, the reader. Phenomenally immersive, tough yet accessible, I think this is a must-read for anyone who is a fan of fiction and anyone who grew up reading John Green.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
fast-paced
3.25
Others have expressed this more eloquently than I ever could, but I found this book read very much like a stream of consciousness. Normally, I appreciate that reflective style of writing, but this book wasn't really giving me anything new (not that everything has to be new, but at least something of a different angle). If anything, this novel showcases R. F. Kuang's range, because I read Babel earlier this year and adored it, but I feel lukewarm towards this one. I often struggle with books on more contemporary topics like social media because it all feels very observant but not particularly interesting to me. This is how I felt about my most recent read about fangirl culture, too. Social media can be bad, people can be trolls, etc. We know this. Another aspect I struggle with regarding this book is discerning who the target audience is. It's heavy-handed in its references to racism, the vitriol of the publishing industry, the credibility (or lack thereof) of storytelling, and so on, but it feels too blunt to be a memorable satire or a work to learn from. The narrator is meant to be insufferable and unreliable, sure, but overall the work felt lonely, and it's not just because of the narrator's isolation. Despite its conversational, reflective tone, I wasn't particularly invested in the trajectory. And of course, reading the first line of the Acknowledgements addresses the "horror" of the loneliness of the brutal publishing industry. It's not my place nor my business to be critiquing this work, and I hope at the very least this was a cathartic project or a welcome change of pace (admittedly, I haven't read The Poppy War). I'm still glad to have read this, but Babel will always be dearest to my heart.
Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
4.0
Is this what shock means, that the air turns to glue?
Everything I Need I Get from You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It by Kaitlyn Tiffany
fast-paced
3.25
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I enjoyed this, I really did, though it left me wanting more. I'm looking forward to reading more of Murakami's works, and I'm glad to have started with Norweigan Wood. Dripping with nostalgia and jarring jumps in time like lapses in memory, you know there's an inevitable doom from the beginning, like a deep, cavernous well in the middle of a field.
Murakami's protagonist asks, "What if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud?" (10). He asks, "How many Sundays—how many hundreds of Sundays like this—lay ahead of me? (199). The gist, I think, is that death anchors life. Grief reels us in and spits us back out like a wave: unprepared, though we've been walking the shore longer than we know.
Murakami's protagonist asks, "What if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud?" (10). He asks, "How many Sundays—how many hundreds of Sundays like this—lay ahead of me? (199). The gist, I think, is that death anchors life. Grief reels us in and spits us back out like a wave: unprepared, though we've been walking the shore longer than we know.
On Nobody Famous: Guesting, Gossiping, Gallivanting by Lizzie Plaugic, Kaitlyn Tiffany
funny
fast-paced
3.5
Fast and funny — read this when visiting New York for the first time. It felt like reading a podcast transcript. Niche but not too niche so that it excludes you as the reader.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
fast-paced
3.75
Completely understand why it’s a classic! Certainly paved the way for many works following it, so I must give it credit where credit is due although some parts felt a bit tedious and repetitive to me.