dreamingofeternalreading's reviews
73 reviews

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

challenging emotional informative reflective sad 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

4.75

Gleanings by Neal Shusterman

adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

funny informative medium-paced

3.0

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

I really liked the unique writing style in this book, made it very quick to read. Very intriguing with the MC being chronically online and it influencing her day to day life but then rethinking her behaviour as something that no one is talking about happens very close to her. Funny in the both parts but sad in the second. I highly recommend.

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I've read Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings and Life Ceremony is more similar to Earthlings in theme and shock value than it is to Convenience Store Woman. Life Ceremony is a collection of 13 short stories about human nature and being different to the rest of society. I had mixed feelings about the collection as some stories I liked more than others.

Below are my thoughts on each.

A First-Rate Material - alright, sets the tone of the collection well 3.5⭐
A Magnificent Spread - really enjoyed this one, all about how different people eat and how we view foods as edible or inedible 4.5⭐
A Summer Night's Kiss - Cute and wholesome about two women who are best friends and one of them is aroace and the other is promiscuous 4.5⭐
Two's Family - continuation of the previous story exploring these women's family, very wholesome and sweet 5⭐
The Time of the Large Star - not giving what I wanted, at only four pages long 3⭐
Poochie - Again, very short, weird, not much context 2.5⭐
Life Ceremony - Probably my favourite in the whole collection, about how society is ever changing and the morals and values we hold could completely shift in the future, very freaky and disturbing 5⭐
Body Magic - repeat characters from Earthlings, this one made me uncomfortable which is no surprise as Earthlings made me uncomfortable too 2.5⭐
Lover on the Breeze - sad but interesting perspective 3⭐
Puzzle - this one was actually disgusting 2.5⭐
Eating the City - not for me, I was a bit bored 2⭐
Hatchling - I related to the main character in a way that freaked me out, about identity and I couldn't help but think of DID when reading this and I don't know if that was the author's intent or if DID was just poorly depicted here, but ignoring that not knowing who you are is scary so this story did resonate with me 4.5⭐
A Clean Marriage - asexual marriage, trying to conceive does so in orthodox way 4 ⭐

Overall I rate Life Ceremony 3.75 I took my individual ratings are got the average but pumped it from 3.5 to 3.75 taking into account that overall I enjoyed the reading experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual content, and Gore

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

challenging lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

3.0