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elerireads's reviews
390 reviews
This Is Vegan Propaganda by Ed Winters
challenging
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
This was pretty good. Obviously I'm already a convert and my work is mainly focused on agriculture in a climate transition so I'm er fairly well-versed in the arguments for veganism, meaning (a) bits of this were a tad boring for me, and (b) it's difficult for me to judge how persuasive this would be to a non-vegan person.
That said, it was well-written and none of it was boring enough for me to switch off. I found the descriptions of the gruesomeness of animal agriculture slightly less viscerally disturbing than in Safran Foer's Eating Animals, but whether you think that's a pro or a con depends on your perspective. The part I found most interesting and compelling was actually the section about zoonotic diseases - well-structured history of them and their relationship to animal agriculture, as well as a thoughtful argument about the moral implications of continuing to eat animals (especially chickens) given the enormous risks. Really helped to structure my own thoughts about this.
That said, it was well-written and none of it was boring enough for me to switch off. I found the descriptions of the gruesomeness of animal agriculture slightly less viscerally disturbing than in Safran Foer's Eating Animals, but whether you think that's a pro or a con depends on your perspective. The part I found most interesting and compelling was actually the section about zoonotic diseases - well-structured history of them and their relationship to animal agriculture, as well as a thoughtful argument about the moral implications of continuing to eat animals (especially chickens) given the enormous risks. Really helped to structure my own thoughts about this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Pod by Laline Paull
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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? No
4.75
A bizarre and impressive book. It's fairly compact but manages to immerse you completely in the marine world and societal structures of multiple different species. My marine biology knowledge is minimal so I have no idea how well they reflect reality but it felt comprehensive and compelling. All the characters felt so real and individual. Somehow, through dolphins and whales and fish, the author managed to incorporate all sorts of interesting perspectives on gender and power dynamics and disability and race and parenthood and consent and displacement and coexisting with cultural differences. And of course, fundamentally it's a book that gives voice to the voiceless and mostly unseen victims of the destruction we're wreaking on marine ecosystems. As I said, impressive book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship
Once & Future by A.R. Capetta, Cory McCarthy
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
This wasn't brilliant tbh. Not sure how much of it was because I'm not really the intended audience. It was quite fun, plot-heavy and easy to read, and this was enough to keep me gripped but only just. There was no depth of characterisation at all so I didn't feel invested in the characters' lives. Lam, Kay and Val all just got lumped into a "side characters with 3-letter names" box in my head and I'm honestly not really sure which was which. The perspective kept shifting between Ari and Merlin but there was no difference in narrative voice so I barely noticed - might as well have just had an omniscient narrator. The ending with a weird quest into the past to find a chalice was just jarring, unsatisfying and irritating. If you want people to read a sequel, write a book that's good enough to leave them wanting more; inventing a rubbish cliffhanger at the end is just cheap.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-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
I loved this. I think more than anything else it was about the wonderfully melancholic and nostalgic atmosphere Mandel creates, which is just gorgeous. This was an example of a book that succeeds in jumping about both in time and from character to character without it being confusing, which is very impressive. Partly I think that's because it's not really about the plot. In fact, I'm not sure I could tell you what the plot was; what keeps you gripped is slowly uncovering who the characters really are and how their pre-apocalypse and post-apocalypse lives are intertwined. One thing I did wonder about was the significance of Arthur dying of a heart attack rather than of the virus. It felt like an important distinction but I couldn't come up with any interesting interpretation of it.
I adored the Travelling Symphony - the idea that when the world has ended a group of artists would dedicate their lives to bringing Beethoven and Shakespeare to the tiny isolated pockets of survivors. It seemed to be speaking to a wider point about the arts being a necessity and, if anything, more important in times of hardship, rather than frivolous extras when the going is good. The same applies to the comics, and the tattoos, and the cult, and the museum - all the things that the characters turn to to cope with the enormous losses they've suffered, both of people and the world they knew.
I feel kind of haunted by this book, to be honest. I suspect I'll be thinking about it for a while. Of course it felt eerily prescient and close the bone, as a pre-covid book about a pandemic. I did have a few doubts about how realistic it was - it seemed to me that the insanely high mortality rate and short incubation period of the virus would make it nowhere near as effective at spreading as it was. I guess I also have a bit more faith in humanity than Mandel does because it's insane to me that it would take so long to get some electricity going.
I adored the Travelling Symphony - the idea that when the world has ended a group of artists would dedicate their lives to bringing Beethoven and Shakespeare to the tiny isolated pockets of survivors. It seemed to be speaking to a wider point about the arts being a necessity and, if anything, more important in times of hardship, rather than frivolous extras when the going is good. The same applies to the comics, and the tattoos, and the cult, and the museum - all the things that the characters turn to to cope with the enormous losses they've suffered, both of people and the world they knew.
I feel kind of haunted by this book, to be honest. I suspect I'll be thinking about it for a while. Of course it felt eerily prescient and close the bone, as a pre-covid book about a pandemic. I did have a few doubts about how realistic it was - it seemed to me that the insanely high mortality rate and short incubation period of the virus would make it nowhere near as effective at spreading as it was. I guess I also have a bit more faith in humanity than Mandel does because it's insane to me that it would take so long to get some electricity going.
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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? No
4.0
Wow I've been procrastinating from writing this review, which is not a problem I normally have so not sure what that says about the book...
An interesting story about Cyprus, with lots to say about civilian violence during war and inherited trauma. Half from the perspective of a fig tree with a delightful narrative voice - I had to stop reading a few chapters in to go and buy myself some figs. Some really lovely, well-developed characters and some mysteries to keep you hanging. I enjoyed Ada's screaming - very relatable. Author very keen on the word "firmament"! There were a few places where the writing felt a bit unpolished/immature but on the whole it was very well-written.
An interesting story about Cyprus, with lots to say about civilian violence during war and inherited trauma. Half from the perspective of a fig tree with a delightful narrative voice - I had to stop reading a few chapters in to go and buy myself some figs. Some really lovely, well-developed characters and some mysteries to keep you hanging. I enjoyed Ada's screaming - very relatable. Author very keen on the word "firmament"! There were a few places where the writing felt a bit unpolished/immature but on the whole it was very well-written.
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Pretty good. Readable and gripping. Rage-inducing, less for what had been done to the women than for the way they tie themselves in knots trying to reconcile their faith with their feelings about the men who raped them. It's really the kind of book that makes you think "did men make up religion purely to make it easier to subjugate women?" I did have to suspend disbelief in a few places at the premise of August taking minutes translated into English and some of the language, which seemed a bit unrealistic.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
Well I'm reeling a bit from this. Complicated, bizarre and confusing, but utterly brilliant. Such a rich and complex afterlife lore and politics. Deeply flawed but wonderfully loving main character with strong convictions and sense of purpose. Full of bitingly dark humour, raging at the futility of war and ultimately a kind of optimism underneath it all. And of course, the mystery that keeps you hanging right to the very end (at least for me - I didn't work it out!) but you can't get any joy out of its resolution because it's just so bloody depressing and pointless. A real rollercoaster, and I found those last 60 odd pages pretty difficult to get through because it was just so intense.
A few misc. thoughts:
- Apparently this was a rewrite intended to be more accessible to non Sri Lankan readers. I wonder what the original was like because this was still confusing and I had to google lots of things. Might be worth having a pen and paper to write down who all the different groups are. As far as I can tell though, it doesn't much matter if you can't completely keep track because it's not really about their specific causes anyway.
- Interesting how Maali kept referring to DD's environmentalism as naïve when Maali is by far the most naïve character in the book, genuinely believing that his photographs could change the course of the war.
- I got lulled into such a false sense of security over his sexuality. Don't want to spoil it but bloody hell.
- I absolutely would not have picked this book for myself, even though the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Too much (at least superficial) resemblance to The Lovely Bones. So credit to my sister for knowing my taste better than I do and giving this to me for Christmas.
A few misc. thoughts:
- Apparently this was a rewrite intended to be more accessible to non Sri Lankan readers. I wonder what the original was like because this was still confusing and I had to google lots of things. Might be worth having a pen and paper to write down who all the different groups are. As far as I can tell though, it doesn't much matter if you can't completely keep track because it's not really about their specific causes anyway.
- Interesting how Maali kept referring to DD's environmentalism as naïve when Maali is by far the most naïve character in the book, genuinely believing that his photographs could change the course of the war.
- I got lulled into such a false sense of security over his sexuality. Don't want to spoil it but bloody hell.
- I absolutely would not have picked this book for myself, even though the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Too much (at least superficial) resemblance to The Lovely Bones. So credit to my sister for knowing my taste better than I do and giving this to me for Christmas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Murder, War
She Gets the Girl by Alyson Derrick, Rachael Lippincott
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was well-paced and the characters felt very realistic and human - flawed but ultimately good people. The writing was fine and I was quite drawn in to the plot. Unfortunately I ultimately found it quite disappointing. It's obvious from the outset that Alex and Molly are going to end up getting together, but half way through I started to think/hope maybe I was wrong. These are two incredibly isolated characters. They both literally have no friends at all and then most of the book is about them becoming friends and what a transformative impact that has on their lives. But then the romance doesn't feel natural to me, like it was just kind of shoehorned in there because that was the original plan and the authors were damned if they weren't going to follow through even if it no longer made sense from the way the characters had been written. Maybe no one else read it like this but both characters were so utterly fixated on sorting out their romantic relationships that I feel it would have been a much better book if the resolution was that the relationship efforts fell through but they didn't mind so much because they got a new best friend out of it all? And what they actually needed all along was to get some bloody friends.
Also they got together and then it ended super abruptly. I wanted to know what Molly's family thought. I wanted to know if they stayed friends with Cora. I wanted to know if Alex changed major. And what happened with her mum? They set up all of this interesting background and other characters, but then the second they kiss it's like we're done now none of this other stuff matters.
Also they got together and then it ended super abruptly. I wanted to know what Molly's family thought. I wanted to know if they stayed friends with Cora. I wanted to know if Alex changed major. And what happened with her mum? They set up all of this interesting background and other characters, but then the second they kiss it's like we're done now none of this other stuff matters.
Losing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel Rich
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Hmm this was alright? I feel like it could be an important book for young people especially to read just to get a perspective of how un-new climate change is, how long the right people have known all they needed to know, and how long they've been doing fuck all about it to make themselves richer. It's a fairly short, gripping and easy read. That said, I was a bit bored most of the time reading it. I'd come to it via having seen a 45 minute Simon Clark YouTube video https://youtu.be/hvGQMZFP9IA based on this book, but discovered that the video basically covered everything in a way that was both more compelling and more concise. So honestly if the blurb of the book appeals to you I'd recommend just watching that video - it's excellent. Probably the bit I enjoyed most about this book was the final concluding passage about the moral dimensions of climate inaction. None of the points were exactly new to me but they were powerfully made.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This was weird but quite enjoyable. Took me a while to get into it - to start with my eyes kept skating over the words without really taking it in and I had to force myself to go back and concentrate and read it properly, but before I knew it I was doing the 'just one more chapter' thing and suddenly it was 1am and I had work the next day...
The world-building wasn't quite what I expected. For some reason I thought from the blurb that the world would be exactly like real life apart from the Lipans having this ghost-raising skill, but actually there are all sorts of magic and mythological creatures, although all the modern real-life things seemed to be there too. I enjoyed the strange magic-CO2 parallels.
The mystery was good and it was paced quite well. One thing I didn't get at all was the weird time-bubble towards the end - no idea what the point of that actually was??? I was also quite confused by the thing with the dog disappearing at the end. It was never clear what had happened to him or why, as if the author had wanted to try and do something profound but then changed her mind and then left it in there as some weird little blip.
P.S. I read the hardback edition and it is FANCY. Properly heavy with thick creamy pages. Not at all convenient to carry about with you, but it feels expensive to hold and I loved it.
The world-building wasn't quite what I expected. For some reason I thought from the blurb that the world would be exactly like real life apart from the Lipans having this ghost-raising skill, but actually there are all sorts of magic and mythological creatures, although all the modern real-life things seemed to be there too. I enjoyed the strange magic-CO2 parallels.
The mystery was good and it was paced quite well. One thing I didn't get at all was the weird time-bubble towards the end - no idea what the point of that actually was??? I was also quite confused by the thing with the dog disappearing at the end. It was never clear what had happened to him or why, as if the author had wanted to try and do something profound but then changed her mind and then left it in there as some weird little blip.
P.S. I read the hardback edition and it is FANCY. Properly heavy with thick creamy pages. Not at all convenient to carry about with you, but it feels expensive to hold and I loved it.