eliya's reviews
127 reviews

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this is the first story in a while i felt i just got lost in. thoroughly enjoyed 

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

Haters gonna hate, and predators gonna predate. 

I’ll throw it a star for the premise and food descriptors. Minus 4 stars for the plot, the main character, her “luck,” the way that she describes people, the not at all feminine rage and just blatent disregard for human beings based murders. I get that it’s the point and I am just not interested. Murder for the sake of just murder is 1. boring and 2. easy. This could have been about something. Anything! Instead Chelsea G. Summers fills 247 pages of redundancy. 

I prefer Italian truffles because I prefer Italy.I prefer Italian wine, Italian food, Italian opera, Italian culture, the insane troll logic of Italian bureaucracy, and Italian men.

Creak-creak-creak went the elevator. The door shuddered open. The door shuddered closed. Creak-creak-creak went the elevator. The door shuddered open. Behind me, the door shuddered closed.

There is no Emma Woodhouse without Harriet Smith, there is no Beatrice without Hero; there is no Anne Shirley without Diana Barry. Sex and the City, The Group, Gossip Girl, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Thelma & Louise.

All on the same page: 

real city with real food, real dirt, real night and real men.

…so many people runs like dumbstruck salmon, looking for love, looking for money ot ing for a place to eat, wanting for fame, hoping for a place to se hoping for a person to sleep with, praying for meaning in the dark before dawn.

…if only you open your heart, your mind, your wallet, or your thighs.

decked in crimson, in mustard, in peacock

——
The main character who’s soOo smart and conveniently at the right place at the right time. 

My father's fingers spasmed toward the bare end table, and stopped short. "I get it," I said. "Which one of you?"
"Which one of us what, Dorothy?" My father asked, his voice frayed like a knot."Which one of you has cancer?" My brother looked at me; my sister blurted a short chain of vowels, sucking up the air in the room. "I do," my mother said. "Lung.”

Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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 hello imagery 

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A beautiful thrilling story about grief, sorrow, loneliness, and family. It sounds so comforting to be loved like this. 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I have read another book of Lucy Foley’s in which she uses the same basic premise: mysterious location for big event, cast of characters all narrating their individual perspectives, murder at the end, timer counting down and also swapping between after “the event” and before. I think this is what made me like the book even less. 

Eye roll at the “teen translating conversation into current slang” trope.

I did enjoy it, it was fun. I thought it was funny

how many different bones people had to pick with Will lmao.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Relaxing and sad. I think if I had read the physical book I may feel differently, I didn’t care so much for the way it was read in the audiobook. The world building was really cool. I wish there was more detail on the world building. I didn’t find myself really caring about the characters. This book was okay. 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

A classic! I’ve had this book forever I’m so happy I read it. So cool to see how the story has changed and what details were dropped. Can’t wait to read this again to the children in my life :-)

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

medium-paced

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

3.5

I did enjoy this one. It all was a little too convenient at the end the way it came together. Like what are the actual chances haha. I’m really surprised with the resolve that Cyrus came to at the end. Maybe there’s a lot of layers I just wouldn’t understand. 

It was beautiful to see all the complex and queer love stories, and all the different perspectives, generational trauma, the effects that the death of his mother had on the father, the brother, and Cyrus’s relationship with the united states and those around him. I just have so many questions and feel unresolved. Maybe that’s the idea is that Cyrus has felt so unresolved and given this loaded information, rather than asking more questions he learns to just accept things? 

Like,

I feel so bad for his father. Being abandoned, thinking your wife is dead. Maybe given the political climate of how his mother felt locked into her life, he understood but was still sad and that’s why he was like a robot to Cyrus growing up? It just seems like Cyrus was failed in a lot of ways growing up & he’s just letting it all go.

 

Beautiful insights to grief, addition, healing. Though, I would have been interested to see him actually work on himself a little more but it kind of was just over and fast as it began.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

5.0

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0

The theme of choosing goodness and the critique of cal’s self-flagellation really stuck with me and I’ve been thinking about it the last few days. Scene painting was stunning.