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emanon_'s reviews
110 reviews
1984 by George Orwell, Anna Lea
4.0
Not really sure if I can properly rate this book. The audiobook was not so much a reading of the story as it was a theatrical performance of it. I really good one of I may say… just not a word for word reading
Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha
5.0
My head hurts. I had to take breaks while reading this because some of the poems full on broke me. I will be reading that again very soon so I can fully immerse myself in the text and annotate it but for a ‘quick’ first read it’s absolutely fantastic and I hope more people read it because they need to know, they must know what it’s like…
Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory: Stories by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
5.0
This was such a good listen. Omg. I loved every single bit of it so so so much. Some chapters were nice and short and others were long and complex. The one thing they had in common was the end. The end never missed. It was always a banger, always thoughtful and true to the heart. I can’t wait to buy the book and read it again, this time with annotations and all that.
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
We never got a Naomi or a Sylvia POV and that really stuck out to me. Why did we get Margaret’s? She’s not exactly more special, if something she’s less, especially in comparison to Sylvia’s mysterious accident (which was never revealed lol). I think I would’ve also liked to know more about Naomi’s background but that’s me being extra picky.
Moving away from the ladies I need to need to just make a statement here and say that Ivan was a horrible human being. Him being portrayed as someone peculiar really didn’t work as a buffer. He was iffy from the start and it got revealed to us that he’s misogynistic by nature and his good deeds are only driven by internalised guilt. He’s never sure what his feelings and opinions and he’s waaay to quick to jump to conclusions and has a bad temper. Peter on the other hand is better. Flawed but better. Self conscious , reflective and willing to talk things through. He’s the brother that’s in touch with his feelings. In addition to that, I feel like I must say that his suicidal blip was that, a blip. Intrusive thoughts rather than continuous ones. We would’ve heard of it earlier in the book if it was a recurring internal battle. Man needs a rehab, yes, maybe, but his life is not in danger, I don’t think so at least.
Finally, I think Alexis was invented for the sole purpose of including the old house in the book and its inevitable use…
Not even sure how to finish this review. I wouldn’t say don’t read it because it was good but I have just become a really critical reader so we’re left with this mess of an afterthought to deal with🤷🏻♀️
3.75
I feel like I should’ve loved this book more than I did…
I’m unsure of my rating but let’s try and rationalise things, shall we?
Writing
It was overall okay. At points it felt too detailed. Almost as if Sally was trying to fill in pages rather than develop a coherent storyline. We really didn’t need to read about Ivan’s short charger and lack of battery in his phone.
Having said that, the end was very rushed. The last chapter could’ve been divided into two and the second part could’ve stayed open ended, I would’ve preferred it to be be open ended. It’s not a happy story, it didn’t require a happy ending.
The dialogs could’ve been formatted better. I understand the lack of separation of sentence and thoughts when going into internal monologues and how it’s gets confusing and all that. This is fine, we think that way, no problem. With the dialogues on the other hand, it was a little in the way of enjoying the conversations. I needed quotations.
On a better note though! The internal monologues were amazing. That’s a nonnegotiable. I liked how tangled they got because it was a good representation of how we think and overthink.
Characters
Not even sure how to finish this review. I wouldn’t say don’t read it because it was good but I have just become a really critical reader so we’re left with this mess of an afterthought to deal with🤷🏻♀️
Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable--Includes new bonus chapter by Seth Godin
The book was quite good. It’s a good if you’re trying to get into marketing literature and not looking for suggestions into how to do things. It’s not a guid book but more of a history one. I loved how informative it was with loads of real time examples and no hypotheticals.
It is an old book (2002) and some of the language and ideas are now (2023) a bit outdated but the core of it can still be relevant.
So far we’ve noticed brands use and overuse sneezers (influencers) and ideaviruses (trends). We have come a long way from having influencers do their job just for the money to having them promote brands because they genuinely believe in them. Trends on the other hands have come from being “the cool new thing” to “the cool new thing that will definitely be forgotten in 2 weeks” and that’s problematic. Brands currently need to start practicing finding their Purple Cow all over again because otherwise they fern to bend with the herd of sheep that’s been attacking us, the consumers.
The current drivers for a successful business seem to be the following:
- engagement
- personalisation
- authenticity
- sustainability
- ethics
If your bands doesn’t have these 5 components as a given your Purple Cow, however good will probably fail. People now research even if something is not exactly ‘otaku’ for them. Seth was right when saying that a brands is remarkable when it’s drivers are obsessed with the product but it’s also difficult to find people who’re obsessed and still willing to be a part of something bigger than them.
I feel like I can go on and on with this review but I’ll stop here and let whoever read this continue with their thoughts.
It is an old book (2002) and some of the language and ideas are now (2023) a bit outdated but the core of it can still be relevant.
So far we’ve noticed brands use and overuse sneezers (influencers) and ideaviruses (trends). We have come a long way from having influencers do their job just for the money to having them promote brands because they genuinely believe in them. Trends on the other hands have come from being “the cool new thing” to “the cool new thing that will definitely be forgotten in 2 weeks” and that’s problematic. Brands currently need to start practicing finding their Purple Cow all over again because otherwise they fern to bend with the herd of sheep that’s been attacking us, the consumers.
The current drivers for a successful business seem to be the following:
- engagement
- personalisation
- authenticity
- sustainability
- ethics
If your bands doesn’t have these 5 components as a given your Purple Cow, however good will probably fail. People now research even if something is not exactly ‘otaku’ for them. Seth was right when saying that a brands is remarkable when it’s drivers are obsessed with the product but it’s also difficult to find people who’re obsessed and still willing to be a part of something bigger than them.
I feel like I can go on and on with this review but I’ll stop here and let whoever read this continue with their thoughts.
Five on Brexit Island by Bruno Vincent
2.5
Kinda funny, kinda silly, very much Brexit inspire but most importantly - there was a dog called Timmy
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval
2.0
Eh.. kinda boring, kinda creepy, would not repeat
---- coming aback after some time away form the book
It's a good one. great? not so much.
It dives into interesting topics of self-discovery, being overly perceptive of life, and human actions. I think it exposes us as natural human being that do extremely normal (but disgusting according to society) things. This refers to the first half of the book.
The second half is a bit kuku. I'm not sure what exactly the point was. Feminism? Obsessiveness? Mental health discovery? or maybe just write for the 'wtf' effect.
The writing style very much reminded me of Ottessa Moshfegh writing in Eileen, the only difference being that Eileen didn'tget laid . (lmao, spoilers for s different book haha).
---- coming aback after some time away form the book
It's a good one. great? not so much.
It dives into interesting topics of self-discovery, being overly perceptive of life, and human actions. I think it exposes us as natural human being that do extremely normal (but disgusting according to society) things. This refers to the first half of the book.
The second half is a bit kuku. I'm not sure what exactly the point was. Feminism? Obsessiveness? Mental health discovery? or maybe just write for the 'wtf' effect.
The writing style very much reminded me of Ottessa Moshfegh writing in Eileen, the only difference being that Eileen didn't