emanon_reads's reviews
117 reviews

The Tale of Toxic Positivity by Paul Magrs, Beatrix Pottymouth

fast-paced

5.0

Read it in one go! It’s super short and soooo funny!!

An absolute masterpiece. I took photos of so many pages to share with my friends cuz of how funny I found it.

Утре by Radostina A. Angelova, Александър Станков

emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

I did not love this story. It deserved the 4 stars though because it’s well written, there is character development, the story is nice and sweet and it gets across the points that it wants to.

My issues though is that I don’t think it was relatable. Maybe to other kids it would be but to me it wasn’t. 

I’m not too sure if they’re trying to portray the average parent and the average teenager in the book but from what I’ve experienced you rarely meet a teenager that is all about studying, has this much rational thoughts about their relationships and is ready to have the difficult conversations with their parents.

And the mother, she sounded ok, but somehow still not like what I’d expect. On that character I can’t really talk much because I haven’t been a mother so I’ll leave it there. I’m only gonna say that their relationship felt too good.

Anyways, it’s a good read. I think it’s still something both parents and teenagers should read because it gets across some good points that generally should be reminded.

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

fast-paced

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

3.0

I think this book deserves a solid 3.

It’s good in the sense that it showcases really well how an anxious person in their extreme works. Avoiding interaction with people, not bothering anyone with themselves and not wanting to be bothered because it might be too much. 

I think you can see it really well in how the different characters dump their though and worries on the main character without hesitation. Often times anxious people feel like a safe space because you know they won’t go on babbling about you. 

On another hand I found minimal character development and little to no plot in the 200 pages that I read.

I think I understood why they made the main character become more reliant on drinking when out and about but somehow it didn’t feel like a natural transition… and then they suddenly stopped and that was it. They we’re dependent but then they weren’t. I really didn’t get that part.

It was an ok book at best ngl

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The book was… good? 

I really wanted it to be a book I loved. I really want to read literature that talks about the Arab world, books that can open up about what is it and what I’ve been missing on. As an immigrated arab myself I have an immense amount of interest of how the people in these countries live, think and come to do things.

Now, this book gave me a very slight glimpse into that world but it also made me unsure of how true that information is.  It’s a memoir but it doesn’t feel like one (I’m not even sure if it really is one). The book is written in 3 parts, 3 parts that should entail 3 different stages of the main characters’ life (that I understand and I like). What I didn’t particularly enjoy was the formatting of the book. It was interesting… experimental, unfortunately it was confusing. It took me 50 pages in to realise that I was reading from two different perspectives (they were confusing 50p). Later on, after reading that that’s the case online the story became clearer, more interesting. 

Having said that, part 1 has a couple of political pints that are interesting but you’re given little to no information of the history of what’s being talked about; this parts was desperate for a couple of footnotes just to make things clearer for the reader.

Part 2 on the other hand did have footnotes that made everything better, it gave insight into the Egyptian world and I loved that (I also enjoyed the story much more then). 

Part 3 I’m a little confused about; by the end of it I did not know what was read and what wasn’t. Due to its formatting it me too es a lot of flaws in the book that I agree with but then it debunked them?? I don’t understand why the author decided to take that approach but it feels like she was trying to explain her approach to the plot and formatting which I find… insecure? 

Anyways, I think I’d you look past the negatives the story/ memoir is good. I like that the author has decide to experiment with formatting, I just thing it could’ve been done slightly better (easier for the reader). I would, despite all that, still recommend it.

Send Nudes by Saba Sams

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

I’ve never read a love book that focuses on all the aspects of love that are not particularly romantic. It made the book refreshing!

Every single short story portrayed love in a different way and they were all… sad, unfortunate, unexpected situations that did not lead to the happy ending you usually expect.

In complete honestly, some of the stories I did not get. Some seemed a bit empty but others were strong, full of emotion and character buildup.

One question I have is: How do authors of short stories pick up the book title?? Is it based on their favourite story in the book or is it solely marketing based (the titled that would turn most heads). In this case “Send Nudes” pales (plot wise) in comparison to the rest of the stories and it slightly frustrates me that that’s the title they chose to use.

On the title note… I think they did the book dirty by naming it “Send Nudes”. It gives it a rom-com/ smut type of vibe while in actuality it’s far far away form that. It had more potential than it’s name!! It’s not a sexual book but a book that covers a topic that more often than not is looked at from only one side. Life is not all about romance and while reading this book you see that very clearly.

Anyways, the average I got from the different rating I gave to the stories equals 4 so it’s a 4😌.

Едно възможно начало by Тодора Радева

fast-paced

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

2.25

Uuum, I didn’t love this book. It was aight. A quick read but honestly nothing much other than that. 

I’m usually a big fan of short stories but somehow in this instance I didn’t see a lot of sense in the stories told. It was like dipping into someone life for a second and then leaving it without any conclusion and this might have been the point. Who knows, maybe the author wanted to show us that life in it self is not always figureoutable… anyways, I’m happy I’m done reading it

Calypso by David Sedaris

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

First thought is: This reminds me of Heartburn by Nora Ephron. It’s sad but comedic, it put real life tragedies through the eyes of someone who tries to make life feel easier that it is.

The consent is beautiful and I loved that. David had a bunch of really good moments in the book. They made me truly crack up! It’s the dad type of comedy that makes it so good and it’s placed at the right moments - when things seem too dark.

Writing wise I think it could’ve been more engaging. Don’t get me wrong, I think portraying comedy through writing is impossibly difficult, therefore, I can’t been too judgemental. Despite that, it too me longer that expected (over 50 pages) to get grasped into the book not once I did it was a pleasant journey. 

I loved his family and their portrayal. I wanted to know more so I kept on reading. I, in a sense got attached to them. I was interested in reading more about their weird conversation and lifestyle and the very random questions David himself would use to interact with his fans!

There were a couple of chapters that I would re-read! Really good pieces. It might be because I related to them (that’s probably it), or because I sound them extra funny but honestly - chef’s kiss!

Anyways, go read it!!

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

4.0

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Where do I start? This story is… twisted? Yes, that’s about right.

Ok, immediate thoughts. I think you should read it but also consider yourself warned, it’s intense, it’s disgusting and it’s weird. The book depicts the worst of the worst and it does it perfectly.

I found it interesting how faith was intertwined in the whole story. It drove people to do things without thought, in a way that is how a lot of faithful people are nowadays as well! The distrusting part is how Marek had taken it upon him that to be truly faithful he had to be miserable and not in an emotional sense as much as in the physical one. It was truly disturbing.

I liked how each question was somehow answered with time but I have two loose ends that I really wanted answered and they just weren’t. What happened to Luke? What happened to Debra? Did Ina do something to them? Does she know what happened? I think I would’ve loved finding out these questions too. The rest was really well thought through. Each character was explained and they had their own lil twisted background stories happening which I found entertaining.

I think I’m a particular fan of Debra & Luke. They seemed to be the only ones who didn’t do any significant harm. They were guilty of adultery but that’s about it. They were in love and had to grief their lost son. The explanation of Debra’s grief in the book seemed powerful to me. I liked this part and it was in a sense, a break from all the insanity happening in every other bit.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the formatting of the story. I understand the seasonal devision but I don’t get why the shorter sub-stories were section by a gap and not some sort of graphic. This might just be me being picky.

Anyways, I think I’ve babbled for way too long. This book was really good but also it made me feel extremely uncomfortable at all times. I’d like to give it 4 stars but I think that won’t my honest opinion. It’s a 5 star if you look away from how disturbing it is. It’s 5 starts because of how disturbed it made me feel!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

4.0