emilyburton's reviews
55 reviews

The Ninth Guest by Tess Little

dark informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

And Away... by Bob Mortimer

dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.0

The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Àngels Anglada

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

3.75

 What I liked:
The ending emotion was absolutely there. Daniel himself is a very likeable character
The significance of music in the book - a theme that I haven’t really seen before in this type of fiction executed really well
An unromanticised look into concentration camps
Things I didn’t like as much:
Freund and Bronislaw as characters felt too similar to me
Too many background characters that had a similar function 
I wish we’d had more time with characters who died cos I think it would have made it even more emotional ( although I understand what the author was going for)

A little too flowery prose for my taste but if you like super descriptive books you’ll like this 
Too much telling for my liking - a lot of this book is narration.

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Antisemitism, and War

Moderate: Child death and Murder

Wonder: The Natural History Museum Poetry Book by Ana Sampson

funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0