emmalong's reviews
516 reviews

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

adventurous inspiring medium-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

4.0

really well done debut novel!! it was well-paced and well written. compulsively readable, i really did want to know what was going to happen to our main character. i appreciated the arc that she took and even if it was somewhat predictable at times, i was satisfied with how the story progressed

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

absolutely unbelievable book. tells some of the most harrowing yet hopeful stories. our criminal justice has and continues to have multiple issues embedded throughout it but people like Stevenson have made such huge strides to change that. he talks without a ton of legal jargon so it’s easy to follow and understand, but hard to accept that humans do this to other humans. it touches on racial discrepancies, issues with poverty, disability and all of their effects on mass incarceration. truly a phenomenal book and i completely understand its acclaim

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

another incredible story in the Earthseed series. i feel so lucky to have read these books. Butler peeled back the curtain in what our world very well could be in the future. when i read that the presidential candidate in this book had the slogan "make America great again" my jaw DROPPED. this book was written in 1998. so many eerie similarities and parallels to what our world is, where it is aligning with this book, and where change can still be made. despite the horror, active on every page, it is overall a hopeful story. absolutely phenomenal.  

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

sad and harrowing. i don't really know what i was expecting from this memoir, but i have to admit it was not this. aspects of race and the author's worldview were interesting 

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

challenging dark 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

4.5

sincerely one of the most terrifying books i have ever read and i cannot believe it was written in the 90s. unfortunately i could completely see this country developing into what is portrayed in this story. horrifying, heartbreaking, scary, sad. but there are ways to enact change amidst the horror and that’s the most important lesson of this book in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Slavery, Cannibalism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

Another Country by James Baldwin

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.0

james baldwin is such a classic writer and i loved reading his words. however, this story was so incredibly slow. the pacing simply did not work for me. everyone was incredibly unlikeable. the way women were talked about was pretty problematic and made it hard to read at times. the conversations on race and sexuality were interesting to read from each of the character's perspective, but the novel itself didn't really pay off for me. excited to read more of his works that i think align more with my taste.

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

unfortunately i am incredibly disappointed by this one. Black Cake was an instant 5 star read for me and i was so excited to read this one. i fear Black Cake was such a huge success, leading to a television series soon after, that the author wrote her next book as if it would become a show. WAYYY too much telling rather than showing, and that's something i hardly complain about in books. i did not really like any of the characters. obviously i felt terrible for Ebby and what she witnessed so early in life, but she was not a character i cared about. the subplot with her ex and his girlfriend was really frustrating and we spent SO MUCH time there. there were too many POVs, the book pulled in too many directions, and no one felt real by any means. a lot of suspension of beliefs, everything happened too neatly and perfectly. there were so many parts of the book where i thought "why are we even talking about this?" and the author would abandon it after two pages anyway. too many reveals and secrets characters had were kept for so long that they felt really inconsequential by the end. unbelievably sad that this did not live up to the hype for me. 

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

challenging reflective medium-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

5.0

once again, the unbelievable Toni Morrison has shocked me into a reading stupor. every time i start one of her books, i need to suspend all expectations of what i think the story is going to be about or where it will lead and just let Toni show me through it all. i'll get the obvious out of the way - the writing is immaculate. crisp, clear, poignant like the rest of her work. the words are beautiful because they are unquotable, you need the context of the entire story to appreciate what she is telling you and why now and how does it alter the way you see this character or think of this topic? 
on Tar Baby specifically, she tells a love story like no other that i've read. the juxtaposition of culture to wilderness, being a black woman and the intersectionality of that reality, and the importance of living the life you want. these characters are tangible, living and breathing humans. emotions are explored at such a deep level that you can recognize them in yourself. i've said it before and i'll say it again, Toni Morrison holds a mirror to us all, forcing us to see the truth. filled with conversations on abuse, race, femininity, and love - she can do no wrong. i can't believe this is one of her under-appreciated novels, it completely astounded me. 

Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

i thought the first 60% of this book was intriguing, fascinating, and i was having a great time. the last 40% was honestly kind of boring and did not engage me as much. i gotta be honest here, Paul is fine but so many other characters shine brighter than him. all of his extreme moments in the latter half of the book and his attitude towards himself and others felt annoying more than anything. also, we are on a floating rock planet with no water and everyone is a different species of human, and the main character's name is Paul? ok. 

Forest of Noise: Poems by Mosab Abu Toha

challenging dark reflective sad

5.0

unbelievable, unreal. deeply sad and at times unbearable to read. to know that this is the reality for so many is disgusting, heart shattering. a genocide is happening before our eyes. one day, everyone will have been against this. free palestine.