evitacademia's reviews
67 reviews

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

It was wild. And so fun to read, though sometimes it tore me to shreds. I loved the format and how real everything seemed with the interviews. I loved the rock n roll and fame theme and the chaos that comes with a band in the seventies. I loved how human and authentic everyone seemed and I loved when two people said or remembered opposing things.

 And i would've loved the plot twist at the end that the author was julia if i hadn't read 'the seven husband's of evelyn hugo' before. It just feels repetitive that the author is writing a biography of someone (a group, in this case) and is in some way biologically related to someone important and the reader finds out at the end. That felt a bit dull.

I loved the book nonetheless. It was easy and fun to read, it was loud and manic.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

What a weird book. A little offensive at times. I'm not sure I understand it to the extent it was meant to be understood. Meursault is faced with the absurdity of life and, unlike all the other, who take life way too seriously, he is able to face it and understand it. Others try to condem him for his understanding, trying to force him into philosophical suicide via religion. Of course his ways are unconventional and i think you can embrace the absurd without being so detached and loveless, but that was how we was specifically. Life, to him, wasn't a grand occurrence. To him, all distinctions, morality, lines and knowledge smudged and simmered into one pot and it all made no difference. And in the end, as he stated multiple times, nothing matters.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I didnt expect to admire this book the way I do. It took me a second to get into, but I was rewarded. The air around the book is rich, profound and intensely marked by cigarettes and wine. The relationships and friendships were described with such intensity I felt like I was part of them, whether they were invigorating or comforting. What elevated the entire scene was the historical accuracy and context because it's so surreal that all this kind of happened like that. The mentions of the famous writers and other famous people like Hemingway or Einstein! Sylvia wasn't just successful, she was flawed and insecure. I especially loved the last scene with the celebration/reading of Friends of Shakespeare and Company when everyone was clapping for Sylvia - I actually cried. And the sophisticated language made it all so believable. I dont think my review is doing it justice, not even close. Only things I didn't enjoy was how long it took me to get through and (this is a personal preference) the French touch of it all, as I don't feel very connected to France. Nonetheless, great book.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I was surprised at how factual and sober this is written. A large part of it is objective description of the ward but especially the reflection of the diagnosis, the debate between Interpreter one and two and the way she perceived madness and herself growing up was extremely raw and in a way, refreshing to read. I read it in a couple of hours and was so invested. It seems even more authentic and real because the author and protagonist are the same person. And I liked the occasional glance into the future and the comments that managed to be funny in a setting like this. It had some brilliant thought in it that I might have to read again to fully understand. In some aspects, it was comfortably relatable.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Its been so long since I've connected with characters of a book like this and actually cried at the end. The language is so breathtakingly beautiful, Anne is the most interesting girl ever and the whole book has an airy feeling of comfort surrounding it. Despite all the sad things happening, the book manages to make you feel like everything will still be okay. Its like a warm and gentle hug. And there's so few books like that.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

It's heartbreaking. Maybe even the original, the founding father of the "eccentric teacher and students without a father figure or other ailments" trope and it was stunningly executed. I felt for Neil, I felt for Todd. The rest of the boys were either boring or straight up crude and annoying. I hated the misogyny exhibited by both the boys and Mr. Keating and I'll just blame it on the time, but it still leaves a bitter taste, ruining the masterful atmosphere. It was short, precise and thus, even more painful. Like a stab with a knife, quick and debilitating. And, of course, I adored the language.

Basically, the horrors of academia but it still manages to be an academic book. Talk about inner conflict. To love what your enemy consists of. And you cannot tell me there wasn't more between Todd and Neil. I'll have to watch the movie now and lose myself in the story again.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I picked up this book for a reset after my last book, expecting a simple and forgettable story. In that directive, I was immensely disappointed and therefore, wholly surprised and impressed with the book. The language is so simple, which makes sense since the narrators are young teenagers. The ability to create wordings you feel in your bones with such simple language is extraordinary. I found so many quote-worthy lines and I also really loved the approach to writing from Byatts perspective when she was not able to think straight. It was so artistic and creative. Whenever a situation was incredibly fearful and tense, the execution was so masterly done, it felt like a panic's transcript. Hettys and just everyone's spiral towards the end was so impressively done, the way she kept repeating she's guilty or how everything's always happening over and over again. So skillful. It was quick to get through and still managed to leave a lasting impression.

I've always had a knack for apocalyptic stories and this one was a great one. Not only did we find out what the Tox is, we got to see how it cruelly altered the entire island and therefore the lives of 100 girls. The dynamic between the girls is a battle of survival and the acknowledgement of former friendship, welted together in this surreal world. Hetty was perfectly flawed, chaotic and likeable, Reese was complicated and capable of growing on you and Byatt was warm and tragic. Girls, in this book, got to be messy. They got to be without a spectator. And I would've never imagined

that there's some kind of a happy end, since the whole story seemed doomed and their fate sealed. But that was a cliffhanger i didn't even mind because at least it didn't end in the three girl's death.

And I loved the map!!!!

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"but we've all lost things, eyes and hands and last names." (P. 19)

"The Tox didn't just happen to us. It happened to everything." (P. 60)

"and oh god I forgot        I forgot how it hurts" (P. 121)

"Water and shoreline born new every day. Everything what it wants to be. Everything mine. I'm buried there no matter where I go." (P. 175)

"This has always already happened." (P. 179)

"There's no room to feel bad. If I feel that, I have to feel everything else." (P. 195)

"Byatt was rhe one who put the bones in my body." (P. 209)

"I'm alone but the kind of alone where you aren't where you can feel the other girls behind you running laughing chattering and it's okay that you're by yourself on the beach because all you have to do is turn around and there they'll be

But I don't turn around" (p. 231, byatts perspective, that's why is a grammatical nightmare)

"this is fracture this is breaking this is an ending" (p. 242)

"The things I've done here, the bodies I've felt under my hands." (P. 272)

reverie by Erin Hanson

fast-paced

2.0

I started this exactly a year ago, abandoned it and came back only to be disappointed. And i feel really mean saying that so I need to say: the book wasn't for me, i didn't like the poems, but that doesn't mean they can't be enlightening to others. As long as words touch at least one person, even if that's just yourself, they should be written. So I'm glad this was written, I just wish I hadn't read it

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I started the book with enthusiasm, continued it with disgust and ended it in awe. 
The first things that struck me were the narrator(s!!) and the writing style. Seeing a POV from a whole homogenous group of people, almost merging into one was so interesting, but they were unbearable. The writing was specific, poetic and moldy. So the metaphors and descriptions were made with skill and precision, but I didn't like the metaphors and descriptions in the first place. The book focused so much on useless and uninteresting digressions about fish flies or Trip, which I could not care for less. It's racist, crude and misogynistic, I hate reading about little boys and I hate reading from the perspective of little boys. The book stinks, almost literally, of discomfort from hot breath or sweaty pillows. The boys are lewd, the book is offensive and almost always are the girls portrayed to be some tragic sexual desire. 
The girls lived an inexplicably tragic and short life and what I think was done very well was the reaction of the public and how they dared to appropriate their deaths, make it into whatever they wanted it to be. The girls were robbed. And the book, with its manic obsession and exhibits, is a prime example of that. And I do not care if that was the point. I don't care if the author sought to shine light towards an ugly part of society, the way the girls were treated and the way the boys treated, the infested nature of this book, I do not care because it was harmful and stereotypical. If you seek to educate, don't make up pain in such a way without explaining why this was necessary. The only reason it's getting 3 stars is because I loved the writing and so many sentiments are written beautifully and quotable. A lot of things resonated with me and worded things I have never been able to put into words.