flowingleaves's reviews
82 reviews

On Being Different: What It Means to Be a Homosexual by Merle Miller

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Antisemitism, and Lesbophobia

The Road Through the Wall by Shirley Jackson

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Suicide, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono

challenging hopeful fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Medical content, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Confinement and Cannibalism

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez

dark mysterious medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Violence, and Murder

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, and Grief

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.

A boring, horrifying for the sake of it, slog of a story. The writing's interesting enough, but the story feels pointless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

2.75

This book has some bad parts, for example the author's mixing of her opinion with facts, which can be very misleading for people taking her writing at face value. It also has many good parts, it's an easy introduction to this topic and I personally loved the conclusion of this book. I didn't fully agree with certain sections but I feel like I took away some good information from this book. Although, a fair warning to everyone, this book does include the words r*tarded and E*kimos, both of which are slurs, though they aren't used cruely, simply out of ignorance, since this was published on 2005.

Other than that, it's a decent enough book for what it's meant to be, a quick introduction to a very complicated topic, even the author does makes many generalizations and doesn't back herself up with sources quite as much as she should.

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

1.75

Another bland book that got way too overhyped. The writing is boring and I don't like the characters. I can kinda undertsand what the author was going for but that doesn't mean I like it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, and Grief