fluoresensitive's reviews
527 reviews

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin

challenging reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

The way none of her family gave a single shit until she was dead and gone... Damn.

Failure to Comply by Sarah Cavar

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

My silly review; little German boy don't disappear into the woods and resist being "fixed" by a fascist society!

Little German boy: O MEIN GOTT THERE'S BODILY AUTONOMY IN HERE

my serious review? I am not saying this as someone who is merely Cavar's friend, or merely as someone who lends extra grace and love towards trans narratives— this book is a work of genius. It's confusing and wandering but you are meant to be confused, you are meant to read sentences two or three times to let it sink into you; you are compelled to be disgusted, sickened, because what's the matter with fluids? Where's the sin in being disabled, in being sick and scarred and transforming your own body? I just! Also! Another thing about Cavar? This Mfer READS ok, this is a white lesbian who is picking up the words and works of Black scholars and is thinking THOUGHTS! UGH! ICON!

The Terror by Dan Simmons
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.

The TV show is better, and there's only so much Period Typical Racism you can swallow as a Black reader. Life's too short to be annoyed with books xoxo.

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

When you love your man so much, you merge with him to trans both of your genders. Truly the most nonbinary story of all time, God I love horror authors.

Reptile Memoirs by Silje O. Ulstein

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Just wow. Very compelling and interesting! Love a thriller that repeatedly proves me wrong, and this was certainly one of those.

Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin

fast-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? Yes

3.75

A book that throws you into the mind of a homophobic old woman who's like, a good five years away from getting it. The way she took care of Jen in the end is so beautiful, AHHHH! 

Also Lane and Green are so strong, and patient, I can't promise you that old woman wouldn't have been curbstomped. 

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The serious review: this book is stunning written, hearth wrenching, beautiful, SO complex for something under two hundred words. There were literally moments when I was fighting back tears, like Khaw knows how to make a moment so tender it kills you. Gorgeous, horrifying, moments of gore and viciousness belied held in stunning contrast to lush, breaktaking pastoral scenes, fresh white snows splashed with blood... Yeah! And it literally has the Come Back Wrong/Come Back Weird shit that I love so bad, like ... You don't get it ... Hozier said, 'put me back in it' and the mermaid and plague doctor said BET

Silly Review? I think we would ALL crash out this hard/go to such extreme lengths for a they/them Frankenstein's monster with religious/medical trauma, like. Yeah. I get it, you're so real to me, sea lady.

Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest by Gregg Olsen

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

5.0

A) we're so back.
B) god, I love a well - thought out and unsensationalized work of crime fiction.

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.0

Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.

More shit and poop and farts than an Ice Spice song. Also, metaphors every sentence, it's so. Alright now. I think I'm just not meant for K Ming Chang.