freddie's reviews
295 reviews

Baba Dunja's Last Love by Alina Bronsky

4.0

Elderly Baba Dunja chooses to stay in the irradiated Tschernowo. You can totally see that she's really confident and resolved in her choice. Overall a very odd but lovely combination of charm and grimness.

Silence by Shūsaku Endō

4.0

Kinda bittersweet and nuanced ending, the protagonist Rodrigues isn't really likable, yet you want to root for him and you kinda also feel bad for him at the end.

The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian

5.0

Superbly written story. The descriptive language used to paint the setting is magical, amazing, and vivid. The cast is large and can be confusing, but the author manages to set the characters apart by giving them unique voices and strong characterization. The tone is direct, conversational, and non-judgemental. Reading this book was a pleasure.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

5.0

The matter-of-fact, conversational, somewhat comedic, occasionally sarcastic first-person omniscient narration is consistent throughout the whole novel, and yet it gives different effects when you compare the first half and the second half of the novel. The narration style, with the absence of the narrator's "I", makes the first half of the novel impersonal and emotionally distance; in contrast, the same narration style when used the in the novel's second half, where "I" is finally in the picture, makes the story more intimate. I don't find that contrast as a bad or good thing per se - just that it is fascinating.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

5.0

At it's core, it's a novel about friendship and how to navigate through it despite all the clashes in personality and beliefs, so yeah, it's kinda mushy - which isn't bad, considering you can see guys (the narrator and his friend Sid) getting mushy as well (then again, they are writers, so them being mushy isn't so hard to believe). A cozy read.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

3.0

So, yeah, there are indeed magical doors in this book that transports people from different parts of the world to other parts of the world. At its core, the novel is about refugee issues and how borders these days are blurring - except the novel does not really explore that concept in great detail. On top of that, this is also a love story / domestic fiction of some sort that follows the development of the relationship between Saeed and Nadia. These are the two subjects the novel is trying to convey but unfortunately, being a short novel that it is, both topics are not explored very well and we ended up with something a bit superficial. That said, comparing between two, I'd say the domestic fiction side of the narrative is more prominent (not sure if this is intended) but you want to read a relationship story, this book has it (but don't expect too much).

Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner

5.0

Edith had a lovely self-reflection session at a quiet Swiss hotel where she met various people who indirectly caused her to really begin assess herself. A lovely Voyage and Return story about self-discovery with tons of subtle nuance.

Honour by Elif Shafak

5.0

Another amazing book by Elif Shafak. The characters are not only well-written and compelling, but also very diverse and it is really interesting to see the interactions and relationships forged between characters of different background. While this novel highlights the difficulties faced by women in a conservative community with a rather, dare I say, skewed view of what constitutes "honour" in a family, it is far from preachy.

Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima

3.0

It was OK, nothing mind-blowing. Perhaps it was because I was reading the story while being ridden with anxiety that I could not focus very well, Etsuko just came across very unlikeable, selfish, and manipulative - overall just an unsympathetic character. She was literally blinded by a mix of passion and rage, it was annoying and excruciating to watch.

UFO in Her Eyes by Xiaolu Guo

4.0

Quite a light book - it has a potential to be heavier, given the subject it discusses and it simply isn't (not that I mind that it be heavier - I think that would make it even more interesting!). The dialogues are a bit weird and unnatural - I feel like the Chinese villagers in this talk as if they are literally talking in translated forms of their own language. Why does everyone use "Bitch Bastard" to curse? I don't know. The ending is a bit rushed - I would love to see a longer, fleshed resolution. But 4 stars if you take this book as something light and funny and you don't expect more from it.