freethefrican's reviews
254 reviews

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I can’t explain it but I think this is one of those books you’ll only like if you can relate to its very specific and personal subject matter. Histrionic personality and dysthymia aren’t spoken about a lot when we talk about personality disorders and the different ways depression can manifest so I appreciated this POV.
I can’t say much about the therapist’s responses but I do wonder about them (but at least she penned a disclaimer at the end with regards to her management style and choices). Also, I did not like the essays(?) at the end and felt they were unnecessary and out of place.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

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challenging emotional hopeful informative 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

4.0

I tend to struggle with character-based books but every once in a while I read one that sucks me in and this was definitely one of those.
It had one of the best depictions of depression I’ve ever read: the way it can be chronic, sinister, and pervasive; the way it can go unnoticed and unnamed by the sufferer and those around them. It felt very real.

Some of the characters were so infuriating sometimes that I wanted to reach into the book and shake them and other times they behaved so irrationally that I wanted to stop reading the book altogether but I didn't stop reading. I stuck it out. I watched the relationships splinter and morph with time and tbh, the difficulties were very realistic because if there is one thing an irrational human being can be, it is stubborn. I felt the ending left a little to be desired but I can live with that and I definitely want to read more from this author.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I really really wanted to like this but I just found myself bored and confused. Also, contrary to what many of its fans think, I found the lore to be muddled and all attempts to info-dump explanations just further confused me. There was a lot going on and I struggled to keep up with/understand what was going on or even why (it was bad enough that I had to google a plot summary when I was done.)
The instalove was annoying and I honestly couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters or even the unfolding plot. Though some moments tried to shine through (like Nahri trying to learn her healing), they weren’t enough to save it for me.

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an ordinary story told in an interesting-enough way. There was nothing particularly clever about the plot and tbh I’ve read a more interesting debut about a female serial killer (re: A Certain Hunger). I did enjoy the storytelling enough to look forward to whatever the author writes next.

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 2%.

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.

Wasn't in the mood for it.

She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I had so much hope for this but after all the set up (over half the book), it just didn’t come through. It needed to be longer to properly utilise the characters whose backstories had been painstakingly crafted. But at least it caused a lot of talk in the book club.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced