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gigilbell's reviews
400 reviews
There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé by Morgan Parker
4.0
Definitely need to read like five more times. Poetry I will think about in idle times
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
4.0
The biggest plot twist of them all was this book being an elaborate ploy to make me try therapy again
Fade by Tanya Saracho
4.0
You ever put off reading the ending of a thing because you know it's gonna be too painful? Yeah. Kicking myself because this was first produced in Denver and that would have been cool to see
Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
4.0
My instructor: This play contains triggering content
Me: Ok
Play: *contains triggering content*
Me: *surprised pikachu face*
Me: Ok
Play: *contains triggering content*
Me: *surprised pikachu face*
Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined by Stephenie Meyer
3.0
I definitely only read this for the memes and the memories so I was really surprised when I actually enjoyed it. In fact, I really like this version better than the original Twilight in many ways. I loved Beau and how he worshipped the ground Edythe walked on. Perfect simp representation for our contemporary times. Additionally, I found Edythe to be extremely appealing to me for all the reasons that Edward was extremely unappealing to me in middle school. I guess that's what being gay will do for you! Imagine that.
Of course, Twilight is still Twilight, and the plot was still as incomprehensible and weird and Mormon as ever. I also really didn't like very many of the changed character names (Jessamine? Archie?? Royal???). I also am disappointed at Stephenie's lack of commitment to certain cringe plotlines that she just kind of retconned here (no confederate Mulan Jessamine, sorry). Also, it would have been fun to see her rewrite the rest of the series in this genderswapped style instead of ending it all so abruptly, but I can see the appeal in not having to justify mpreg... in conclusion, stan Edythe!
P.S. I will absolutely be rewriting the rest of the Twilight saga in the Life and Death style on my own just for my own amusement, so get ready world
Of course, Twilight is still Twilight, and the plot was still as incomprehensible and weird and Mormon as ever. I also really didn't like very many of the changed character names (Jessamine? Archie?? Royal???). I also am disappointed at Stephenie's lack of commitment to certain cringe plotlines that she just kind of retconned here (no confederate Mulan Jessamine, sorry). Also, it would have been fun to see her rewrite the rest of the series in this genderswapped style instead of ending it all so abruptly, but I can see the appeal in not having to justify mpreg... in conclusion, stan Edythe!
P.S. I will absolutely be rewriting the rest of the Twilight saga in the Life and Death style on my own just for my own amusement, so get ready world
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch
3.0
Yeah, this one was weird. Just a general note: if your play has no characters and different parts are denoted by dashes, maybe check to make sure the dashes are in the right places?? We should not have to get a long email from our instructor telling us how to decypher the typos??? Still fun
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
5.0
There is so much I want to say. There was so much of this book that I loved, so much that tickled my fancy and made my Pre-Raphaelite-loving heart happy. Yet for every beautiful, romantic moment there are at least two other moments that made me cringe, that filled my heart with dread or even outright terror.
The Doll Factory is a story of art, but not really. It is a story of romance, of beauty, of everyday life, but it also critiques the ways in which art warps reality and the ways that we warp reality ourselves. It is a story about women being trapped in a society that treats them like dolls to be played with, abused, and thrown away when their caretakers grow bored of them. Above all, it is a story that beautifully demonstrates a traditional tenet of storytelling: the raveling and unraveling of tension.
The Doll Factory is a masterclass in the building of tension.
Iris's upward trajectory from overworked dollmaker's apprentice to Pre-Raphaelite model and talented artist in her own right is mirrored by Silas's trajectory from eccentric but harmless taxidermist to deeply depraved erotomania. The first two parts of the novel move along at a slow though not unpleasant pace, but the latter half of the second part and the entirety of the third part really pick up. The novel truly shines as a cohesive unit. Insignificant moments from the early chapters such as the cracking of a flea under our heroine's fingernail are called back on later to devastating effect. It's a novel I'd love to read many more times to track the movement of symbols, words, motifs.
I'll finish with this.
I love the Pre-Raphaelites. I love Millais's Ophelia. I also hate the Pre-Raphaelites. I hate the way that Dante Gabriel Rossetti picked up Lizzie Siddal and made her his muse but never seemed to appreciate her beyond her likeness that lent itself to many of his paintings and drawings and poems. He taught her to paint, but her true creative potential was lost when she died at 32 from a laudanum overdose. Iris embodies a revisionist history of sorts, a vision of a Siddal-esque Pre-Raphaelite artist who lives to break free of her confines (both literal and metaphorical) and outshine those who saw her as a doll first and artist second.
The Doll Factory is a story of art, but not really. It is a story of romance, of beauty, of everyday life, but it also critiques the ways in which art warps reality and the ways that we warp reality ourselves. It is a story about women being trapped in a society that treats them like dolls to be played with, abused, and thrown away when their caretakers grow bored of them. Above all, it is a story that beautifully demonstrates a traditional tenet of storytelling: the raveling and unraveling of tension.
The Doll Factory is a masterclass in the building of tension.
Iris's upward trajectory from overworked dollmaker's apprentice to Pre-Raphaelite model and talented artist in her own right is mirrored by Silas's trajectory from eccentric but harmless taxidermist to deeply depraved erotomania. The first two parts of the novel move along at a slow though not unpleasant pace, but the latter half of the second part and the entirety of the third part really pick up. The novel truly shines as a cohesive unit. Insignificant moments from the early chapters such as the cracking of a flea under our heroine's fingernail are called back on later to devastating effect. It's a novel I'd love to read many more times to track the movement of symbols, words, motifs.
I'll finish with this.
I love the Pre-Raphaelites. I love Millais's Ophelia. I also hate the Pre-Raphaelites. I hate the way that Dante Gabriel Rossetti picked up Lizzie Siddal and made her his muse but never seemed to appreciate her beyond her likeness that lent itself to many of his paintings and drawings and poems. He taught her to paint, but her true creative potential was lost when she died at 32 from a laudanum overdose. Iris embodies a revisionist history of sorts, a vision of a Siddal-esque Pre-Raphaelite artist who lives to break free of her confines (both literal and metaphorical) and outshine those who saw her as a doll first and artist second.