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gweenbean_'s reviews
59 reviews
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5.0
girlhood is one of my favorite concepts to explore in books and "little women" is definitely where it started. the dynamic between the members of the march family and the friends they make along the courses of their lives is so warm and i think it really captures what it's like to grow up as a girl with girls. i have not loved a fictional family more in a long time.
(also i was definitely in love with jo when i read this for the first time in fifth grade.)
(also i was definitely in love with jo when i read this for the first time in fifth grade.)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
2.0
the prose was so pretty but that's about where the good things ended. sometimes it felt like there was so much prose and internal monologue that no actual plot was moving forward outside of addie's very very repetitive self-reflections throughout the book.
in the end the characters fell flat. addie felt very "not like other girls" in a way that was annoying and almost monochromatic to me. henry was very "woe is me" in a way that i couldn't really get behind. both characters are conventionally attractive white people who make their issues everyone else's fault. not saying that their circumstances are entirely their doing but it was just so weird to me that not once did they recognize the privilege they had to move through the world the way they did. henry's issue with being too handsome or whatever and addie's issue of being a forgotten muse felt so unimportant because it's like... addie literally lived through hundreds of years of historical events and that's what you're choosing to focus on...
SPOILERS AHEAD
also the weird godlike death shadow figure whatever falling in love with addie was so sudden like it felt like there was absolutely zero chemistry between them until maybe two thirds of the way in.
in the end the characters fell flat. addie felt very "not like other girls" in a way that was annoying and almost monochromatic to me. henry was very "woe is me" in a way that i couldn't really get behind. both characters are conventionally attractive white people who make their issues everyone else's fault. not saying that their circumstances are entirely their doing but it was just so weird to me that not once did they recognize the privilege they had to move through the world the way they did. henry's issue with being too handsome or whatever and addie's issue of being a forgotten muse felt so unimportant because it's like... addie literally lived through hundreds of years of historical events and that's what you're choosing to focus on...
SPOILERS AHEAD
also the weird godlike death shadow figure whatever falling in love with addie was so sudden like it felt like there was absolutely zero chemistry between them until maybe two thirds of the way in.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
4.0
i don't know how celeste ng was able to write so many different perspectives at once so poignantly and accurately. each character has a unique voice and the relationship dynamics between each member of the family felt so real.
the relationships between the siblings was especially meaningful to me. there is something about growing up with siblings that is difficult to capture. oftentimes they are the only ones who can understand the specific circumstances of your family, and ng was able to perfectly encapsulate that feeling in a way that wasn't "in-your-face" the way a lot of sibling dynamics in other media is.
i wish there was more of jack, but that's just because he's my favorite and it's definitely no fault of the book.
the relationships between the siblings was especially meaningful to me. there is something about growing up with siblings that is difficult to capture. oftentimes they are the only ones who can understand the specific circumstances of your family, and ng was able to perfectly encapsulate that feeling in a way that wasn't "in-your-face" the way a lot of sibling dynamics in other media is.
i wish there was more of jack, but that's just because he's my favorite and it's definitely no fault of the book.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
2.0
writing is really beautiful, but i do wonder why hanya yanagihara, a japanese woman, writes about the struggles of queer, black men as someone who has not had those lived experiences. it feels a little strange to me. i have seen the traumaporn comments and i cannot help but agree.