hanniboiii's reviews
69 reviews

Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Alice and Jay are reunited during the height of the pandemic, 20 years after their intense relationship ended. Over the course of a volatile few weeks isolating on the property of a wealthy and mysterious land owner, they seek closure as the reader uncovers the course of events that lead to their demise. 

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Hari Kunzru takes you on a meandering, immersive journey through the grungy, 90s art scene in London, alternating between past and present, UK to US, exploring topics including the value of art, relationships, documentation, and more. Blue Ruin is a quintessential literary novel with an overall melancholic vibe.

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I personally found this book both boring and quite intriguing. I appreciated the conversation around what it means to be an artist. I'm not quite at a place where I appreciate the lens of the pandemic, because it is still ongoing and challenging to navigate when the world thinks it's over, but Kunzru presented a unique perspective that felt separate from my own. If you are an artist and enjoy these slow moving, slightly boring yet cozy stories, I highly recommend this incredibly well written novel! Thank you Knopf for the gifted copy!

In Universes by Emet North

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

Each chapter a different life of Raffi's, In Universes explores themes of grief, gender and identity, the meaning of family, and the struggle to survive. Characters mix and match, bears are friends and foe, and you'll never quite know what is real or imagined.

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This book felt like a rainy April day, somewhere between a cozy joy and dark sorrow. As characters Raffi, Brit, Graham, Kay, and Alice's fluid identities fluctuated throughout the story, I found myself relating deeply to each one. I enjoyed the exploration of the multiverse and the ways each chapter was a standalone story while being part of the larger narrative. In Universes checked so many boxes and I will not be forgetting it anytime soon!

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Much like sharing a nourishing meal with loved ones, Butter Honey Pig Bread (and how appetizing a title!) is hearty and lush, leaving you with more, AS more, than before. I feel like more than I was before. Yes, it's that kind of book.

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Imagine an A24 generational saga, a story of three Nigerian women—Kambirinachi (a sort of spirit/demon-being depending on who you ask), and her twin daughters Taiye and Kehinde. Their lives are each unique testaments to connection; connection to the spiritual realm; connection to and with others; connection to food and nature and sex; connections that affect connections within the self; the value of all connections; and severed connections, in life. Simply, Kambirinachi and Taiye and Kehinde need each other. 

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Anemoia, a concept I learned from this captivating novel, just so happens to describe my feelings while reading, and especially upon finishing, this story. "Nostalgia for a time or place one has never known." Not without great trauma and sorrow (be sure to check content warnings, as this was a heavy read), I want so badly to return to these pages Francesca Ekwuyasi so beautifully crafted. When ya'll say a book is amazing, YOU MEAN IT. I'm choosing to believe the reason I waited so long to read this was simply because I wasn't ready until now. 

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

It had the vibes. It had the characters. It had the humor. What did it not have? The 100+ more pages I so desperately wanted.

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Greta & Valdin follows siblings Greta and Valdin (lol) through love and walks getting lost in the park and surprises and family drama that is only dramatic to those not in the know. Here are a few things I loved about this book (and why it's included on my favorite reads of the year!):

• The blunt and witty voice of the narrator was so juicy and enjoyable.
• The characters were so lovely. Valdin reminded me of Willem and Jude but I'm not entirely sure why?
• The family dynamics were phenomenal. They weren't a picture perfect bunch, but they all cared so deeply for each other and supported each other unconditionally. 
• It had that gratifying litfic feel that just makes me absolutely obsessed with reading.
• This is the first book I've read by a Māori author (and featuring Māori people and culture), and it was a great first glance into another indigenous group I would love to learn more about. All in all, I adored this book AND bonus points for a gorgeous cover!

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I am very fond of this book, but I didn't enjoy it to the degree I had expected. That is not to say I didn't enjoy it at all, because it was so so good, but my enjoyment levels varied by chapter. And I don't generally equate enjoyment with quality, because this is a quality read. I wish we didn't rate books based on entertainment, but rather the value we receive from the content. (And a week after finishing this book I am still thinking about it!) Five stars for Martyr!

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Aptly named, Martyr! explores the idea of martyrdom, or making your life and death mean something, through the life of Cyrus, an Iranian American man, and his friends and family. 

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There were a number of quotes and concepts that I collected while reading. There was a satisfying yet heartbreaking plot twist. I had to google what happened in the end but I still don't fully understand what happened and I think that's actually super of cool to leave an ending up to interpretation! 

✨Quotes✨

"He wanted to be on "the right side of history," whatever that was.

But more than that (he admitted this to himself when he was practicing being rigorously honest), he wanted other people to perceive him as someone who cared about being on the right side of history."

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"Cyrus paused for a second. He felt a flash of familiar shame his whole life had been a steady procession of him passionately loving what other people merely liked, and struggling, mostly failing, to translate to anyone else how and why everything mattered so much. He realized he was perhaps doing what Sad James had once called The Thing, the overliking thing, obsessing over something in a way that others felt to be smothering."

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"It feels so American to discount dreams because they're not built of objects, of things you can hold and catalogue and then put in a safe. Dreams give us voices, visions, ideas, mortal terrors, and departed beloveds. Nothing counts more to an individual, or less to an empire."

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"The performance of certainty seemed to be at the root of so much grief. Everyone in America seemed to be afraid and hurting and angry, starving for a fight they could win. And more than that even, they seemed certain their natural state was to be happy, con-tented, and rich. The genesis of everyone's pain had to be external, such was their certainty. And so legislators legislated, building border walls, barring citizens of there from entering here. "The pain we feel comes from them, not ourselves," said the banners, and people cheered, certain of all the certainty. But the next day they'd wake up and find that what had hurt in them still hurt."

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"But he was also awash in the world and its checkboxes-neither Iranian nor American, neither Muslim nor not-Muslim, neither drunk nor in meaningful recovery, neither gay nor straight. Each camp thought he was too much the other thing. That there were camps at all made his head swim."

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"Eight of the ten commandments are about what thou shalt not. But you can live a whole life not doing any of that stuff and still avoid doing any good. That's the whole crisis. The rot at the root of everything. The belief that goodness is built on a constructed absence, not-doing. That belief corrupts everything, has everyone with any power sitting on their hands. A rich man goes a whole day without killing a single homeless person and so goes to sleep content in his goodness. In another world, he's buying crates of socks and Clif bars and tents, distributing them in city centers. But for him, abstinence reigns."

Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin

dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I spent a couple days as Enid while reading Interesting Facts About Space. And by that I mean Emily Austin wrote a character so relatable, in ways both comforting and slightly worrying, that you forget where you end and the fictional character begins. And that is why I absolutely adore Emily Austin's writing.

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It's litfic that feels like a psychological thriller that also feels like coming of age and is also so freaking funny. This novel was so many great things in one little well written package. It had amazing Queer and neurodivergent representation, without pandering or making real life struggles into a cute and quirky "personality trait". The puzzle pieces of family, trauma, paranoia, and, not to mention the interesting facts about space, all fit together perfectly to create this engaging narrative.

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This book comes out at the end of the month, and if you enjoy socially awkward characters, dark humor, mental health journeys, true crime, are fearful of bald men, or have rat tattoos, this is the book for you! 

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Evil Eye is a sort of late-in-life coming-of-age story about a daughter of Palestinian immigrants. It explores what it's like to be a woman and mother in America, specifically a Palestinian-American woman, being bombarded with expectations from all sides, and working through the effects of childhood trauma along with anxiety and depression. It's a painting of a person gasping for air, wanting a beautiful life and so much love, but being so far below the surface and unable to swim.

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Etaf Rum pulls you so deep inside Yara's life, you cannot avoid being affected by her struggles. She illustrates this deep, dark depression that makes you second guess what is coming from the book and what feelings are manifesting from yourself (so yeah, big depression and trauma trigger warning, it's rough at times). That being said, I adore books that translate emotion this intensely. I couldn't put this book down. And and AND it is also hopeful and shows growth and strength and all the beautiful things that women are, especially given the support and tools we all need. 

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This is a great book to pick up this week during the global strike! Evil Eye explores Palestinian cultural myths and stories, beliefs and curses, and traditions. And while it isn't a monolith for Palestinian culture, it's a slice of life that might be reality for some. A great addition to other texts you might be studying to learn more about Palestine! 

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

The Beauty of Your Face follows Afaf, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, throughout her life in Chicago. The story begins with Afaf as the principal of a Muslim school for girls when a school shooting occurs. The narrative then alternates between this traumatic event and Afaf's life leading up to the present day. 

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The primary focus of this novel was Afaf's faith and finding Islam at a difficult time in her life. She struggles with members of her family and community not accepting her, she endures great joy and great loss, but her faith gives her the strength she needs to keep moving forward. I hadn't yet read a book by a Palestinian author exploring this experience, and I really appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Islam, especially from a female perspective of empowerment and liberation, rather than the common narrative of oppression.

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There are so many unique perspectives to explore. Even among books written by authors with similar backgrounds or ancestors, the experiences and identities are wildly different. Reading these books by Palestinian-American authors just shows how different those within a certain culture can be, and how each person's life is precious and unique and valuable. Every single human lives a unique life and experiences the world differently AND THIS SHOULD BE CELEBRATED.

Rosewater by Liv Little

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Tender. Steamy. Relatable. Rosewater is a story I'm sure many late-twenty-somethings would find familiar. Poetic and full of longing, Liv Little crafted the perfect, sad girl, litfic novel. 

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Elsie is struggling. When she is evicted from her first home that is hers alone, she has a hard time securing housing. Luckily, her best friend, Juliet (who Elsie hadn't spoken to in months...), has a room available. Elsie experiences hit after hit, life seemingly against her. She copes with sex and poetry (written by Kai-Isaiah Jamal). As Elsie pursues the life she not only wants but needs, she uncovers feelings that have been living deep inside her for a long time. 

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Rosewater is one of those cozy and complicated novels lacking neither plot nor vibes. The one thing I didn't like about this book? I rented it from the library and don't have a copy to keep :(