hedsek's reviews
117 reviews

The High House by Jessie Greengrass

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Interesting read with some beautiful observations on small things that can bring joy in difficult times, but overall I kind of expected more from the story. The buildup towards Caro and Pauly going to the high house is great, but then it just kind of fizzles out (which might fit the theme I guess, but I'd have preferred a bit more narrative for this story). I also wasn't really a fan of the super fast switches in perspective in the second half of the book. The first half was really great though, especially when describing the 'parental' relations between different characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Death and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

A train wreck I couldn't look away from but in the end I wonder if there's any point to this book. Idk it just feels over the top ironic with how meaningless all the violence and gore is when all it seems to say is religion bad and humans bad.

Maybe it's because I'm used to fucked up stuff from reading Dutch literature but it's not as shocking as some reviews make it out. Still, unpleasant stuff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Excrement, Murder, Rape, Body horror, Classism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Animal death, Child death, Self harm, Sexism, Pedophilia, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Suicide, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Truly an amazing read. Extremely gripping and the descriptions of how things used to be are so realistic and slice of life that it becomes heartbreaking. The horror elements go really well with the emotional stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Gore, Homophobia, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

Eye stuff

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this but I couldn't with the writing style. Why is the main character so annoyingly aware of the (modern) reader? It feels very anachronistic and kind of took me out of the book a few times. I also really did not enjoy the snarky dialogue and all the random stereotyping about different nationalities, which is like 1/3 of the dialogue. There's also a few times where it is super clear what we're supposed to figure out as the reader but the author still pretends it's mysterious only to drop it at the end of a chapter like it's some huge plottwist, especially

the thing with Madeline walking like the hare

. I'll be reading the original story as well, the book did get me curious. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, and Medical content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Confinement, Sexism, Cursing, Misogyny, Suicide, and War

Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Exactly my type of book in terms of vibes and the main character being a pathetic man who accomplishes very little and blames it all on everyone else. It's a weird read and definitely quite dated in some aspects, but the general feeling of confusion, helplessness and being lost still translates really well. I'm not sure what it was exactly, maybe the language or something, but I do feel like it was lacking something/could have done more for me. But still an interesting read, I enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Racism, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Minor: War, Gun violence, Medical content, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Classism

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

Interesting read, could be a bit more concise in some areas and sometimes a bit hard to follow because it skips from topic to topic so often, but that's very much in theme. But overall really insightful, especially about precarity

Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris: roman by Anjet Daanje

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Holy fuck dit was goed. Echt een heel bijzonder boek, een van de beste die ik gelezen heb. Door de verschillende verhalen waar vaak dezelfde thematiek in terugkomt en soms letterlijk dezelfde gebeurtenissen in dezelfde of net andere woorden beschreven wordt het een soort blur van verhalen. Op een gegeven moment kon ik het niet voor het slapengaan meer lezen omdat het me dan teveel bezig ging houden en alles heel verbonden lijkt. Ook niet aan te raden om te lezen als je ziek bent, trouwens. 

Er zitten een aantal echt prachtige verhalen tussen, vooral die over de tweeling, maar ook een paar verhalen die me wat minder boeiden en waar je dan langzaam doorheen kwam. Toch voegden ook die verhalen uiteindelijk wel echt toe aan het geheel, vond ik. 

De schrijfstijl is goed te volgen, mooi en over het algemeen niet te 'aanwezig', met uitzondering van een aantal supermooie beschrijvingen. Daanje kan heel treffend beschrijven hoe mensen vast komen te zitten in bepaalde gedachten en overtuigingen en laat het naast tragisch bijna mooi lijken. Mijn enige kritiekpunt qua schrijfstijl zou zijn dat er wel heel vaak een random woord voor nadruk vooropgeplaatst wordt in de zin. Storend, wordt dat op een gegeven moment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Infidelity, Death, and Incest

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child death, Blood, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Rape, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Self harm

Minor: Classism, Animal death, and Sexual content

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

Not for me I guess

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Animal death, Bullying, Classism, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Genocide, Incest, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Ableism

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book, to be honest. On the one hand, it was a really easy read and the buildup of tension was very well done. I also love reading an unlikeable and unreliable narrator, and the ways in which Kuang described the mental gymnastics of someone being racist but thinking they couldn't possibly be racist were spot on. But on the other hand, reading this after having read Babel, it fell a bit flat in some ways. Athena seems quite a self-insert of the author, and as a previous review mentioned, having criticism that Kuang faced repeated at Athena through the mouths of people we obviously shouldn't take seriously feels a bit strange (which felt at the beginning but couldn't really put into words before finding that review). In terms of writing, too, there was a lot less to like than in Babel and I feel like Kuang would have been able to do more in that department. However, this is also a completely different type of book, and it kind of works as well. I also thought the ending was really abrupt and not very satisfying. But overall, I still enjoyed reading this book a lot and it's been a while since I've read anything this fast so it did keep me engaged well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Death, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Sexism, Misogyny, Stalking, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Embassytown by China Miéville

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall, I enjoyed this book because of its creativity and nice writing style. The POV character provides a really interesting view on the world as, especially in the beginning, she's not that involved or interested in things so we just get glimpses. I have some issues with continuity and a few things that don't entirely make sense or where the solution to a really big problem kind of just appears out of nowhere. But in general, an interesting read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Self harm, War, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Murder, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical content, Body horror, Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gun violence

Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Homophobia