hedsek's reviews
126 reviews

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

dark hopeful reflective sad fast-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

3.5

Quite an intriguing read but I wish it took some more time with the second half of the book. It was interesting and disturbing to see Keiko and Shiraha interact, but the writing style was kinda bland (easy to read tho).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Incel rhetoric

Finna by Nino Cipri

adventurous hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

Egh I did really want to like this but I think it should have been a video game or something since the mechanics seem to already work that way anyway and all the side characters have major npc energy. The main characters were interesting but a bit underdeveloped. The fact that it mentions being anti-capitalist but truly does nothing more than saying it's bad that companies see employees as expendable and having a few 'capitslism amirite' jokes also feels a bit cheap, especially considering

that the company asks the main characters to do something pretty unethical which they barely reflect on, proceed to do and somehow it turns out fine with the person affected randomly finding it a good idea for plot reasons only

. The idea behind this book is pretty fun and I got some chuckles out of the hive stuff tho.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

La Superba by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

dark funny informative 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? It's complicated

2.25

Yikessss dit is de meest seksistische bullshit die ik in jaren geleden heb. Elke vrouw in dit boek kan geplaatst worden op twee assen: hoe graag wil de hoofdpersoon haar neuken en hoe sociaal acceptabel zou het zijn om haar te neuken. En dat is niet alleen vanuit de hoofdpersoon of zo, het boek vindt het absoluut prima om kritiekloos geen enkele vrouw een persoonlijkheid te laten hebben. Het is verder niet erg dat er heel weinig gebeurt in het boek maar je verwacht ergens wel dat er dan een interessant inwendig leven bij komt kijken maar dat is ook niet zo. Wel prachtig geschreven en dat is eigenlijk de enige reden dat ik het uit heb gelezen en benieuwd genoeg was over wat er komen ging. Maar yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Racism, Rape, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Autogynephilia

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Read this pretty quickly because as per usual Armfield's prose is gorgeous but very readable. The atmosphere of this book is really well conveyed and kind of surrounds you for the entirety of the book. The characters were all flawed and annoying and very very human, which I liked a lot. Another big plus were the little descriptions of trying to make life as normal as possible in a world in disarray, felt very realistic. I think the book missed some of the magical realism vibes of Our wives under the sea and was overall a bit more striaghtforwardly depressing, but it worked in its own way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Self harm, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Lots of climate desperation and nail picking, also

drowning

Der Spiegel im Spiegel by Michael Ende

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Really really enjoyed this, even though it took me super long to finish it as the German was a bit above my level (especially when trying to read before bed). I loved how the stories were sort of going nowhere most of the time, just there for the strange vibes. Some stories were better than others but there are definitely a few which I'll be thinking about often (the train station islands one is living rent free in my head already, as well as the one with the clown). Absolutely recommended for anyone who likes surrealism, labyrinths, things referencing themselves and weird stuff in general.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fatphobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Suicide, Blood, and Alcohol

This book is pretty old, I probably didn't mention everything in the cws but expect the normal levels of old -timey bigotry

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

adventurous informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75

Really interesting, made me wanna infodump on people a lot. The writing is a bit extra to my taste but not too annoying. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Mental illness, Medical content, and Alcohol

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.5

So many thoughts, so little energy. Maybe I'll return here at some point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Car accident

Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

Really enjoyable! Loved some stories more than others (especially the one with Effra and the final one), but they were all good in their own way. The way in which each story has a different tone and writing style is very well done. Not a fan of the self-congratulatory appendix, but that's a minor thing when the actual book is so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, and Alcohol

Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The pacing is a bit odd, but I really enjoyed it! For most of the book it's a lot of boredom and inaction and at the end stuff gets more fast-paced (which could have been a bit longer maybe but still really cool). Interesting read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail