Take a photo of a barcode or cover
iellv's reviews
70 reviews
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
funny
reflective
sad
slow-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? It's complicated
4.0
I cannot stand Honorary Incel Shiraha and his half-baked ramblings about society, but in the end I had to admit that he and Keiko are some of the best examples of people left behind by capitalism and conformity.
This book was hilarious, dark, and all too real. It’s a very concise yet entertaining and relatable critique of capitalism and a glaring lack of community support for everyone, including men of course (still hate Shiraha ofc but he did make a fair point about conservative views of men as providers and uh. studs). Keiko’s alienation from her peers and the rest of the world outside of Smile Mart was a natural consequence of the culture she was born into. While it’s not explicitly stated, the book very adeptly illustrates how little support and understanding neurodivergent people receive at large. It’s extremely heartbreaking, despite the subtlety of the text. Without empathy, a proper support system, a generous community, and a forgiving economy, how can we expect to strive for personal freedom and fulfillment? So it wasn’t a surprise to see the book end the way it did.
The horror and disappointment you feel at the end is somewhat distant, displaced somehow by a bit of relief for Keiko, who is able to find so much comfort and stability in her work… even if she is a dispensable cog. Even if at that point, the dehumanization has fully set in.
I’m normally not overly interested in contemporary Japanese fiction like this, because there is a pervasive emptiness that’s specific to Tokyo (and to some extent other first world countries) that I’d rather avoid like the plague (mostly because that produces the most annoying people—individualism and nihilism borne out of capitalism is the UGLIEST poison), but I found myself really enjoying it. I highly recommend reading Convenience Store Woman with some shoegaze or in public transpo at night to amplify that sense of alienation (and, simultaneously, to feel understood by the author and Keiko)
Keiko ily ily fr.
This book was hilarious, dark, and all too real. It’s a very concise yet entertaining and relatable critique of capitalism and a glaring lack of community support for everyone, including men of course (still hate Shiraha ofc but he did make a fair point about conservative views of men as providers and uh. studs). Keiko’s alienation from her peers and the rest of the world outside of Smile Mart was a natural consequence of the culture she was born into. While it’s not explicitly stated, the book very adeptly illustrates how little support and understanding neurodivergent people receive at large. It’s extremely heartbreaking, despite the subtlety of the text. Without empathy, a proper support system, a generous community, and a forgiving economy, how can we expect to strive for personal freedom and fulfillment? So it wasn’t a surprise to see the book end the way it did.
I’m normally not overly interested in contemporary Japanese fiction like this, because there is a pervasive emptiness that’s specific to Tokyo (and to some extent other first world countries) that I’d rather avoid like the plague (mostly because that produces the most annoying people—individualism and nihilism borne out of capitalism is the UGLIEST poison), but I found myself really enjoying it. I highly recommend reading Convenience Store Woman with some shoegaze or in public transpo at night to amplify that sense of alienation (and, simultaneously, to feel understood by the author and Keiko)
Keiko ily ily fr.
At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Beautiful, stunning, gut-wrenching writing. Brutal and unflinching and yet still painfully human, for all of that talk about machines and scalpels. I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did; I’m hilariously terrible at math and accountancy, but I do have a weak spot for buff women, pathetic men, and geopolitics. The book is so much more than these things, because it focuses on the horrors of empire, and the impossible choices it might present you. Terrifying and intoxicating. The illusion of control and freedom and all of that in the face of omnipresence—the hand that moves all. IMO the book EXCELLED when it came to these things where it obviously fell flat in others (pacing, lesbianism, women, emotion, introspection, consistency, even etymology and the usage of certain words—although these were lacking, they didn’t bother me so much… but you can already tell from my rating. If you come into this remembering Seth Dickinson is a cishet? white man, I think you’ll find this to be a pretty solid effort lmao. Seriously. Consider other similar works written by cishet white men. This was great compared to those! It’s not even white mediocrity; I do genuinely still believe the book is often brilliant.)
Gosh I wish I had more to say and I wish I could be more articulate about it, but this book ripped my heart out and made me swallow it and laughed at my expense, probably. Maybe I’ll post a better review when I reread it.
KINDLY HEED ALL CONTENT WARNINGS.
RIP Muire Lo, Unuxekome, Lyxaxu, and Oathsfire, my nerdy/disappointing/cringefail men. I would have liked to give Muire Lo a little kiss, plague and all. Sorry you ended up being secretary to the worst girlboss to ever girlboss. RIP Ihuake and Nayauru, baddest bitches. RIP to all the horses bc I definitely did not like reading abt animals dying in so much detail.
Lastly… nvm I don’t even want to think about Xate Olake and Tain Hu. Damn you Seth Dickinson.
Gosh I wish I had more to say and I wish I could be more articulate about it, but this book ripped my heart out and made me swallow it and laughed at my expense, probably. Maybe I’ll post a better review when I reread it.
KINDLY HEED ALL CONTENT WARNINGS.
Lastly… nvm I don’t even want to think about Xate Olake and Tain Hu. Damn you Seth Dickinson.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, War
Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Ugh. Sometimes this book is brilliant, but most of the time I wanted to bash my head against a wall. Or kill someone. Reading this was like watching Oro, Plata, Mata (1982): horrifying, entertaining, a bit meandering and desperately needing a huge edit, and for more than half the time I was begging someone to end it all. Or end me. Everyone is either pretty, neurotic, murderous, horny, or rapey. I never did finish that movie, but I did finish this one, and I feel like I should be compensated for it.
Don’t go into this expecting something truly profound. I made this exact mistake maybe 75% of the way in (it took forever before I could force myself to pick this up again, so I forgot how to read this book) and would have dropped the book if I hadn’t bought it. Once I accepted that it’s an epic and would have to endure the same amount of rage, disgust, and amusement I feel from reading myths and folk tales, I bumped this up from 2.8 stars to 3.0. (Edit: nvm lol I got a bit angrier bc I thought abt it again 😭 back to 2.8 stars)
As an epic and as a look into Indonesian history and colonialism, this really delivered in the first half. I was floored by the many similarities between Indonesian colonial history and Philippine colonial history (hence why a good chunk of this book reminded me so much of oro, plata, mata). We lost some of that fire, wonder, and comedy in the latter half. The book lost some of its focus—or maybe I should say it didn’t do very well with its main theme.
It was very male-centric, which isn’t surprising if you think about it, but given the main theme of the book? Given everything Dewi Ayu as a character represents and criticizes? It made me angry to see how much the stories sympathized with the male characters (who were all rapists and pedophiles btw) and how some of them even got their happy endings. A good bulk of the book focused on them, whereas the women suffered like 98% of the time. I didn’t mind at first, but eventually it just became gratuitous, as it really felt like the author never afforded the same level of attention and sympathy to the women. Which is absolutely crazy to me. In the end, any attempts at examining their fates or criticizing the world around them were relegated to single sentences (at least, after Dewi Ayu’s arc, which was appallingly short when you consider the rest of the book) or at best, two pages. I can find more if I dig harder, but if I have to dig harder when it comes to a theme, was it really done effectively?
Whatever. The more I think about it, the angrier I get, but I can’t bring myself to give a lower rating.
So even if you’re on the fence about the book, I still recommend it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this book was great, personally. It is what it is. If you can stomach the things men get up to in myths, then by all means dive in. I can’t—not without something to punch or someone to complain to—so that sentiment definitely affected my reading experience.
Last warning: since it’s so male-centric and they throw the concept of rape around like it’s practically nothing, the messaging gets REALLY REALLY off at certain parts, esp in the latter half. Please tread carefully. While I do think we can attribute that to the men themselves, given that there’s little to no significant thematic resolution for the women (if there was one it was incredibly weak), the justification and normalization rape can be VERY distressing.
RIP to the ones who got the least justice in the book btw: women, dogs, and communists. Babies too i guess.
And imagine my horror (and eventual resignation) at finding out “Beauty Is A Wound” was quoted by Krisan, the rotten cherry on top of this shitcake—no offense to Eka Kurniawan. I still think the author has a lot of truly brilliant moments in this book, and though I’m glad it exists, I still would like come compensation for powering through this. And for realizing we were ending the book with Krisan. Krisan!
Special mention: Comrade Kliwon. You were surprisingly a joy to read and identify with. If only you didn’t stiff prostitutes, treat them so shitty, annoy the hell out of Dewi Ayu, groom two girls, and kidnap one of them.
Don’t go into this expecting something truly profound. I made this exact mistake maybe 75% of the way in (it took forever before I could force myself to pick this up again, so I forgot how to read this book) and would have dropped the book if I hadn’t bought it. Once I accepted that it’s an epic and would have to endure the same amount of rage, disgust, and amusement I feel from reading myths and folk tales, I bumped this up from 2.8 stars to 3.0. (Edit: nvm lol I got a bit angrier bc I thought abt it again 😭 back to 2.8 stars)
As an epic and as a look into Indonesian history and colonialism, this really delivered in the first half. I was floored by the many similarities between Indonesian colonial history and Philippine colonial history (hence why a good chunk of this book reminded me so much of oro, plata, mata). We lost some of that fire, wonder, and comedy in the latter half. The book lost some of its focus—or maybe I should say it didn’t do very well with its main theme.
It was very male-centric, which isn’t surprising if you think about it, but given the main theme of the book? Given everything Dewi Ayu as a character represents and criticizes? It made me angry to see how much the stories sympathized with the male characters (who were all rapists and pedophiles btw) and how some of them even got their happy endings. A good bulk of the book focused on them, whereas the women suffered like 98% of the time. I didn’t mind at first, but eventually it just became gratuitous, as it really felt like the author never afforded the same level of attention and sympathy to the women. Which is absolutely crazy to me. In the end, any attempts at examining their fates or criticizing the world around them were relegated to single sentences (at least, after Dewi Ayu’s arc, which was appallingly short when you consider the rest of the book) or at best, two pages. I can find more if I dig harder, but if I have to dig harder when it comes to a theme, was it really done effectively?
Whatever. The more I think about it, the angrier I get, but I can’t bring myself to give a lower rating.
So even if you’re on the fence about the book, I still recommend it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this book was great, personally. It is what it is. If you can stomach the things men get up to in myths, then by all means dive in. I can’t—not without something to punch or someone to complain to—so that sentiment definitely affected my reading experience.
Last warning: since it’s so male-centric and they throw the concept of rape around like it’s practically nothing, the messaging gets REALLY REALLY off at certain parts, esp in the latter half. Please tread carefully. While I do think we can attribute that to the men themselves, given that there’s little to no significant thematic resolution for the women (if there was one it was incredibly weak), the justification and normalization rape can be VERY distressing.
And imagine my horror (and eventual resignation) at finding out “Beauty Is A Wound” was quoted by Krisan, the rotten cherry on top of this shitcake—no offense to Eka Kurniawan. I still think the author has a lot of truly brilliant moments in this book, and though I’m glad it exists, I still would like come compensation for powering through this. And for realizing we were ending the book with Krisan. Krisan!
Special mention: Comrade Kliwon. You were surprisingly a joy to read and identify with. If only you didn’t stiff prostitutes, treat them so shitty, annoy the hell out of Dewi Ayu, groom two girls, and kidnap one of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.
DNF-ing for now bc grandma had to leave and I can’t bring myself to wait around for her to come back and I personally do not care for our main guy. I’m sure his character development is probably good, but ugh. Maybe the vibes (mine) are off. Idk if this put me in a slump or this other book I’m reading (Beauty Is A Wound by Eka Kurniawan) but I hope I can finish this one day.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Babel by R.F. Kuang
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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
3.75
If you’re familiar with RF Kuang’s writing, you might have noticed that she tends to be a bit heavy-handed with her own views. Personally I never minded this with The Poppy War books since I could easily move on, but there were times in Babel where her voice muddled some of the characters’ and sometimes would overwrite their voices completely. As in, if I wanted to read decolonization theory I’d go pick up another book for sure and I’d be so much better off than reading it in a fictional book where it seems highly implausible to have such modern discussions about decolonization (not saying they were not having these conversations; just that at the time and in their circumstances, the rhetoric would have skewed somewhere that wasn’t the far left. if the Ilustrados of the Philippines never could stray from their privileged positions, what more for the Oxford students?). It takes you out, so fair warning. This tendency becomes a lot more evident in the latter half of the book, btw, so much so that even I got sick of it (which says a lot). But for people who are new to theory, I think this is great and absolutely accessible for those who need fiction and fantasy as a sort of crutch or entry point. Also an absolutely great history and linguistics lesson??? Delectable. If you have some experience with any of the languages featured here (Mandarin for me), this book can double your enjoyment. Sorry, at this point I’m just babbling (haha).
Complaints aside this book was compelling and heartbreaking and rooted firmly in the brutality of imperialism. Babel explores all forms of violence and RF Kuang continues to prove that she remains unafraid of pushing boundaries. We certainly need more uncompromising, yet respectful writers like her (but I would ask for more subtlety and to write with more nuance and with consideration of one’s characters). I’m not done obsessing over The Poppy War Trilogy, but I’m more than glad to add this book to a growing list of books I might never tire of rereading and crying over. As a fan of Fang Runin and as someone who also believes revolutions cannot be won without violence (the sustainability of a violent revolution is another conversation entirely and is one that was adequately explored in TPW Trilogy so if you haven’t read those books, I implore you to do so), I’m upset about Griffin, but I’ll let it slide as I think much of this book is a masterpiece, and I am equally devastated and relieved to see it end. I had the time of my life reading this book and I can’t say that enough. Hope to reread this very soon!
Another thing that really broke me and will continue to haunt me was Robin. I loved everything about Robin— from his fearfulness and resilience, to the brilliance of his mind, his capacity for great love and consuming hatred, and finally to his GRIEF. Robin grieves throughout the entire book. I am endlessly fascinated by depictions of grief and how that informs one’s relationship with death (whether physical or otherwise) but this book has to be my favorite in that respect.
One more thing: Griffin. Absolutely did not like the way he died, but I have to wonder if that was the death instinct Robin shared with him. Paranoid Griffin, Soldier Griffin dying in what would have looked like a dramatic pseudo-duel just felt a bit far-fetched to me, esp without that explanation. There was so much potential for even a thread of family and of commiseration between him and Robin, esp once Robin officially joined Hermes. Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but in conversations of decolonization and revolution, family and community are extremely important, so I was surprised that the book did not fully address the way Robin once (and for a very long time) felt so very alienated by Griffin. There were a lot of missed opportunities with Griffin, I feel, even though I also felt that he did not have a place in the final chapters. It at least would have brought Robin’s entire arc full circle, imo. At the end of the day, I know he’s just one of RFK’s mouthpieces lol.
Complaints aside this book was compelling and heartbreaking and rooted firmly in the brutality of imperialism. Babel explores all forms of violence and RF Kuang continues to prove that she remains unafraid of pushing boundaries. We certainly need more uncompromising, yet respectful writers like her (but I would ask for more subtlety and to write with more nuance and with consideration of one’s characters). I’m not done obsessing over The Poppy War Trilogy, but I’m more than glad to add this book to a growing list of books I might never tire of rereading and crying over. As a fan of Fang Runin and as someone who also believes revolutions cannot be won without violence (the sustainability of a violent revolution is another conversation entirely and is one that was adequately explored in TPW Trilogy so if you haven’t read those books, I implore you to do so), I’m upset about Griffin, but I’ll let it slide as I think much of this book is a masterpiece, and I am equally devastated and relieved to see it end. I had the time of my life reading this book and I can’t say that enough. Hope to reread this very soon!
One more thing: Griffin. Absolutely did not like the way he died, but I have to wonder if that was the death instinct Robin shared with him. Paranoid Griffin, Soldier Griffin dying in what would have looked like a dramatic pseudo-duel just felt a bit far-fetched to me, esp without that explanation. There was so much potential for even a thread of family and of commiseration between him and Robin, esp once Robin officially joined Hermes. Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but in conversations of decolonization and revolution, family and community are extremely important, so I was surprised that the book did not fully address the way Robin once (and for a very long time) felt so very alienated by Griffin. There were a lot of missed opportunities with Griffin, I feel, even though I also felt that he did not have a place in the final chapters. It at least would have brought Robin’s entire arc full circle, imo. At the end of the day, I know he’s just one of RFK’s mouthpieces lol.
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I had a really hard time with how quickly the POV changed, to the point where it broke immersion for me so many times, but still. I want to drink this book and cry it out.