imperfectcj's reviews
2149 reviews

Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

The timeline in this one is confusing, and the lead-up is long and deliberate while the reveal is almost peremptory. I like the Chicago history, and I like what it says about the past sticking with us, but as a ghost story/fairytale retelling/police procedural, it doesn't really work for me.

Memory Piece by Lisa Ko

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I liked this one a lot to start with, but by the time we got to the story from Ellen's perspective, I was fatigued and stopped feeling invested in the story and the future that Ko imagines. I don't really get the connection between these three characters and the 40-year leap is jarring.

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Ooh! I like this one a lot! In some ways, it reminds me of Martha Wells's Murderbot series in that the main character is a (partial) outsider whose perspective on Earth and our species and Americans even more specifically is more poignant because she lacks an expectation of shared humanity with those she observes. It asks the reader, who on the planet isn't a visitor here? This is one I want to mull for a while and perhaps gift to a couple of people.

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.0

This novel is longer than it seems. It unfolds in a similar way to many Japanese novels I've read, peopled by characters with rich internal lives and busy but somewhat held-back lives. It makes me think of the pressure that builds up when playing a double-reed instrument. The main character is recognizing this pressure through the article she's writing and trying to identify ways to opt out of some of the pressure. I enjoyed it.

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller

informative inspiring fast-paced

3.5

Like many books in this genre, this could be a lot shorter, and the quote selection is sloppy (there is one hilariously misattributed to Mark Twain), but chapters 15 and onward on mastery and scheduling to support mastery are quite helpful. Nothing groundbreaking, but the concepts are ordered in such a way that they click for me. Very man-oriented, very geared towards a specific kind of career, but I think it's translatable to my situation.

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.5

I like the girls school setting of this novel, but I think it would be more interesting without the political intrigue. Poirot also feels like a gratuitous addition here.

Devils Kill Devils by Johnny Compton

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

I didn't love this one, but it's an enjoyable read. The characters are a little simplistic, and the creatures' mythology is a little complicated for my taste, but the plot is interesting, and I like how Compton blends vampire tales from many regions and times. There are a couple of places where characters are just like, "Yes, this totally outlandish thing makes perfect sense," which I find a little jarring.

The Queen by Nick Cutter

1.5

I should have bailed on this one. The science is bad, but I could have dealt with that if the story were better. It's excruciatingly slow, and so much of it makes little sense. The characters are inconsistent and extreme. Cutter seems to be making a "this is teenagers" argument, but all the characters are like this regardless of age (and it's a reductive way to view teenagers, anyway).

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this title from the ToB25 longlist. In many ways, I love this novel. I love the uncertainty about the narrator's reliability and what the novel says about trauma and family and how easy it is to internalize/blameoneself for bad things that happen---and how predators use this tendency to their advantage. But the path it takes is through some terrain reminiscent of the 1980s pulp novels I read from my mom's bookshelf, which takes away from the effect.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

challenging hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Reminiscent of Atwood, this novel is a chilling portrayal of the way that government can use (and does use) the threat of child removal to enforce compliance from subsets of a population. It's also a great reminder of what privilege looks like, especially in times of crisis. This novel helps me reframe my potential role under an autocratic government, given my race, gender, age, marital status, and economic situation. And it's also a great story.