inthearchives's reviews
101 reviews

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

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2.5

Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End by Ranginui Walker

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challenging emotional informative reflective

5.0

Hare House by Sally Hinchcliffe

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dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

I think this book did the things it did well very well. It had an interesting premise & it was atmospheric. If the main character is meant to repulse the reader intentionally, then that was also something done well, because she is an absolute creep. She made my skin crawl when her inner monologue turned to her thoughts and recollections of interacting with her teenaged students.

As others have mentioned, it doesn’t conclude well. You progress thinking several characters will develop into an interesting part of the plot, only to never hear about them again. A lot of wasted opportunity.

Odd book. Really can’t tell if the dated attitudes to women, mental health & food were intentional to be reflective of the setting, or if the author didn’t feel the need to be thoughtful about these themes. I even double checked to see if Sally Hinchcliffe wasn’t a pen name for a man, that’s how off the vibes in this book are.

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Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

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mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

Apology for the Woman Writing by Jenny Diski

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2.0

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson

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informative reflective slow-paced

2.75

I think this book would have benefited from more careful editing. It felt about 100 pages too long to me, there’s a lot of rinse and repeat (naturally), and it all becomes a bit convoluted.

What is most frustrating is where Paulson alludes to how MLMs are a symptom of larger destructive structures, but never really articulates her arguments clearly. I feel these could have been separated out into more defined sections to allow for more concise analysis, as opposed to yet another description of some gathering and coveting of studded heels mixed in with passing reference to supporting studies and research.

It also takes almost 300 pages to tackle the intersection of low information literacy and MLMs. Perhaps others have thoroughly covered this aspect, but I feel this is an enormously important issue in tackling MLMs. It seems a bit disingenuous to believe that this only becomes apparent to Paulson during the infodemic, but there is a lot of wilful dissonance throughout the book.

A lot of what attempts to be critical analysis is reminiscent of Elle Woods’ “due to… uh… habeas corpus…” moment. Just words being thrown around in attempt to confound a less informed audience (presumably her former peers).

In short, she’s strongest when she’s recounting the grift because that’s what she understands best. I would recommend it for that reason.

Content Warnings