ishcrux's reviews
31 reviews

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

emotional funny hopeful sad

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

4.0

I'm starting to see now why John Steinbeck has Nobel prize in literature. His writing is so balanced, measured. The character feel lived in and rounded, no scene feels like it went for too long and not a word is wasted. With the few books I've read I've noticed his knack for capturing humanity in all its flaws, energy, kindness and obscurities. Sweet Thursday is a sequel to Cannery Row; set in an industrial seaside poor town. It centers around a small group of close bums/hobos, prostitutes, clerks and a biologist. 

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

informative medium-paced

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

3.5

One of seven books spanning 500 years, this first one leisurely sets up the universe. It isn't particularly exciting to be honest, but the worlds and premise are. A good portion of this book feels like I'm sitting in on a shareholders board meeting, as it involves quite a bit of men in overly verbose discussion attempting to be smarter than each other. The descriptions were fairly light, sometimes I forgot exactly where all this arguing was taking place. I am compelled to read at least two more of the books before I pass any final judgement.

Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

If you went straight from Trainspotting to this you might have some whiplash. Irvine Welsh takes you on a very bumpy ride between Pasts present and a coma induced dreamlike near psychosis. The novel half written in Scottish phonetic spelling which can be difficult to translate on the fly if you aren't used to it. It has a quick flow and the story goes back and forth between semi lucids states of our unreliable narrator. The book content is challenging, rough, sobering and dark. See content warnings for some idea.
The only thing that breaks up the downward slope of the story are the more than colourful range of characters, echoing true Scottish personality and language. So many "fucks" and "cunts" that you will struggle to find a page where there aren't less than 5 on each page. The swears become more of a punctuational-peppering rather than a usual filler of expletive. 
The writing is good, I was engaged. Even if the content was often messed up. I didn't like Roy, but I'm not supposed to. It's a good book that I probably wont ever read again, there is little edifying about it except for the demonstration in style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Classism

Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was the last of the Sprawl series and I probably liked this the most, purely because I followed it easier. Gibson has a good knack of layering in scenes and characters from nowhere and it can be jarring to collect yourself, while discovering these made-up canonical tech speak and ideologies. Everything aside, the world and characters are interesting, and its awesome to see where big IPs took inspiration or flat out used like Night City amongst many other things from the Cyberpunk world, the internet, stylings, terminology matrixes in The Matrix. Scanner Darkly, Minority Report - some of Gibson's earlier stories became direct movie adaptations. While Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner), blurs in similarity together with Gibson, the title for Father of Cyberpunk must go to William Gibson with the new wave of Sci Fi that has influenced so many games and movies since the earlier 80s. Before him Sci Fi was a little stuffy, somewhat sterile. By injecting it with band/street culture Gibson gave Sci Fi a personality and edge that somehow makes these settings more believable.  
While the sprawl series I found difficult to read with flow and splintered stories, there is no question in the richness of style, characters, settings and scenes as well as the educated guesswork on practical tech used in the story. All three of these books are really interesting reads

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping

Count Zero by William Gibson

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Flames by Robbie Arnott

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Strange to read a modern fantasy novel set in the state you live. It was interesting that the author was weaving many places I've visited into a colourful fantasy-lite story. Well written and not your typical fantasy arc. An easy read and worth your time.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

5.0

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

The Overstory by Richard Powers

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

For me it started out quite strong, and as it split into the separate stories of the characters I found myself less interested in some more than others. It has fantastic naturalistic descriptions and strong imagery. The message of the book is pretty clear, bordering on preachy but in an entirely justified way. I dont think this book would be for everyone, but it is an important book none the less.