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j0s1eg's Reviews (29)
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
A damning exposé of a culture in one of the world's biggest tech companies that claims to support its workforce but routinely allows incidences of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and a gross US-centric attitude towards its impact on the world. Left me feeling very angry. Sarah Wynn-Williams, to her credit, doesn't do much to exempt herself from the finger-pointing, though it does seem like *literal years* pass between her realising there's a problem and her leaving the company. (spoiler alert: not of her own accord)
Genuinely quite a shocking and well-written book if you want an intelligent and fast-paced memoir about the people who are flushing our world down the toilet :) may not be for people who don't like being depressed.
Genuinely quite a shocking and well-written book if you want an intelligent and fast-paced memoir about the people who are flushing our world down the toilet :) may not be for people who don't like being depressed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism, Xenophobia
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow.. I loved this! Something of a bildungsroman following the lives of three best friends growing up in Doncaster in the early 00s. Obviously this resonated deeply with me as someone who grew up in Yorkshire in that same time period: understanding deeply the kind of malaise in a town where everyone feels left behind. I love love loved it. I knew the characters and the use of dialect made this feel like home.
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked the short stories format; I feel like this gave a really rich and textured kind of window into themes of trans identity, transition, and acceptance of trans people in society.
I found this far too slow-paced for me, unfortunately. Struggled to be interested enough to pick it up.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I devoured this. It was a total reset after a book that dragged and didn’t hook me at all.
A lesbian clown in central Florida who works part-time in an aquarium — I mean, come on. That setup alone had me. Feels like someone pulled it out of a hat and somehow it works.
Cherry was a great protagonist — messy, funny, painfully relatable. She felt like someone I know, or multiple people I know, especially all my creative friends who live in chaos but make it art.
The plot was low-key but solid — a woman reckoning with her dead brother, her strained relationship with her mom, and just… herself. I was into it.
Only reason it’s not five stars is that the pacing dipped in places. I caught myself checking how many pages were left a couple of times. But overall really glad I read it.
A lesbian clown in central Florida who works part-time in an aquarium — I mean, come on. That setup alone had me. Feels like someone pulled it out of a hat and somehow it works.
Cherry was a great protagonist — messy, funny, painfully relatable. She felt like someone I know, or multiple people I know, especially all my creative friends who live in chaos but make it art.
The plot was low-key but solid — a woman reckoning with her dead brother, her strained relationship with her mom, and just… herself. I was into it.
Only reason it’s not five stars is that the pacing dipped in places. I caught myself checking how many pages were left a couple of times. But overall really glad I read it.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was hard for me to articulate what I gained from this book. A biracial woman aches to be part of an aspirational portrait of motherhood and womanhood but realises too late that she's spent 10 years working on the wrong novel.
I don't know if I liked Jane, though I think I understood her. She picked up her dream life from TV shows, clawed her way to an OK job, and produced flawed children with her flawed husband; then spends a lot of time miserable because her life isn't how she expected it to turn out.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this book personally; it was too slow and took a long time to read as a result. I also didn't feel pulled to read to the end - the plot wasn't really a driving factor.
Having said that it gave me a lot to think about and the characters and context were all very interesting.
I don't know if I liked Jane, though I think I understood her. She picked up her dream life from TV shows, clawed her way to an OK job, and produced flawed children with her flawed husband; then spends a lot of time miserable because her life isn't how she expected it to turn out.
I'm not sure I'd recommend this book personally; it was too slow and took a long time to read as a result. I also didn't feel pulled to read to the end - the plot wasn't really a driving factor.
Having said that it gave me a lot to think about and the characters and context were all very interesting.
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
One of my favourite reads of the year so far. I loved the characters (especially Graham Gore, very sexy!), and the writing had a compelling tone and pace that kept me hooked. The start felt a bit like time-travel fanfiction, and the protagonist initially gave off self-insert vibes, but the book quickly won me over.
It’s a fun, thought-provoking premise that really pulled on my heartstrings. Some of the prose leans a little overwritten - lots of seasonal metaphors and poetic imagery - but overall, I really enjoyed it. A strong five stars from me.
It’s a fun, thought-provoking premise that really pulled on my heartstrings. Some of the prose leans a little overwritten - lots of seasonal metaphors and poetic imagery - but overall, I really enjoyed it. A strong five stars from me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual content
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a book about unresolved family trauma: layered, inherited, constantly morphing. The Fletchers, a VERY wealthy Jewish family from Long Island, are each coping with the long shadows of a 1987 kidnapping that reshaped the course of their lives, even for those not yet born when it happened. The trauma radiates outward: from a grandfather who fled the Nazis, to a father still defined by his abduction, to children raised by emotionally unavailable parents too focused on keeping him intact.
Brodesser-Akner tells this story with wit and an almost conspiratorial tone, like hearing it from a sharp-eyed neighbour who’s been watching the family for years. The narrative shifts between characters, beginning with the youngest son and working its way through the siblings and eventually to the parents. It’s a clever structure that slowly deepens your understanding of the family’s dysfunction, desires, and disappointments. Every character feels fully realised. Some of their inner lives (including, spoiler alert, one son’s various fetishes) are presented with unflinching intimacy.
This was very much my kind of book: emotionally intelligent, structurally smart, and often darkly funny. Highly recommended if you like character-driven stories that pry into the uncomfortable spaces families tend to paper over.
Giving it a 4.5 star rating because I did find myself checking the page numbers frequently - maybe this was a little toooooo slow for me, or a little too character-oriented at times vs plot/action?
Brodesser-Akner tells this story with wit and an almost conspiratorial tone, like hearing it from a sharp-eyed neighbour who’s been watching the family for years. The narrative shifts between characters, beginning with the youngest son and working its way through the siblings and eventually to the parents. It’s a clever structure that slowly deepens your understanding of the family’s dysfunction, desires, and disappointments. Every character feels fully realised. Some of their inner lives (including, spoiler alert, one son’s various fetishes) are presented with unflinching intimacy.
This was very much my kind of book: emotionally intelligent, structurally smart, and often darkly funny. Highly recommended if you like character-driven stories that pry into the uncomfortable spaces families tend to paper over.
Giving it a 4.5 star rating because I did find myself checking the page numbers frequently - maybe this was a little toooooo slow for me, or a little too character-oriented at times vs plot/action?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Adina is an alien, sent to earth to report on the human experience by sending faxes to her superiors. We follow her from birth to her return to her alien family, through childhood and high school and into adulthood. I loved the writing; loved the pacing; loved that it was always a mirror to the indescribable human experience. Very grief-heavy towards the end of the book so not a lighthearted read by a long shot, but I really enjoyed it!