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j0s1eg's Reviews (25)
emotional
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
This book is a mixed bag. It follows Nina an 18-year-old spending the summer in New York, lonely and on the precipice of leaving for college, desperate to lose her virginity before she goes. She is quiet and reserved and typically doesn't stand up for herself - that's how she's got by in the waspie world of 1980s Manhattan. That's how she's got by in the waspy world of 1980s Manhattan. There's a really nice play between Nina's storyline and the trajectory of her mother who appears to be pulling herself from a depressive state by taking mania inducing medication. But the romantic subplot ends up feeling dissatisfying , and like a distraction - the book rushes to create drama it doesn't really need towards the end with a murder subplot. Overall, I wouldn't strongly recommend it. It has some nice moments about honesty and family, but it's a bit all over the place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content
![You Could Do Something Amazing with Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] by Andrew Hankinson](https://cdn.thestorygraph.com/8gnd4yyajt6ya6xq6n79r6yf3v9o)
dark
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
I've never read literary non-fiction like this and I read it in two hours flat. Hankinson presents the story in second person, present tense, positioning you as Raoul Moat in the days leading up to your eventual capture and death. The overall effect is like a Choose Your Own Adventure text game without the choice. Obviously if you were in the UK in 2010, you know how the book ends. The author's voice gently corrects the unreliable narrator's view on the unfolding events, allowing "Raoul" to contradict himself, untangling and tangling again his story. It's a really interesting book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse
challenging
funny
informative
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
A really interesting read that dives into identity and self-discovery. The writing's accessible, and the characters feel very real and lovable. There are some challenging themes and taboo topics which I did clutch my pearls about at points (reading about fetishes on my Kindle in my office on lunch break... Oops). It also felt like a real insight into your trans subculture and there was a lot about the politics of sex and identity. It feels like such a privileged position, but a lot of this stuff, I don't even think about at all. Overall, it's thought-provoking and worth checking out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia
Moderate: Violence, Pregnancy
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate reads less like a novel and more like eavesdropping on a well-off bored woman. Isabel Dalhousie, our protagonist, spends most of the book philosophising about capitalism, empire, and ethics — none of which have much bearing on the wafer-thin plot. It mostly feels like filler - was the author getting paid by the word?
Isabel is defined almost entirely by her part-time gig editing a philosophy journal - despite being financially cushioned by inheritance. Her identity seems more like a belief system than a profession, and it’s hard to relate to someone who genuinely believes her musings are urgent and profound (all the supporting characters also think her philosophising is important and interesting, which is bonkers).
Her constant assumptions about others border on rude, and moments that should reflect depth — like declaring her housekeeper her equal — are delivered with all the insight and class consciousness of a bumper sticker.
Unless you're fond of long, florid detours into self-important thought experiments, this one’s best left on the shelf.
Isabel is defined almost entirely by her part-time gig editing a philosophy journal - despite being financially cushioned by inheritance. Her identity seems more like a belief system than a profession, and it’s hard to relate to someone who genuinely believes her musings are urgent and profound (all the supporting characters also think her philosophising is important and interesting, which is bonkers).
Her constant assumptions about others border on rude, and moments that should reflect depth — like declaring her housekeeper her equal — are delivered with all the insight and class consciousness of a bumper sticker.
Unless you're fond of long, florid detours into self-important thought experiments, this one’s best left on the shelf.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
Wow! What an engaging book. This book is a retelling of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, following the life of Damon Fields - better known as Demon Copperhead for his Melungeon red hair. The kid is born in a single wide trailer to a poor young mother battling active addiction, and it kind of goes downhill from there. The themes of poverty, addiction, and local pride are beautifully woven into Demon's story, and it's heart-wrenching and hopeful. I feel like I'd been to Lee County and held Demon's hand the whole way as he's passed from pillar to post, meeting hundreds of characters who feel authentic and truthful - from Swapout to Emmy to Mr Peg. After a 21-hour audiobook, I'm going to miss that kid!
If I had any notes, it's that there was a moment where I thought, oh god, this is just misery porn and it won't get any better - but then the pressure valve released and the story twisted again. What a book!!
If I had any notes, it's that there was a moment where I thought, oh god, this is just misery porn and it won't get any better - but then the pressure valve released and the story twisted again. What a book!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent
Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abortion
dark
funny
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
Sweetpea is a murder-y romp through the mind of Rhiannon, a serial killer with a fondness for taking out sex offenders, a slob of a boyfriend, and a dead-end job.
The humour is crass, the writing leans heavily on that "lol so unfiltered!!!" vibe that was trendy about a decade ago, and there’s a surprising amount of Bridget Jones-style diet talk for a book written in 2017. Some of the turns of phrase are sharp and funny, but a lot was eyeroll-inducing. Ah, the era when dropping an f-bomb in marketing was peak edginess.
Rhiannon is supposed to be awful, but I found myself cringing more at the writing than her actions. At times, it felt like the author's own views were bleeding through, which made things feel extra icky. The plot itself is solid, but the overall vibe is quite misogynistic, gross, and very much of its time. I won’t be picking up the rest of the series, and I don't think I'll be picking up any more of this writer's work.
I wonder if the TV show that's based on the book fares any better or if it stumbles at the same hurdles.
The humour is crass, the writing leans heavily on that "lol so unfiltered!!!" vibe that was trendy about a decade ago, and there’s a surprising amount of Bridget Jones-style diet talk for a book written in 2017. Some of the turns of phrase are sharp and funny, but a lot was eyeroll-inducing. Ah, the era when dropping an f-bomb in marketing was peak edginess.
Rhiannon is supposed to be awful, but I found myself cringing more at the writing than her actions. At times, it felt like the author's own views were bleeding through, which made things feel extra icky. The plot itself is solid, but the overall vibe is quite misogynistic, gross, and very much of its time. I won’t be picking up the rest of the series, and I don't think I'll be picking up any more of this writer's work.
I wonder if the TV show that's based on the book fares any better or if it stumbles at the same hurdles.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
Enjoyable book, well written, a little heavy on the emotion towards the end in a Tumblr way but overall very sweet.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Underground Railroad is good, but harrowing. Following the story of a young woman who escapes slavery on a plantation in Georgia, author Colson Whitehead doesn’t shy away from the horrors of slavery, and some of the imagery is stomach-churning. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel ... not just disturbed, but uneasy, guilty, even. The kind of guilt that lingers.
The Underground Railroad is named after the clandestine routes used to smuggle slaves north away from their "owners" and towards freedom. So, obviously this novel is about racism, a young America whose engine runs off the free labour of its African slaves, and what it means to be truly free. But at its core, the novel is about trust: the impossibility of it, the necessity of it. Poor Cora - constantly on edge, and with good reason. Even those who try to help her - Black or white - end up failing her. Whitehead doesn’t offer easy resolutions. Even in the end, you’re left wondering: can Cora ever truly escape?
A powerful, difficult book that lingers like a ghost.
The Underground Railroad is named after the clandestine routes used to smuggle slaves north away from their "owners" and towards freedom. So, obviously this novel is about racism, a young America whose engine runs off the free labour of its African slaves, and what it means to be truly free. But at its core, the novel is about trust: the impossibility of it, the necessity of it. Poor Cora - constantly on edge, and with good reason. Even those who try to help her - Black or white - end up failing her. Whitehead doesn’t offer easy resolutions. Even in the end, you’re left wondering: can Cora ever truly escape?
A powerful, difficult book that lingers like a ghost.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Slaughterhouse Five follows the story of Billy Pilgrim, an American soldier who quickly finds himself taken prisoner at the tail-end of WWII in Germany. The book is explicitly about the bombing of Dresden, which killed 135,000 people, and implicitly about the Vietnam War which was ongoing when Vonnegut published the work.
Slaughterhouse Five is great absurdism. It is this absurdist slant that makes it a great anti-war novel; it also reminded me of Voltaire's Candide (the "best of all possible worlds" and "so it goes" feeling like two nihilist shrugs in the face of powerful machinery like greed and war).
It's a short novel; I gave it a go because it was 99p on the Kindle store and because it's my husband's favourite. I liked it and I'm glad I read it (hell, it's a classic). It does fall short for me slightly: I am, at my heart, a plot/character girl rather than a "big ideas" girl and I didn't feel especially connected to Billy Pilgrim or any of the other characters. I felt sorry for him, sure, but not sure what made him tick. And of course he is just a vessel for an idea.
I also liked Kurt Vonnegut's outlining of the Tralfamadorians and their 4-dimensional way of viewing life and death. It feels very ahead of its time. But yeah ultimately I felt like this book was a great book because it had a strong anti-war message which is delivered well, rather than being plot- or character-driven.
Slaughterhouse Five is great absurdism. It is this absurdist slant that makes it a great anti-war novel; it also reminded me of Voltaire's Candide (the "best of all possible worlds" and "so it goes" feeling like two nihilist shrugs in the face of powerful machinery like greed and war).
It's a short novel; I gave it a go because it was 99p on the Kindle store and because it's my husband's favourite. I liked it and I'm glad I read it (hell, it's a classic). It does fall short for me slightly: I am, at my heart, a plot/character girl rather than a "big ideas" girl and I didn't feel especially connected to Billy Pilgrim or any of the other characters. I felt sorry for him, sure, but not sure what made him tick. And of course he is just a vessel for an idea.
I also liked Kurt Vonnegut's outlining of the Tralfamadorians and their 4-dimensional way of viewing life and death. It feels very ahead of its time. But yeah ultimately I felt like this book was a great book because it had a strong anti-war message which is delivered well, rather than being plot- or character-driven.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary follows Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut who wakes up aboard a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. As he pieces together his past, he realises he’s on a last-ditch mission to save humanity from an existential threat.
This book is packed with science, problem-solving, and wry humour which only veers into Millennial Internet Speak (think: "Did that just happen!?") occasionally.
Some of the technical explanations got a bit dense for me (I zoned out during those bits tbh), but the story moves fast, and the surprises along the way keep things exciting. Plus, there's an unexpected friendship at the heart of it that makes the whole journey even more special. I really enjoyed this!
Overall, a really fun and clever sci-fi read! A little heavy on the science at times for me personally, but totally worth it.
This book is packed with science, problem-solving, and wry humour which only veers into Millennial Internet Speak (think: "Did that just happen!?") occasionally.
Some of the technical explanations got a bit dense for me (I zoned out during those bits tbh), but the story moves fast, and the surprises along the way keep things exciting. Plus, there's an unexpected friendship at the heart of it that makes the whole journey even more special. I really enjoyed this!
Overall, a really fun and clever sci-fi read! A little heavy on the science at times for me personally, but totally worth it.