jarvvis's reviews
90 reviews

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

dark funny mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This was fucked up and strange and interesting, but also thematically incoherent. There were a number of weird ideas, symbols etc. but none of them were fully expanded upon and therefore lacked impact. For example

Abby briefly references the idea that she loves Ralph because he is kind and maternal which is so twisted and weird I wanted so much more of that

. The writing style also bounced between having intrigue and a very personal tone, and just being plain bad. Also,

I feel like I’ve read every cannibalism novel ever and I’m kind of getting sick of it now. In order to make cannibalism land, you’ve gotta really tie it in to your themes and character motivations. I will not accept a simple “cannibalism-love-consumption” tacked on at the end. God I love hit show Hannibal.

Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy by Judith C. Brown
Did not finish book. Stopped at 21%.

Look 100% will get back to this soon, but I just don’t have the time rn.

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this over quite a long period of time wherein I was very busy and distracted, but that all notwithstanding, this is a pretty good book. It drags in parts, and some chapters are outright incomprehensible (cricket? What do I know about cricket. Why would anyone want to know about cricket), but it’s a smart little mystery with a fairly fun detective at the centre of it.

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers

adventurous dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

For the most part, this book is pretty damn fun. You start to enjoy the endless waffle about food and publishing. The gory descriptions are fairly well executed as well. I’m not particularly attached to Dorothy as a character, she’s a cannibalistic murderer but apart from that, a refined palate, and a further appetite for sex (there’s quite a lot of both in this), she doesn’t have a whole lot going on. Internally, at least. Sometimes she lapses into feminist musings or thoughts about her life, but mostly I was interested in what Dorothy did, rather than who she was. 
Ending felt a little strange, various loose threads and new points brought up abruptly (

who were those two men mentioned exactly once that she fucking murdered? Why was that never elaborated on??

), still good overall though.

Very much want to have a nice meal and watch Hannibal again.

Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

On paper, this book seems like it’s right up my alley. I love meandering novels, I love when they’re a little hard to understand, I love sad characters, I love sad gay characters.

But fucking hell this was a load of waffle.

I feel kind of stupid? Everyone else is giving this book five stars and talking about how it really captures the queer experience and various takes on love. For me, this was straight up word salad. Couldn’t tell you what the fuck happens here. I’m totally lost and exhausted. There are some good lines here and there but they’re just lost in a sea of yapping.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

Literally gasped aloud reading this. Jaw dropped. Hand on heart. Full nine yards. 
Anyway very good, very shocking, really twisted. No one is doing it like Janice Hallet (but wish the last act was a little less rushed).

King Lear by William Shakespeare

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

King Lear is like if a soap opera was deeply intelligent and wonderful, which is easily the best genre of thing ever. Punchy and tragic and satisfying. Thank god for good English teachers.

The Odyssey: A Norton Critical Edition by Homer

adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.5

It feels weird to review The Odyssey like it’s any other book, instead of the textual version of any hundred stories you may have heard at one point or another, but I shall try my best. I did, in fact, read this for school, for after hours Classics specifically (god save me), and mostly what I remember is fighting sleep while our teacher read in her soft Greek accent, warm in my coat for the first time all day. It’s good, the Odyssey is very good. It’s a great sprawling epic, but mostly what sticks with me is the simile used when Eumaeus and Telemachus reunite, Argos waiting for 20 years to see Odysseus one last time before dying, Telemachus unable to fight tears when people talk about his father, the very interesting anti-war sentiment littered throughout. It’s human, is what I’m trying to say, and that’s such a beautiful thing to be.

The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

4.5

Imagine Frankenstein but it’s about communism this time.

I’m sure this book hits harder if you’re more familiar with the Russian Revolution than I am. As it stands, with my passing interest, I did really enjoy this. It’s an inherently funny concept, being forced to live with this weird dog man you created and worse how he’s all about the proletariat. Good stuff. 

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

A fascinating concept that just doesn’t quiet make it there for me.
Manhunt has a lot of good ideas behind it, but mostly fails to take the lore and setting and form it into an interesting plot. It gets invigorating at times, but the last hundred pages or so introduce a lot of new ideas, characters and alliances that I couldn’t keep track of. It’s still an unbelievably cool transgender apocalypse novel though, gory and weird and sort of heartfelt at times. I’m definitely gonna be thinking about this one for a while.