jentang's reviews
80 reviews

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

3.75

i felt the same way about this book as holden did about romeo and juliet: "i liked it a lot. there were a few things i didn't like about it, but it was quite moving, on the whole." this book is entirely character-based, and holden, the main character, unfortunately is pretentious, as other reviewers have mentioned. however, i found him to be interesting and complex enough to capture the attention of readers, and i really did feel throughout the entire thing as if holden were actually talking to me and recounting events. this was an easy classic to read, and while it didn't inspire any strong feelings within me, i still enjoyed it.

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

5.0

this book was utterly bizarre, but i loved it. the best way i can describe the MC is, essentially, a hound in a man's form meets mr. hyde meets yozo from no longer human. you can expect a bit of everything from this book, except perhaps real romance, including horror, humor, and the type of wackiness usually found in science fiction books. note that the horror could have you consistently disturbed at the very least, depending on what kind of horror affects you most. the summary makes the book sound like it is entirely focused on murder and that that is where the horror aspect comes in, but there is SO much more to it than that. 
you should also expect a lot of intense descriptions of smell and such while reading, although this probably should make sense given the book summary and title. i was a bit fearful at first that this would just be a thinly veiled nose/scent fetish, but after reading, i can confirm that it is, at least, not a nose fetish. :) 
although the smell-heavy content mentioned above and/or finding the MC despicable could definitely put a person off this book quite a bit, i didn't really have an issue with it. the book was really well-written, and i have definitely never read anything similar subject-wise. in addition, the plot kept a nice pace, and while reading, a lot of interesting, distinctive characters were introduced; unlike in other books where the side characters simply fade away, in this book, they got their fair share of the spotlight and resolution was achieved for pretty much all of them. to sum it up, this was quite a fascinating little read about an utterly strange little man. 

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

4.5

taylor jenkins reid writes incredibly, to put it simply. this book contains a lot to keep readers engaged - love, sex, drugs, multiple narrators, humor, emotion, and even music. i 100% believed that this could've been a real, complete account of the trajectory of a rock 'n roll band. the characters felt pretty realistic as well, and i liked how pretty much all of them had their own issues that were at least semi-explored. there was always enough happening at any point to maintain the attention of readers, although i did find that towards the end i was getting a little antsy waiting to see what would happen. i must give this book credit for making me find beauty even in the things i disliked about it. i felt that much of the ending was rushed and clipped without good reason, but elements of it still pleasantly caught me by surprise. what made me detract stars from this book rating was that i just could not grow to love and accept

the whole twin flame thing going on with billy and daisy

(more on that later), but still, i could feel at many instances their emotions through the pages and begin to understand before my brain stepped in and halted the process.

to further touch on this, i just hate any situation where someone has a perfect relationship or something and then goes on to entertain a passionate connection with someone else which they just never drop everything for and pursue. it feels like a way to normalize emotional cheating to me. i'm sure that billy truly loved his wife, but i also can't shake the feeling that if he were guaranteed a perfect, happy, safe future with daisy that could rival his future with camila, he would choose daisy. i mean, he literally cheated on camila, and then years down the line admitted that he loved daisy more than he did camila at certain points in time, and thought that daisy was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. he made it sound like he chose camila because he knew she was the "right" choice. i also can't help but feel that the author personally favored billy and daisy's relationship a lot more than his and camila's while writing the book. i have a hard time believing that camila is an independent woman who seems to know her worth yet is also fine with taking billy back after he cheats on her while she's pregnant, and is willing to sit at home and watch (and accept) billy's and daisy's burning mutual love being broadcasted for all the world to see. don't even get me STARTED on how camila wrote a letter before dying asking her daughters to basically get billy and daisy back together after her death, and the implications that she also strayed from billy with her first love. i feel like this book did camila dirty, and i hate it for that.

Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai

4.0

this was a sad, reflective monologue - easy to read and filled with substance, but without development or a plot. reading it won't take much time out of your day at all, as it was incredibly short, and the good news is that it's not written in a sexualized / intense male gaze manner. many of the MC's thoughts mirrored my own exactly, and i'm unsure of how to feel about that, but having a relatable read is never a bad thing, so perhaps this will be true for you as well.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

4.0

truthfully, i don't have a clue as to how to properly review this book. i felt that it was trying to inspire many thoughts throughout the whole thing, but unfortunately i came away from it with my head empty, although that isn't to say i disliked it. i would recommend reading it if you are able to get through it, since vonnegut's style isn't for everyone. in response to newt, i did not see the cat, nor the cradle. 

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

2.0

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

5.0

i don't think i could ever judge a book written by a dying person, but it isn't simply out of sympathy that i say that this book was incredible. i loved learning about paul's life. for one thing, the intersection between philosophy and medicine which made up paul's education + career backgrounds was so interesting to read about. (moral speculation vs. moral action, as paul said) forgive the semi excessive usage of the word "incredible," but paul was simply that. i frequently forgot while reading that paul was only in his thirties. all that he had accomplished combined with his contemplative outlook on life and death made me feel that he was decades older than he actually was, in a good way. it's obvious that he was very well educated, and that made his musings occasionally more difficult to read - by that i mean it took me more brain cells than i typically use while reading more lighthearted books to actually process what he was saying. however, given that this is a book from the perspective of a man facing down death, the more serious science and philosophy gives way to emotion a lot. prepare to feel frequently gutted (although the synopsis probably should've warned you). it is heartbreaking that

paul never got to finish his manuscript

; however, i thought that lucy's voice really added so much to this book. both had such raw narrations, which made the read all the more powerful. 

Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas

1.0

SORRY BUT WHAT LMFAOAOAO this book was not my cup of tea. i've honestly read wattpad books that i enjoyed better than this. i found the characters irritating, and while i know they're meant to be that way because of the character development that happens over the course of the book, i didn't feel that they did anything really redeemable. everything felt over-the-top and cringey. i'd say the best part of the book was that one bit of the ending, as it really did surprise me, although when i apply critical thinking to it i still feel as if i didn't gain much from reading it. read for the smut if you'd like, i suppose?? anyways, here are some questionable parts of the book that i made note of while reading as they contributed to my WTF feelings.

every scene where misha breaks into ryen's house is just ?????? i suppose i may have missed how misha was even able to find ryen's house the first time he did it, but still, it came out of nowhere to me. also, no matter how hot the stranger is, if some random dude i saw in school suddenly broke into my room later that day AND SNIPPED MY HAIR OFF, i would not have reacted the way ryen did. the second time with the vibrator scene was even worse, honestly. next, the extreme bullying - i am truly afraid for those who read the parts where kids were getting bullied in the HS and thought they were realistically written. maybe the snarkiness + violence (pouring orange juice on ryen and throwing apples at her & ripping out manny's earrings and making him bleed) could be argued as excusable for middle schoolers if you really tried, but seniors in HS?? and don't get me started on how ryen and misha both attended cornell. i'll stop there with the pointing out unrealistic things, and won't even begin to touch on the plot holes, but in case it wasn't clear, this book was definitely one that i was challenging myself to finish.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

3.5

i felt exhausted inside after having finished this book. it was more to do with the plot rather than the pace, although i did find the book to move very slowly while not being very captivating. (the majority of the book felt like i was close friends with the MC and hearing her recount incidents of her childhood to me, with the occasionally getting side tracked by tales of other incidents and all. i felt the most emotions during the end, when the pace started to move more quickly, and some things i had been waiting for since the beginning fell into place.) everything that occurred in this story struck me as simply weird, although i can see how it could've disturbed others. personally, i felt like every character was simply too far detached for me to build any type of emotional connection with Hailsham and its students. the character who i felt had the most range of different sides to them shown, i didn't particularly like. nevertheless, this story was well written, and the concept of the society which makes this book science fiction in the first place was quite interesting to me. this is definitely a hit-or-miss book; while it was more of a miss for me, i still didn't absolutely hate it, and i felt that the last half made things considerably better.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

4.5

i highly encourage reading this book, if only to become one more person helping to keep morrie's memory alive in the universe. this book yanks at the heartstrings and seeks to move and inspire people. to me, it was more about life than death. (a more specific list of topics covered: death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, a meaningful life) there are a lot of inspirational, profound books out there, but this one being a memoir sets it apart, i feel. it was so evident that morrie possessed a good soul. while the deep life advice could get repetitive at times (TBF, it basically made up the entire book), a lot of it was actually very interesting to consider, and not simply the normal "do what makes you happy". i found myself doing quite a lot of re-evaluating, which is what i imagine morrie intended. i would've loved to see him dance <3