kaceyymair's reviews
318 reviews

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

2.0

Good plot but slow - poor tess couldn’t catch a break and the moral of the story was so different to what it should’ve been - and the ending seemed like it was plucked from thin air

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

3.0

Really enjoyed the book but the last 50 pages let me down.  I wanted to know about Josie’s sister, I wanted to know what was wrong with Helen, I wanted to know what “unlifted” and “lifted” meant and their relevance to Josie and Rick.  And all of these questions were just left unanswered with no explanation.  I also felt like the last section was so rushed and tried to neatly finish the book - I would’ve rather the book be longer and keep the pacing consistent with the rest of the book than wrap things up so desperately quickly.  But, I did enjoy Ishiguro’s writing style, Klara’s character, general character development throughout and the conversations on AI, love and humanity.

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
Did not finish book. Stopped at 30%.

Every single narrative voice sounded the same - if you’re gonna split a book into a chapter per character, make sure I bloody know which character is talking without having to flick back to the title of the chapter … BOOOOOO 👎👎

The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport

5.0

The author fleshed out the individuals well to the point where I understood their personalities and motivators - just made the ending of each of them all the more tragic and distressing bc I connected with them so much more

One Day by David Nicholls
Did not finish book. Stopped at 2%.

I’d literally rather watch the show - the writing isn’t all that

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

5.0

this book is crazy - it was so much fun and didn’t take itself too seriously and I honestly love that

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

4.0

So witty, so funny - I just felt like there were bits where I wanted more character building like there was in Miss Buncle’s Book

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

Again I don’t want to rate someone’s life lol, but this book blew my mind.  It was such an interesting depiction of love, lust, obsession, heartbreak, rejection and insecurity.  The musings were so self aware and interesting, and her reflections were so human but concise and almost academic.  Such a short and impactful read !!

The Words of My Father by Yousef Bashir

This taught me so much about Palestine and Israel, the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the philosophies and tensions between Palestinians who want to be rid of the occupation.  This was so full of feeling and I learnt a lot … I just feel weird rating someone’s life so I’m not going to

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 0%.

I was really enjoying it but the last time I found something interesting was 50 pages ago (the bit on Freud) and I feel like there’s:

1. Too much repetition 
2. Too many testimonies and not enough criticism
3. The journalism is TOO thorough - I want to reach my own conclusions and not have Friedan’s personal rhetoric every two seconds

I just don’t see the point in reading this anymore bc I feel like I’ve gotten what I need from it and it’s just too much of a drag now.  I just prefer more stylistic or narrative work and it’s reading like a textbook now (and a very repetitive one).  But I get its influence at the time and respect it for that.