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khopeisz's reviews
142 reviews
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
Oh goodness…
Here’s the thing, I met and fell in love with this boy and he gave me this edition of this book because this is one of his favorite books and he only recommends this edition of it. And he had annotated it, so when I was reading the book i added my annotations next to his and it was very sweet and romantic. Then we moved in together and I forgot to finish the book but I kept it on my ‘currently reading’ StoryGraph shelf for over two years because it was like a symbol of my love for this boy. And then we broke up and he packed this book away in storage and while we are still very much friends, I have no interest in finishing this book anymore. Too much baggage lol. But my former partner highly recommends it if that helps!
Here’s the thing, I met and fell in love with this boy and he gave me this edition of this book because this is one of his favorite books and he only recommends this edition of it. And he had annotated it, so when I was reading the book i added my annotations next to his and it was very sweet and romantic. Then we moved in together and I forgot to finish the book but I kept it on my ‘currently reading’ StoryGraph shelf for over two years because it was like a symbol of my love for this boy. And then we broke up and he packed this book away in storage and while we are still very much friends, I have no interest in finishing this book anymore. Too much baggage lol. But my former partner highly recommends it if that helps!
Mrs. S by K. Patrick
4.25
For context, reading this book after The Orbital was such a whiplash in writing styles lol. Where The Orbital is fittingly balletic and sweeping and flowy, the prose in Mrs. S is compact, staccatoed, rapid, like the beating of a lovesick heart. But once I was accustomed to the narrator’s voice in Mrs. S, I was along for the ride.
The yearning. Omg this book is all yearning. And for the most part, I love it. I get it. The writing style reflects it too. K. Patrick can really turn a phrase that captures this yearning. I think on the surface you can be quick to chalk this up to ‘gay panic’ but there is something deeper going on. It’s about, imo, the restraints of heteronormativity: how The Girls are free to express their feminine, aromantic traits, but then are quick to lambast the more masculine traits within themselves and each other. The narrator is constantly conflicted. What about herself is free and what about herself is restrained? We see it with the gas station attendants and with Mrs. S. These themes were strong, and I’m glad of their consistency.
[Confession, I can be dizzy sometimes—um, for 60% of this book I forgot what a ‘binder’ was and just thought it was an Aussie’s way of saying ‘bra’ 🤦🏾♀️. It is quite pivotal that you understand a binder is not a bra omg.]
The yearning. Omg this book is all yearning. And for the most part, I love it. I get it. The writing style reflects it too. K. Patrick can really turn a phrase that captures this yearning. I think on the surface you can be quick to chalk this up to ‘gay panic’ but there is something deeper going on. It’s about, imo, the restraints of heteronormativity: how The Girls are free to express their feminine, aromantic traits, but then are quick to lambast the more masculine traits within themselves and each other. The narrator is constantly conflicted. What about herself is free and what about herself is restrained? We see it with the gas station attendants and with Mrs. S. These themes were strong, and I’m glad of their consistency.
[Confession, I can be dizzy sometimes—um, for 60% of this book I forgot what a ‘binder’ was and just thought it was an Aussie’s way of saying ‘bra’ 🤦🏾♀️. It is quite pivotal that you understand a binder is not a bra omg.]
Anyway! I enjoyed the novel, but am rating it this way for a few reasons. 1) I understand why the book was written the way it was, but after a while, the same type of sentence structure gets to be repetitive, and I really lost steam towards the end of the book. 2) I just had some unanswered questions about the main character. I understand that she likely wound up at the school because at one point she idolized or found comfort in the dead author, but I love bell hooks. Am I uprooting my entire life to teach at the bell hooks academy (okay actually maybe I would lol). And 3) this is a pet peeve of mine: I do not like when characters are bad at their jobs. It’s fine for like development purposes but dang my girl was so bad throughout it makes you wonder how she got the job in the first place. She is not good with children (i get they are cruel to her but we don’t get one scene where she’s effective) and she is not good in an emergency. Being a former teacher also, that really irked me lol.
Other than that, once again really enjoyed the novel! Love when a literary book is not afraid to be erotic. Appreciated the themes and use of voice. Would love to purchase this one and reread with a pen in hand, so I could properly annotate (can’t annotate my library copies, alas!).
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
4.25
The lulling flow of the writing really felt to me what space is like. It was really enchanting. There was one moment in the prose that made me cry:
“Here is Cuba pink with morning.
The sun bounces everywhere off the ocean's surface.
The turquoise shallows of the Caribbean and the horizon conjuring the Sargasso Sea.
To be out there, Nell thinks, to have no glass or metal between her and this. Just a spacesuit filled with coolant to ward off the sun's heat. Just a spacesuit and piece of rope and her slender life.
Just her feet dangling above a continent, her left foot obscuring France, her right foot Germany. Her gloved hand blotting out western China.”
Envisioning this moment, imagining how delicate the world and our little lives are just touched me. There are many passages like this.
There are other sort of meta thoughts that I am having about this book: I would love for this concept of space and earth and humanity to be tackled by an author without an Anglo background and see what conclusions they might draw. This did not take away from my enjoyment of the book; it’s just when I am reading a love letter to the world, id also love to hear the perceptions of suitors from other backgrounds. This was not Harvey’s responsibility to capture of course, just my own curiosity. That being said, it was always nice when Harvey did a little ‘roll call’ of the countries and continents. Whether the regions were represented equally…who’s to say lol.
My rating is because while I enjoyed and was lulled by the book, I had a hard time differentiating between some of the characters. Maybe that was done on purpose in order to create a sense of boundary-less-ness (omgggg that’s not a word) between the cosmonauts/astronauts. Still, I would have liked to have distinctions among some of them. Also to me, the book ends just a little after the prose becomes too repetitive.
Also, this one bit took me out of the reading: the ‘equivalent’ of Christ in Islam is not Allah, it’s Muhammad. Sure, if you want to get into discussion about the Trinity then let’s lol. But it’s Jesus Christ the messiah and Muhammad the prophet. And then God and Allah are each other’s Christian and Muslim counterparts. That really was biting at me lol.
Anyway, I’m pleased this one won the Booker prize (though, as a random aside, in my opinion Enter Ghost should have been on the ballots!!!). Would recommend for a meditative, devotional type of reading experience.
Envisioning this moment, imagining how delicate the world and our little lives are just touched me. There are many passages like this.
There are other sort of meta thoughts that I am having about this book: I would love for this concept of space and earth and humanity to be tackled by an author without an Anglo background and see what conclusions they might draw. This did not take away from my enjoyment of the book; it’s just when I am reading a love letter to the world, id also love to hear the perceptions of suitors from other backgrounds. This was not Harvey’s responsibility to capture of course, just my own curiosity. That being said, it was always nice when Harvey did a little ‘roll call’ of the countries and continents. Whether the regions were represented equally…who’s to say lol.
My rating is because while I enjoyed and was lulled by the book, I had a hard time differentiating between some of the characters. Maybe that was done on purpose in order to create a sense of boundary-less-ness (omgggg that’s not a word) between the cosmonauts/astronauts. Still, I would have liked to have distinctions among some of them. Also to me, the book ends just a little after the prose becomes too repetitive.
Also, this one bit took me out of the reading: the ‘equivalent’ of Christ in Islam is not Allah, it’s Muhammad. Sure, if you want to get into discussion about the Trinity then let’s lol. But it’s Jesus Christ the messiah and Muhammad the prophet. And then God and Allah are each other’s Christian and Muslim counterparts. That really was biting at me lol.
Anyway, I’m pleased this one won the Booker prize (though, as a random aside, in my opinion Enter Ghost should have been on the ballots!!!). Would recommend for a meditative, devotional type of reading experience.
A Crack in the Wall by Claudia Piñeiro
5.0
what a master class in character studying. For piñeiro to have me rallying behind a loser turned scammer, that’s an insane skill. She is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, and this is only the second book of hers that I’ve read.
All Yours by Claudia Piñeiro
4.75
I support Ines’s rights and wrongs!!!!
Also Claudia, I see what you’ve done with language and narrative form and voice, and I appreciate it. Just wished for like one big shock, but this is more of a character study than a thrill ride. Still a very fun reading experience. Excited to read the rest of Piñeiro’s books, especially this one’s sequel!
Also Claudia, I see what you’ve done with language and narrative form and voice, and I appreciate it. Just wished for like one big shock, but this is more of a character study than a thrill ride. Still a very fun reading experience. Excited to read the rest of Piñeiro’s books, especially this one’s sequel!
Earth Angel by Madeline Cash
3.5
Ably written, but for a satirical book I found this to be philosophically insignificant. Plus each story was indistinguishable from the one preceding it.
The sort of ‘girl on the edge’ approach to literature is saturating the market, so this book definitely has its audience! It’s just not me anymore :/
The sort of ‘girl on the edge’ approach to literature is saturating the market, so this book definitely has its audience! It’s just not me anymore :/
Marguerite: A Novel by Marina Kemp
3.75
I’m being very unserious when I say that this book is for every woman who wishes her boyfriend was gay.
Anyway lol, for some reason the ending was quite melodramatic for me. It was very ‘Days-of-our-Lives’. I literally laughed with incredulity at one point. Like of courseshe’s pregnant with her gay lovers son! lol. A lot of messy characters which was somewhat brave of the author to do, but I am annoyed that Brigitte had to be a stereotypical fat ‘villain’ (she’s not really redeemed though I think we are told to empathize w her towards the end).
Marguerite is a fine main character. Wanted the best for her. But Henri, whoo boy. What a messy, messy man lol. Very annoyed by the way things ended with him, like the book was written in 2020 and we’re gonna go the tragic route? But man was he intriguing to follow.
The rating is because I was highly engrossed by the story despite and/or because of the messiness, stereotypes, and unresolved story beats.
Also not entirely convinced Suki’s husband exists.
Anyway lol, for some reason the ending was quite melodramatic for me. It was very ‘Days-of-our-Lives’. I literally laughed with incredulity at one point. Like of course
Marguerite is a fine main character. Wanted the best for her. But Henri, whoo boy. What a messy, messy man lol. Very annoyed by the way things ended with him, like the book was written in 2020 and we’re gonna go the tragic route? But man was he intriguing to follow.
The rating is because I was highly engrossed by the story despite and/or because of the messiness, stereotypes, and unresolved story beats.
Also not entirely convinced Suki’s husband exists.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Hey! Not the book’s fault. Just not the right time for more dystopian noise; will pick up later. Also very pleased to have found a two dollar bill in my used edition.
The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler
fast-paced
4.25
Coming to this book after a somewhat self-induced reading hiatus. This was an easy read, fast-paced (though it personally took me a while to finish) and an engaging premise. Though the main character was frustrating at times, he was never a deterrent. The end was very poignant to the extent that I’ve come away with a wonderful life lesson. Also s/o Baltimore!
This was my first Anne Tyler, and I would like to compare her to Joan Bauer both thematically and stylistically. Reading this brought me back to middle school, when ‘Hope Was Here’ was my favorite book. Had a nice little time reading Tyler and look forward to reading her other works, most of which I do own because as a book consumer, I am a completionist unfortunately. Thank God I liked this book!
This was my first Anne Tyler, and I would like to compare her to Joan Bauer both thematically and stylistically. Reading this brought me back to middle school, when ‘Hope Was Here’ was my favorite book. Had a nice little time reading Tyler and look forward to reading her other works, most of which I do own because as a book consumer, I am a completionist unfortunately. Thank God I liked this book!
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
2.0
3rd time attempting a review for this. Hopefully I’ll let it stick!
The positives: this was a compulsive read. I was completely absorbed by the sense of mystery in the air. I also commend the author for endearing me to an unlikeable main character. Not every author can do that.
The negatives: once I reached the final 3rd of this book and realized where it was going, I was completely flabbergasted. I can’t really remove this book from its historical (and also present?) context. Nor is this book asking me to decontextualize it from reality. So my issue is this: HOW does an author decide to write a story in which an oppressed person essentially falls in love with someone who represents their oppression? Ask me if I am falling in love with the person whose family decided to force me out of my own home, and I’m telling you my answer is hell no. No way in hell. I would hate those people until my last breath. I forgot everyone’s names, I’m writing this several weeks after reading this book, but why did we write this love story between these two ladies? I’m aware it conflicts girl number 2, that’s not my main problem. My problem is why did we write a love story between them at all? Like a true, non-manipulative (which is often the case of power imbalanced romances) love story? As a person who has experienced systemic oppression, I was really confused by this. How do you ask someone who was quite recently and traumatically colonized to fall in love with the person who colonized them? I want to know. [im really in the minority on this critique, I get it. But I couldn’t read this book in a vacuum!]
And back to the confliction bit: I do not get a real sense of girl number 2’s interiority. We get a lot and I mean A LOT of starts and stops of conversations. She is conflicted about this romance, I get it—but to convince me that this is in fact a romance to her I needed much more than what I was given. Little ellipses and incomplete sentences don’t cut it. And her diary entries were not helpful for me either. They explained her backstory, but I needed more wrestling with this romance. This is essentially a philosophical dilemma! if it were me, i would have been wrestling with this at length! Like I would have much rather appreciated an exploration of girl number 2, her being bisexual during that time period while also wrestling with systemic oppression. You know who represented this well? Emma Donoghue in Learned By Heart. You know what happens when you are oppressed in more ways than one and fall in love with someone who represents your oppression? You probably go crazy 😭 so anyway, I needed to believe that this character is in love with her colonizer and this wasn’t just some indulgence for the author. There was more responsibility to this in my opinion, and I was just confused by the author’s intentions.
The positives: this was a compulsive read. I was completely absorbed by the sense of mystery in the air. I also commend the author for endearing me to an unlikeable main character. Not every author can do that.
The negatives: once I reached the final 3rd of this book and realized where it was going, I was completely flabbergasted. I can’t really remove this book from its historical (and also present?) context. Nor is this book asking me to decontextualize it from reality. So my issue is this: HOW does an author decide to write a story in which an oppressed person essentially falls in love with someone who represents their oppression? Ask me if I am falling in love with the person whose family decided to force me out of my own home, and I’m telling you my answer is hell no. No way in hell. I would hate those people until my last breath. I forgot everyone’s names, I’m writing this several weeks after reading this book, but why did we write this love story between these two ladies? I’m aware it conflicts girl number 2, that’s not my main problem. My problem is why did we write a love story between them at all? Like a true, non-manipulative (which is often the case of power imbalanced romances) love story? As a person who has experienced systemic oppression, I was really confused by this. How do you ask someone who was quite recently and traumatically colonized to fall in love with the person who colonized them? I want to know. [im really in the minority on this critique, I get it. But I couldn’t read this book in a vacuum!]
And back to the confliction bit: I do not get a real sense of girl number 2’s interiority. We get a lot and I mean A LOT of starts and stops of conversations. She is conflicted about this romance, I get it—but to convince me that this is in fact a romance to her I needed much more than what I was given. Little ellipses and incomplete sentences don’t cut it. And her diary entries were not helpful for me either. They explained her backstory, but I needed more wrestling with this romance. This is essentially a philosophical dilemma! if it were me, i would have been wrestling with this at length! Like I would have much rather appreciated an exploration of girl number 2, her being bisexual during that time period while also wrestling with systemic oppression. You know who represented this well? Emma Donoghue in Learned By Heart. You know what happens when you are oppressed in more ways than one and fall in love with someone who represents your oppression? You probably go crazy 😭 so anyway, I needed to believe that this character is in love with her colonizer and this wasn’t just some indulgence for the author. There was more responsibility to this in my opinion, and I was just confused by the author’s intentions.