kumquatlemon's reviews
24 reviews

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Witches by Brenda Lozano

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Babel by R.F. Kuang
Did not finish book.

It was very long..... it was interesting just long.

Violeta by Isabel Allende

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

I enjoy her books generally and I know I shouldn't compare but I feel like her other books have stronger characters and ideas conveyed. Though I did enjoy the moments of introspection a lot! It's a very good book either way, just not the best I've read. But I'd still recommend it!

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Rape

Wetlands: A Novel by Tim Mohr, Charlotte Roche
Did not finish book.

challenging dark medium-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

2.0

I know the purpose of the book is to challenge us into thinking about how we treat feminine hygiene in comparison to men's but a lot of it is just plain gross and kinda unhealthy. Listen, regardless of sex, if you don't wash yourself after you pee then you're nasty. If you don't wash yourself down there while taking a shower then you're also nasty. There is a reason why we stay clean.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement

Moderate: Suicide attempt

The main character thinks hygiene is a joke.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

No real plot and the characters were really unlikable. I stopped halfway through in the lighthouse scene and was like "I wanna go back to the tower and see the crawler I don't care about the psychologist I want the crawler" and then looked up the synopsis on Wikipedia, got disappointed in the ending of all three books in the series and decided to give up. I like how it was written though, it felt fresh and experimental just purely in a grammatical sense.

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0