loveryoushouldvecomeovermp3's reviews
55 reviews

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.75

poignant would truly be the best possible way to describe the inheritance of loss. every character every plotline is dripping with relevance. by focusing on the lives of the characters, it details how the insurgency period affected members of different social strata and the inhumanity of it all. seeing

biju reunite with his father at the end was simultaneously Beautiful and heartbreaking as it was the only bit of hope left. i loved their relationship so much. there was a line where biju says that they were no longer relevant in each other's lives except for the hope that they would be and that was just. oof.

i love the experimental details kiran desai includes in her work. by making the font bigger, smushing words together, her use of onamatopoeia, they all contribute to creating a really immersive experience. just so good. fortunate to have met her and got a signed copy <3

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

completely taken by the way agency is depicted in this book.  our bodies and our diets are so policed and the structures of society so rigid that the smallest deviancy seems to warrant a violent reaction. as i read through the brief parts of yeong hye's dialogue or thoughts i felt a resonance with her as i wondered whether her desires were really so extreme. she seeks to escape the normalisation of violence and desires a peaceful existence. hurting has such an integral space in our world that we simply do not realise how much we do it. im already a vegetarian but if I wasn't this would have convinced me. 

Pink by Kyōko Okazaki

3.25

pink is so deceptively simple, it follows the structure of a slice of life josei manga but it has so much depth to it hidden in the day to day life of yumi. 

yumi works as a day job as an office lady and part time as a sex worker. both of her jobs represent the limited opportunities for women in the job market. yumi relies on objects and purchashing for her happiness which is why both these jobs are even necessary for her though her parents pay for her rent. consumerism plays a huge role in the setting and impacts everything that occurs. 

i really like the message of pink but i found the over the top silliness was just not my thing. i can appreciate it for what it is though,  a character study of a woman living in japans economic bubble of the 80s and how that affects her. 

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

inspiring reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

oh. wow. i have so much to say. 

i was 14 when i asked my parents to send me to therapy. i was grieving the loss of a friend, but the problems had been in me for years before that. some of my friends who were also affected by the death in our friend group were going to therapy and it seemed to really help them so i thought it could work on me too. 

i hated therapy. i hated the way my therapist spoke about me. i hated how she just told me i was very pretty when i told her about my bulimia. i hated how she seemed more concerned about my grades than the fact that id tried to kill myself. i hated myself for lying to her constantly because i just couldn't trust her. 

despite this, i did get better. but i credit that to my family and my friends. once they learnt of my struggle, i learnt of love. i learnt how much my struggle affected them. i learnt of bringing meaning into my life. i learnt of living for myself while also carrying his life within me, now that he couldnt anymore. 

this book to me reflected exactly what i learnt from my experiences. our struggles cannot be classfied. the capitalistic structure of society is such that any form of classification ends up being oppressive and restrictive. the importance of community in recovery simply cannot be understated. 

i do however think therapy has its merits. like i said, it did help many of my friends and for that i am eternally grateful. but the approach to mental illness as something that is uniform is what can cause harm. 

god i just loved this book. i love it's approach to life. i love the characters. i love it's depiction of grief. i love the version of it that exists in me. 

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez

emotional mysterious reflective tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

this is one of the first books I've read in college as an english major. ive been reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez for about three years now but this is the first time I'm actually examining him. it feels full circle for me, to study about an author who changed my perception of literature. even after reading his more famed masterworks, i think this might be my favourite book of his. ive written enough essays about this book but something about it is so deeply special. marquez has an amazing talent of being able to explore cultural context through the deeply personal and intimate lives of people. everyone means something, no one is divorced from all that came before and all that sits around them. 

The Crown Ain't Worth Much by Hanif Abdurraqib

emotional reflective

4.25

love, love, love. love is spilling out of every page and falling on my fingers. fills you with the knowledge of life as a miracle. love u so much hanif abdurraqib

Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

i found the style of the book so interesting like it's just so creative and unique. i love the pages where it's just words that seem random but when you read them out loud it forms a pattern. feels like it drags on for a bit too long and when i read that cohen wrote this book in two weeks hopped up on amphetamines i was like yeah that tracks. love u tho mr cohen 

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

reflective slow-paced

3.75

one thing I've noticed a lot in books about women is how much the author needs to stress the womans attractiveness. even when it's a book written by a woman, for women. even when it's explicitly about the suffering of women, the author needs you to know that yes she is beautiful. maybe she doesn't notice it because shes so entrenched in her sadness but she is beautiful and she is attractive. her sadness comes from within not from her outsides. it's something I've noticed especially with modern female authors, those who are hailed by booktok as 'sad girl literature'. Which is why i appreciate that natsuko is never subjected to that. she describes her body multiple times but the gaze feels different, noticeably so. i also loved that this book has mainly female characters who have meaningful discussions, who hurt and help each other. but in general i felt the book was a bit meandering. it's a good book, for sure, ive annotated it to death, but sometimes it feels so lost in the narrative of 'womanhood is suffering'. like every page, every monologue continues to drive in that idea, it's very repetitive. midoriko's diary entries especially. all her entries revolve around periods and the female body. it felt like the author saw the entries as an easy way to drive in the point of the book. even with this i did that it had very good prose, and i do think it touched on some important topics. we definitely do need books about the lives of women and i did tear up multiple times. i just feel this book was almost there, just a little less monologues. a little more show dont tell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

3.75

as i grow older, much older, i will experience many things, and i will hit rock bottom again and again. again and again i will suffer; again and again i will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed. 

this book is so very definite in its message that is to keep living. there is nothing more important than the attempt, the choice you make every morning to live. 

The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25