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maiagaia's reviews
88 reviews
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
I think I can safely say this is a must-read for anyone interested in the subjects of prison abolition or even reform. The writing style is accessible while still being packed full of great information and arguments that it's easy to recommend to just about anyone. Even if you don't agree with the points put forward by Davis, this is a wonderful encapsulation of the prison abolition argument in a concise and easy-to-find book as well as a quick history of the evolution of punishment by the state.
It was a pleasant surprise to get to the chapter that specifically talked about gender and incarceration, though I should have known that Davis would cover that specific intersection that, like she stated in the book, is so often overlooked. That being said, I would have liked a similar chapter on class as well as disability. There were brief mentions of both, but I think they deserve their own chapters.
I like that the book ended on discussions of alternatives to prisons, and the closing story about restorative justice was an inspiring note to end on.
I cannot recommend this book enough. (Though I would avoid the audiobook. The narrator is good, but there are several places where it's unedited and the narrator takes multiple line reads In a row. The final chapter is also repeated at the end, oddly enough.) It's available all over the place. Get it. Read it. Recommend it to people in your life. Discuss it. And then pick up another book In a similar vein. This is a great jumping off point, but it's still "just" a starting point.
It was a pleasant surprise to get to the chapter that specifically talked about gender and incarceration, though I should have known that Davis would cover that specific intersection that, like she stated in the book, is so often overlooked. That being said, I would have liked a similar chapter on class as well as disability. There were brief mentions of both, but I think they deserve their own chapters.
I like that the book ended on discussions of alternatives to prisons, and the closing story about restorative justice was an inspiring note to end on.
I cannot recommend this book enough. (Though I would avoid the audiobook. The narrator is good, but there are several places where it's unedited and the narrator takes multiple line reads In a row. The final chapter is also repeated at the end, oddly enough.) It's available all over the place. Get it. Read it. Recommend it to people in your life. Discuss it. And then pick up another book In a similar vein. This is a great jumping off point, but it's still "just" a starting point.
The Project by Courtney Summers
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I loved the relationship between the sisters. It was complicated, and I think it really captured the tensions that can arise when you feel you have to choose between helping someone you love and helping yourself. I felt for Bea because she was so young and so emotionally traumatized but was expected to be the support system for her even more traumatized younger sister. The author did an excellent job of showing that internal struggle.
The final chapter was absolutely stunning. A total gut punch. Tragic and hopeful at the same time: a deadly combination.
I loved Lo as a character. I understood her. I got where she was coming from. Until I didn't. To be more specific, once Lo starts palling around with the cult, I intellectually understood what the author was trying to do, but I don't think the execution was successful. Lo went from being supremely distrustful of every member to trusting them so quickly it gave me whiplash. It started out as the members slowly wearing her down and winning her over and then BLAM she's convinced her sister was a manipulative liar the whole time. The groundwork was there for another 50 or so pages of her struggling with herself and
being manipulated into the position she ended up in, but it moved too quickly and ultimately felt cheap and rushed.
The climax was simply not good. I'm not sure if you can even call it deus ex machina because the character doesn't even remember how they got out of their situation. It is textually written off as god intervening? Which I guess means it literally is deus ex machina...... Which is to say: lame. And this is coming from someone who LOVES a Greek tragedy.
Ultimately, I didn't realize this was YA, and I don't think I would have picked it up if I had. I only mention this because I think many of the issues I had could have been fixed by adding more pages and diving more into the characters' internal worlds, neither of which are fair expectations for a YA book, imo. The adult and YA markets have different expectations, and when expectations don't match reality, it's tough for the book to make up that ground.
The audiobook was good. The narrators were distinct enough for me even when I cranked it up to 2x speed for the last quarter or so.
Overall, I enjoyed this read (mostly) and don't regret picking it up. It was a quick listen that I got through in a single work day, so I can't complain.
The final chapter was absolutely stunning. A total gut punch. Tragic and hopeful at the same time: a deadly combination.
I loved Lo as a character. I understood her. I got where she was coming from. Until I didn't. To be more specific, once Lo starts palling around with the cult, I intellectually understood what the author was trying to do, but I don't think the execution was successful. Lo went from being supremely distrustful of every member to trusting them so quickly it gave me whiplash. It started out as the members slowly wearing her down and winning her over and then BLAM she's convinced her sister was a manipulative liar the whole time. The groundwork was there for another 50 or so pages of her struggling with herself and
being manipulated into the position she ended up in, but it moved too quickly and ultimately felt cheap and rushed.
The climax was simply not good. I'm not sure if you can even call it deus ex machina because the character doesn't even remember how they got out of their situation. It is textually written off as god intervening? Which I guess means it literally is deus ex machina...... Which is to say: lame. And this is coming from someone who LOVES a Greek tragedy.
Ultimately, I didn't realize this was YA, and I don't think I would have picked it up if I had. I only mention this because I think many of the issues I had could have been fixed by adding more pages and diving more into the characters' internal worlds, neither of which are fair expectations for a YA book, imo. The adult and YA markets have different expectations, and when expectations don't match reality, it's tough for the book to make up that ground.
The audiobook was good. The narrators were distinct enough for me even when I cranked it up to 2x speed for the last quarter or so.
Overall, I enjoyed this read (mostly) and don't regret picking it up. It was a quick listen that I got through in a single work day, so I can't complain.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Minor: Murder
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.5
The Great Hunt is such an improvement on The Eye of the World. Since Rand is probably my least favorite of the main cast, spending less time in his head was a big plus for me. I don't dislike him, but I find the other characters more compelling.
Nynaeve is the best character in this series. I love her and all her bitchy stubbornness. Egwene has such a wonderful and heartbreaking plot that solidly moved her out of the "love interest" archetype. The time we spent with them in this book was my absolute favorite.
Perrin continues to be my favorite of the boys, and Matt had more glimmers here of some interesting depths and possibilities in the future.
I missed having Moraine around, but when we did get her POV, her and Lan had some great interactions. Speaking of Lan, god, I love him.
Now for some negatives:
I get that Rand is a young guy (like 19-ish?) But he is a grade A idiot when it comes to a particular woman that he needs to trust for plot reasons. It makes no logical sense, especially since he's already seen that women can be Darkfriends. But I give it a little lee way because he's supposed to be thinking with his dick. It's still annoying though.
Continuing with Rand, there's an entire plot having to do with polictical maneuvering that is totally contrived and nonsensical. Not terrible, but definitely worth skimming through because it doesn't add much but takes up a lot of pages.
Min Min Min Min. She went from an interesting, enigmatic character to a lovesick puppy out of nowhere. I don't care about prophecy; she shouldn't have such a sudden about face. That was truly some of the worst writing I've seen for a woman in a long time.
Nynaeve is the best character in this series. I love her and all her bitchy stubbornness. Egwene has such a wonderful and heartbreaking plot that solidly moved her out of the "love interest" archetype. The time we spent with them in this book was my absolute favorite.
Perrin continues to be my favorite of the boys, and Matt had more glimmers here of some interesting depths and possibilities in the future.
I missed having Moraine around, but when we did get her POV, her and Lan had some great interactions. Speaking of Lan, god, I love him.
Now for some negatives:
I get that Rand is a young guy (like 19-ish?) But he is a grade A idiot when it comes to a particular woman that he needs to trust for plot reasons. It makes no logical sense, especially since he's already seen that women can be Darkfriends. But I give it a little lee way because he's supposed to be thinking with his dick. It's still annoying though.
Continuing with Rand, there's an entire plot having to do with polictical maneuvering that is totally contrived and nonsensical. Not terrible, but definitely worth skimming through because it doesn't add much but takes up a lot of pages.
Min Min Min Min. She went from an interesting, enigmatic character to a lovesick puppy out of nowhere. I don't care about prophecy; she shouldn't have such a sudden about face. That was truly some of the worst writing I've seen for a woman in a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and War
Severance by Ling Ma
This was an amazing read. It's a rumination on isolation, capitalism, family, and otherness. I love, love, LOVE an emotionally stunted, disassociating main character (ie Catherine House), add that to a global tragedy that destroys society as we know it, and that's a winning combination for me.
I'm not an immigrant or the child of immigrants, but the portrayal of the MC's relationship with her extended family hit close to home. Her trips to China and interactions with Chinese coworkers were beautiful and sad and wonderful.
I do have a complaint, though. The blurb is technically correct, but it also focuses on the wrong things. It mentions her taking photos for her blog, but that isn't shown until late in the book. It's mentioned once or twice earlier on, but I was expecting and would have preferred more of that because I loved the sections where she did explore the city.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The past is a blackhole cut into the present day like a wound, and if you come too close, you can get sucked in.
This was an amazing read. It's a rumination on isolation, capitalism, family, and otherness. I love, love, LOVE an emotionally stunted, disassociating main character (ie Catherine House), add that to a global tragedy that destroys society as we know it, and that's a winning combination for me.
I'm not an immigrant or the child of immigrants, but the portrayal of the MC's relationship with her extended family hit close to home. Her trips to China and interactions with Chinese coworkers were beautiful and sad and wonderful.
I do have a complaint, though. The blurb is technically correct, but it also focuses on the wrong things. It mentions her taking photos for her blog, but that isn't shown until late in the book. It's mentioned once or twice earlier on, but I was expecting and would have preferred more of that because I loved the sections where she did explore the city.
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
informative
slow-paced
3.0
By the title and blurb, I expected a lot more analysis of possible ways to move forward from an unjust system to something better, but instead this reads as a worse The New Jim Crow (which if you haven't read, you absolutely should.) There is overlap in quite a bit of their subject matter though they also each cover topics independently of each other.
The New Jim Crow is a better argued book with better analysis of the data presented, and I would totally be okay with this going less in depth if it focused more on the reform angle, but too often reform, abolition, etc were a short sentence tacked onto a chapter summarizing police injustices. The conclusion (final chapter) is the strongest one, in my opinion, in that it is the most focused on where to go in the future. I wish that had been the introduction and the book would have gone more in depth from there. Overall, not a bad book, and if you're just dipping your toes into justice system reform, it's an okay place to start. I would recommend reading it in conjunction with The New Jim Crow for the reasons I mentioned above.
The New Jim Crow is a better argued book with better analysis of the data presented, and I would totally be okay with this going less in depth if it focused more on the reform angle, but too often reform, abolition, etc were a short sentence tacked onto a chapter summarizing police injustices. The conclusion (final chapter) is the strongest one, in my opinion, in that it is the most focused on where to go in the future. I wish that had been the introduction and the book would have gone more in depth from there. Overall, not a bad book, and if you're just dipping your toes into justice system reform, it's an okay place to start. I would recommend reading it in conjunction with The New Jim Crow for the reasons I mentioned above.
The Seep by Chana Porter
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
What a beautiful meditation on grief, pain, relationships, and humanity. The protagonist is a trans woman which brings up some interesting ideas/questions surrounding the scifi elements.
This is a very allegorical story, so I would really only recommend reading it if you're interested in that sort of experience as opposed to a more action-y or cerebral scifi.
This is a very allegorical story, so I would really only recommend reading it if you're interested in that sort of experience as opposed to a more action-y or cerebral scifi.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Alcohol
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Pretty fucked up. Really fucked up, actually.
This book does a great job of exploring the unnaturally fast, close relationships that can be formed between people, especially on the internet, and how that relationship can be manipulated and can hurt people terribly.
However, it falls short on two fronts for me: 1) The way the characters communicate through email and IM. They both sound like they're novelists doing writing exercises. This could have still worked if they each had distinct voices, but they really didn't. 2) It could have used a bit more build up before things turned morbid. Even if it was just an extra email or IM session where the more fragile of the two word vomited about her personal life and issues. Showing how alone she was offline and how willing she was to give herself over to someone she barely knew.
Overall, there was enough good stuff going on to make this interesting and... Well, enjoyable isn't the right word for this sort of story.
This book does a great job of exploring the unnaturally fast, close relationships that can be formed between people, especially on the internet, and how that relationship can be manipulated and can hurt people terribly.
However, it falls short on two fronts for me: 1) The way the characters communicate through email and IM. They both sound like they're novelists doing writing exercises. This could have still worked if they each had distinct voices, but they really didn't. 2) It could have used a bit more build up before things turned morbid. Even if it was just an extra email or IM session where the more fragile of the two word vomited about her personal life and issues. Showing how alone she was offline and how willing she was to give herself over to someone she barely knew.
Overall, there was enough good stuff going on to make this interesting and... Well, enjoyable isn't the right word for this sort of story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Just when I was worrying about now having read any 5 star books this year, this little novella gut punched me and made me cry. I don't know HOW Nghi Vo did it. The world and characters spring off the page with so much life and joy and sorrow. From the first moment, I was hooked. The prose are to die for. Absolutely poetic and succinct and perfect. It's such a short story that I cannot recommend it enough.
Content Warnings
Minor: Infertility, Suicide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Like The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this book has extremely engaging, compulsively readable prose. I tore through both in only a few days despite their length. The issue is that both have really bad endings. Like book-ruining bad.
The Devil and the Dark Water commits what is, to me, a cardinal sin: a POV character lied to the reader with their own thoughts.Creesjie is the POV character when she finds the governor general's body. She panics and cries and is frightened in the dark. We find out later that she planned the whole thing and planted a fake murder weapon in the middle of that scene. But we don't see it because it would ruin the mystery. And that's the only reason. It makes zero sense.
There are also multiple instances of chapters ending with a random description of something that the character didn't see. These chapters are written in 3rd person limited, so the random omnipotence is clunky.
The reveal of the twist was bad enough , but the final scene was the expired whipped cream on this shit sundae. We have two well-developed, stubborn characters who do a total about face in the last five pages.Arent and Sara are both set up as having strict, particular views on morality, yet at the end, they are suddenly willing to look past the hundreds of deaths Creesjie and Pipps caused??? I could maybe buy it if given more time, but 5 pages is NOT enough.
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be reading from this author again. He has a wonderful writing style, but the endings are just unforgivable.
The Devil and the Dark Water commits what is, to me, a cardinal sin: a POV character lied to the reader with their own thoughts.
There are also multiple instances of chapters ending with a random description of something that the character didn't see. These chapters are written in 3rd person limited, so the random omnipotence is clunky.
The reveal of the twist was bad enough , but the final scene was the expired whipped cream on this shit sundae. We have two well-developed, stubborn characters who do a total about face in the last five pages.
At this point, I'm not sure I'll be reading from this author again. He has a wonderful writing style, but the endings are just unforgivable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Violence
Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Vomit, Colonisation, and War
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
This is a perfectly average book. There were some parts I really enjoyed and others I either didn't care about or actively disliked. The climax was anti-climactic, but the actual ending (I'm talking about the last line) saved it for me. I will definitely continue in the series because there was enough good stuff going on for me to be interested in the world and characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Religious bigotry
Minor: Animal death