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maraharcher804's reviews
21 reviews
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
adventurous
dark
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Enjoyable. Eerie. Predictable. I enjoyed the friendship between Emmy and Alice. I dont think many books include friends that love each other and fight for each other and cry at how difficult it is sometimes to be friends.
I didn't quite understand Birgitta's demeanor and wasn't sure if the way she was written (kinda like a monster) were appropriate for portraying someone mentally ill.
I didn't quite understand Birgitta's demeanor and wasn't sure if the way she was written (kinda like a monster) were appropriate for portraying someone mentally ill.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Rape
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Unputdownable. It's like finishing a David Lynch movie and desperately wanting to go down a reddit k-hole - only it's British. Loved every moment.
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Easy, breezy, beautiful read with tough subject matter.
Loved: Tone, screenplay format, clean writing, and subject matter. Yu really packs a punch and explains the racism that Asian Americans have to endure / have endured. I could not get enough of the court scene (the end).
Why this isn't five stars for me: At times, I was a bit lost. The book flows between a tv show and Will's real life. Sometimes I couldn't tell what was real and what was the tv show.
Loved: Tone, screenplay format, clean writing, and subject matter. Yu really packs a punch and explains the racism that Asian Americans have to endure / have endured. I could not get enough of the court scene (the end).
Why this isn't five stars for me: At times, I was a bit lost. The book flows between a tv show and Will's real life. Sometimes I couldn't tell what was real and what was the tv show.
Shine by Jodi Picoult
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Audra McDonald, who is as she always is - brilliant. This book feels real and honestly show the ramifications of racism on a black child.
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Not a fan of the writing style, but there are strokes of brilliance. For a sci fi book, there is little to no description, and several times characters were talking for several paragraphs before the narrator said who they were and what they looked like. The withholding of information felt purposeful for the intent of an "a ha!" effect but it ended up feeling more like whiplash (and confusing). There were also a lot of things that seemed inconsistent or didn't make sense (probably because the world building never really happened). Not much foreshadow or planting of information until Part 2, which is disappointing because there could have been WAY more payoff for what is revealed in Part 2 if there were more information in Part 1. This book is a slow read that whose plot moves VERY FAST, and I wasn't sure what was happening for most of it.
If you start this book, finish it. I almost didn't finish it, but the end is satisfying. I really enjoyed how fluid the protagonist's sexuality is in this book.
If you start this book, finish it. I almost didn't finish it, but the end is satisfying. I really enjoyed how fluid the protagonist's sexuality is in this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
5.0
I listened to the audiobook. This is perhaps the most quoted audiobook that I've heard from podcasts to Beyonce's "Flawless." A necessary read/listen to start a dialogue on gender. I am thankful this book exists.
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow, Ann Friedman
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.25
Challenging, difficult, and upsetting. I appreciated the research into the history of friendship culture in the US as well as the specific hurdles that interracial friendships face. However, this book ultimately made me sad. I have a big friendship which I acknowledge I'm incredibly lucky to be a part of and am comfortable with the fact that it will last the rest of my life. But this book unpacks a relationship so rooted in problems that it almost made me second guess how comfortable I am in my big friendship, which I do not think is the book's intention. Essentially, their friendship has/had so much work involved (which is what it takes to stay friends through ups and downs) but so much work and problems that it made me upset to read and not overjoyed at their friendship status. I didn't feel how much they enjoy being friends. I felt heartache instead.
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was really excited about this book. I heard about it on the Reading Glasses podcast and decided I wanted to read it because it was giving one of the hosts (Brea) nightmares. Maybe my expectations were too high.
1) The title of the book does not fit what the story is about. The book is pitched as being similar to the movie The Descent, but there are no zombies or creatures.
2) That being said, this book is never really scary. The book says at the beginning that there are no real dangers in the cave just perceptions of them...yep. And that makes the tension (which the whole book is based off of) weak and unrealistic.
3) The pacing is inconsistent: one slightly creepy thing would happen every two hundred pages (so twice). The rest was the same monotony of going back to the same camps and literally doing the same climbs and swims over and over and over again. It got boring, and I found myself reading for the sake of getting the book over with.
4) The rules of the world are inconsistent and keep changing.
a) I never really new what a Tunneler was until the end (worms from Dune).
b) I couldn't figure out if the first team had suits on or didn't. It seems that the team didn't wear
suits at the beginning of the climb but wore suits at the end when they died.
c) The fungi (THE WHOLE LUMINOUS THING) didn't have a purpose except I guess to psyche the
protagonist out.
d) The tiny clear bugs didn't have a point either.
e) There is a person that possibly hacked her suit, but that is never fully explained.
f) Her involuntary movements to "go back" into the cave didn't appear until the last quarter of
the book. This is not well established as a rule to the cave.
Overall, it seemed that the author had many ideas about the cave but didn't choose one thing to go with. So we're left with reading half ideas. If this author picked one thing (like someone hacked her suit i.e. ultimate villain or zombies) then the book would be more coherent. I was thinking these dead bodies would be transformed into luminous zombie creatures the whole time. I was waiting for all these solid nuggets of eeriness to pay off but they never did. Nothing ever really happened. It just turned into a fucked up love story. Good for them, but this book title and cover sells a story that it did not deliver.
5) The protagonist Gyre is really hard to like. For a caver trying to survive, she tries to kill herself several times for really no reason. She doesn't listen to the one person that was depending on her success.
6) If Em owned the best tech and could control everything from afar even to the extent of moving Gyre's suit at Camp Six, then WHY NEED A CAVER AT ALL? In the future, do they have drones? The conflict (what little there was) seemed unnecessary.
1) The title of the book does not fit what the story is about. The book is pitched as being similar to the movie The Descent, but there are no zombies or creatures.
2) That being said, this book is never really scary. The book says at the beginning that there are no real dangers in the cave just perceptions of them...yep. And that makes the tension (which the whole book is based off of) weak and unrealistic.
3) The pacing is inconsistent: one slightly creepy thing would happen every two hundred pages (so twice). The rest was the same monotony of going back to the same camps and literally doing the same climbs and swims over and over and over again. It got boring, and I found myself reading for the sake of getting the book over with.
4) The rules of the world are inconsistent and keep changing.
a) I never really new what a Tunneler was until the end (worms from Dune).
b) I couldn't figure out if the first team had suits on or didn't. It seems that the team didn't wear
suits at the beginning of the climb but wore suits at the end when they died.
c) The fungi (THE WHOLE LUMINOUS THING) didn't have a purpose except I guess to psyche the
protagonist out.
d) The tiny clear bugs didn't have a point either.
e) There is a person that possibly hacked her suit, but that is never fully explained.
f) Her involuntary movements to "go back" into the cave didn't appear until the last quarter of
the book. This is not well established as a rule to the cave.
Overall, it seemed that the author had many ideas about the cave but didn't choose one thing to go with. So we're left with reading half ideas. If this author picked one thing (like someone hacked her suit i.e. ultimate villain or zombies) then the book would be more coherent. I was thinking these dead bodies would be transformed into luminous zombie creatures the whole time. I was waiting for all these solid nuggets of eeriness to pay off but they never did. Nothing ever really happened. It just turned into a fucked up love story. Good for them, but this book title and cover sells a story that it did not deliver.
5) The protagonist Gyre is really hard to like. For a caver trying to survive, she tries to kill herself several times for really no reason. She doesn't listen to the one person that was depending on her success.
6) If Em owned the best tech and could control everything from afar even to the extent of moving Gyre's suit at Camp Six, then WHY NEED A CAVER AT ALL? In the future, do they have drones? The conflict (what little there was) seemed unnecessary.
Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Everyone in Western society should read this book. A rich, devastating book and a real look at the future of our planet. And it's not pretty.
The Hole by Pyun Hye-young
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Eerie, consuming, & compelling. I read this book in less than a day. A moral tale of the ramifications of how we treat the people closest to us. An excellent read, but if you're looking for something darker or horror, I would look elsewhere.