mgerboc's reviews
278 reviews

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. There are some excellent points - the storytelling flows with such ease that I finished this book in basically two sittings. It is a well told, well-paced plot. I also liked the overall themes - how bureaucracy can grind you down, how your environment and occurrences outside your control can shape so much of who you are, for better or worse, and, I think what the book does best - how important community and personal interaction is, especially among those more vulnerable members of society.

My major issues with this book are: 1 - I feel like the curmudgeon with a heart of gold trope has been done to death, and this didn't appear to do anything to differentiate it enough from other stories like it; 2 - none of the characters outside Ove and Sonja (and MAYBE Rune and Anita) get any kind of development. I thought this might be because of a narrative choice, ie - only seeing the world through Ove's eyes, but I'm just not sold on that. There were very interesting characters that could have been fleshed out to create a richer environment; 3 - everything wraps up WAY too nicely in the end. I caught myself saying "oh come on" out loud on a few occasions. Everyone is too understanding, all the minor conflicts resolve perfectly, the one over-the-top villain disappears from their lives, and everyone, without exception, lives happily ever after.

Maybe I'm just feeling cynical, but it just felt unreal. I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, so I'm used to unrealistic scenarios, but in literary or contemporary fiction, it felt a little cheap. I've also heard so much about Fredrik Backman and what an amazing writer he is. Maybe his other books are better, but this one, I feel, didn't live up to they hype.

Still, this is a heartfelt people pleaser, so if that's what you're looking for, I think you'll be happy with it. Just wasn't for me.

Cartucho and My Mother's Hands by Nellie Campobello

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I've been a fan of Mexican literature for most of my adult life, and especially that written by the generation who grew up in the Revolution. Nellie Campobello is among the foremost of those writers, and if you don't know much about her, I really recommend reading more about her fascinating (if a bit tragic) life.

This book contains two distinct pieces of writing. The first is Cartucho, a series of very short memories of the Revolution as told through the eyes of a young girl - as Campobello was herself during that time. The writing style is brutal and staccato and reflects the ease with which one becomes familiar and even comfortable with unspeakable violence when it happens all around you all the time. The writing could sometimes be confusing - there are a lot of individuals who are the focus of one story then show up as a tertiary character in another - but is still impactful. And you have the sense of being there, looking out the window the witness all of the small grotesque and sublime moments which make up something as romanticized and grand as the Mexican Revolution.

The second, which I thought was the better of the two, is My Mother's Hands, and series of vignettes written in a quasi-poetic style which detail Campobello's relationship with her mother when she was a child. The writing is gorgeous, visceral, evocative. She manages to say so much about the intimate relationship between mother and children in so few pages while creating an atmosphere unlike any other.

Lastly, the introduction was written by Elena Poniatowska, who is my favorite Mexican author. Two sentences into the intro was I was already in thrall.

Anyway, go read 20th century Mexican literature. It's unique and violent and funny and PRESENT in a way I haven't read anywhere else.

Here are some quotes:

“But El Kirilí lay there in the water, his body turning cold, the tissue of his porous flesh clutching the bullets that killed him.”
- Cartucho

“He was executed one cold afternoon, the kind of afternoon that makes the poor think of their helplessness. A timely blanket of shots put him to sleep forever atop his gray sarape with green eagles.”
- Cartucho

“In this house we learned the color of things and saw for the first time that Mama had two large moles and one small one; that her colors were natural; that she herself made everything we ate; that she washed our hair and made our little smocks (brothers and sisters were dressed the same; she would think up the patterns according to the pieces of cloth she had); that She did everything for us, with her own hands: for us little nobodies. They were happy little rags, made with the songs she sent out into the night in memory of her companion!”
- My Mother’s Hands

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

What a strange and unique delight this book was.  Marrying the mundane with the fantastical in regency-era England, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell defies genre, or rather blends many of them together - historical fiction, alternative history, fantasy, horror, gothic. The writing style is pastiche that honors Austen and Dickens, and, in my (uneducated) opinion, Borges. There is a sense of sensible, proper "Britishness" in the way we are told of fairies and magic which provides a really interesting juxtaposition. And while the dialogue and prose can be droll, there is something genuinely terrifying and viscerally visual about the fantastical elements - the Gentleman with the thistle-down hair will stick with me as one of the scariest characters I've read, and the visuals (column of Eternal Darkness, a forest growing out of the canals of Venice) were so vivid against the gray English backdrop. The whole idea of a parallel world that interacts with ours, the idea of an unpredictable, amoral Faerie, was absolutely unsettling. Lastly, the characters themselves, like the physical surroundings, feel so tangible. Jonathan Strange is charming and well-loved but a bit aloof and arrogant in addition to his extroversion, while Gilbert Norrell is compelled by a sense of duty to partake in public life but is awkward in public and seems to really dislike people on the whole. Childermass and Stephen Black ended up being my favorite characters I think.

This is a true tome. There's no getting through it quickly. However, if you're okay with languishing in the beauty of prose and the eeriest of atmospheres, you should absolutely take your time to savor and enjoy Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

PS - nobody writes class prejudice/consciousness better that the British, and this is an amazing example of that.

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A Desolation Called Peace was great. It certainly improved on a lot of the (small) complaints that I had about the first book in the series, A Memory Called Empire. Specifically, the expansion of the characters via more points of view rather than just following Mahit, the development of characters we met in the first book, and the introduction of a few new characters who were just fucking stellar (Nine Hibiscus and Twenty Cicada, just amazing).  In addition to that, we got a better sense of the scope of the world that falls into the Teixcalaan Empire, as well as what lurks beyond the edges.

The plot was as good if not better than AMCE - I'm a slow reader and finished this 480 page book in three days because I couldn't put it down. Tension builds throughout, the stakes are enormously high, and the ending pays off well. Themes of empire and language are continued from the first book, but there are others, particularly those of identity, collectivism vs. individuality, which are explored to great effect.

The one thing I found annoying throughout was a very small literary device that kept throwing me for a loop and knocking me out of the story - constant asides.  We're in the middle of a sentence, then there's a whole other idea thrown in between dashes, then the original sentence ends. I don't mind this from time to time and it can be used well, but there are entire paragraphs in this book that are in parentheses that are wholly unnecessary.  It didn't affect my overall opinion of the story and improvements made here, but without that, I believe this would have been a five star read.

For anyone looking for a good sci-fi series, I definitely recommend these two books and I look forward to seeing more come from Arkady Martine.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was such a COOL book. I'll start with the gripes because they're super minor: I really wanted to know more about the characters and their development, the plot meandered just a bit about a third of the way through aaaaaaaand...that's pretty much it.

The strong points are numerous: The plot is a generally well paced, tautly crafted thriller - this is sci-fi political intrigue at its finest. Basic plot with no spoilers is that the Teixcalaan Empire urgently requires a new ambassador from Lsel, a space-station civilization which has successfully resisted annexation by the Empire. The new ambassador arrives and is thrown into the dizzyingly byzantine plots-within-plots of the Empire's court all while trying to find out what happened to her predecessor. The world-building is top notch, as well. The Empire is magnificent and seductive and beautiful and terrifying at all once - sublime as the word was originally meant to be used, and heavily influenced by a really cool combination of Byzantine/Armenian relations and Mesoamerican imperial ideology/aesthetic. And I think the strongest part of this book are the themes: What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of Empire? Immortality? Cultural erasure and the ability of an outsider to at once be in awe of and perhaps in love with a civilization while resisting its inevitable expansion. It helps a lot that the author is also a career academic focusing on the history of Empire - it adds so much gravity to the themes (much like Steven Erikson's background in anthropology and archaeology add so much to the Malazan world).

Anyway, wasn't sure how I was going to like this one, but based on one reviews who I like on YouTube and the GORGEOUS cover art, I decided to jump in and I'm very pleased I did. I hear the shortcomings of the first book, specifically about character development and perspective, are expanded upon and improved in the second, which I'm probably going to star RIGHT AWAY.

Nada by Jean-Patrick Manchette

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Nada is a riveting political/crime thriller about a group of leftists in Paris in the early 1970's conspiring to kidnap the American ambassador to France. The strong suits here are definitely (a) the plot - it moves along at breakneck speed in a driving and efficient way, so much so I finished it way more quickly that I was anticipating because I couldn't put it down; and (b) the atmosphere - Paris in the 1970's, with all the romanticism of the revolutionary 60's gone, urban decay on the rise, and the infinitely fractured remainder of the political far left leading to a nihilistic excess of violence without purpose. I wish there'd been a little more character development. Like a lot of heist stories, a lot of the character filled certain stereotypes (but different enough to be interesting). I think the most interesting character was that of Goémond, the right-wing shady fixer whose zealous devotion to the State and "order" create one of the scarier cop characters I've read. The violence is well-written, brutal but never excessive or exploitative, and leant an air of hyper-realism to the story. Overall, I really liked that this seemed sympathetic to the far left while questioning its violent tactics in the context of late capitalism.

The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I read Ring Shout earlier this year and was already really impressed with Clark's writing, especially in the novella format that I'm usually not so fond of. Honestly, I think I like The Black God's Drums even more. In both novellas, Clark's strongest suit lies in creating a rich atmosphere - you really feel like you're part of the story. But I think the character work, which is always hard to do in a short story, was even better in The Black God's Drums. And I LOVED the alternative history (New Orleans becomes an independent free city-state, bordered by the CSA and USA in a Civil War which resulted in a stalemate and continued slavery in the South with the exception of New Orleans) aspect. The imagery of gassed-into-docility Black slaves of the plantation South was terrifying. There are allusions to African religion, Haitian independence, and, in a really cool sci-fi twist, dirigible-like airships dominating the skies. No complaints here.

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was probably my least favorite Watch book so far from Discworld, but it was still excellent. Sam Vimes is one of my favorite characters in literature, period, and I love seeing his righteous anger in the face of injustice, which really plays center stage here. I also love to see more of Lady Sybil, and the development of Willikins. I've always thought Pratchett's action scenes were a weak point, and there's a sort of extended period of that in this book. Also, it seems to go longer than it should and the Patrician seemed a little out of character from previous novels. My last sorta complaint is the lack of the supporting cast - what I love about the City Watch are all of the guards in the Watch itself, and having this book take place away from Ankh-Morpork, with only a small focus on the other guards, was a little disappointing (I thought this was done much more effectively in The Fifth Elephant). However, again, great work, and I think I'm mostly just sad that there are no other City Watch books in Discworld for me to read.

Beowulf by Unknown

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

I was supposed to read this in high school, but, like most of my assignments, it went uncompleted. Now that I'm on this fantasy literature kick, I thought I'd go way back to some fantasy origins, and Beowulf FUCKING RULED. It's extremely hard to actually rate a 1200 year old classic, but I can say that Seamus Heaney's translation was gorgeous. I have nothing to compare it to, but I can't imagine this written any other way. The lyricism, the deep understanding of the language, and the profound respect for the text all shine through. If you're reading this and you're able to, I recommend reading at least some of it out loud. It comes from the oral tradition, and when speaking the words, even in modern English, you can definitely feel a connection to that, especially in the hands of a translator/poet like Heaney. 

Here are some quotes that I particularly liked:

“Behavior that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere.”

“It it always better to avenge dear ones that indulge in mourning. For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark.”

Plus - referring to the human body as a "bone house" is utterly badass, and describing an old man's hand as "feud-calloused" says so much with so few words.

Why don't we write epic poems about people anymore?

Thud! by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Like all Discworld books I've read so far, I loved Thud! After spending time away from the City Watch sub-series, coming back was refreshing. Sam Vimes has to be one of the great fantasy characters in history, if not in all of literature. The book has its funny moments as all Pratchett's do, but what surprised me about this was how taut of a thriller it actually was. There's generally some sort of mystery to be solved in all of the City Watch books, but it usually plays second fiddle to the characters, dialogue, and wit of the writing in general. However, and without sacrificing the writing and character development we get used to with Pratchett, Thud!'s plot moves at a perfectly breakneck speed, and I kept wondering how things were going to turn out.

It's not a spoiler and no surprise to anyone who's read Discworld that the resolution of the mystery is a lesson deeply rooted in compassion, empathy, and humanity. This story attacks zealotry and fundamentalism, and treats the urge to seek revenge as a dark spirit to be feared and avoided with dread. I also just personally really enjoyed the exploration of the Troll and Dwarf lore. In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be pure cheek or overly cute, or taken so seriously that it would negatively impact the humor and the themes of Discworld, but Pratchett, unsurprisingly, handles it perfectly.