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mint_renegade's reviews
163 reviews
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Viktor, David
i read a book, i liked the book, and now all that's left to do is record my thoughts about said book. how tedious. who cares, in the end, this will serve but a headstone on a cloud too intangible for nature to comprehend.
i read war and peace and whilst i could grasp that much of the fiction was based on fact, the distance between now and then, seemed immesurable, the history unknown to me, the aggressor's motives elusive; facts, figures, waylaid for the fantasy. with life and fate, it was more difficult to discard reality, 80 years' separation, victims and perpetrators still living; history lessons, movies, books, psychological experiments all of them intent on dissecting this phenomena, all of them asking why and how could the whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter. knowledgeable as i was in the history of the holocaust, in all these classes, in all these readings, it never occurred to me to imagine all the minute details; all the little steps taken towards the chambers, the sign-postings. i knew of the leaders of course, but it never occurred to me, quite so viscerally, that there were people on the ground, paving the way. it never occurred to me that there were people tasked to disperse the gas, people responsible for the clean up, people looting for gold in dentures. people, people, people.
it occurred to me to look to russia , seeking to find a protagonist state to root for, but there i found only the same state of affairs. russians struggling against the shackles of a fascist regime only to rebind themselves to the shackles of a totalitarian government.
this book is timeless. how could a whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter? for the same reason you are sitting there whilst millions are being herded to their slaughter. they sat there because they had jobs to go to, bills to pay, petty grievances to nurse, colleagues to out-do; they sat there because they had depressive states to contend with, smiles to feign, managers to impress, they sat there while history repeated itself, and you sit there, all the while history repeats itself. it doesn't matter what year it is, somewhere out there people are killing each other, for oil, for sovereignty, for supremacy, for a few more kilometres of land to call their own.
character - my main gripe with this books is the characters, and the relationships they had with each other. from the synopsis, i would be reading about he lives of the Shaposhnikov's, but right up until the end, i had trouble figuring out who was who in relation to who. at some point i stopped trying to figure it out, instead choosing to focus on the characters' whose arcs hooked me the most - lyda and her profound grief, viktor and his isolation, david, dear god david. if i were to judge this book just on these characters' chapters, it would be a 5 stars. alas, there were many other characters, i wish their interconnectedness to the main family line had been more fleshed out - 4/5
writing - lyrical at some points, straightforward in most and easy to digest - 3/5
plot - this is history, what greater plot could there be? 5/5
4.5/5
i read a book, i liked the book, and now all that's left to do is record my thoughts about said book. how tedious. who cares, in the end, this will serve but a headstone on a cloud too intangible for nature to comprehend.
i read war and peace and whilst i could grasp that much of the fiction was based on fact, the distance between now and then, seemed immesurable, the history unknown to me, the aggressor's motives elusive; facts, figures, waylaid for the fantasy. with life and fate, it was more difficult to discard reality, 80 years' separation, victims and perpetrators still living; history lessons, movies, books, psychological experiments all of them intent on dissecting this phenomena, all of them asking why and how could the whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter. knowledgeable as i was in the history of the holocaust, in all these classes, in all these readings, it never occurred to me to imagine all the minute details; all the little steps taken towards the chambers, the sign-postings. i knew of the leaders of course, but it never occurred to me, quite so viscerally, that there were people on the ground, paving the way. it never occurred to me that there were people tasked to disperse the gas, people responsible for the clean up, people looting for gold in dentures. people, people, people.
it occurred to me to look to russia , seeking to find a protagonist state to root for, but there i found only the same state of affairs. russians struggling against the shackles of a fascist regime only to rebind themselves to the shackles of a totalitarian government.
this book is timeless. how could a whole world sit by whilst millions were herded to the slaughter? for the same reason you are sitting there whilst millions are being herded to their slaughter. they sat there because they had jobs to go to, bills to pay, petty grievances to nurse, colleagues to out-do; they sat there because they had depressive states to contend with, smiles to feign, managers to impress, they sat there while history repeated itself, and you sit there, all the while history repeats itself. it doesn't matter what year it is, somewhere out there people are killing each other, for oil, for sovereignty, for supremacy, for a few more kilometres of land to call their own.
character - my main gripe with this books is the characters, and the relationships they had with each other. from the synopsis, i would be reading about he lives of the Shaposhnikov's, but right up until the end, i had trouble figuring out who was who in relation to who. at some point i stopped trying to figure it out, instead choosing to focus on the characters' whose arcs hooked me the most - lyda and her profound grief, viktor and his isolation, david, dear god david. if i were to judge this book just on these characters' chapters, it would be a 5 stars. alas, there were many other characters, i wish their interconnectedness to the main family line had been more fleshed out - 4/5
writing - lyrical at some points, straightforward in most and easy to digest - 3/5
plot - this is history, what greater plot could there be? 5/5
4.5/5
Darkness by Lord Byron
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
how splendid it is, to find a missive able to so beautifully encapsulate the cooling embers of my soul.
translation
i was in a depressive state, and reading of darkness while occupying a body surrounded by darkness with a mind encompassed in darkness served to shed a little light to this, my despairing state.
translation
i was in a depressive state, and reading of darkness while occupying a body surrounded by darkness with a mind encompassed in darkness served to shed a little light to this, my despairing state.
Cinderella: A Grimm's Fairy Tale by Jacob Grimm
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
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? No
2.0
I read "Well-Loved Tales: Cinderella" god damn it. 50 fucking pages in total and the app refuses to import it *rage*. Depressed and swimming in guilt over a lack of motivation, I reached for a short read, with *🖼 🎨 🖌 *.
List of grievances:
- In the edition I read, not this substitute, the father lived with Cinders, he was there, loitering in the background as his child was made a servant, only making a front and center appearance when it came time to parcel the child off;
- she's described as a little girl, but this chic has bust and a receding hairline;
- the prince's dialogue is confined to "this is my partner" and "this is the true bride". I mean fuck, he's even more familiar with her foot than he is with her face fam;
- I read it in the dark because *mood* so the illustrations colour didn't pop, under torchlight the pallate is really quite beautiful;
- I'm obsessed with tracking number of pages read, it seems to be a chief motivator in my current readership, I hate it. Then again, perhaps it is to do with the monotony of the current main focus? Life and Fate is a banger, but much like war and peace, it is not devoid of slow chapters - fuck, I know there was a war, but please don't talk me through it. Take me back to Viktor, I want to read about Viktor.
List of grievances:
- In the edition I read, not this substitute, the father lived with Cinders, he was there, loitering in the background as his child was made a servant, only making a front and center appearance when it came time to parcel the child off;
- she's described as a little girl, but this chic has bust and a receding hairline;
- the prince's dialogue is confined to "this is my partner" and "this is the true bride". I mean fuck, he's even more familiar with her foot than he is with her face fam;
- I read it in the dark because *mood* so the illustrations colour didn't pop, under torchlight the pallate is really quite beautiful;
- I'm obsessed with tracking number of pages read, it seems to be a chief motivator in my current readership, I hate it. Then again, perhaps it is to do with the monotony of the current main focus? Life and Fate is a banger, but much like war and peace, it is not devoid of slow chapters - fuck, I know there was a war, but please don't talk me through it. Take me back to Viktor, I want to read about Viktor.
The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
What a strange, underwhelming, little story.
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
dnf
You don't like short stories. Stop reading short stories. All day I've been glancing at this book and asking why. Why am I reading this? I could die tomorrow and this is what the coroner would find in my bag.
"Really, this is what they died reading? Now if they died reading, say, rich dad, poor dad or, better yet, a 40k enemies-to-friends-to-lovers fan fic, that would be an understandable, nay an admirable way to go. But this, oh honey."
A person I dislike recently said to me that a short story collection is like an album. In listening you might come to find your favourite song, youll definately find a least favourite and most of them will be middling, and forgettable. The only way to know which is which is to listen to the whole album.
Then I thought to myself - he had a point at the beginning, completely lost me at the end. I have never listened to any one artists' album in its entirety. I'll tell you that blood like lemonade is my favourite song by morcheeba and also that I have never listened to any other song on that album/their discography. Ill tell you that red desert was my 2022 most listened to song on CALM and it took less than 10 seconds for me to realise that wildflowers was a flop. Songs either hook their talons into me by the first riff or not at all. In book terms, we'll say 50 pages then I'm out. 78 pages and 4 stories into this and i could barely remember even 1.
You don't like short stories. Stop reading short stories. All day I've been glancing at this book and asking why. Why am I reading this? I could die tomorrow and this is what the coroner would find in my bag.
"Really, this is what they died reading? Now if they died reading, say, rich dad, poor dad or, better yet, a 40k enemies-to-friends-to-lovers fan fic, that would be an understandable, nay an admirable way to go. But this, oh honey."
A person I dislike recently said to me that a short story collection is like an album. In listening you might come to find your favourite song, youll definately find a least favourite and most of them will be middling, and forgettable. The only way to know which is which is to listen to the whole album.
Then I thought to myself - he had a point at the beginning, completely lost me at the end. I have never listened to any one artists' album in its entirety. I'll tell you that blood like lemonade is my favourite song by morcheeba and also that I have never listened to any other song on that album/their discography. Ill tell you that red desert was my 2022 most listened to song on CALM and it took less than 10 seconds for me to realise that wildflowers was a flop. Songs either hook their talons into me by the first riff or not at all. In book terms, we'll say 50 pages then I'm out. 78 pages and 4 stories into this and i could barely remember even 1.
Twelfth Night, or What You Will by William Shakespeare
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
as i read, i couldnt help but search for channing tatum and amanda bynes .
quotes immune to time's decay i found and all i could recall was the trailer to chicken little - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUBFCaWiQ28&t=120s. i could sense great comedy and wit but much of it was beyond my comprehension
quotes immune to time's decay i found and all i could recall was the trailer to chicken little - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUBFCaWiQ28&t=120s. i could sense great comedy and wit but much of it was beyond my comprehension
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, Suheil Bushrui
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
a reference for life's many symptoms.
will reach for it when i'm reading another book and i don't know how to capture my feelings on a characters feelings on love, death, pleasure.
it was good, i liked it, it's short, you should read it.
will reach for it when i'm reading another book and i don't know how to capture my feelings on a characters feelings on love, death, pleasure.
it was good, i liked it, it's short, you should read it.
Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
Writing, plot, characters sub par. No redeemable qualities
Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
money breeds eternal misery and etc
Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
dark
sad
slow-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
1.5
in the words of the closing scene in the 1988 film adaptation, 'boo, boo, boo!!'.
the 1 star is because this can be called a book. the 0.5 star is because i appreciated the short-chapter-nature lent to books written in the medium of letter compilation.
not one to live on in my shelf, nor indeed in my memory.
the characters were justifiably detestable. meek, weak, wicked, naive, vile. however, each of these descriptors, rather than coalescing to create complex characters, were instead separated and ascribable one-by-one to individual characters, resulting in one dimensional characters, unaided by a cyclical narrative of i love you, i hate you, i need you.
my two consolations are (i) that i can now clear space in my shelf, and (ii) i can now occupy my time with a book that isn't this one
the 1 star is because this can be called a book. the 0.5 star is because i appreciated the short-chapter-nature lent to books written in the medium of letter compilation.
not one to live on in my shelf, nor indeed in my memory.
the characters were justifiably detestable. meek, weak, wicked, naive, vile. however, each of these descriptors, rather than coalescing to create complex characters, were instead separated and ascribable one-by-one to individual characters, resulting in one dimensional characters, unaided by a cyclical narrative of i love you, i hate you, i need you.
my two consolations are (i) that i can now clear space in my shelf, and (ii) i can now occupy my time with a book that isn't this one