mint_renegade's reviews
164 reviews

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

Paradise Lost by John Milton

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I'm glad to have read it. Will I ever read it again? Will I let it live on my shelves for all time? Idk

My Hair by Hannah Lee

lighthearted 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? N/A

4.0

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

3.5

I knew this book, I knew these words. As i read, my minds eye danced to a familiar tune and tenor. I heard and felt the echos of long archived melodies in the Chambers of long untrodden rooms. I don't know what dickens was smoking, but going by the sheer emotions he is able to evoke in the span of 84 pages, it was no mild sativa. I cried. I cried in a way I haven't cried over a book in quite sometime.

All Down Darkness Wide by Seán Hewitt

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

3.0

it feels odd, to read, rate and judge a book based on the life experiences of the author. when those experiences are shrouded in pain, repression, self-denial. when those experiences call to mind all the ways in which you, the reader, had to bend yourself out of shape in order to fit the pre-approved social conventions. 

The Man in the Iron Mask by Francine du Plessix Gray, Alexandre Dumas, Joachim Neugroschel

adventurous informative medium-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

1.0

i dnf'ed book 1 in the sequence for a reason, why did i think that the final book would salvage the story, huh? what madness bid me to pick up this book and waste my time? i mean, i literally found myself googling just to make sure that the ending wasn't some cosmic joke being played out at my personal expense. i am still willing to concede on some points - a poor translation, perhaps; a book read out of context of its preceding works, definitely. but imagine a world in which i had read all previous books, and this, the man in the iron mask, was the final chapter, the closing given to lives traversed across 30 years, this ending, would it still not be paltry? would i still not be incensed? you call a book the man in the iron mask and yet he features in  but a handful of chapters, and when he does, his person is devoid of any real character.

history and countless adaptations have given me to believe that the 4 musketeers are cunning, clever, kingmakers, 10-movers-ahead-of-everyone-else-type-of-anti-heroes. and yet without prompting, aramis gives away the gambit to him who he should not, and keeps it secret from one who should be in his inner circle. the result? an innocent philippe is left to the mercy of the wolf, without friend, without ally and destined to return to the depths of the bastille, more fortified against the eyes of the world. having tasted freedom and princely abodes, he is destined to be more despondent than ever. hope is a merciless thing to give to a prisoner.

i need a kit-kat, and i need to stop holding Dumas to the pedestal of Monte Cristo. the (un)fairness of my judgement is colored by an expectation that everything this person wrote is laced in gold. i am at such a loss to believe that the same person wrote two such polarizing works, one a most beloved and now this, a most loathed, and yet, and yet. 

(p.s. watch the movie with Jack bauer, it's way better)

Aeneid Book VI by Virgil, Seamus Heaney

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

a new rule or one already in the mix so my mind tells me as i type - the middling 3-stars for books you know deserve better but in the moment leave you with a simple shoulder shrug; 3 stars for the academic books that warrant rereading in order to build ones knowledge in a dense area of interest (greek/roman mythos). 3 stars because i think i like it but i am very new to reading in verse and on balance inferno had holds more sway. 

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It's definitive, i don't like short stories; always leave me wanting more

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

one to return to, again and again. 

rilke writes the way i imagine the waters below the surface move, slow, resolute, defiant. he shares so much wisdom in the space of 80 pages, with such simplicity. in my bid to sound wise, i often seek the words with the greatest flourish, thinking that their quality begets wisdom and beauty. of course, dostoyevsky and dumas will tell you this is true, and it is true, but i am neither. and so it is towards simplicity that i will seek refuge. 

but why choose? there is in me a duality, both simple and ostentatious, better to have two ports than one.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 it was a good book, like all books it took a turn i did not expect; spent less little time on the subject elucidated in the synopsis, and more time on matters that could have been condensed to fewer chapters. it's the kind of 5-star that i will appreciate having read, but will in all ikelihood bump down to a 4-stars as the markers of time chisel it away from my memory. that being said, i hope i remember Ivan's descent into madness, i hope i remember Dr Hez's kindness to the barefoot mitya, i hope i remember mitya's remembrance of this kindness, i hope i remember the defense counsel's argument that love cannot begotten from nothing, if love is what our parents seek, they must first teach us how to love; i hope i remember alyosha's speech at ilyusha's stone - i hope i remember to be kind in my remembrance.