mythili's Reviews (529)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: A Play

Edward Albee

5.0

dark emotional funny tense medium-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

The Book of Goose

Yiyun Li

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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: Yes

Sakina's Kiss

Vivek Shanbhag

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Is Mother Dead

Vigdis Hjorth

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have never gotten this upset after reading a book. I was upset while reading the book as well because it sounded like a weird (derogatory) imagination of some depraved person in the worst way possible. I expected the story of a girl who encounters other girls in an orphanage/dormitory has more nuance into the psyches of the little children. Instead, I was taken on a tour of shock value things. This writer, a man, has absolutely no idea how little girls are. He seems to have heard that little girls are cruel to each other and included the small cruelties of pulling hair, writing things on desks and breaking a doll that's dear to the girl. While these are bad things that do happen, they do not explain why the girls turn upon each other so easily. It doesn't explain what the adults are doing either - there's one 'adult' character who is useless and just there because the setting requires it. I'm giving the 2.5 stars only for the doll game part and the metaphorical writing part of the book. But all of that is like delicious frosting atop what is a terrible cake. The characters end up becoming one dimensional - including Marina, the main girl. There is no depth of character, narrative and story in this book. I'm hugely disappointed. Please learn how to write a good campus/dormitory novel from Kazuo Ishiguro or Ferrante. Sheesh.