natashak1's reviews
258 reviews

Lessons by Ian McEwan

emotional reflective slow-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

2.0

The List by Yomi Adegoke

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I feel like this book did the most boring thing possible with a potentially interesting concept. The prose was also somewhat uninspiring which didn't help, and I felt it really relied on the idea that the main characters had to be flawed but ultimately good, which in a story like this is both the most obvious and least interesting way to present any character let alone the two who we're forced to spend the most time with.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Ouch.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

If you go into this without any preconceptions about what it is you will undoubtedly enjoy it much, much more because it does about fifty different things at various points, and most of them are written fantastically. That said, the people who say this is a love story before anything else are probably right, too.
Long, but in the satisfying, padded out, almost cozy way that Stephen king is best at. 

I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter by Isabel Fall

challenging reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

Honestly it's a tragedy that most people just know the title of this as a transphobic joke because it's a truly brilliant piece of writing that uses sci-fi as a vehicle to discuss gender with such elegance.

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

I can't even describe what I loved about this, but it is so clearly a book written with incredible care and curiosity for the subject matter. And although the central thesis is more or less hand delivered to you on a plate by the last short story, it also feels like the author is very much offering you a menu of ideas to pick through and take from as you please. 

Trust by Hernán Díaz

challenging mysterious 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

Genius pacing and spread of information through the four "books" within this. Only complaint is that I did find the voices of the first two books a little dry but I can also appreciate that that's exactly the point. The final book is a completely perfect end.

In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I found the style of Murakami much easier to get into in a shorter novel, and it felt like the smaller stakes (on a individual rather than societal level) in the plot was much more suited to his writing. 
I also love books that have really complicated or dislikeable characters, and Murakami wrote them brilliantly.

The White Book by Han Kang

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Honestly I did not believe there could be another Han Kang book I found more impactful than Human Acts, but here we are. Indescribable and completely wonderful.

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Volume 1 by Eiji Otsuka

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

It's a classic, I've had these for years and every now and again come back to them because they're just so well done (and manage to do gore without being silly shock value). Incredible.m character design too, no other book could make me so obsessed with a hand puppet.