nesdy's reviews
945 reviews

Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran

3.0

Mixed bag. I didn't like the first few essays but it got better afterwards.

Bliss and other stories by Katherine Mansfield

2.75

Favorite stories:

• Bliss
• Psychology
• Mr. Reginald Peacock's Day
• Revelations

Rojo, blanco y sangre azul by Casey McQuiston

1.5

It took me ages to finish it because it was so boring! The romance is not really developed, it's just a series of scenes where they make out and have sex. The secondary characters are so underdeveloped I had trouble telling them apart.

Anna and the Apocalypse by Katharine Turner, Barry Waldo

2.5

It's okay, it has some fun moments, but in general I couldn't connect with the characters or the humor all that much. 

Re: Dracula by Bram Stoker, Tal Minear

4.0

I love the novel and this was a great version. The voice actors are incredible and the sound effects really worked to feel immersed in the story. Also, Bite is a banger.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

1.5

This started out really well. During the first third (maybe) of the book, I thought the author was doing something interesting with how she dealt with female power. Most of the women didn't use their power to attack, only to protect themselves, and they all mostly just wanted to be left alone and find safe spaces with other women. And you had men who couldn't deal with the new reality trying desperately to gain their power back. But then, as the novel progressed, more and more the message was that power corrupts no matter who you are and that the natural state of the world is that there are preys and predators and there's nothing we can do to change that, no matter who is in power at any given time. So it's almost like she's saying that patriarchy is the natural state of things. Also, this books reads like every retoric I've heard from sexist men about "the world feminists actually want". It doesn't even work as a "revenge fantasy" either, it's just bad and pessimistic. It's also super repetitive, the last half is just a succession of descriptions of women being terrible to men (and sometimes other women), but nothing much happens. I feel like this could have been an interesting exploration of gender roles and dynamics, but it completely ignores all social circumstances and just genderbends in the most superficial way possible. The author is trying to show light into how attrocious we would find things if we simply changed genders, but by ignoring all context and giving us the most superficial narrative, she completely misses the mark and ends up upholding some of the ideas she's supposedly criticizing.

Do The Work: A guide to understanding power and creating change. by Megan Pillow, Roxane Gay

3.0

It's an introduction to certain ideas about power and activism, with extra resources for people who want to go deep into it. It's a little reference book more than anything else, and in that regard it fulfills its purpose. If this is a topic you're already familiar with, it's probably not very useful.

La súbita aparición de Hope by Jaime Valero, Claire North

3.5

It's an easy read despite how long it is. I was in from the very beginning and towards the middle I was incredibly hooked. I loved Hope's perspective, and how the novel takes her superpower/curse to its logical conclusions. I also loved the social commentary about the relationship between capitalism and beauty standards. However, the denouement felt too long and it took me a while to finish the last few chapters.

Inferior: The True Power of Women and the Science that Shows It by Angela Saini

3.5

I liked it, and it's not a hard read for such a science-focused book. I was very surprised that so many of the assumptions that we culturally have about men and women have been justified by looking at other species

El sol también es una estrella by Nicola Yoon

4.0

This was incredibly cheesy towards the end, and I don't love the insta-love. However, I did like both of them as characters and the little details of coincidence and backstory and future events that appear throughout the book. I cried in the last few chapters so it clearly did something right because I connected with the characters.