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oliverlang's reviews
151 reviews
Elektra by Jennifer Saint
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
TW: Suicide Reference
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It feels rude to give this book anything other than 5 stars. It made me feel so many different types of ways; I felt joy in moments and heartache in others. Another book with unlikeable characters but profoundly human ones.
I'm just going to share some of my favourite excerpts in lieu of a wordy review:
I'm just going to share some of my favourite excerpts in lieu of a wordy review:
'Love him,' said Jacques, with vehemence, love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? And how long, at the best, can it last, since you are both men and still have everywhere to go? Only five minutes, I assure you, only five minutes, and most of that, helas! in the dark. And if you think of them as dirty, then they will be dirty-they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing, you will be despising your flesh and his. But you can make your time together anything but dirty, you can give each other something which will make both of you better-forever-if you will not be ashamed, if you will only not play it safe.' He paused, watching me, and then looked down to his cognac. 'You play it safe long enough,' he said, in a different tone, 'and you'll end up trapped in your own dirty body, forever and forever and forever-like me.' And he finished his cognac, ringing his glass slightly on the bar to attract the attention of Madame Clothilde.
I smiled. "Things my father never told me.' 'Somebody,' said Jacques, 'your father or mine, should have told us that not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour-and in the oddest places!-for the lack of it.' And then: 'Here comes your baby. Sois sage. Sois chic.'
I began to see that, while what was happening to me was not so strange as it would have comforted me to believe, yet it was strange beyond belief. It was not really so strange, so unprecedented, though voices deep within me boomed, For shame! For shame! that I should be so abruptly, so hideously entangled with a boy; what was strange was that this was but one tiny aspect of the dreadful human tangle, occurring everywhere, without end, forever.
TW: Suicide Reference
I did not know what to do or where to go. I found myself at last along the river, slowly going home.
And this was perhaps the first time in my life that death occurred to me as a reality. I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it-it, the physical act. I had thought of suicide when I was much younger, as, possibly, we all have, but then it would have been for revenge, it would have been my way of informing the world how awfully it had made me suffer. But the silence of the evening, as I wandered home, had nothing to do with that storm, that far-off boy. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I liked reading this book I think... But I didn't really enjoy the book... Which is conflicting I know.
There were a lot of things where I wasn't sure if it was the way the book was intended to come across or if it was the translations fault.
There is a trans feminine character who does explicitly say they are transitioning and presents as fem but just gets referred to with he/him pronouns all the time and as a man in a dress so?? I don't really get what the writer was trying to do there because the character doesn't add anything else to the story.
Idk what a weird book.
There were a lot of things where I wasn't sure if it was the way the book was intended to come across or if it was the translations fault.
There is a trans feminine character who does explicitly say they are transitioning and presents as fem but just gets referred to with he/him pronouns all the time and as a man in a dress so?? I don't really get what the writer was trying to do there because the character doesn't add anything else to the story.
Idk what a weird book.
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Nevada by Imogen Binnie
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is not a book about trans joy.
This book made me both like and dislike it at the same time. It was very easy to read, I appreciated the short chapters propelling me through but also as a trans person who is a number of years into their "transition", I found that this book stayed stuck in the trials of being trans. For our MC here to have been living as trans for 10 years, I'd expect that their day to day would consist less of the ruminations of what living as trans are and more of just... living. My life now is must less absorbed by gender related emotions and I guess I expected that to be mirrored in this seasoned trans character.
However having now finished this book and having read the afterword by Imogen Binnie, I feel like my perspective on the narrative has altered and I encourage you to continue on and read the afterword as well.
I didn't like the characters in this novel, but I don't think that liking them was at all the point so this is not to say that this is a bad book -- it isn't. This book was good at being what it is and it does broach some important subjects and often speaks the truth about what living as a trans person can be like... But I did expect a road trip of trans joy and discovery and that's not what this was.
This book made me both like and dislike it at the same time. It was very easy to read, I appreciated the short chapters propelling me through but also as a trans person who is a number of years into their "transition", I found that this book stayed stuck in the trials of being trans. For our MC here to have been living as trans for 10 years, I'd expect that their day to day would consist less of the ruminations of what living as trans are and more of just... living. My life now is must less absorbed by gender related emotions and I guess I expected that to be mirrored in this seasoned trans character.
However having now finished this book and having read the afterword by Imogen Binnie, I feel like my perspective on the narrative has altered and I encourage you to continue on and read the afterword as well.
I didn't like the characters in this novel, but I don't think that liking them was at all the point so this is not to say that this is a bad book -- it isn't. This book was good at being what it is and it does broach some important subjects and often speaks the truth about what living as a trans person can be like... But I did expect a road trip of trans joy and discovery and that's not what this was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Dysphoria
Minor: Transphobia and Vomit
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I went into this book on the recommendation that I don't read anything about it beforehand and I'm glad that's the approach I took.
I've read Andy Weir's other 2 Novels, (The Martian & Artemis) and can tell you that although they are all space sci-fi, they are impressively entirely different. This book got me hooked from the start and kept me guessing the entire way through.
Although I liked this book, I will say that I get the impression that Weir can only write one type of character personality and that character seems to be most likely himself, with his humour. So the main character here, to me, felt like a PG Mark Watney (The Martian). This is not necessarily a bad thing - I liked Mark Watney's character - but it's just something I picked up on.
I'd recommend this book, especially to those that get spooked by lengthy, wordy, dense, sci-fi. This is easy to read and a trip the whole way through. I'd also recommend you go into it knowing nothing more about it
I've read Andy Weir's other 2 Novels, (The Martian & Artemis) and can tell you that although they are all space sci-fi, they are impressively entirely different. This book got me hooked from the start and kept me guessing the entire way through.
Although I liked this book, I will say that I get the impression that Weir can only write one type of character personality and that character seems to be most likely himself, with his humour. So the main character here, to me, felt like a PG Mark Watney (The Martian). This is not necessarily a bad thing - I liked Mark Watney's character - but it's just something I picked up on.
I'd recommend this book, especially to those that get spooked by lengthy, wordy, dense, sci-fi. This is easy to read and a trip the whole way through. I'd also recommend you go into it knowing nothing more about it
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I started off really loving this book but as it went on, I fell out of love with it...
I really enjoy historical fiction and I was very excited to read this book as historical queer fiction is rare indeed and there is of course now a void to be filled with some magical world building...
That being said, the concept for this story is excellent and it starts out very strong with excellent writing but at around the half way mark you're confronted with, the first of 3 graphic sex scenes, the likes of which you'd find in fan fiction, and that just wasn't what I was looking for with this book.
Excluding the smut and mushy-gushiness, I did enjoy this book but I wish it had more of the world building and developing the interesting magical system/background rather than there being large chunks of detailed sex scenes which don't really add anything to the story that couldn't easily have been done in other ways.
I really enjoy historical fiction and I was very excited to read this book as historical queer fiction is rare indeed and there is of course now a void to be filled with some magical world building...
That being said, the concept for this story is excellent and it starts out very strong with excellent writing but at around the half way mark you're confronted with, the first of 3 graphic sex scenes, the likes of which you'd find in fan fiction, and that just wasn't what I was looking for with this book.
Excluding the smut and mushy-gushiness, I did enjoy this book but I wish it had more of the world building and developing the interesting magical system/background rather than there being large chunks of detailed sex scenes which don't really add anything to the story that couldn't easily have been done in other ways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Did not finish book. Stopped at 8%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 8%.
I'm not vibing with the writing style of this one.
And I feel like for a colony built up of several cultures and languages, the language structure shown thus far has been lazy, uninspired and under-developed. The author has attempted to use French in a formal context despite clearly not having a strong grasp on the French language and so it has become reduced to several cases of short pieces of French at the end of English sentences, mostly consisting of "Est-ce compris?"
The character introductions have not made me remotely care about them and I know that if I continued to read, I would only find the language/world building irksome and lacking. Although I would like to say that I did find the idea of the Architects and the peeling back of earth's crust and mantel compelling... But the world building just hadn't done it for me unfortunately.
Non, ce n'est pas compris. Je pense que je n'aime pas ce livre. Merci, allez va-t-en.
And I feel like for a colony built up of several cultures and languages, the language structure shown thus far has been lazy, uninspired and under-developed. The author has attempted to use French in a formal context despite clearly not having a strong grasp on the French language and so it has become reduced to several cases of short pieces of French at the end of English sentences, mostly consisting of "Est-ce compris?"
The character introductions have not made me remotely care about them and I know that if I continued to read, I would only find the language/world building irksome and lacking. Although I would like to say that I did find the idea of the Architects and the peeling back of earth's crust and mantel compelling... But the world building just hadn't done it for me unfortunately.
Non, ce n'est pas compris. Je pense que je n'aime pas ce livre. Merci, allez va-t-en.