onamoonbeam's reviews
193 reviews

Samson Agonistes by John Milton

the most misogynistic thing i think i've ever read. and somehow still intriguing with its other themes? which is kind of insane like you see misogyny in the modern day and a lot of it is trite and repetitive. cmon podcast bros, return to your roots of saying femininity is the root of all evil. cool stuff about blindness too, as someone who is very scared of becoming blind.

Paradise Lost by John Milton

medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

i would feel weird rating this so i won't. i feel like i grasped maybe half of this? and already the scope and symbolism and implications seem overwhelming. eve and satan they could never make me hate you, your endings are personally frustrating

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

4.5

fuck. what do i even do now, just sit here?
read this years ago in high school and did not process it nearly as much as i did now. 

Slip by Marika McCoola

hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

incheresting. i get it's allegorical but there's not much on an ostensible level to then work your way up from. the art is cute. points for yuri

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

adventurous informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

i'm not a science guy but ooh all the tech and youth allegories... perceived intelligence of women and how the rex is called male bc it's more of a threat... haven't watched the movie yet (somehow) but i'm glad i read this first. a thriller in a blood just-off-screen flaws-of-your-own-making way.

Poochytown by Jim Woodring

3.5

????? comic book without any text and so many wavy lines. i like at least something about this but i can't put my finger on what. maybe it's the little pyramidal guy

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

hopeful reflective tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

oh boy. i originally took note of this as a TV show because it seemed similar to something I was working on, then I was assigned to read it for a class and. well first of all, very different from TV show. secondly hooo boy i love the non-linear narrative and all the different facets of art and all the different connections people have to it (it's a necessity, but it can consume you, joy, passion, work, distraction, etc.) and the ending felt... fitting. surprisingly i felt very little reading this specifically after pandemic lockdown, which i know a lot of readers did. 

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

what a novel. would never have read this if not for class. for how influential my professor claims it to be, i've never read anything with a writing style quite like this. i enjoyed it overall, the meandering nature of plot and sentences similar to how i write and think. pathetic man of a narrator also is a fun parallel to so many current beloved characters. there's so much here i'm probably not grasping because i know next to nothing about 20th century indian politics but even without that the world is massive and well-explored

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

reflective fast-paced

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

2.0

'all allegory comes from religion' thank you english prof but i was not prepared for how heavy-handed it would be. beating you over the head with Values to follow or to avoid my god. given that allegory wasn't a common thing when this was written i suppose i have to give john bunyan some credit but i also really want to show this to a person who has never heard of christianity (if such a person is accessible by technology somehow, i doubt it) and see what they think of this without the religious context because i think it would make no fucking sense and make for an aggravating main character to follow. 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

4.0

i read this years ago and had a ball but boy howdy the christian allegory is obvious as hell once someone pointed it out to me. no it's not just because i'm taking an allegory class shut up. the writing style is so quaint and descriptive while being simple it's quite nice to read. and i haven't read a kids' book in a while too. cs lewis you were really just balling with christian tradition huh