pangnaolin's reviews
92 reviews

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Lord. This book is so incredibly beautiful, I don't know where to begin. I'm not giving it five stars simply because I have a very strict criteria for my five star books (they have to be the most personally, emotionally impactful books of all time), but it truly does deserve it quality-wise.

Antonio is such a beautiful young character to follow, and the Anaya (through Ultima among others) expertly leads him to explorations of his beliefs and values while navigating those of the people around him. I was incredibly stunned by the beautiful symbolism within the novel, and just the imagery in general, whether it's the golden carp, the mermaid, the races with the Kid, the duality of earth vs. wind and rooted vs. free, Ultima's owl, or something else entirely. I'm constantly looking around me in every scene of the novel, wondering what different little things mean and feeling curious about every single choice and character.

There were definitely some weird choices with the way he wrote characters (I'm still sort of left confused about Bones and Horse), alongside some frustrating sexism (though I wonder how much is him painting an image of how Antonio and those around him perceive the world vs. how much of it is his personal perception of the world), but I still generally felt that the novel had incredible merit as is, and analyzing issues like sexism even add to my personal understanding of it, regardless of whether it was intended.

I also feel like, on a personal level, this book re-awoke my sense of magic. I've always felt it and never stopped believing it, but I feel reaffirmed and alive in that side of myself, and I'm excited to explore it again. Anaya brought me to a new world and I was able to explore alongside Antonio in the most beautiful of ways.

Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Okay, so this book is sort of a mess. Its main story line follows a New York couple trying to regain intimacy that has been lost under the stress of taking care of a high support needs autistic child, who then lose said child in the desert, but it also follows a ton of people in a sort of cult that believe they can communicate with aliens, an Iraqi immigrant family, and a few other, more brief characters.

I have to say, the style was totally up my alley. I loved the energy, and was drawn closer to the story with every word (which I think was aided by my love for the American Southwest and its mythology and essence), but I also felt sort of lost a lot of the time. I think that Kunzru really didn't want to connect the dots for us-- just lay them out and let us map it all out-- which was interesting, but also left the story feeling really disjointed. I was hoping that the stories would connect in ways that left me having moments of realization or felt like they added something new to the narrative, but it just didn't really.

I wanted more of their ties, and I wanted to really know and understand each character. Sometimes, while reading, I wondered if what he was talking about really mattered at all. It felt a bit like some of the different stories were just trying to be clever. That said, I do think every character on their own was written incredibly. I was especially impressed by Lisa and how well she was made both sympathetic and an incredibly fucked up dickhead. 

Overall, I do have to say I really loved reading this. It was super enjoyable and interesting, and I loved getting lost in the tangled knot of this book, but I also don't think I really got any greater meaning from it. I think I'd need to reread from a more analytical lens, and maybe do some annotating, to get that. I don't think that me not finding it means there wasn't something more there.

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

It's hard to rate this book, because it was such an incredibly grueling and tiring read, but the thoughts Fanon brought to the table were obviously incredibly important. It's interesting to think about how these ideas have been disseminated into other theories, frameworks, etc before I've ever read them as their own concept, but it was definitely worth reading on its own, too.

I have to say, though, that although I can absolutely see how this was incredibly important for its time, it feels like it's filled with information most people educated on topics of race, gender, colonialism, and intersectionality have already come to understand, and I feel like there were some moments of homophobia and misogyny that kind of shocked me back into life, too.

I'm not sure. It definitely has some really solid ideas that were explored in an interesting way, and the structure and anecdotes were easy to follow, but I also feel like it's just a bit outdated in some ways. It's obviously a good and important read, especially if you're looking to understand history, but if you're looking to understand the role of race in relationships in today's society, I feel like there's probably a better book for you out there.

Pipe Bomb for the Soul by Alice Bag

challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

I've never read anything along the lines of an edited journal before, and Alice Bag's was an incredible first! I've loved her music, and even met her when I watched her play live, and getting to hear more of her stories was so interesting.

I think the most valuable part of this book is getting to watch someone young learn in real time-- explore more ideas and start to understand intersectionality and global solidarity as she steps outside of her comfort zone and sheltered world.

It definitely isn't a literary masterpiece-- it's a journal, after all-- but it was fun, interesting, and thought-provoking to read, and I definitely learned a lot, too! I'd recommend it-- especially since it's a quick read!

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Having not read the original Frankenstein, I was excited & intrigued to, yet slightly unsure about taking this book on, but it definitely turned out interesting and worth it. I loved the way Saadawi developed the Whatsitsname [or Frankenstein] throughout the novel-- first just a creation, and then something looking for revenge, and then just questioning itself and trying to stay alive, acting more like a human than a monster as it felt itself being taken advantage of more and more.

I felt like he took an interesting route, focusing not just on the 'monster,' but also on the lives of different people surrounding the monster and his creator, and although those stories were definitely worth hearing in one way or another, it also got really confusing to try and follow everyone-- especially while listening to an audiobook version. I almost wonder if he should've written another book about Iraq during the American invasion without the magical realist element as well and put those stories in there, because-- again-- they were good, just made the 'Frankenstein' story suffer. I just wanted more of the monster and his creator, and less of everyone else.

I also sort of wanted it to be darker and grittier than it really turned out, but I felt like that possibility got a little dampened as Saadawi just sort of... told us everything that was happening in plain words at all times. I wish more had been left for the reader to piece together, and that it had leaned a little more into the weirdness and confusion of it all. I'm not sure.

I definitely loved this, and I think it gave an incredibly interesting point of view on the invasion, while also tackling the idea of good/bad binaries and how they really play out, especially in things like war, but I also just felt like it was lacking in a lot of places, and found myself bored in between sprinkled really interesting moments.

Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

Rifqa was an incredibly beautiful collection of poetry, so perfectly named and encapsulated by the story of the wonderful, powerful woman herself. It's not my usual style of poetry, but I loved it all the same-- especially the ones with more blunt and intense styles-- and it was so perfectly needed to have a space to sit with all of the emotions we hold around Palestine and its people, especially now. I am always thinking of and feeling these losses, but his words brought new thoughts and an opportunity for me to develop my own and let them sit. I adored the imagery, and the way he wove stories through each poem and throughout several, and I couldn't recommend it more.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jesus Christ. I'm writing this the moment I've finished Martyr! because I really don't know what else to do with myself, I want to do so many things. When I read a book I love this much, I always feel inspired to do five million things at once, and it does make me laugh a little that two of the books that have made me like this are one by Tommy Orange and one heavily influenced by his work. Where to begin?

Martyr! was an incredible read from start to finish. The prose was bold, direct, and intense-- cutting in the most perfectly crafted and telling voice for Cyrus-- and had me stunned so many times. I actually dictated some of my favorite parts into my notes app because I loved them so much. I have to say, though, that even though the most quotably weird and interesting pieces of prose were near the start, I feel like the way those decrease means something to me. I got to watch the way Cyrus slowly changed his values and the melodramatic way he'd viewed the world & himself for so long, and the prose reflected that.

I also adored the odd pieces of his life that didn't quite fit, but persisted like the dream dialogues, and adored getting to read from other's perspectives, though I have to say that Cyrus's voice was always my favorite to read. I just couldn't get enough of the style.

I really don't know what to say about this book. Cyrus's story is incredible and intense, and I had at least a few moments where I just stopped and sort of let out a long-held-in sigh. I had to take moments to rest from how much it all weighed down on me. I fell in love with it and quite literally couldn't put it down, which isn't common for me and a book. I loved Akbar's poetry, and now I love his novels even more. I can't wait to see what more he brings into the world.

Black Movie by Danez Smith

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

I don't think I'll ever get over Danez Smith's poetry. It's beautiful in such a blunt, powerful, reflective way, and I absolutely adored the way this chapbook was both poetry and film. I absolutely adored Lion King in the Hood & Dinosaurs in the Hood, and I've reread them so many times since I first did.

I think there's something so special about his simultaneous acceptance and rejection of the constant deaths of Black boys, and how he pushes for both acknowledgement and for us to not force the Black experience to be just this story. He doesn't shy away from nuance to baby a white audience-- just says what needs to be said in the most stunning ways.

I have to say, though-- as much as I adore the to-the-point style, there was something especially striking about the moments he took to be more traditionally poetic, in pieces like Scene: Portrait of a Black Boy with Flowers.

I'm honestly not sure how to encapsulate my feelings on this chapbook. It was incredible in every sense of the word, and I encourage you to read & feel it fully. It's so worth it. 

Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was such a beautiful collection of surreal, confusing short stories that left me in awe. I definitely loved some more than others (ones like "24, Alhaji Williams Street" and "Masquerade Season" being favorites with others like "The Dusk Market" a bit more difficult to get through), but it was altogether a really lovely and relatively short read.

Some descriptions were definitely a bit winding, but it honestly added a lot to it, especially if I really loved that story. I knew I had to pick this book up the second I saw the name and title, and reading it proved me right! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes magical realism or surrealism of any kind.

Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire by Alice Wong

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This was such a beautiful collection of work. I genuinely appreciated every essay so much, and some of them taught or reminded me of things I really needed to hear, too. I thought the way Wong organized the essays (& poems!) was really interesting, because I honestly felt like there was a lot of overlap between the ideas of sex & intimacy and connection and creativity, and it felt like they blended so much that I wondered if the 'parts' were even necessary.

Listening to the audiobook, it was hard to really enjoy the poems-- I wish I could've seen them on the page and sat with them longer-- but they were still a cool & interesting inclusion. Hearing all of the different perspectives on intimacy while Disabled was just so incredible, and I felt like every single one was right in its own way.

I don't have too much else to say, especially because it was a collection of essays and harder to comment on as a whole, but I really did love getting to listen to and absorb what all of these incredible, thoughtful people had to say about their experiences. I really would recommend reading Disability Intimacy-- especially if you're Disabled, but even if you're not.