peeled_grape's reviews
143 reviews

Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño

3.0

It's one of those books that works better in theory than in practice. It starts off excellent, and then, in its demonstration of showing the narrator's distance from all the important events, spends a lot of time dwelling on stuff that really isn't important. The first half is much more interesting than the second. It was still good, and impressive, but it just doesn't work out as well when you're several pages into details the narrator is obsessed with that don't end up mattering in the long run.

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya

2.0

This book just really wasn't working for me. The sentences are like ten miles long, and even when used to achieve a breathless, paranoid effect, the language isn't clever enough to pull it off (possibly an effect of it being a translation?). It feels like it's cheating in that sense. I'm bored of novels who rely on violence (and, more specifically, sexual violence toward women) to work. It's not "artistic" anymore. Pick something else. Do something original. God, it's boring.

There were very few things in this book I liked. It wasn't horrible, really, but I thought it was pretty unremarkable.

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

4.0

I liked this. It's easy and pleasant to read. Some of the plot felt a little too good to be true, a little bit too convenient and working too much in favor of the narrator. It was almost like she could control other people's actions in that way. That didn't quite work for me. But: It was good. I feel like that is maybe the extent of my feelings toward this. It's good. It's pleasant. It all works.

The Sorrow Proper by Lindsey Drager

4.0

A book about absence and presence, the yes and no of potential. I was particularly taken by the exhibit and its "subtitles" at the end. It's a perfectly pleasant book to read -- although nothing exciting happens, it doesn't drag, and I finished it more quickly than I thought I would.

I wonder why this leans so heavily into stereotype. There are old librarians who all wear bifocals, who shush children constantly, who go drinking when they're sad and it rains when they're sad and all books are replaced by computers because young people never have interest in physical books anymore -- libraries are there for teenagers to have sex in -- and "Strange word, 'library.' What does it mean?" (Which: Isn't there something to be said about the accessibility of ebooks, especially coming from a book that is, to some extent, about that?) This was so present it almost seems exaggerated for a purpose, but I couldn't figure out what that purpose was. It feels boomer-y, in this way, and resistant to change.

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

4.0

I love the form of this -- the World Cup section was especially compelling to me. I'm also a fan of second person, and this is a great example of that going well. This was recommended to me, so I didn't realize it was poetry before I picked it up. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just not as great at reading poetry, and I know less how to pick out what's working with it. With that said, there's still several sections in here that you should take your time with. It's worth sitting with, picking apart.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

4.0

This was fantastic. It surprised me -- this is a higher quality of writing than I expect from most YA books, and frankly, most adult books too. I know this ended up on a bunch of banned book lists, but ironically, I still think it was too nice to police. I get why. And maybe part of this comes from the fact I am reading this six-ish years after its publication and read it literally as the president encouraged white supremacists to storm the Capitol, but I would recommend it to the Haileys of the world who need to be pushed out of their current state of thinking. But this is fantastic, and necessary, and raises a lot of important questions, especially for people who have never needed or wanted to consider them.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

2.0

I often feel like a writer has to earn their content to write about it meaningfully, and I don’t think much of this was quite earned, so it was a little disappointing and surface-level. It’s a little hard to tell with YA, but also there’s better commentary of believing women and violence toward women that feels more round, so I know this story is capable of that.

There are also times when I thought it was trying too hard to be dark and edgy. There is more violence and gore than is necessary or effective, and it honestly just gets kind of boring. There are a lot of holes and inconsistencies—places where lines or scenes happen for flashiness over depth or reason. There’s a ton of boring info in the beginning, and at the end, a lot of half-logic that spontaneously allows Alex to do random stuff.

I had high hopes because I loved “Six of Crows,” but this was just meh. The one great thing this did for me, having spent a lot of time reading short story collections, was remind me how much I love novels, and how fantastic something with length is.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

3.0

For a book where there is no prominent plot and mostly consists of world-building, I found this surprisingly easy to get through. It reads a little like an inside joke that’s not a joke at all—I keep thinking about how, if you do not have a uterus, there is a good chance you are missing or not understanding something. (Though maybe I’m just thinking about certain people I know.) It’s well-written and surprisingly thorough. I’m going to have to look at the ending again—there is definitely something more to it than what I got on first read—but the book constantly fluctuates between two extremes, and this reminds me of Schrodinger’s most famous study, where the only answer we can really get from the van is neither and both.

Also, the names should not have taken me that long to get. I did not understand why all their names were like that until “Ofcharles.”

Scrapper by Matt Bell

2.0

Man, I was so prepared to like this. I did like it until, like, the beginning of part three, and then the whole thing fell apart. I had this cool, sophisticated reading, and actually started to write it out so I wouldn't forget it (which I never do), but then everything good this novel had going for it was thrown out the window. The third part of this ruined the first two for me.

Kelly just starts spiraling out of nowhere -- or nowhere that I could place -- and throws his life away very quickly because of nothing. It becomes very clear very quickly that this man is unhinged, but the book goes in a different direction than where it was leading.

I am so, so, SO sick of narratives that handle trauma the way this one does. I am sick of trauma being the reason someone becomes completely unhinged and violent and blind to boundaries altogether. It's so cheap. Kelly doesn't overtly blame his violent nature on the people who hurt him, but his motivations all come from that pain. I think that this book is all about morality, and the blurry nature of it -- looking at this explains the pretty random rapper section -- but oh my god, the last section was so lazy that I don't think it earns this. I have so, so many issues with this.

Anyway: This book is like if someone crossed Cormac McCarthy with Lindsey Drager (and maybe more specifically, "The Road" and "The Sorrow Proper," though I liked both of those better than this). Not sure how to feel about the complete absence of question marks. Was totally fine with the first two sections, though admittedly, it is hard to get through because it remains largely stagnant. Overall, it just came out cheap and cliché.

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell

3.0

This was pretty good, but that's about all it was. Ironically, the story remains somewhat stagnant; every scene seems to be a device to prompt worldbuilding, so I found myself half drifting off while reading this. I want to say it's on purpose, but this really is a story that is so rooted in speculation and conjecture, so this seems more like a side effect. The ending is the best part of this -- everything seems to come together there -- but it is a little hard to finish.