pinkiereads's reviews
32 reviews

Animal by Lisa Taddeo

dark emotional funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this was a tricky one… i didn’t really like it while i was reading it but i couldn’t stop thinking about it after i finished it, so clearly there was something there that struck me… i did predict the twists and reveals, but that’s ok they weren’t super hidden, and it was definitely a striking main character study… there was just something that didn’t connect with me, but then again something did. i can’t remember lol i’m writing this months after finishing it

How to Love Your Daughter by Hila Blum

emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

i didn't really get this one, but it was still a good read. i liked the structure and style, and it was definitely very pensive - my only question was... so what happened? i'd recommend it to someone looking for something very interpersonal relationships focused and with a flawed but still very compelling main character. what was her flaw tho??? i couldn't tell you. some of the plot points were fuzzy... but still a good book nonetheless

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

challenging dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

veeeryyyyyy strange... i only really liked the last third, from the sister's perspective. everything else i kinda struggled to get through, and it didn't feel like some of the violence - both real and imagined - was necessary. and i would have loved to know more about the dreams and the wife's perspective! i'm writing this months after reading it so i dont really remember oops

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

4.0

i really enjoyed this, took a while for me to get into it but once i did it was a good read. i read it for class which actually made it more enjoyable since discussing it and esp having someone explain some of the context was very helpful for me as an american to grasp some of the concepts and themes. great reading for anyone interested in monsters as allegory and in modern arabic literature

Dracula by Bram Stoker

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.25

read this for class, it was a bit slow at times and obviously, having been written in the 1890s many of the ideas and values tied up in it were not ones i could align with. i’ve read other classics and enjoyed them, this one wasn’t bad and i did enjoy certain parts/characters (the section in transylvania, lucy and steward’s characters) and i did like the format of a dossier/compiled documents. not something i would have chosen for myself or necessarily read again but glad i read it. (also there’s lots of interesting analysis of the queer subtext, read our vampires ourselves by nina auerbach as a companion) perhaps i would
enjoy mary shelly’s frankenstein or le fanu’s carmilla more

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

another of my favorite books, one that also got me back into reading. this is the one i recommend to everyone, it completely deepened the way i think about neurodivergency and gave me so much context to understand the history of the psychiatric industry and my own autism. truly a great book, a perfect blend of engaging stories/anecdotes and information, and a brilliant break down of the psychiatric industry’s failings and the way real people were swept up in the process of (mis)understanding schizophrenia. everyone with mental health issues or neurodivergencies should read it!!

My Murder by Katie Williams
Did not finish book. Stopped at 26%.

bored, wasn’t too intrigued. looked up a plot summary rather than finish the book lol

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

i enjoyed this for a quick read, it wasn’t as shocking or weird as other people made it out to be - maybe reading from an autistic perspective just took the bizarre out of it? like yeah. she just likes working at the convenience store. she has a script and a routine she can rely on… so it wasn’t the oddball character study the reviews seemed to paint it as. i was satisfied with the ending but really it felt more like a short story. we’ll see if earthlings has more too it

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

sooo incredibly slow. i liked the writing but the plot felt bogged down… an interesting and deeply developed setting but ultimately i was disappointed by the fundamental question not being resolved. also surface level look at racism, don’t trust white lady writers to write a book about the south and give an accurate and nuanced critique of racism… still not my least favorite of the summer tho

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

challenging inspiring reflective tense slow-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

4.0

i think that had i entered this book expecting a story about humanity and relationships i would have been much quicker to warm up to it, but instead i entered it expecting a story about race, and that was in fact a very white thing for me to do. bittersweet and touching, a slow to develop but then compassionate story about family and how a person can relate to the world and the people around them. my initial critique of it being too interpersonal was based i think in my experience as a white person of not having a very interpersonal relationship with race, my own race specifically. because it is not as salient in my day to day life, i approached it from the approach i have normally had to race, a sociological, much wider focus. this isn’t necessarily bad, but this book definitely expanded and added nuance to my conception of race. but actually that wasn’t the most important part? once i got through this initial allure and drama of the premise, then the slow middle point where i struggled a bit, and additionally the difficult style of writing, i began to feel quite touched by what unexpectedly became a very beautiful love story? of course i do still have some critiques of places i wish it had explored further, namely the relationship between drugs and race as drugs were such a topic, i do feel very satisfied and pensive after finishing it, and i think i’ll be recommending it to people, so really what more can i ask for in a book. perhaps i’ll read more of this author, i like how he played with my expectations and expanded my world view through the expansion of the character’s world views, subtle as they were.