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pkc's reviews
408 reviews
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’ve had this book a while and it didn’t disappoint in any way. The story was engaging, the prose was exquisite and the characters were so brilliantly realised. I thought the ending was mind blowing and when I initially finished, I couldn’t quite process what I’d just read. But a bit of reflection and I absolutely got it. Jennifer Saint needs all the pats on the back and accolades for this book! Can’t wait to read more of her work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol
A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett by Ken Mandelbaum
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Terminal illness
In Pieces by Sally Field
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent
Rose Madder by Stephen King
3.0
This is a tough one to try and review. On one hand, it had most of the traits, tropes and archetypes I’ve come to expect from a King novel, but on the other…it had most of the traits, tropes and archetypes I’ve come to expect from a King novel. This just wasn’t the place for them and as such, I’d be hard pressed to recommend this in good conscience to anyone. However, overall, this was an engaging novel with more than a little air punching from me by the end.
The plot concerns Rose Daniels, nee McLendon as she is impelled by a drop of blood in her bed to flee her abusive marriage, and she does so, armed with her husband’s bank card. However, her husband, a policeman, doesn’t take this well at all and pursues her across hundreds of miles and the boundaries of reality and unreality. It’s the unreality part where my feelers started to go off. The descriptions of the abuse that Rose suffers are gratuitous at best, and as ever, King pulls no punches. I just felt that with the subject matter, it really didn’t sit right with me as I read. I also felt that as the story started to explore more of the fantastical elements (yes you read that right) the abuse was almost a conduit to an expansion of his other mythology and the main story just managed to resolve and make sense by the end. Kind of. I’m not convinced though.
Norman, her husband, as a character was so brashly written and there was no nuance. It seemed like there were attempts at giving his behaviour over to some unspoken mental illness or neurological problem. I’m pretty sure if you can think of any pejorative word against a marginalised person, Norman used it at some stage. He read as a pathetic chauvinistic bigot, which he was in so many ways, but his brute strength and apparent ability to evade consequence gave him an otherworldly slant that felt like too much credit.
Rosie as a character was probably the best realised character in the book and while she made some odd choices in the way she spoke to people (her tone was indecipherable at points) she was ultimately successful as the complex heroine and the fantastical elements worked best as they pertained to the founding of her new life. Special credit also to Bill Steiner who was a gorgeous romantic core, a calm port in really choppy seas.
All in all, to try and sum this up, I enjoyed this book, but I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone. It’ll be 30 years old next year and I’d say it’s showing its age quite a bit. It feels like the last bastion of a certain era of King’s oeuvre. I adore his work, and I know that he has distanced himself from this book in the intervening years - it’s easy to see why. The three stars come purely from the hopefulness I experienced for Rosie and how the unreality and reality married together in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Animal Farm by George Orwell
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think the main thing that kept me from truly loving this book was the hype train that accompanied and also the glaring communist allegory. The ending gave me chills though. Orwell has the deft ability to bring the reader out in a full body shiver with some of his choices. The last paragraph is stunning.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Grief
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
This was such a bizarre book and I thiiiiink I get what it was going for. However, if you’re picking it up and thinking “ooh look a small murder mystery” it’s much more and I don’t know if I’d consider it a spoiler to say there’s no neat resolution. There are a ton of hints that suggest what has likely happened but no resolution per se. Vesta as a main character was fascinating but - her actions strike me as being the actions of someone who is aging and trying to make sense of a traumatic life with a loathsome man as her mind fragments from age and trauma
This is the third Otessa Moshfegh book I’ve read and as with her previous books, it was wholly unlike anything else I’ve read.
This is the third Otessa Moshfegh book I’ve read and as with her previous books, it was wholly unlike anything else I’ve read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Death
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was just insanely good. I really enjoyed Wolf Hall, but found it especially challenging. It takes a great author to hear those critiques and very subtly tweak their prose so that the critiques are addressed but the tone and timbre remain unaffected. Cromwell is such a brilliantly written baddie, but Mantel never seeks to make him look truly wicked. In fact, he’s so cunning that sometimes, I was inexplicably coming around to his way of thinking before giving myself a shake. Mantel’s command of language brings unconventional beauty to some truly dark moments and I can’t praise this book highly enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting
The Diva Rules: Ditch the Drama, Find Your Strength, and Sparkle Your Way to the Top by Michelle Visage
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
3.0
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5