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politicat's reviews
52 reviews
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Suki, Alone by Faith Erin Hicks
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
finally more backstory on suki!
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
it’s called silence of the girls but it includes too much perspective from achilles & the other greek men. at one point it became an iliad retelling and yes it’s set in the same area but i wanted to read this for the women perspective. i think on its own it’s a very moving book but compared to what it’s supposed to represent i thought it was rather incomplete. i’d like it much more if it had briseis perspective and maybe a lower class slave? maybe ritsa? maybe hecuba/hecamede? the men parts weren’t necessary. also this is not barkers fault but now i have no sympathy left for achilles & patroclus so reading song of achilles is going to be really hard lol
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
this might be my favourite book because i am lucy, she is me. the language is fucking boring but the brontes lived in the 1800s so you can’t blame them. also she’s so well written and her character has so much depth that only the reader gets to see and i appreciate that.
The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i learned a lot about the japanese culture but also just gained an overall perspective to the whole concept we lightly describe as homelessness. it’s upsetting that no matter how much sympathy you feel for the characters you still will judge it when you see it in real life. makes one feel quite guilty but again it’s not about me.
Queer by William S. Burroughs
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
just because a book is about queers doesn’t mean that the book is gonna be good…. some parts of lee describing his heartbreak were really sad but otherwise this story really wasn’t anything special
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
i really wasn't feeling this until the last 50 pages or so. his relationship with his sister is so wholesome makes me miss my brother. i relate to holden, maybe like 80%? (if )all that i had in me was drained and i didn't know what to live for anymore I too (would) stay only for my brother. now i'm depressed
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
the ending sure was sad but it didn’t leave me in shambles as much as i’d like it to. why the hell did he use the n word so much? i almost went crazy reading that one chapter where he used it over and over again i swear he could’ve just used Crooks name it’s not that hard. george loves lennie so much that kind of part is just heartbreaking but overall it’s a book. i’m really bad at ratings idfk i just don’t love it and don’t think id recommend it to anyone
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Violence, and Sexual violence
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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 feel like i’m being too generous with my 5 stars lately but this was a great book. especially that plot twist at the end!!! kept me up all night and i wasn’t even struggling. OH i remember that one lady on tiktok saying monique was weirdly portrayed as a biracial woman and no actual poc character would talk like that (the author is white) so there goes a star for that. also i loved how david was written only to strengthen monique’s character development&plot. we see so many examples of women characters written somewhere in the story for the exact reason so it was nice to see a change.
am i a bad person for completely understanding why evelyn did what she did with monique’s dad?? maybe i wouldn’t easily forgive her if i was monique but from a neutral pov i completely understand why she had to do what she did. there was too much in line from her own life that she couldn’t afford being empathetic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
i honestly don't know if this is a 5 star book but it may as well be. after chapter 11 every single thing just threw me off. every chapter contradicted the one before and stuff that i thought wouldn't happen happened. it seriously kept me on my toes. oscar wilde is a good writer though i am upset he relates to dorian too much. anyway: fuck harry. basils only fault was loving dorian. . fuck dorian. gladys the duchess has my heart. sibyl vane and her brother (mom too) deserve so much better. i'm giving -0.5 because some stuff harry and dorian would defend pissed me off :)