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porgyreads's reviews
135 reviews
Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba
5.0
How have I never heard of this before. I was struck by its title and the cover and wanted something creepy and short to delight me. But I wasn’t just delighted I was mesmerised. The sensory descriptions veer quickly into the unreal: marina hears sights, she watches words, her entire internal world is a process of creation. There’s a line “perhaps it was just creative thinking” and that sums up the beauty and allure of marina as well as spelling out her demise. Her creative thought is her weapon and the weapon used against her. There are so many quotes in this that I have to write out just to really allow myself time with the words. The way that love is portrayed and described especially by the chorus of girls blew my mind a bit. Such clever use of form and voice. A book I have read and will re-read.
Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger
4.75
Devastatingly beautiful but requires surrender. If you concern yourself with what you think is going to happen I fear you won’t get anything from it.
I read this because I’m attempting my own vampire novel and was intrigued but I did not expect to be confronted with myself in ways that were quite scary. The last few chapters felt like a purge. Like I was in the tide of Noelle’s emotions and mine.
The second half of this book flew and in comparison the first half dragged, I can’t tell if that’s a me problem or a words problem - don’t care!
Moses, what a construction. A dangerous, perfect figment of imagination.
I won’t use other adjectives because my brain just thinks beautiful beautiful now it is over.
I read this because I’m attempting my own vampire novel and was intrigued but I did not expect to be confronted with myself in ways that were quite scary. The last few chapters felt like a purge. Like I was in the tide of Noelle’s emotions and mine.
The second half of this book flew and in comparison the first half dragged, I can’t tell if that’s a me problem or a words problem - don’t care!
Moses, what a construction. A dangerous, perfect figment of imagination.
I won’t use other adjectives because my brain just thinks beautiful beautiful now it is over.
The Poisoner by I.V. Ophelia
3.0
Read this to kick start spooky season and to get out of a slump, Huzzah! Biblically accurate reptilian vampire man was intriguing from a purely anthropological perspective even though he was archetypal in personality and that’s why this works. Was it reinventing the wheel? No. Did I have fun and will I read the next one? Sure :)
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
2.75
It should not have taken me so long to read a book this short but it lacked intrigue even as I pushed to create it myself. I tried hard to give it the benefit of the doubt and finish it because that’s what qualifies its mastery for some people but… not for me. Numb dissociative prose to evoke a numb dissociating main character I get it!. Through clays drug infused haze you hear terrible things and then see terrible things. This escalation doesn’t induce any tension just sadness - if that. The disarming recreation of upper class LA teen coked out nonchalance made me feel nothing and so when things did happen I didn’t feel more than a light shock. I see this is what is to be praised about the novel but that would require an investment in any character described. I couldn’t keep track of the names of clays friends because neither could he. I felt nothing about his girlfriend because neither did he. I was not mesmerised by clays blank slate personality or his repetitive days of driving and eating and sniffing and drinking. I can’t say this doesn’t represent a certain person in a certain time because it does, it’s a period piece (again, I get it!) and I guess the preoccupation with death in Beverly Hills makes sense considering it was at that time one of the safest places to live is interesting. But for all the drugs and horror and haunting echos of desert it wasn’t captivating. Finishing a book as a apathetic as I began is an insult!
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Shirley Jackson you GOAT. We have always lived in the castle is hauntingly simple, there’s no jump scares or massive twists and still I felt nauseous and my skin felt taut reading it.
The theme of isolation versus seclusion is so wonderfully explored interpersonally and societally in Merricat’s world. Merricat is such an interesting main character, she is feral, anti-social, the quintessential Miss Foolishness yet she logical, considerate and good in a crisis. This dichotomy makes you understand all of her actions but one and you can’t help but use her as your moral compass.
What the sisters endure is harrowing and their fate though heaven in their eyes is objectively sad. I love that we capture this short period in which mythology that will live beyond the Blackwood sisters is written. The house is haunted in real time and relics of the past and future are destroyed in the same breath.
I have to let this stew in my brain a little longer because i have so much to think about. But no notes, obv!
The theme of isolation versus seclusion is so wonderfully explored interpersonally and societally in Merricat’s world. Merricat is such an interesting main character, she is feral, anti-social, the quintessential Miss Foolishness yet she logical, considerate and good in a crisis. This dichotomy makes you understand all of her actions but one and you can’t help but use her as your moral compass.
What the sisters endure is harrowing and their fate though heaven in their eyes is objectively sad. I love that we capture this short period in which mythology that will live beyond the Blackwood sisters is written. The house is haunted in real time and relics of the past and future are destroyed in the same breath.
I have to let this stew in my brain a little longer because i have so much to think about. But no notes, obv!
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
4.0
God bless talia hibbert for getting me out of my reading slump. This was lots a fun and made me smile it also highlighted thinks I’m going to continue to ignore about myself and chose instead to appreciate Miss Hibbert’s graceful slide from adult to YA.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
5.0
A flash, silence, another flash, like an exhausted heart.
!!!!!
Enriquez does historical horror so well. Such incredible use of allegory and world building. Though naming conventions are simple and some may say unimaginative but the rest is so spellbinding I don’t think it matters. Watching Gaspar struggle against familial inheritance and the lengths to which Juan must go to save him from the same fate was equally harrowing and enthralling. There is so much I could say but honestly it ended and I was like I need more, this is too abrupt and then I realised after sleeping on it that the end is perfect.
Many thanks to Sakina for encouraging me to bump this up my TBR
!!!!!
Enriquez does historical horror so well. Such incredible use of allegory and world building. Though naming conventions are simple and some may say unimaginative but the rest is so spellbinding I don’t think it matters. Watching Gaspar struggle against familial inheritance and the lengths to which Juan must go to save him from the same fate was equally harrowing and enthralling. There is so much I could say but honestly it ended and I was like I need more, this is too abrupt and then I realised after sleeping on it that the end is perfect.
Many thanks to Sakina for encouraging me to bump this up my TBR
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
3.5
All my gripes would be solved if I had been able to read the version of this story that prompted a 4,000 word editor letter about why it was unsuitable for YA. I am (of course) an adult and so would have loved to see where the plot could’ve gone in an adult context. Despite this, my 15/16 year old self would’ve loved this!