raethereviewer's reviews
858 reviews

The Summer I Ate the Rich by Maritza Moulite, Maika Moulite

dark emotional tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I may be biased but I love everything that Maika and Maritza write. It was so fun seeing zonbi lore in a mainstream novel and I can’t wait to see more from this duo.

Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith

4.5

I really enjoyed this collection. There were quite a few political poems interspersed throughout which makes me see this as a critique of the pastoral so it was right up my alley. I annotated a lot of these poems while reading and encountered some new-to-me vocabulary.

My Mother Cursed My Name: A Novel by Anamely Salgado Reyes

2.5

In theory, I should love this book. It has an intriguing title, multigenerational matrilineal drama, and the magical realism at the start reminds me of Gabriel García Márquez without the pesky incest. It should’ve been an easy 5-stars… but here we are 

Anamely Salgado Reyes does an excellent job of writing Felicitas, the 10-year-old MC. If this had been a middle grade magical realism from her perspective alone, I think it would’ve been a better story

This novel had so much potential and the first quarter or so was done very well. I listened to the audiobook through my library and was excited to play it every time I got in the car, but as it went on, the story started getting repetitive in a way that made it boring. The 3rd person omniscient POV made it feel like I was being hit over the head with the character flaws over and over again. There was no air of mystery because the “big reveal” was obvious within the first half of the book and the confession didn’t leave me feeling any sense of relief for the characters. There was basically no growth from the grandmother Olvido until the very end and by that point, I ceased caring about her journey 

Felicitas’ mother Angustias has her flaws and I felt compassion toward her for the majority of the book but then she keeps making this one specific decision that makes little sense to me in the context of the novel. She doesn’t believe something that, all things consider, she should believe based on what we know about her character and her perspective on life. It was incredibly frustrating for me and by the end, the only person I cared about was Felicitas 

This is a debut novel so I’d be willing to read more from this author. There wasn’t anything problematic in this book, just room for growth

I hope this reaches her in time by r.h. Sin

1.0

This reminds me of the poetry I wrote in 10th grade, which isn’t to say that it’s all bad but it could benefit from extensive editing. A lot of the collection is repetitive. It’s clear that most of these are written with the hopes of Instagram or Tik Tok virality which I wouldn’t be surprised if that succeeded. 16-year-old me would’ve loved it, though. 

Circe by Madeline Miller

3.5

I don’t know what I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said. Madeline Miller does an excellent job of weaving together the various tales involving Circe and her bloodline into one consecutive narrative. This novel is told through Circe’s perspective alone. In doing so, I think it misses the mark in showing the power imbalance and questionable consent of her relationship with Odysseus. It also incorporates some parts of the Telegony that work for the narrative arc, but not for my conscience.

Becoming Ghost by Cathy Linh Che

4.5

These are the kinds of poems that you have to work for to find meaning in and even then, there’s so much room for interpretation. The additional context at the end makes me want to reopen this and start from the beginning. There’s a good chance I’ll use this collection as a teaching tool because there’s so much that students can gain from this and the poems are ripe for discussion.

[...]: Poems by Fady Joudah

reflective sad

5.0

This was an incredibly sensory experience. It was drenched in imagery and every time I finished a poem, I found myself needing to pause and just go… “Damn.”

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

reflective

5.0

This is, by far, my favorite book from Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is not only beautifully written, it’s also incredibly enlightening. I loved seeing how Coates evolved in his understanding of his role as a journalist through his experiences in Senegal and Palestine.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

5.0

I can’t believe I waited this long to read Mexican Gothic. Not only does it play with the conventions of Gothic Literature in a fun, intriguing way, it also has some of the strongest characterization I’ve seen in a book like this. No one fades into the background completely, not even the servants. The ghosts of the past are constantly haunting our cast of characters in the figurative sense that the Gothic thrives off of. An excellent novel, all-around.

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was such a well-told story. I love the inter-generational aspect of it. The way that each of these characters were flawed in their own ways, preventing them from truly understanding each other, gave them all such depth. There are a lot of events and characters to follow but there was never a time where I felt confused about which character was whom. They were all so uniquely fleshed out.

It’s definitely the kind of story that needs time to digest. There were several moments where I needed to take a break to come to terms with what had happened. The layers of the novel came with multiple interesting revelations.