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reading_to_write's Reviews (207)

A Brief History of Seven Killings

DID NOT FINISH: 10%

It’s a great book, so compelling and well written and a marvel. But it takes some time to get into the syntax and to understand the relationships between everyone- and my mind just isn’t in that space for a fiction book right now. I will return to it, though, for sure- it’s a good winter book for me.

Diavola

Jennifer Marie Thorne

5.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I devoured this book, at once a tense ghost story and a broody exploration of familial ties and the search for meaning. It built in some twists that were surprising and delightful too- this isn’t your rote, standard formulaic story.

Twilight Territory

Andrew X. Pham

4.5

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Fear Is Just a Word: A Missing Daughter, a Violent Cartel, a Mother's Quest for Vengeance

Azam Ahmed

3.5

challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

Book is a well-written, point-of-view narrative of one woman’s quest, the development of the “carteles” in Mexico, and the 2010-2017 period in Tamaulipas, Mx. deeply researched. It leans heavily into the danger/violence of cartel actions and this is also my criticism. It adds to the weaponized narrative of Mexico (and therefore Mexicans) as dangerous, and does little to dispel or correct this, other than saying at the end that it was no longer as BAD as the early ‘10s.

The Great Divide

Cristina Henríquez

3.0

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It’s a good summer beach read. Nice having Panama’s colonial past with the canal highlighted and written about. Sometimes the character development seemed pretty simple/ flat; overall a good read.

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond

4.0

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

It’s excellently written, but wasn’t what I was expecting from this author. Once I adjusted to that, i found the book informative and chock full of ideas to interrupt and change the poverty situation in the US. 60% of the book is source notes and an index, and it’s definitely a book that will be referenced itself in the future.

Newspaper

Maggie Messitt

5.0

informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

A longform braided essay in book form, this was an enlightening, inspiring, extremely well-written examination of less-explored themes in the news industry. By interspersing stories about newspapers and the press from South Africa and the U.S., Messit has managed to capture the complexity of the much-less-explored history of the news’ tendency to capture the predominant culture’s view point — and the shifts it’s been undertaking for the last few centuries, ending wirh the challenges the “ 4th estate “ has faced in recent decades from both declining readership/ public belief in the tenants of a free press and from government steps to restrict free speech and reportage.