realalexmartin's reviews
285 reviews

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This is an odd little book. It’s very rare to find a book that has an unreliable narrator quite like this one, especially because I’m still unsure if she actually is reliable or not. The story seems to take place within the subtext of the novel, like a gauze over the reader’s eyes. There’s details you can suppose,

for example, the atmosphere of the novel is undeniably inspired by paganism and the occult, but it’s hard to say whether either of them actually exist within the novels world. There are no obvious generic fantasy indicators.

but these details aren’t obvious, and perhaps purposely so. I do think, however, the lack of answers makes the novel all the more better, as it makes the reading experience, specifically what a reader would glean from the text, a lot more individualised. I also wish to mention that the atmosphere is unfaltering; a truly haunting air about this world, and an energy I just couldn’t quite shake. Loved it.

I guess my biggest qualm would be the writing style. While it does match the character, and for this I appreciate, the sentences were sometimes just a bit too long and I found my eyes glazing over a bit.

Overall, I’m glad I picked this up and I’m curious to see what else this author has done.

Plainwater by Anne Carson

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

The first half of this book is difficult to get through, I’m not gonna lie. The poetry is at times odd and experimental, perhaps even detrimentally so, but it is no less interesting and incredibly ahead of its time. Many of these poems were written in the early 90s, and you can clearly see where the influence for 2010s Rupi Kaur-like poetry came from. The essays in this half are great, as to be expected with Carson.

The second half takes this book to incredible heights (quite literally). Carson flexes her narrative construction and style here, creating a meditative yet continually-burning tone. Carson continues to surprise with her expression of human experience.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced