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saint_eleanor's reviews
234 reviews
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really loved this book, it was so heartbreaking and weird. Some of it seemed kinds on-the-nose but i lack the cultural background to appreciate 100% of the writing. Its really interesting how vegetarianism is received in Korean culture, though obviously the vegetarian aspect was more of a metaphor for going against the grain as a woman, and also picked up major anti-consumerism anti-individualism vibes, the people in the MC’s life can’t fathom that she would want to do something for herself or have her own thoughts that conflict with High Society, and it ultimately breaks her. If you like this book you should watch Kotoko (2011)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
Vagabond, Omnibus 1 by Takehiko Inoue
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Worth the hype holy shit
You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Ugh so creepy and sad!! Eric Larocca always gets me. I got kind of confused around the end but then the ending itself was really crazy and devastating. Not as scary as his other works but still so addictive. And i have to say i agree with Martyr… ‘Mother!’ WAS a masterpiece
The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is definitely a book only a translator could write, I'm not sure i can like condense my thoughts on it into one review because its like 3 times removed from reality but i also suspect its a form of auto-fiction?? I know this author translates for Olga Togarczuk and then like references that many times in the book, but the book is a novel within a novel translated by one of the characters the "story" is based on. You'll see, its crazy. Its one of those books where kind of nothing happens but its still so weird and mysterious and meta so it was good. Extremely well-written i think i wanted a diff ending is all
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
adventurous
emotional
relaxing
slow-paced
3.0
This was super sweet and sad and i loved learning about so many different sea creatures in the essays. I felt like some of them were trying a little too hard though unfortunately. But it was pretty painful and extremely relatable and the language was so lovely
Canto yo y la montaña baila by Irene Solà
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
I can’t renew this one and its taking me forever to read it in spanish so. Putting on pause
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Did not finish book. Stopped at 49%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 49%.
I’m gonna come back to this when i can read it physically, the audiobook is unbearable but i really love the writing?
End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals by Ross D. E. MacPhee
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Got bored
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
This was really really good, very weird. It's a really unique way of telling the story of childhood abuse and how children often have to deal with strangers coming into their lives or their parents lives and kind of being this harbinger of neglect. The mother meets a 'crane' and they fall in love and she starts to ignore her children and just throws herself into an art piece with the crane man all the while he is abusing her. It really deeply unsettled me.
Very well written despite being from the perspective of a teen, the language was really beautiful. I also caught bluebeard's castle vibes from the story her dad told her about the crane wife and also echoes of the green ribbon story, as in like women have these aspects to them that they want to keep just for themselves but men feel so entitled to them that they MUST know, causing eternal curse!! I really appreciated the modern setting as well, made it really creepy, the stuff w the sheep scared me!!!
Very well written despite being from the perspective of a teen, the language was really beautiful. I also caught bluebeard's castle vibes from the story her dad told her about the crane wife and also echoes of the green ribbon story, as in like women have these aspects to them that they want to keep just for themselves but men feel so entitled to them that they MUST know, causing eternal curse!! I really appreciated the modern setting as well, made it really creepy, the stuff w the sheep scared me!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Child abuse
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
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
Ok so TLDR: really great book, will really piss you off, super gorey (lots of torture), wonderfully written, anti-capitalist anti-yuppie, really hard to get thru so don't let any ppl tell you its 'essential reading'.
I'll start off by saying this book gets 5 stars bc it deserves nothing less but that doesn't mean I enjoyed reading it 100% of the time, in fact i actively hated reading a lot of it lmao.
There are like 2 main camps when it comes to American Psycho: one camp says it should be banned bc its misogynistic, horrible, far-right, etc. The other camp says that it's the alpha male handbook, and that patrick bateman is peak male performance. Both are really off-mark imo.
In the first place, misogynistic characters do not make a misogynistic book. Pretending misogynists don't exist in our writing is completely counter productive. Additionally, this is literally the most anti-masculine, anti-capitalist, anti-yuppie, anti-1% book I have read in a long time. The author paints Patrick Bateman as the most pathetic, bootlicking, bandwagoning, whiny, narcissistic P.O.S. and I really don't understand how you could come away with any other impression.
Ellis repeatedly makes the point that Bateman is in love with Donald Trump and will do/say anything Trump does/says (80's NYC remember), including switching up arbitrary opinions. He is a self-proclaimed pedophile, rapist, racist, and necrophiliac. Additionally he is completely materialistic, lost in a Kafka-esque nightmare ruled by sound systems and skincare products and is totally obsessed with 'having the best thing'. Not to mention his obsession with every single person's outfits throughout the whole book. I hated him so much i was actually seething half the time. This book is especially terrifying because Bateman is as real as any real-life wall street psychopath, there are so many men like him IRL.
Some of this book was hilarious actually, the monkey TV thing, the 'kill all yuppies' napkin that struck fear into the heart of poor pathetic patrick, and the 5-men-choosing-where-to-eat thing was hilarious. Additionally, Patrick keeps telling everyone over and over that he's homocidal (if we believe his narration, not sure i do) , but his handsomeness and his wealth overshadow his obvious lack of a soul and social skills. He is the opposite of charming, he is actively unsettling, and yet the environment that he's in completely pushes men like him to the top of social circles. When people tell you who they are, LISTEN!! Also I personally think that his absolute hatred of women paired with his love of men is evidence of internalized homophobia and that Bateman is in fact, gay. I think is is especially plausible due to the fact that Ellis has said that he based parts of Bateman on himself when he was in a really bad place (Ellis is gay & talked about how he used to sleep with women and hated it, which would translate well to this point in Patrick's character), which seems like a really complex and maybe overlooked aspect of this that the Sigma Males don't want to acknowledge. Additionally the only character in the whole book that really freaks him out isLuis, who comes onto him, yet is one of the only characters that escapes his wrath.
Anyway, loved this book. I really couldn't put it down even when the gore was almost too much for me and I wanted to rip Patrick's head off. You can also tell it's good bc of how long this review is. Fuck Patrick, fuck wall street, fuck yuppies, and fuck the guys co-opting Christian Bale's photo for their dumbass Alpha Male grindcore instagram accounts, yall did not pay attention.
I'll start off by saying this book gets 5 stars bc it deserves nothing less but that doesn't mean I enjoyed reading it 100% of the time, in fact i actively hated reading a lot of it lmao.
There are like 2 main camps when it comes to American Psycho: one camp says it should be banned bc its misogynistic, horrible, far-right, etc. The other camp says that it's the alpha male handbook, and that patrick bateman is peak male performance. Both are really off-mark imo.
In the first place, misogynistic characters do not make a misogynistic book. Pretending misogynists don't exist in our writing is completely counter productive. Additionally, this is literally the most anti-masculine, anti-capitalist, anti-yuppie, anti-1% book I have read in a long time. The author paints Patrick Bateman as the most pathetic, bootlicking, bandwagoning, whiny, narcissistic P.O.S. and I really don't understand how you could come away with any other impression.
Ellis repeatedly makes the point that Bateman is in love with Donald Trump and will do/say anything Trump does/says (80's NYC remember), including switching up arbitrary opinions. He is a self-proclaimed pedophile, rapist, racist, and necrophiliac. Additionally he is completely materialistic, lost in a Kafka-esque nightmare ruled by sound systems and skincare products and is totally obsessed with 'having the best thing'. Not to mention his obsession with every single person's outfits throughout the whole book. I hated him so much i was actually seething half the time. This book is especially terrifying because Bateman is as real as any real-life wall street psychopath, there are so many men like him IRL.
Some of this book was hilarious actually, the monkey TV thing, the 'kill all yuppies' napkin that struck fear into the heart of poor pathetic patrick, and the 5-men-choosing-where-to-eat thing was hilarious. Additionally, Patrick keeps telling everyone over and over that he's homocidal (if we believe his narration, not sure i do) , but his handsomeness and his wealth overshadow his obvious lack of a soul and social skills. He is the opposite of charming, he is actively unsettling, and yet the environment that he's in completely pushes men like him to the top of social circles. When people tell you who they are, LISTEN!! Also I personally think that his absolute hatred of women paired with his love of men is evidence of internalized homophobia and that Bateman is in fact, gay. I think is is especially plausible due to the fact that Ellis has said that he based parts of Bateman on himself when he was in a really bad place (Ellis is gay & talked about how he used to sleep with women and hated it, which would translate well to this point in Patrick's character), which seems like a really complex and maybe overlooked aspect of this that the Sigma Males don't want to acknowledge. Additionally the only character in the whole book that really freaks him out is
Anyway, loved this book. I really couldn't put it down even when the gore was almost too much for me and I wanted to rip Patrick's head off. You can also tell it's good bc of how long this review is. Fuck Patrick, fuck wall street, fuck yuppies, and fuck the guys co-opting Christian Bale's photo for their dumbass Alpha Male grindcore instagram accounts, yall did not pay attention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence