sarahrahrah's reviews
98 reviews

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt

emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't know how I feel about this one. Overall, I liked it, and it left me feeling emotional and reflective. But I also had a hard time with the sentence structures, having to reread some multiple times to understand what the author meant. Parts 1 and 2 were super intriguing, and I enjoyed hearing the stories of Bob's past. Part 3 felt too long and less interesting/connected. Part 4 was good, but not as good a payoff imo for the part 2 cliffhanger (ish). 

A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Quirky, preposterous, and odd, but also most agreeable and enjoyable!

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Mom spoke about kurou, which could be translated to "suffering." But the English word seemed to skim the surface, whereas kurou went deeper. It referred to a gutteral moaning, a piercing pain throughout your bones.

I so fully immersed myself in this reading experience and have completely fallen in love with Hirahara's writing! The mystery was compelling, the characters were interesting, and it is clear that the author has deeply researched and is very knowledgeable about this time period  of JA internment and subsequent resettlement. 

The narrative following the Ito family was engaging and reflective of so many different aspects of the Japanese American experience. The prose was beautiful, like this  example describing LA sprawl:

Everything that I had known in Los Angeles up to that time, in contrast, was spread out like a reclining fat man who didn't care how much space he was taking up.

I learned so much, especially about the resettlement after the time in the camps, which previously was very murky to me (Issei and Nissei don't talk about that time...).

 "Being out of camp does things to you. You're finally free but you're not. It's like there are invisible bars caging you in." 

I also loved how specific she was in describing the buildings and streets of Chicago; it made me want to go back again and look for all the old buildings mentioned or even to follow the paths Aki took in her investigations (they seemed accurate and true based on how they were written, and the extensive research clearly done in writing this)

Being a part of the Japanese American diaspora, there were parts of the historical accounts that felt dragged out and made me think "everyone knows about this", because I've heard these stories and accounts all my life. I'm realizing that's probably not the case though, and so I really think this story did a wonderful job of including these small specific details seamlessly as a part of the narrative. Stuff like how they had to stuff their own mattresses when arriving at the hastily made barracks, that the toilets weren't private, the tensions between the accomodationists and dissenters, that cemeteries wouldn't accept Japanese bodies, the WRA's role in resettlement but also the distrust many felt, that white (hakujin) people lost their citizenship for marrying Japanese Issei, the mutual aid groups, the social dances (both in camp and after), etc., etc. 

Finally, I loved the inclusion of Japanese words/concepts because they were applied judiciously and meaningfully. There were as many that I was familiar with as ones that were new to me, and for the most part it was easy to grasp the meanings from context clues. 

Souji, or cleaning up, was perfectly respectable, and perhaps I needed to do some soul cleaning myself.

(^ this is my 2024 energy)

All in all, a fantastic read - the story was engaging but so were the historical tidbits sprinkled through.

Final quotes about pride, and some insight into the generational trauma we carry:

Issei nurserymen eventually planted a garden and cherry blossom trees ... as if plants could heal the wounds of displacement.

Our periods ... disappeared altogether while we were in camp, a sign of the terrible stress we were under. Even though we didn't voice our complaints out loud, our bodies knew our truth. 

"Never shame us. All we have is our reputations."

None of us were going to give other Americans the satisfaction of seeing us look miserable. We were going to look out best, with our lipstick freshly applied, our hair styled and our clothing neat and unstained.

Her acceptance of her new lot in life was as heroic as it could get.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Abortion

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Rape, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs and Stalking

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

I was hooked on this story from the beginning, and loved how it was told through Zayneb's and Adam's journal entries of oddities and marvels. I loved the incorporation of music; whenever Auntie Nandy would mention a specific song, I would look it up and play it while reading the rest of the interaction. Lots of good ones included, and I discovered the lovely vibe and beauty of Nazia Hassan's "Aap Jaisa Koi" as well as Terry Jack's "Seasons in the Sun"

This covered a lot of heavy and relevant topics, which made for a reflective read that was both heartbreaking and inspiring. I am eager to read more from S. K. Ali!

My (many) annotations from reading:

They say friends are the family you choose. And yeah, I guess that's sort of true, if family is made up of people you put up with because they care about you and you them.

"Never, ever quake in in the face of hate, Zayneb." ... She made it look so easy. But then I thought about the hard parts of speaking up. About why it's so difficult to do the right thing in front of those with the power to affect your life. Say, to affect your future, your grades at school, your experience learning. Your experience living.

"... She believed in such a world. A world where everyone got a turn, a season in the sun. ... She was a beautiful soul like that." ... That was deep. To think you were one of many who deserved great things. To be so unbelievably gracious, graceful.

He had told me a long time agaothat what he liked best about being Muslim was the peace to be found in it.
....
"Well, I like looking for it, for the peace in things. That's why I'm a Muslim. It's someone who knows there's more to life than just going through it, letting things happen. I make sense of everything, that there's more to it than just me and my worries, knowing it's all connected."

"I want justice. And I want it now. For everyone. ... And sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who feels this way so strongly. Because I'm the only one in class speaking up. The only one in my family, that's for sure, who cares this much. Who goes on marches and writes stuff and just gives a care."
"Maybe they do in their own way. ... Maybe everyone does. Care about justice on some level "

It hurt that some lives were worth less.

I was in this weird space of not wanting to be alone and wanting to not be crowded, either.

"Sorry not sorry to say this to you, Emma P., but that's what people who don't feel the pain of injustice say."

"But are we better people? Is it better just to look away? Or post a few words of outrage online? What's so BETTER about that?"
...
"Last year, on our senior trip, we went to Belgium, and we saw all these shoes, over four thousand, laid out to remember Palestinian lives lost in the last decade. That's the kind of better we mean."
"But did those things make a difference? NO!"

"I'm not a violent person. I'm not advocating violence. But I am advocating for more people to get angry. Get moved."

I looked at their kind faces, reassessing, and I realized something. They weren't the enemy. Their ignorance was bothersome, but they weren't the enemy. 

"That itch in your heart for justice was put there by God. Your bravery, too. Don't let anyone squash it -- it's like squashing the source of it."

Maybe it had been this journal. This way of noticing that even during the suckiest moments of life there was something marvelous to be seen, heard, touched. Or just a tiny awe felt in the heart. Maybe it was going out of my way to notice something, this noticing, that had saved me all along. And now I couldn't see anything good. Because I had stopped trying.

You need to have a way to take care of yourself. A way to recharge. Otherwise the world will get you down so fast, you won't be able to hold your head up. I learned this the hard way."

"Like, I'm a person who feels things strongly. And I don't know how to deal with my feelings. The way society tells me to. Which is mostly to ignore them."

MS

was unreliable, but I vowed to enjoy the good days. And the good in every day.

There was a reason love was a round-sounding word. It completed you, and then some, like treading a circular path, the way it was immemorial. Whole. But also... infinite. It went on and on as long as you went on and on, to meet it, keep it, treasure it.

Please, God, don't let the hatred through which others see the world distort my own sense of justice. 

Finally, from the author's acknowledgements:

You understand that I write the rain and the sunny days into my stories.

Serendipity: Ten Romantic Tropes, Transformed by Marissa Meyer

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Each of these stories were enjoyable in their own right, and the collection as a whole was well-curated. I guess I don't really think the romantic tropes featured were really all that transformed (some maybe were more than others, but most I felt were "transformed" in that they feature lgbtq+ representation?)

Overall, this was a light hearted, easy, and enjoyable read! I liked the diversity of the authors featured, both in writing style and the  characters/scenarios they  created. Each romance was focused in high school adolescence, so this was a fun reminiscent read, and also made me feel so hopeful for the next generations' openness and tolerance of diversity and just the fact that there is more readily-available representation of queer relationships, etc.

A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

The pretty woman storyline was promising, and the spicy scenes were very good, but overall this book was not for me. The characters weren't particularly likeable, and they shared no believable chemistry. Mainly though, the writing style and conversations were so cringe! The weird inner dialogue each had felt too jarring when breaking the fourth wall/arguing in their head with themselves. It was hard to stay invested in the plot/character development, but then a really good steamy scene would pull me right back in so I did push through the cringe. This is the first Meghan Quinn I've read, and I do think I'll still give her another try at some point.

There was so much cringe throughout, but these two particularly stood out:

"Hey," I say as I wet my lips. Lottie looks like a juicy piece of meat, standing there in front of me, waiting to be devoured.

"You do?" I ask, feeling surprised. I mean, of course he'd have a yacht, he's a billionaire who lives by the ocean. Why wouldn't he have a yacht? That would be like... uh... like a knight without a horse. Sure, that works. Well, and a sword of course.

One Day in December by Josie Silver

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I read this back in 2018, and remember loving it. Rereading it 5 years later, I still enjoyed the premise and how the writing was broken up over the years/with Laurie's new years resolutions. I found it much harder to root for the jack-laurie connection on this read, until the very very end, I think because Jack's character was really unlikeable for such a large chunk of the story. Overall, I enjoyed kicking off my 2024 reading year with a reread of a charming, Christmas London tale

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Enjoyable story and easy to read. 

The Wake-Up Call by Beth O'Leary

adventurous funny lighthearted

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Cute, quick read

Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this story, but I found Nisha's character to be so unlikable up until maybe the very end. I was happy for how the ending and everything wrapped up for both women, and overall this was a fun read