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sas_lk's Reviews (362)
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Something kept bothering me about this book. I really liked Kim Young-Ha's "A Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories", so i decided to pick this one up.
What I liked so much about that short story collection, is that one could feel what deep understanding Kim has for humanity. His short stories were so well written and depicted humanity so well.
However, with this book, it's like he did not understand humans, especially women. I only understood what bothered me when I read someone else's 1 star review:
"I guessed that the author is male [...] I’m just so tired of reading about disturbed young women who for some reason are always nyphomans. [...]"
And that pretty much sums up what I felt. These women are just really deeply traumatised and suicidal, and for some reason male authors think this concept is fascinating. It's just a book about men projecting their simple understanding of life onto women who have lived horrible pasts and lives, and then being confused when the women stand up for themselves or call them assholes.
I'm tired of these tropes now.
What I liked so much about that short story collection, is that one could feel what deep understanding Kim has for humanity. His short stories were so well written and depicted humanity so well.
However, with this book, it's like he did not understand humans, especially women. I only understood what bothered me when I read someone else's 1 star review:
"I guessed that the author is male [...] I’m just so tired of reading about disturbed young women who for some reason are always nyphomans. [...]"
And that pretty much sums up what I felt. These women are just really deeply traumatised and suicidal, and for some reason male authors think this concept is fascinating. It's just a book about men projecting their simple understanding of life onto women who have lived horrible pasts and lives, and then being confused when the women stand up for themselves or call them assholes.
I'm tired of these tropes now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Wow. I did not expect that. I am still in a state of shock... This was so good. But I will miss these characters so much :/
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Elif Shafak's writing is gorgeous, I underlined a lot of beautiful quotes. However, I just think this book was not necessarily for me, Ada frustrated me so much. She frustrated me so much that I ended up having barely any interest in the rest of the story and characters.
I think I will try atleast one more book from Shafak because I do think she is talented. This one simply wasn't for me I think.
I think I will try atleast one more book from Shafak because I do think she is talented. This one simply wasn't for me I think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Hate crime, Violence, War
Minor: Homophobia, Suicide
The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa's Wealth
informative
Read this as an audiobook and it was good, though I would like to get the physical book to make sure I understand the details better.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jemisin is basically saying, let's let all these idiots go to Mars or wherever, and leave us alone on our lovely little planet, to lead better lives than they could ever imagine that people who were left behind, would.
Jemisin is very simply a genius.
Jemisin is very simply a genius.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Misogyny, Racism, Gaslighting
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I made sure to reign in my expectations before starting this one because I know all too well how popular books tend to disappoint when the expectations are too high. And honestly, this was a lot of fun. At the beginning, Emily irritated me a little bit, but she grew on me after. I loved the villagers, they were so precious.
This book definitely sucked me in, and I found myself wanting to pick it up whenever I was not reading. It was all in all just a solid read, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.
This book definitely sucked me in, and I found myself wanting to pick it up whenever I was not reading. It was all in all just a solid read, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably the first short story collection I've truly liked.
Story 1: Diary of a Murderer [5 stars]
By far my favourite, this was so good. I felt like I was losing my mind with the character. I was so engrossed in this story and I myself started questioning reality; started questioning what I had read, my understanding, and everything around me. Diary of a Murderer tells a story of a serial killer that is diagnosed with dementia.
Story 2: The Origin of Life [5 stars]
In The Origin of Life, Kim perfectly portrays the selfishness of humans. We, as humans, always like to think of ourselves as selfless, and that we would do anything to help others.
However, this is not really true. Once we meet someone with a sad story, we convince ourselves that we want to help them; to save them. What we actually want is to feel like we are good people, that we are selfless. However, in the end, once we escape the sad story, we're usually just happy that we survived in the end, and that it was only the other person who has to live with their sad life.
That's why the people we try to save are usually so tired, because they have seen this obsession with their own sad story before.
Story 3: Missing Child [3.5 stars]
This one was just sad to be honest, I felt a sense of dread throughout the whole story. It's about a couple who's son gets kidnapped when he is 3 years old. 11 years later, they get a call saying that their son has been found. However, the son had no idea he was kidnapped, and therefore his parents are strangers to him, and he a stranger to his biological parents.
Story 4: The Writer [2 stars]
The Writer was my least favourite story of all of them. I think I need to do more research because I think that I probably missed the point the author was trying to make somewhere. This story is about a writer that has to write a book for his new publisher, however, he is convinced that the publisher is sleeping with his ex-wife. He decides to write a nonsensical novel to spite the publisher.
Story 1: Diary of a Murderer [5 stars]
By far my favourite, this was so good. I felt like I was losing my mind with the character. I was so engrossed in this story and I myself started questioning reality; started questioning what I had read, my understanding, and everything around me. Diary of a Murderer tells a story of a serial killer that is diagnosed with dementia.
Story 2: The Origin of Life [5 stars]
In The Origin of Life, Kim perfectly portrays the selfishness of humans. We, as humans, always like to think of ourselves as selfless, and that we would do anything to help others.
However, this is not really true. Once we meet someone with a sad story, we convince ourselves that we want to help them; to save them. What we actually want is to feel like we are good people, that we are selfless. However, in the end, once we escape the sad story, we're usually just happy that we survived in the end, and that it was only the other person who has to live with their sad life.
That's why the people we try to save are usually so tired, because they have seen this obsession with their own sad story before.
Story 3: Missing Child [3.5 stars]
This one was just sad to be honest, I felt a sense of dread throughout the whole story. It's about a couple who's son gets kidnapped when he is 3 years old. 11 years later, they get a call saying that their son has been found. However, the son had no idea he was kidnapped, and therefore his parents are strangers to him, and he a stranger to his biological parents.
Story 4: The Writer [2 stars]
The Writer was my least favourite story of all of them. I think I need to do more research because I think that I probably missed the point the author was trying to make somewhere. This story is about a writer that has to write a book for his new publisher, however, he is convinced that the publisher is sleeping with his ex-wife. He decides to write a nonsensical novel to spite the publisher.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Gun violence
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was the type of novel I had to digest slowly, and take the time to enjoy every chapter. I really liked the first two thirds, they felt like 4.5-5 stars at parts.
The last third is unfortunately what lost me a little, and it is also why I am giving it 4 stars instead of something higher. At the end it started feeling a little disjointed, like the author lost track of the story a little bit. We were following the POVs of way more characters all of a sudden and quite a few felt pointless - atleast the depth that the author went into. And then it felt like the author added a couple traumatic things to keep the book sad and shocking without delving into these traumatic events. It felt like at the end she was speeding through her writing instead of taking her time with the events and happenings like she did in the first 2 thirds - this made me lose touch with the characters, and I almost felt like I stopped knowing them; like they were different characters than the ones I had been following throughout the whole book.
Overall, a great book, and I would definitely recommend it, I just wish the author had sat with the last third a little longer and not tried to do too much.
The last third is unfortunately what lost me a little, and it is also why I am giving it 4 stars instead of something higher. At the end it started feeling a little disjointed, like the author lost track of the story a little bit. We were following the POVs of way more characters all of a sudden and quite a few felt pointless - atleast the depth that the author went into. And then it felt like the author added a couple traumatic things to keep the book sad and shocking without delving into these traumatic events. It felt like at the end she was speeding through her writing instead of taking her time with the events and happenings like she did in the first 2 thirds - this made me lose touch with the characters, and I almost felt like I stopped knowing them; like they were different characters than the ones I had been following throughout the whole book.
Overall, a great book, and I would definitely recommend it, I just wish the author had sat with the last third a little longer and not tried to do too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
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:
Yes
I listened to this as an audiobook because Emma from emmie mentioned it, and it sounded cute. I definitely recommend this if you like found family, witches, and women. It was very cute and I enjoyed it quite a bit, the writing was very easy to get through and brought images to life in my head.
The only reason this is a 3.5 star and not a 4 star is because of the ending. Without spoiling anything, it just felt a bit like Amie McNee got tired of writing at the end and simply wrapped it up quickly without doing a great job at it. I enjoy open-ended endings from time to time but I wouldn’t even consider this open ended… It was simply rushed, unfinished, and unsatisfying. It left me with questions about why certain things happened and what happened to some characters. It kind of slapped me in the face and I’m actually a little mad about it.
Other than that, a good book.
The only reason this is a 3.5 star and not a 4 star is because of the ending. Without spoiling anything, it just felt a bit like Amie McNee got tired of writing at the end and simply wrapped it up quickly without doing a great job at it. I enjoy open-ended endings from time to time but I wouldn’t even consider this open ended… It was simply rushed, unfinished, and unsatisfying. It left me with questions about why certain things happened and what happened to some characters. It kind of slapped me in the face and I’m actually a little mad about it.
Other than that, a good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Slavery, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting