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sb_037's reviews
79 reviews
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
fast-paced
2.5
Dannie is a truly insufferable, pompous, elitist main character whose unlikability was something I wasn’t able to truly get past. Additionally, Serle’s woefully cliched and mistaken depiction of NYC was despicable. There are also some thoughtlessly racist sentiments. The promotional premise is so misleading and, without the last ~75 pages, the book merits a 0.5 star rating. A lack of complex character development leads to one-dimensioned personas that are painful to read.
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.75
Was struck by how Pat Barker is able to do justice to a "feminist re-telling" by including actually complex women insomuch that they actually disagree with each other on how best to survive in their given circumstances. Pat Barker humanizes her characters and doesn't let you forget about the atrocities her women have had to face - reminding her readers continually that the pregnancy Briseis bears is wrought with confusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War
Beach Read by Emily Henry
lighthearted
3.25
Totally delivers on the page-turning, wholesome, smutty romance, but I couldn't get behind the characters, especially the main character, being authors. There was something too meta about it and I kept finding myself being cynical, thinking, "What trope are they going to fall into?" But it was definitely an enjoyable read with the dark, brooding, hard-to-read love interest and the wholesome smuttiness of it all. Perhaps I couldn't really relate to January which is why I felt a bit disconnected from it.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
3.5
A bit of a drag at times and sometimes I felt annoyed with some of the characters but it was a really interesting perspective into that time period and many interesting historical reflections & connections were made
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Scattered at times with surface-level insights that I would've like to see more of. Nazi and Indian Caste systems are often added as afterthoughts or supplemental evidence to the real argument: America has a well-developed robust caste system (this is not how the book was marketed in my opinion).
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
slow-paced
4.0
Turns into some weird self-help book at the end that turned me off.