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selfmythologies's reviews
299 reviews
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
3.0
(im going through some books i read this year which i still havent reviewed and this is one of them)
I find this book hard to rate for the simple reason that it's undeniably flawed (even more so from a modern perspective), and there are things about it that outright annoy me - mostly the promotion and glorification of religion, and the direct appeals to the reader ('wow reader do you see that im making a point? just in case it wasnt clear im going to directly spell it out for you. im making a point!!!'), and yet....I still actually liked it? kinda?
The thing is...all of these flaws are somehow tied to the purpose of the book - it wasnt written #for the aesthetics but with a real political goal - to change people's minds about slavery, so everything in it is tied to its target audience, which is, well, white people. Sooooo.
As a direct or most likely indirect consequence of that, the white characters in this book are allowed to be all sorts of shades of grey - from the role model Good Slaveowners (whats a good slaveowner, anyway?), to the morally conflicted to the downright cruel. which is in itself quite interesting, except that the black characters arent allowed that complexity, theyre either pacifistic ideal Christians like Tom , or theyre bad people that can be turned good by Good Christian Education. its all very....hm. one-sided and kind of a bit embarrassing to read.
but, i mean, all of those points (and more) have been made countless times before by others. theyre undoubtedly true. and lets be real, you kinda expect it going into this book from the 1850s, and....not written by a POC. why did i still kinda like it?
well, for once, it's actually pretty engaging. sure, all of the characters are a bit too visibly constructed (to teach some sort of lesson), and the moral lessons to the readers are exhausting, but the story itself is interesting and heartfelt enough to keep you hooked. (maybe thats actually a point of criticism. i guess a book about slavery shouldnt be enjoyable to read. it should make you feel disgusted and angry, if it truly wants to achieve something, i guess. hm.)
anyway....it also happens to have a character that i really enjoyed and whose character development was quite amazing. It was Augustine St Clare - he's maybe the most morally ambiguous character (and you know how i love those! theyre my sons and daughters! all of them!) - he is against slavery himself but he doesnt actually ...do anything against it. it's the kind of attitude that most people have towards things we all know are wrong - we tell people it's wrong when we're asked, but we don't actually go out of our own way and our own comfortable lives to change it. And St Clare is like that....He's a fun and free spirited person, and a good father, and he actually has a good moral compass but he's kind of avoidant about topics that require strong opinions. I found him to be the most realistic and interesting character because he's genuinely likeable, but you also want to give him a kick in the ass constantly and be like 'come on!! be the good person we all know you can be!! stand up for the things you believe in !!'
Now, he's also sceptical about religion and i knew this would get resolved somehow because this book is the purest Christian propaganda, but his critcism was actually spot on and I enjoyed it immensely.
The other character I really liked was George. Because he was angry. He was the only nonwhite character who was allowed to be rightfully angry by the narrative instead of #forgiveness is the only way to heaven stuff. of course that gets resolved by the end as well (and its not like he doesnt deserve his happiness! i was actually quite content with how it was handled). And additionally, that guy is intelligent as hell. I think he was the one who raised the point about slavery and capitalism? I don't quite remember.
But that was the other thing i liked about the book thematically: It discussed hypocrisy. Like the idea that the British were better than the Americans bc they didnt have slavery (instead they had imperialism. ya, no one has the moral ground here), and there was that one paragraph that i dont remember entirely but loved, about how all of it ties back to the same roots of capitalism. (Marx wouldve been proud lmao). But also the hypocrisy of the northern states, thinking themselves #better than the Southerners but actually not treating POC like humans either, preferring to keep them as far away from themselves as possible ('what we dont see doesnt concern us!')
So that was actually nice. overall i probably still wouldnt recommend this book wholeheartedly but it was quite insightful. if you know what youre going into, you can get something out of it for sure!
I find this book hard to rate for the simple reason that it's undeniably flawed (even more so from a modern perspective), and there are things about it that outright annoy me - mostly the promotion and glorification of religion, and the direct appeals to the reader ('wow reader do you see that im making a point? just in case it wasnt clear im going to directly spell it out for you. im making a point!!!'), and yet....I still actually liked it? kinda?
The thing is...all of these flaws are somehow tied to the purpose of the book - it wasnt written #for the aesthetics but with a real political goal - to change people's minds about slavery, so everything in it is tied to its target audience, which is, well, white people. Sooooo.
As a direct or most likely indirect consequence of that, the white characters in this book are allowed to be all sorts of shades of grey - from the role model Good Slaveowners (whats a good slaveowner, anyway?), to the morally conflicted to the downright cruel. which is in itself quite interesting, except that the black characters arent allowed that complexity, theyre either pacifistic ideal Christians like Tom , or theyre bad people that can be turned good by Good Christian Education. its all very....hm. one-sided and kind of a bit embarrassing to read.
but, i mean, all of those points (and more) have been made countless times before by others. theyre undoubtedly true. and lets be real, you kinda expect it going into this book from the 1850s, and....not written by a POC. why did i still kinda like it?
well, for once, it's actually pretty engaging. sure, all of the characters are a bit too visibly constructed (to teach some sort of lesson), and the moral lessons to the readers are exhausting, but the story itself is interesting and heartfelt enough to keep you hooked. (maybe thats actually a point of criticism. i guess a book about slavery shouldnt be enjoyable to read. it should make you feel disgusted and angry, if it truly wants to achieve something, i guess. hm.)
anyway....it also happens to have a character that i really enjoyed and whose character development was quite amazing. It was Augustine St Clare - he's maybe the most morally ambiguous character (and you know how i love those! theyre my sons and daughters! all of them!) - he is against slavery himself but he doesnt actually ...do anything against it. it's the kind of attitude that most people have towards things we all know are wrong - we tell people it's wrong when we're asked, but we don't actually go out of our own way and our own comfortable lives to change it. And St Clare is like that....He's a fun and free spirited person, and a good father, and he actually has a good moral compass but he's kind of avoidant about topics that require strong opinions. I found him to be the most realistic and interesting character because he's genuinely likeable, but you also want to give him a kick in the ass constantly and be like 'come on!! be the good person we all know you can be!! stand up for the things you believe in !!'
Now, he's also sceptical about religion and i knew this would get resolved somehow because this book is the purest Christian propaganda, but his critcism was actually spot on and I enjoyed it immensely.
The other character I really liked was George. Because he was angry. He was the only nonwhite character who was allowed to be rightfully angry by the narrative instead of #forgiveness is the only way to heaven stuff. of course that gets resolved by the end as well (and its not like he doesnt deserve his happiness! i was actually quite content with how it was handled). And additionally, that guy is intelligent as hell. I think he was the one who raised the point about slavery and capitalism? I don't quite remember.
But that was the other thing i liked about the book thematically: It discussed hypocrisy. Like the idea that the British were better than the Americans bc they didnt have slavery (instead they had imperialism. ya, no one has the moral ground here), and there was that one paragraph that i dont remember entirely but loved, about how all of it ties back to the same roots of capitalism. (Marx wouldve been proud lmao). But also the hypocrisy of the northern states, thinking themselves #better than the Southerners but actually not treating POC like humans either, preferring to keep them as far away from themselves as possible ('what we dont see doesnt concern us!')
So that was actually nice. overall i probably still wouldnt recommend this book wholeheartedly but it was quite insightful. if you know what youre going into, you can get something out of it for sure!
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
5.0
alrighty, i couldnt resist, i need to write this review :D
picking up hyped books is something i love to do, because there is a certain thrill in it. (i sound like jesper, lmao). there has to be something about the book that makes people gravitate towards it (excitement! anticipation!), but it's also super easy to be disappointed bc of high expectations. ive had a lot of examples of hyped books that i didnt care for in the slightest.
this is not one of them. this book deserves all the hype it can get. because... it just does everything right. it's like i wrote in my LOS review: it has all the elements i love about ya fantasy, and none of those i dislike.
things six of crows has:
-complex and intriguing worldbuilding
-characters with completely different motives, backstories and worldviews coming together to reluctantly form a family, you mean MY FAVORITE TROPE OF ALL TIME
-moral ambiguity isnt just a character thing, it's like the backbone of this entire book. it reminded me of a quote from the 100: 'who we are, and who we need to be to survive are two very different things.'. just by the very nature that youre basically rooting for a group of criminals, there is soooo much exploration of what makes a person do the things they do? how much choice do they have? if you have to choose between two evils which one would you pick? seriously, what else could i want.
-speaking of: my capitalism detesting heart loved the hell out of this entire book for how the True Enemy is Powerful Rich People ('we greedy assholes create criminals in the first place bc we give them no other chance but to become bad people to survive, and then we treat them like shit and exploit them, because thats profitable af!')
-internalized prejudice & hate portrayed realistically and overcome with some beautiful character development? sign me t f up
-honestly is there any theme in this book that is not super relevant, super real and explored super well? tell me when you found it
-the 'magical' element came so naturally to the story and was a nice extra touch
-the actual plot is suspenseful as heck
-plot twists that dont come out of nowhere but are tied into character development, aka My Favorite Thing
-the multiple POV chapters give each character time to shine and depth and perspective
-so much representation!!! disability rep, rep for different ethnic groups, trauma/ptsd, lgbt, and more. and it's not just merely described, it's tied into each characters' storyline.
(this is a good point to talk about characters i guess! SPOILERS from now on bc i need to discuss arcs)
so what about:
-the entire super cleverly interesting awesome thing where we are basically manipulated to believe The Myth of Kaz Brekker at the beginning bc of the awesome stuff that he does, and over the course of the book we get to realize more and more, that he is /just a boy/ after all, and not some badass ruthless bastard that you love bc he's so #cool, that it's all just a reputation he built for himself but he is so devastatingly human after all and he doesnt know how to get back to that humanity he once had before those in power destroyed it all GIMME THAT I LOVE IT, also his ptsd and the whole touch aversion thing is written so well and...it honestly breaks my heart when inej touches his cheek and he's like //internal war//, god i cant wait for this relationship in the sequel
-Inej!! her fetishization being portrayed as the horrible thing it is, (which is so relevant to irl readers), and her being trapped psychologically in that state of dehumanization*, and then finding her purpose and not taking shit from anyone but also genuinely being so nice and faithful and h o n e stl y inej i l ove you
-jesper is the Funny Sidekick .....until you realize he is deep af (and still hilarious.) honestly tbh he is to me the most relatable character and it surprised me?? like the whole trying to run away from responsibility and loving anything that gives you a sense of focus and purpose and thrill....m an.
honestly just let me take a break to say all the characters and their struggles / conflicts are so original??? and so good?
-wylan is my actual son, and i love the mix of kinda naivety on one hand and badass cleverness on the other. also, positive dyslexia rep!!!
-n i n a, ok first of all she has so many traits that people often complain are Annoying YA Heroine typical like brash, impulsive, etc, but Nina is so....like a subversion of those stereotypes almost because she is so genuinely likeable as well, and funny, and basically a big firework of wonderfulness. also the most heroic of them all?
-Matthias explores the whole internalized prejudice topic, and he's also such a great addition to the others bc of his fundamentally different sense of morality. it makes for great humor AND hella interesting dynamics where you can understand both sides awensfnegldngkldgxmdnl
I SHOULD GIVE UP BC IM JUST RAMBLING AT THIS POINT
buut waitwait the ending. i love it so much....i knew sth was gonna go wrong at the exchange, but this is So Good, it's like the old goal was difficult but manageable, but the new one is truly terrifying- to win over him they have to....basically tear apart the entire foundation their society is based upon?? kinda??
i am so thrilled. i know i sound like a 15 year old basic fangirl in this entire review but im so happy this took all tropes and stuff i love and turned it into an awesome novel, honestly it's like a dream.
crooked kingdom, im waiting for you! we will meet in december, i promise! :D <3
*i am only now realizing that dehumanization is like such a big theme i n general as well? and it connects kaz and inej's backstories but in different ways ajfasdjfklsfjn i love this
picking up hyped books is something i love to do, because there is a certain thrill in it. (i sound like jesper, lmao). there has to be something about the book that makes people gravitate towards it (excitement! anticipation!), but it's also super easy to be disappointed bc of high expectations. ive had a lot of examples of hyped books that i didnt care for in the slightest.
this is not one of them. this book deserves all the hype it can get. because... it just does everything right. it's like i wrote in my LOS review: it has all the elements i love about ya fantasy, and none of those i dislike.
things six of crows has:
-complex and intriguing worldbuilding
-characters with completely different motives, backstories and worldviews coming together to reluctantly form a family, you mean MY FAVORITE TROPE OF ALL TIME
-moral ambiguity isnt just a character thing, it's like the backbone of this entire book. it reminded me of a quote from the 100: 'who we are, and who we need to be to survive are two very different things.'. just by the very nature that youre basically rooting for a group of criminals, there is soooo much exploration of what makes a person do the things they do? how much choice do they have? if you have to choose between two evils which one would you pick? seriously, what else could i want.
-speaking of: my capitalism detesting heart loved the hell out of this entire book for how the True Enemy is Powerful Rich People ('we greedy assholes create criminals in the first place bc we give them no other chance but to become bad people to survive, and then we treat them like shit and exploit them, because thats profitable af!')
-internalized prejudice & hate portrayed realistically and overcome with some beautiful character development? sign me t f up
-honestly is there any theme in this book that is not super relevant, super real and explored super well? tell me when you found it
-the 'magical' element came so naturally to the story and was a nice extra touch
-the actual plot is suspenseful as heck
-plot twists that dont come out of nowhere but are tied into character development, aka My Favorite Thing
-the multiple POV chapters give each character time to shine and depth and perspective
-so much representation!!! disability rep, rep for different ethnic groups, trauma/ptsd, lgbt, and more. and it's not just merely described, it's tied into each characters' storyline.
(this is a good point to talk about characters i guess! SPOILERS from now on bc i need to discuss arcs)
so what about:
-the entire super cleverly interesting awesome thing where we are basically manipulated to believe The Myth of Kaz Brekker at the beginning bc of the awesome stuff that he does, and over the course of the book we get to realize more and more, that he is /just a boy/ after all, and not some badass ruthless bastard that you love bc he's so #cool, that it's all just a reputation he built for himself but he is so devastatingly human after all and he doesnt know how to get back to that humanity he once had before those in power destroyed it all GIMME THAT I LOVE IT, also his ptsd and the whole touch aversion thing is written so well and...it honestly breaks my heart when inej touches his cheek and he's like //internal war//, god i cant wait for this relationship in the sequel
-Inej!! her fetishization being portrayed as the horrible thing it is, (which is so relevant to irl readers), and her being trapped psychologically in that state of dehumanization*, and then finding her purpose and not taking shit from anyone but also genuinely being so nice and faithful and h o n e stl y inej i l ove you
-jesper is the Funny Sidekick .....until you realize he is deep af (and still hilarious.) honestly tbh he is to me the most relatable character and it surprised me?? like the whole trying to run away from responsibility and loving anything that gives you a sense of focus and purpose and thrill....m an.
honestly just let me take a break to say all the characters and their struggles / conflicts are so original??? and so good?
-wylan is my actual son, and i love the mix of kinda naivety on one hand and badass cleverness on the other. also, positive dyslexia rep!!!
-n i n a, ok first of all she has so many traits that people often complain are Annoying YA Heroine typical like brash, impulsive, etc, but Nina is so....like a subversion of those stereotypes almost because she is so genuinely likeable as well, and funny, and basically a big firework of wonderfulness. also the most heroic of them all?
-Matthias explores the whole internalized prejudice topic, and he's also such a great addition to the others bc of his fundamentally different sense of morality. it makes for great humor AND hella interesting dynamics where you can understand both sides awensfnegldngkldgxmdnl
I SHOULD GIVE UP BC IM JUST RAMBLING AT THIS POINT
buut waitwait the ending. i love it so much....i knew sth was gonna go wrong at the exchange, but this is So Good, it's like the old goal was difficult but manageable, but the new one is truly terrifying- to win over him they have to....basically tear apart the entire foundation their society is based upon?? kinda??
i am so thrilled. i know i sound like a 15 year old basic fangirl in this entire review but im so happy this took all tropes and stuff i love and turned it into an awesome novel, honestly it's like a dream.
crooked kingdom, im waiting for you! we will meet in december, i promise! :D <3
*i am only now realizing that dehumanization is like such a big theme i n general as well? and it connects kaz and inej's backstories but in different ways ajfasdjfklsfjn i love this
Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
5.0
ok i read this for uni and i love it so much??
melville over there in 1853 lowkey writing hella modernist shit decades before modernism is even a thing....iconic and fascinating. (I immediately thought of Kafka reading it! and Kafka is one of my alltime favorites so....)
good shit
melville over there in 1853 lowkey writing hella modernist shit decades before modernism is even a thing....iconic and fascinating. (I immediately thought of Kafka reading it! and Kafka is one of my alltime favorites so....)
good shit
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
5.0
long story short: this was a solid sequel & conclusion to the series and a great way to start my new reading year!
while SOC was focused on the heist on the Ice Court, in this book Ketterdam is the main star. i love how its not just the location but it represents almost all of the thematic background of the novel - money, social standing, reputation, greed, disillusionment, political conflicts ... all the stories of the different characters came to my mind when i read a description of the city or parts of it. its so lively in my mind that its almost like Ketterdam and its citizens are their own character. the setting is definitely one of my favorite things about this series.
what i liked most was getting even deeper into the (heartbreaking) backstories of some characters (jesper, wylan), and seeing each of their personal conflicts get resolved - with each other's help! the first book saw these kids coming together to try to accomplish an impossible mission but in this book you really saw the EFFECTS of their friendship on their character development and the way they eventually grew as people - like an antidote to the consumerism and greed that characterizes Ketterdam.
i loved both wylan and jesper even more now. and their relationship, too. jesper's arc was resolved in a surprisingly touching way. and i love how the whole 'learning to see oddities as a gift instead of something to be ashamed of or hide' theme applies to both wylan and jesper and made it possible for them to help each other grow bc they understood each other's struggle. <3
i felt like kaz didnt take center stage as much as he did in the first book, and maybe i wouldve liked a little more exploration of his moral code (like, what are the edges of what he is willing to do? im still not sure. i know that the last scene with pekka was probably supposed to clarify this but truth is there isnt a simple distinction between 'doing ugly things but its ok because theyre necessary or can be excused' and 'doing bad things that are irredeemably bad'. like that area is so murky and...idk i think maybe i wouldve thought inej would want to dig a little deeper with that, but i dont mind that much.) i did like his schemes as usual, especially the last twist that i didnt see coming at all!
speaking of inej!! i adored her in the first book but by now she is truly....ok, i can say it: my favorite fictional character, of all time, ever. *round of cheers and applause* i love her so so much. i had read the quote about 'what about us, the nobodies, the ordinary girls?' before but seeing it in context was so much more powerful. beside the fact that i just love her for her personality, i feel like inej's arc was the most interesting and also the most meta in the entire book - first she's captured by van eck and he makes clear that he doesnt actually hate her (he does hate kaz), but simply sees her as a means to an end and doesnt give two shits about her positively OR negatively and thats kinda how the entire world sees inej and 'invisible' girls like her. but instead of letting it be, inej 'when the world gives you nothing you demand something of it anyway' ghafa fought back and goddamn DEMANDED her autonomy from the world and refused to stay a victim and kept her kindness and her wisdom and her dignity and didnt let anyone take it from her I WOULD DIE FOR HER.
anyway then there's also dunyasha and!!! i wondered about the point of this character at first but then of course!! dunyasha is the contrast to inej, the girl with royal blood in her veins and a glorious destiny SHE LITERALLY IS A REPRESENTATION OF THE CHOSEN ONE TROPE YALL
AND BY BEATING DUNYASHA INEJ SYMBOLICALLY KILLS THE CHOSEN ONE TROPE: AND SAYS NOPE. THE REAL HEROES IN LIFE ARE THE GIRLS LIKE ME. THE GIRLS THAT COME FROM NOTHING. THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT. THAT DONT HAVE A BIGGER PURPOSE. THE GIRLS THAT REFUSE TO BE NO ONE AND DEMAND IMPORTANCE FROM THE WORLD ANYWAY EVEN IF NO ONE CARES TO GIVE IT TO THEM.
I LOVE INEJ GHAFA AND I LOVE LEIGH BARDUGO FOR CREATING HER AND GIVING HER THIS AMAZING CHARACTER ARC
..anyway
Nina was wonderful as always, of course. the battle with her addiction was written in such a realistic and affecting way, especially the shame around it and the way she learns to deal with it. i LOVED the idea of her new power. i love her friendship with inej so much too.
and even though I had been spoiled for the main character death it still affected me a lot, but i feel like it was necessary to make the stakes of the story seem realistic (thats the reason for pretty much every character death), but also, of course, to make the ending a bit less perfect. because everything else worked out so well that its almost a bit too idealistic, and especially matthias getting shot by a boy who represented everything he overcame...is tragic, of course,
but it shows how hate isnt as easy to extinguish as we would like it to be. but we just have to continue fighting. overall i think it was necessary for the story. it also set this bittersweet mood of the last few chapters that i loved (yall know well written bittersweet endings are my cup of tea but i think that kind of tone is actually really hard to get right without making it overly dramatic,
but bardugo did it exactly right)
i loved getting more insight into the motivations of the 'villains' in this book!! it really gave the story another dimension and made the 'real' friendship between our main crew more special and important, as i said before.
overall the book was a tad bit less suspenseful as the first because there wasnt one big goal to work towards, but it was still intriguing. the characters really made this story shine though. i love them all so much - as in the first book, i love the diversity, the focus on social issues (leigh bardugo even left a note on how to help stop real human trafficking, like...wow), but mostly i love how original the characters seemed to me and how closely attached i got to them. this series will stay in my heart for so long.
while SOC was focused on the heist on the Ice Court, in this book Ketterdam is the main star. i love how its not just the location but it represents almost all of the thematic background of the novel - money, social standing, reputation, greed, disillusionment, political conflicts ... all the stories of the different characters came to my mind when i read a description of the city or parts of it. its so lively in my mind that its almost like Ketterdam and its citizens are their own character. the setting is definitely one of my favorite things about this series.
what i liked most was getting even deeper into the (heartbreaking) backstories of some characters (jesper, wylan), and seeing each of their personal conflicts get resolved - with each other's help! the first book saw these kids coming together to try to accomplish an impossible mission but in this book you really saw the EFFECTS of their friendship on their character development and the way they eventually grew as people - like an antidote to the consumerism and greed that characterizes Ketterdam.
i loved both wylan and jesper even more now. and their relationship, too. jesper's arc was resolved in a surprisingly touching way. and i love how the whole 'learning to see oddities as a gift instead of something to be ashamed of or hide' theme applies to both wylan and jesper and made it possible for them to help each other grow bc they understood each other's struggle. <3
i felt like kaz didnt take center stage as much as he did in the first book, and maybe i wouldve liked a little more exploration of his moral code (like, what are the edges of what he is willing to do? im still not sure. i know that the last scene with pekka was probably supposed to clarify this but truth is there isnt a simple distinction between 'doing ugly things but its ok because theyre necessary or can be excused' and 'doing bad things that are irredeemably bad'. like that area is so murky and...idk i think maybe i wouldve thought inej would want to dig a little deeper with that, but i dont mind that much.) i did like his schemes as usual, especially the last twist that i didnt see coming at all!
speaking of inej!! i adored her in the first book but by now she is truly....ok, i can say it: my favorite fictional character, of all time, ever. *round of cheers and applause* i love her so so much. i had read the quote about 'what about us, the nobodies, the ordinary girls?' before but seeing it in context was so much more powerful. beside the fact that i just love her for her personality, i feel like inej's arc was the most interesting and also the most meta in the entire book - first she's captured by van eck and he makes clear that he doesnt actually hate her (he does hate kaz), but simply sees her as a means to an end and doesnt give two shits about her positively OR negatively and thats kinda how the entire world sees inej and 'invisible' girls like her. but instead of letting it be, inej 'when the world gives you nothing you demand something of it anyway' ghafa fought back and goddamn DEMANDED her autonomy from the world and refused to stay a victim and kept her kindness and her wisdom and her dignity and didnt let anyone take it from her I WOULD DIE FOR HER.
anyway then there's also dunyasha and!!! i wondered about the point of this character at first but then of course!! dunyasha is the contrast to inej, the girl with royal blood in her veins and a glorious destiny SHE LITERALLY IS A REPRESENTATION OF THE CHOSEN ONE TROPE YALL
AND BY BEATING DUNYASHA INEJ SYMBOLICALLY KILLS THE CHOSEN ONE TROPE: AND SAYS NOPE. THE REAL HEROES IN LIFE ARE THE GIRLS LIKE ME. THE GIRLS THAT COME FROM NOTHING. THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT. THAT DONT HAVE A BIGGER PURPOSE. THE GIRLS THAT REFUSE TO BE NO ONE AND DEMAND IMPORTANCE FROM THE WORLD ANYWAY EVEN IF NO ONE CARES TO GIVE IT TO THEM.
I LOVE INEJ GHAFA AND I LOVE LEIGH BARDUGO FOR CREATING HER AND GIVING HER THIS AMAZING CHARACTER ARC
..anyway
Nina was wonderful as always, of course. the battle with her addiction was written in such a realistic and affecting way, especially the shame around it and the way she learns to deal with it. i LOVED the idea of her new power. i love her friendship with inej so much too.
but it shows how hate isnt as easy to extinguish as we would like it to be. but we just have to continue fighting. overall i think it was necessary for the story. it also set this bittersweet mood of the last few chapters that i loved (yall know well written bittersweet endings are my cup of tea but i think that kind of tone is actually really hard to get right without making it overly dramatic,
but bardugo did it exactly right)
i loved getting more insight into the motivations of the 'villains' in this book!! it really gave the story another dimension and made the 'real' friendship between our main crew more special and important, as i said before.
overall the book was a tad bit less suspenseful as the first because there wasnt one big goal to work towards, but it was still intriguing. the characters really made this story shine though. i love them all so much - as in the first book, i love the diversity, the focus on social issues (leigh bardugo even left a note on how to help stop real human trafficking, like...wow), but mostly i love how original the characters seemed to me and how closely attached i got to them. this series will stay in my heart for so long.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
5.0
What an absolutely fantastic and fascinating story.
I highly recommend this to anyone who likes psychologically disturbing stories and social critique, because this novel perfectly unites both. It reminded me immensely of Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger in its mood and themes, but I like this one even better; it's shorter and more precise, but just as unsettling.
The story itself is actually quite simple. It's about two girls living a secluded life near a village...somewhere. At the beginning we know nothing but a) something terrible happened in the family's past and b) the village people hate them. One day the girls get a visit from a cousin who seems kind of shady, and from this the entire story unfolds. It's very very much a psychological story. The reason the writing is so eerie - even though it's actually quite simple and easy to get through - is because it's written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator with a very... peculiar mindset. The protagonist's idea of having to 'protect' her home against evil forces by using magical objects reminded me - in a very strange parallel - of Jandy Nelson's characters, and I found it incredibly fascinating to get so familiar with her worldview.
Honestly this novel is in general a goldmine when it comes to possible interpretations. There is so much going on. To me the villagers and their attitude towards the Blackwoods represent society's view on anything that is 'other' / different, and it perfectly represents the attitudes that come with it; a sort of morbid curiosity, but never openly; at the same time, repulsion, ridiculing, fear. and the later, guilt, but of course it can only be shown in secret. I LOVED this thought of pretty much all the village people secretly cooking things for the girls because of their guilt, but none of them know it about each other! they know destroying the girls' house was not right, but they don't have the spine to stand for that, to admit it in public. GODDAMN THIS IS ALL SO ACCURATE
It makes Merricate's disturbing psyche and her weird obsessions understandable, actually, and that's what I LOVE - characters who might at first sight or to an outward spectator seem strange and insane, but when you look more closely at their circumstances, they start making sense. Actually, whenever Mary Katherine started talking about her 'secret place on the moon' I always felt incredibly sad for her. I love unreliable narrators for that reason: as a reader your attitude towards them is constantly shifting and questioned. The power dynamics and relationships inside the Blackwood 'household' are also incredibly fascinating to me. MK and her sister genuinely love each other, but they still have a... strange and unusual relationship.
And then there's Charles who represents greed and people who act friendly and understanding only out of selfish motives....and there we are again with the social critique. it's all so ACCURATE. people are horrible, sometimes individually (Charles), but especially people in groups (the villagers). I thought a while about what Helen Clarke and her husband might represent. I think it's a critique of the 'undecided' ones; the kind of people that try to downplay (social) issues and pretend everything is fine, but then won't actually stand up for marginalized people in situations of conflict. They act all nice, but actually they just go with the flow of what the majority does.
I read on Wikipedia that the author's own experiences with living in a small village with her husband where they faced discrimination most likely inspired this and other novels, and like...wow. What she made of that is simply incredible.
The ending also leaves so much room for thought. They seem to be happy, all alone and closed off again like at the beginning. It's so great from a storytelling perspective because at the beginning, I thought a happy ending for them would be going out into the world and being able to live normal lives somewhere, but after Charles comes and Constance actually wants to do that, all of my instincts went 'nnno its gonna end horribly' and then it actually did..so is them closing themselves off actually the only possibly good thing they could have done? is this how you survive in a hostile environment? probably, but it's so sad. so somehow even the happy ending is actually really deep.
oh, one more important thing! the descriptions, especially of the house and the garden, were so great even though the writing is so simple in itself! you really got a sense which rooms in the house represented which feeling to Merricat, what each of the 'safe places' in the garden meant to her. it made her perspective even more....relatable? and deep. ok, im off now.
a most definite 5/5!
I highly recommend this to anyone who likes psychologically disturbing stories and social critique, because this novel perfectly unites both. It reminded me immensely of Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger in its mood and themes, but I like this one even better; it's shorter and more precise, but just as unsettling.
The story itself is actually quite simple. It's about two girls living a secluded life near a village...somewhere. At the beginning we know nothing but a) something terrible happened in the family's past and b) the village people hate them. One day the girls get a visit from a cousin who seems kind of shady, and from this the entire story unfolds. It's very very much a psychological story. The reason the writing is so eerie - even though it's actually quite simple and easy to get through - is because it's written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator with a very... peculiar mindset. The protagonist's idea of having to 'protect' her home against evil forces by using magical objects reminded me - in a very strange parallel - of Jandy Nelson's characters, and I found it incredibly fascinating to get so familiar with her worldview.
Honestly this novel is in general a goldmine when it comes to possible interpretations. There is so much going on. To me the villagers and their attitude towards the Blackwoods represent society's view on anything that is 'other' / different, and it perfectly represents the attitudes that come with it; a sort of morbid curiosity, but never openly; at the same time, repulsion, ridiculing, fear.
It makes Merricate's disturbing psyche and her weird obsessions understandable, actually, and that's what I LOVE - characters who might at first sight or to an outward spectator seem strange and insane, but when you look more closely at their circumstances, they start making sense. Actually, whenever Mary Katherine started talking about her 'secret place on the moon' I always felt incredibly sad for her. I love unreliable narrators for that reason: as a reader your attitude towards them is constantly shifting and questioned. The power dynamics and relationships inside the Blackwood 'household' are also incredibly fascinating to me. MK and her sister genuinely love each other, but they still have a... strange and unusual relationship.
And then there's Charles who represents greed and people who act friendly and understanding only out of selfish motives....and there we are again with the social critique. it's all so ACCURATE. people are horrible, sometimes individually (Charles), but especially people in groups (the villagers). I thought a while about what Helen Clarke and her husband might represent. I think it's a critique of the 'undecided' ones; the kind of people that try to downplay (social) issues and pretend everything is fine, but then won't actually stand up for marginalized people in situations of conflict. They act all nice, but actually they just go with the flow of what the majority does.
I read on Wikipedia that the author's own experiences with living in a small village with her husband where they faced discrimination most likely inspired this and other novels, and like...wow. What she made of that is simply incredible.
The ending
oh, one more important thing! the descriptions, especially of the house and the garden, were so great even though the writing is so simple in itself! you really got a sense which rooms in the house represented which feeling to Merricat, what each of the 'safe places' in the garden meant to her. it made her perspective even more....relatable? and deep. ok, im off now.
a most definite 5/5!