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sheonceread's reviews
74 reviews
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-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
4.5
This book is surprisingly my favorite read of 2022 so far (as of July), and I didn’t expect to love it as much as I do. Despite being WEIRD beyond comprehension at times, this is the kind of weird that I love getting behind of. The kind of book I absolutely think is brilliant but I won’t reccomend it to someone unless I’m certain they’re a weirdo as well. It felt like an absurd A24 movie that makes me search up explainations for after watching.
I love the fleabag-esque, no name main character style of the writing and though the story can drone on for too long at times—the writing is marvelous. It’s the perfect combination of modern day sarcasm and poetic goodness.
It’s also a really interesting spin on motherhood. I’ve thought of the specific yearning and rage that comes with motherhood, but to connect it to animalistic desires? Genius. As a young person who consider having a kid one day, it did make me rethink what it actually means to be a mother and how complex a marriage can be even if things were perfect during the dating phase.
I don’t think this book is perfect, but it’s the book that pierced through my perception and taste in literature. It made me realize a book doesn’t have to be perfect for me to absolutely love it. Did I think it was horrendous and overly gory at times? Yeah. But it truly made reading this an experience I’ve never felt before.
I do think the author could have dialed down on the description during The Cat scene… but I digress. It’s artistic… I Guess.
All in all, wouldn’t reccomend it unless you have the stomach for it, but either way it’ll give you a truck load of experience.
I love the fleabag-esque, no name main character style of the writing and though the story can drone on for too long at times—the writing is marvelous. It’s the perfect combination of modern day sarcasm and poetic goodness.
It’s also a really interesting spin on motherhood. I’ve thought of the specific yearning and rage that comes with motherhood, but to connect it to animalistic desires? Genius. As a young person who consider having a kid one day, it did make me rethink what it actually means to be a mother and how complex a marriage can be even if things were perfect during the dating phase.
I don’t think this book is perfect, but it’s the book that pierced through my perception and taste in literature. It made me realize a book doesn’t have to be perfect for me to absolutely love it. Did I think it was horrendous and overly gory at times? Yeah. But it truly made reading this an experience I’ve never felt before.
All in all, wouldn’t reccomend it unless you have the stomach for it, but either way it’ll give you a truck load of experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I think if I had read this in highschool or during my peak mental illness rampage I would have loved Holden and deeply related to him, which you know what!!! I still do!! but now that my frontal lobe is a bit developped I just find myself sighing at his view of the world. I truly perceive this book as the classic that it is, I just wish I had read it sooner.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
people either hate or love this book and i think i merely float in the space between; the place where i understood it (her) completely. i read this in the perfect state of mind, as in im exactly in the place she’s in. it’s a gory depiction of femininity and a beautiful description of aloof insanity. proceed with caution if you want to delve into this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicide
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Everyone was right, this book is amazing. I wept and felt fuzzy and warm right after I finished it in a day.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Supper Club by Lara Williams
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was… surprising. First of all, I read a lot of reviews about how this book was disappointing and didn’t live up to its main theme and title, but I’d like to differ. I think this book was everything it’s supposed to be, it was reflective and (way too) relatable and it’s a coming of age—both for early twenties and late twenties because the main character time hops a lot to her univerity times and present.
The book is wrapped as this female Fight Club-esque story, about women who made a Supper Club to eat (a lot) and take space. I do agree how the title misled what this book was about because the Supper Club itself only took up like probably 30% of the plot, and the rest focused on Roberta and the back and forth storytelling of her University times and current problems. But I didn’t mind it, to be honest. I think both aspects were perfectly balamced, but I do wish the Supper Club was more incorporated to Roberta’s plot.
My only strong feeling about this book is that it’s too relatable. Everything that Roberta narrates are so eerily… me. At times I keep thinking I hated the way she feels about certain things and I’m like “Wait, is it because I also think that way??”. Roberta’s so self-depricating and sad, and most of all she rarely believes in herself. Some parts of her thoughts are so embarrassing and negative and I keep realizing I’m only apalled because I am exactly the same. If this book makes you question Roberta’s personality and morals I think it might have hit you too close to home, at least it did with me.
Sometimes it’s also romanticizing a lot of harmful things, almost indulgent, like the part about self harm. But then again I think it does Roberta’s narrative some justice, after all the book Is from her pov. I do think if one was suicidal/actively SH, this would’ve been triggering. There was a part where there’s a trans character as well but the author went back to using their old pronouns just to give this dramatic transformational effect that I thought wasn’t necessary but I digress because I don’t have a place to say whether that’s ethical or not as I am a cis woman.
All in all, it was satisfying but there are too much ehhhh moments that didn’t make it spectacularly good. It’s a solid read and I think it gives a unique perspective on late adulthood coming of age, people in their 20s deserves more of these stories. If you liked Normal People, My Year of Rest and Relaxations, or any other book with a passive—almost unlikeable—female narrator and main character that’s deeply sad and more than a little fucked up; this is for you.
The book is wrapped as this female Fight Club-esque story, about women who made a Supper Club to eat (a lot) and take space. I do agree how the title misled what this book was about because the Supper Club itself only took up like probably 30% of the plot, and the rest focused on Roberta and the back and forth storytelling of her University times and current problems. But I didn’t mind it, to be honest. I think both aspects were perfectly balamced, but I do wish the Supper Club was more incorporated to Roberta’s plot.
My only strong feeling about this book is that it’s too relatable. Everything that Roberta narrates are so eerily… me. At times I keep thinking I hated the way she feels about certain things and I’m like “Wait, is it because I also think that way??”. Roberta’s so self-depricating and sad, and most of all she rarely believes in herself. Some parts of her thoughts are so embarrassing and negative and I keep realizing I’m only apalled because I am exactly the same. If this book makes you question Roberta’s personality and morals I think it might have hit you too close to home, at least it did with me.
Sometimes it’s also romanticizing a lot of harmful things, almost indulgent, like the part about self harm. But then again I think it does Roberta’s narrative some justice, after all the book Is from her pov. I do think if one was suicidal/actively SH, this would’ve been triggering.
All in all, it was satisfying but there are too much ehhhh moments that didn’t make it spectacularly good. It’s a solid read and I think it gives a unique perspective on late adulthood coming of age, people in their 20s deserves more of these stories. If you liked Normal People, My Year of Rest and Relaxations, or any other book with a passive—almost unlikeable—female narrator and main character that’s deeply sad and more than a little fucked up; this is for you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I haven’t read many books post-reading slump that I’ve had since I was 16, but this book truly changed me. If you can appreciate a vivid, delicious descriptions of glamorous foods, and at the same time stomach gory, violent details of murder… this is truly for you. I found Dorothy Daniels not lovable, but an amusing narrator of this gut-wrenching fem American Psycho of a book, and you know what I fuck with her for it (kinda, not really, don’t hold this statement against me). I was fully prepared for what I was going to read, but not of the person I’d become after. I now know too much about stuff I don’t really want to know… but a knowledge is knowledge, however fucked up it may be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Death of parent
Laut Bercerita by Leila S. Chudori
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Normal People by Sally Rooney
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this book broke me