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shrutislibrary's reviews
190 reviews
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Sometimes the bravest act one can do is to speak one's truth and this is Roxane Gay's naked truth: the story of her body and the space it takes up in the world. At 12, she was raped and her body violated repeatedly, so she took to eating to stop herself from appearing as attractive to the opposite gender. She ate and ate and made herself bigger to feel safe and gain control of a body that was no longer hers.
'Hunger' is an exploration of the shame and the prejudice fat people and fat bodies are subjected to. It delves into the marketing, the media, and the culture built around the messaging that any body other than a thin, well-proportioned, small body is undesirable, repulsive and outright violation of the norms of beauty and aesthetics.
Gay walks us through the stages of her interpersonal relations and her career. The failed relationships, the abuse she suffered and the way she made herself smaller, denigrated herself to receive the love that was kindly offered by her partners. She took what she could with a kind of self-sacrificial diligence. Her gender was erased, and her entire existence shrunk to the size of her body and the space it occupies.
She exposes the bitter truth of reality TV on weight loss transformations, the harmful behaviour it promotes and how even celebs like Ophrah openly struggle with her body image and how she advocates that within every big woman's body lies a thinner, prettier woman- a whole woman. As if fatness is a condition to be fixed & be remedied. And what about the psychological trauma, the years of self-sabotaging behaviours, eating disorders, and the mental and emotional wreckage of that one incident? Will those disappear magically too if she were to be 'cured' of her excess weight? How do you unlearn those harmful patterns of behaviour, those boundaries and cages you've built carefully to keep you safe?
Well, you can start by forgiving yourself and showing kindness to yourself and 'Hunger' is Roxane's act of forgiving herself and being kind to her body.
'Hunger' is an exploration of the shame and the prejudice fat people and fat bodies are subjected to. It delves into the marketing, the media, and the culture built around the messaging that any body other than a thin, well-proportioned, small body is undesirable, repulsive and outright violation of the norms of beauty and aesthetics.
Gay walks us through the stages of her interpersonal relations and her career. The failed relationships, the abuse she suffered and the way she made herself smaller, denigrated herself to receive the love that was kindly offered by her partners. She took what she could with a kind of self-sacrificial diligence. Her gender was erased, and her entire existence shrunk to the size of her body and the space it occupies.
She exposes the bitter truth of reality TV on weight loss transformations, the harmful behaviour it promotes and how even celebs like Ophrah openly struggle with her body image and how she advocates that within every big woman's body lies a thinner, prettier woman- a whole woman. As if fatness is a condition to be fixed & be remedied. And what about the psychological trauma, the years of self-sabotaging behaviours, eating disorders, and the mental and emotional wreckage of that one incident? Will those disappear magically too if she were to be 'cured' of her excess weight? How do you unlearn those harmful patterns of behaviour, those boundaries and cages you've built carefully to keep you safe?
Well, you can start by forgiving yourself and showing kindness to yourself and 'Hunger' is Roxane's act of forgiving herself and being kind to her body.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich by John David Mann, David Bach
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.0
The Latte Factor imparts an important but simple financial lesson: an investment into yourself in the present to make you richer in the future is told through a story of a girl trying to get her personal finances in order. The girl, Zoe, a 27-year-old travel writer in NYC is helped by a kind, smart barista named Henry to start investing in her future by the simple act of saving a certain cut of her daily wage every week and keep compounding that amount for of 30-40 years which would eventually make her a multi-millionaire at a good interest rate.
The three secrets shared by the barista are briefly:
1. pay yourself first
2. make it automatic
3. find your why and live rich now
The three secrets shared by the barista are briefly:
1. pay yourself first
2. make it automatic
3. find your why and live rich now
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Infidelity, Violence, and Grief
The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane by Julia Nobel
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
"And I do nothing but dream every day that at last I shall meet someone. Oh, if only you knew how often I have been in love in that way...."
"White Nights" begins with the solitary nocturnal wanderings of a young 26-year-old dreamer (who has never had a lover but dreamed of being in love many times) stalking the streets of St. Petersburg utterly lonely and desolate trying to find the cause of his deep sorrow & loneliness, when he chances upon a young woman, Nastenka, with whom he develops a bond so precious and beautiful yet the cause of more torment & heartbreak. This encounter leads them to unravel their entire histories, their darkest thoughts and dashed hopes with each other trying to find a common ground, where there are no secrets between them. They give each other much-needed consolation, lend a kind ear to their sorrows of abandonment, and lost loves and nurse their broken hearts over four white nights.
This novella was my first venture into Dostoevsky's works and I was smitten by the tenderness of his prose and the complexity of emotions displayed by both the characters but especially the unnamed male protagonist. The narrator's utter dejection at being left alone on the streets of St. Petersburg, how he felt he had nowhere to go, and the paranoia at every object appearing as old, dingy and out of sorts in his apartment show the genius of Dostoevsky's writing. The way depression is many shaded and insidious and pervades every space, every thought and aspect of one's waking life has been depicted so well. The nocturnal descriptions of the city were captivating to read and brought alive 19th century St. Petersburg so vividly in my imagination. I can't wait to delve into his more famous works next! This was a solid, yet not-so intimidating introduction to Dostoevsky and I'm thankful to the person on the internet for this recommendation.🖤
"White Nights" begins with the solitary nocturnal wanderings of a young 26-year-old dreamer (who has never had a lover but dreamed of being in love many times) stalking the streets of St. Petersburg utterly lonely and desolate trying to find the cause of his deep sorrow & loneliness, when he chances upon a young woman, Nastenka, with whom he develops a bond so precious and beautiful yet the cause of more torment & heartbreak. This encounter leads them to unravel their entire histories, their darkest thoughts and dashed hopes with each other trying to find a common ground, where there are no secrets between them. They give each other much-needed consolation, lend a kind ear to their sorrows of abandonment, and lost loves and nurse their broken hearts over four white nights.
This novella was my first venture into Dostoevsky's works and I was smitten by the tenderness of his prose and the complexity of emotions displayed by both the characters but especially the unnamed male protagonist. The narrator's utter dejection at being left alone on the streets of St. Petersburg, how he felt he had nowhere to go, and the paranoia at every object appearing as old, dingy and out of sorts in his apartment show the genius of Dostoevsky's writing. The way depression is many shaded and insidious and pervades every space, every thought and aspect of one's waking life has been depicted so well. The nocturnal descriptions of the city were captivating to read and brought alive 19th century St. Petersburg so vividly in my imagination. I can't wait to delve into his more famous works next! This was a solid, yet not-so intimidating introduction to Dostoevsky and I'm thankful to the person on the internet for this recommendation.🖤
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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? Yes
3.5
The child marriage plot threw me up a bit. Also, Count Olaf was basically a pedophile?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
mysterious
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? Yes
3.0
"Women have so few choices, Nellie. Our gender can be our greatest strength, but it is also our greatest weakness."
Have you ever been on a train you were promised would be a fast ride, which started pretty slow and steady, then arrived at the last station without ever hitting the highest speed you had anticipated?
Well, this book felt exactly like that. It didn't ever cross that maximum speed limit.
Let me explain.
The story follows two parallel timelines, one in 2018 navigating the recent move of married couple Nate & Alice Hale who leave their city life behind in New York City to shift to quiet suburban life in Greenville. The other jumps back in time following Richard and Nellie Murdoch who lived in the same house that the Hales recently bought back in 1956.
Unsettled by the house move which is crumbling in aspect but has a lovely garden to its credit & her husband Nate's designs to get her pregnant, Alice is feeling discomfort, unease & uncertain of her future. Will she become the boring suburban housewife, just content in cooking and cleaning for her hardworking husband?
Who am I? A failed wife, an amateur novelist, a liar? These questions plague Alice.
The 1950s plotline unfolds when Alice chances upon the letters written by Nellie to her mother Elsie and the family cookbook passed down from her mother to Nellie. Through this correspondence, we, like Alice, witness the unravelling of Nellie Murdoch's perfectly happy life & marriage.
This novel shows the lack of agency women had back in the olden days, & even now when it comes to making choices in their lives in general & their marriages in particular: be it regarding their bodies, sex, childbearing, career, or whether or not they should be wearing kitten heels or flats to Tupperware parties. It explores themes like female desire, women's roles in traditional heteronormative societies as efficient homemakers, 'good' wives & attentive mothers, and what a successful marriage should look like.
How far one can suffer lies, deception and abuse in marriage & how far one can do those things to present the facade of a happy marriage is the central concern. Or is it as Oscar Wilde once said "the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties."
The writing was pretty factual, and the persona of Nellie was the most enigmatic one. She displayed all the qualities of a 1950s wife. The whole book could play like a movie because of the way it was written. The thing is that I thought that the mystery element was going to be a lot stronger, but alas the key mystery/shocking event I could guess from a mile away so it didn't matter when it was delivered to me, only the mode of it varied. So overall the reading experience was okay, nothing very 'thrilling' happened as I had expected.
Have you ever been on a train you were promised would be a fast ride, which started pretty slow and steady, then arrived at the last station without ever hitting the highest speed you had anticipated?
Well, this book felt exactly like that. It didn't ever cross that maximum speed limit.
Let me explain.
The story follows two parallel timelines, one in 2018 navigating the recent move of married couple Nate & Alice Hale who leave their city life behind in New York City to shift to quiet suburban life in Greenville. The other jumps back in time following Richard and Nellie Murdoch who lived in the same house that the Hales recently bought back in 1956.
Unsettled by the house move which is crumbling in aspect but has a lovely garden to its credit & her husband Nate's designs to get her pregnant, Alice is feeling discomfort, unease & uncertain of her future. Will she become the boring suburban housewife, just content in cooking and cleaning for her hardworking husband?
Who am I? A failed wife, an amateur novelist, a liar? These questions plague Alice.
The 1950s plotline unfolds when Alice chances upon the letters written by Nellie to her mother Elsie and the family cookbook passed down from her mother to Nellie. Through this correspondence, we, like Alice, witness the unravelling of Nellie Murdoch's perfectly happy life & marriage.
This novel shows the lack of agency women had back in the olden days, & even now when it comes to making choices in their lives in general & their marriages in particular: be it regarding their bodies, sex, childbearing, career, or whether or not they should be wearing kitten heels or flats to Tupperware parties. It explores themes like female desire, women's roles in traditional heteronormative societies as efficient homemakers, 'good' wives & attentive mothers, and what a successful marriage should look like.
How far one can suffer lies, deception and abuse in marriage & how far one can do those things to present the facade of a happy marriage is the central concern. Or is it as Oscar Wilde once said "the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties."
The writing was pretty factual, and the persona of Nellie was the most enigmatic one. She displayed all the qualities of a 1950s wife. The whole book could play like a movie because of the way it was written. The thing is that I thought that the mystery element was going to be a lot stronger, but alas the key mystery/shocking event I could guess from a mile away so it didn't matter when it was delivered to me, only the mode of it varied. So overall the reading experience was okay, nothing very 'thrilling' happened as I had expected.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, and Blood
The Living Mountain by Amitav Ghosh
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Told in the form of a story within a story, a voice narrates the tale of a people residing in the foothills of the Himalayas, where they once lived in harmony with the Living Mountain (though this harmony is broken from time to time by warring with neighbouring clans & villages). They had perfected a balance of living by respectfully maintaining their distance from their sacred mountain, decreed to be out of bounds by the law of their ancestors. That is until the day the intruders come charging with weapons.
'The Living Mountain' is a fable for the voices unheard, the songs unsung & the dances that are forgotten from an era of humanity when indigenous cultures thrived living close to the rivers and mountains and forests of the world. Until the Age of Anthropocene was ushered bringing with it greed, discord & irreverence of the ancestral knowledge and way of living. Until these mountain people (who are now called Varvaroi) were enslaved and colonised by the new kind - Anthropoi for their selfish reasons: to ascend the slopes of the sacred mountain & to discover & take by force the riches that lie in the womb of Mahaparbat. What follows is a mad grab for riches and resources by both Anthropoi & Varvaroi resulting in near-catastrophic consequences.
Amitav Ghosh raises pertinent questions on the ownership of resources & land: who is the 'rightful' master of land? Is it the people who lived there for centuries? Or the colonisers who waged war & broke the native laws by asserting their right to rule & take what they desire? Or does it belong to no one? In a world governed by hungry merchants (corporations & billionaires), it isn't long before the Living Mountain (Earth) no longer has anything to give & the once potent life-sustaining mountain is no longer a protector but a destroyer, bringing damage to the life of the Mountain folks, ravaging their villages with landslides & avalanches.
The question is how long till we learn the same lesson before the Mahaparbat comes crashing down beneath our feet?
'The Living Mountain' is a fable for the voices unheard, the songs unsung & the dances that are forgotten from an era of humanity when indigenous cultures thrived living close to the rivers and mountains and forests of the world. Until the Age of Anthropocene was ushered bringing with it greed, discord & irreverence of the ancestral knowledge and way of living. Until these mountain people (who are now called Varvaroi) were enslaved and colonised by the new kind - Anthropoi for their selfish reasons: to ascend the slopes of the sacred mountain & to discover & take by force the riches that lie in the womb of Mahaparbat. What follows is a mad grab for riches and resources by both Anthropoi & Varvaroi resulting in near-catastrophic consequences.
Amitav Ghosh raises pertinent questions on the ownership of resources & land: who is the 'rightful' master of land? Is it the people who lived there for centuries? Or the colonisers who waged war & broke the native laws by asserting their right to rule & take what they desire? Or does it belong to no one? In a world governed by hungry merchants (corporations & billionaires), it isn't long before the Living Mountain (Earth) no longer has anything to give & the once potent life-sustaining mountain is no longer a protector but a destroyer, bringing damage to the life of the Mountain folks, ravaging their villages with landslides & avalanches.
The question is how long till we learn the same lesson before the Mahaparbat comes crashing down beneath our feet?