studyinroses's reviews
22 reviews

Tim Ginger by Julian Hanshaw

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A beautiful story, sprinkled with a scifi vibe. But this is mainly about loss and grief and loneliness. This book encaptures the feeling of cold and warmth, and we have a lot of empathy for the main character.

Les Petites filles et la mort by Alexandros Papadiamantis

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was eager to read this book, I was hooked up by the plot right away. A 70-year old lady revisits her life and realises that she has been enslaved by womanhood and the obligations that come with it in her era. I couldn't wait to read about a complex woman and how being a woman made her life exhausting. The resume said that it would be about her liberating girls from this life that she had. She will do very questionable things, but these will be "justified" by this idea of freeing them of the life they will have as women. 
In fact I felt that this was not accurate. Yes the main character is a tired old woman who's been worn out by life, from her childhood to when she got married to when she had to marry her daughters and to now taking care of her sick newborn granddaughter.

But when she starts to kill baby girls, she's more driven by fatigue than by anything else. She never seems to kill them because she wants to spare a life of servitude. The first murder seems to be driven by the fact that she can't take it, she's done with taking care of other people, and then she's simply become obsessed with killing girls. She starts to think that it's like a duty sent by God, but she never says what is this duty beyond killing babies.

To me it's obvious that the life she had, because she was a woman, has destroyed her and turned her into this mad lady. She doesn't seem to have compassion for these girls, she's annoyed by them, like they're useless noisy things. Of course, she feels like that because her daughters have been actual burdens for her, because that's all women seem to be at this time and place. 
This was an interesting reading, just not what I thought it would be. Still recommend it tho.

Les armoires vides by Annie Ernaux

reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Quelle écriture qu'elle a, déjà dans son premier roman. On ressent une tension constante, une colère qui ne s'arrête jamais. Annie Ernaux écrit un bouquin qui arrive toujours à nous atteindre sensoriellement, il fait chaud à en puer la moisissure parfois, on sent le sang, la sueur, le café, le sucre. Il y a beaucoup de tendresse envers ses parents qu'elle aime autant qu'elle déteste. Parfois, on peut se perdre dans ses descriptions ou ses enchaînements de phrases, on n'est pas certain.e de quoi elle parle. Mais ça n'enlève rien au charme du livre, on se retrouve en face de ses sensations et c'est ce qui compte. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

The first chapters were a bit slow for me, or they didn't hook me as first chapters should. But I persisted in my reading, and I loved following Gatsby evolution throughout the book. To be honest, Nick doesn't have that much personnality and is more of a neutral vessel for all the other characters to be seen from an outside pov. At first, I didn't understand why Fitzgerald would give Nick a love interest, but it is interesting only to see another character (Jordan) being seen by our narrator. 
This was an interesting story on desillusions (concerning love, money, social interactions), but also a nice focus on a certain rich class in America during a peculiar moment in History. Maybe I'd have liked more details on the social and economic context, but the hints are already a nice touch. Some poetic moments that I really appreciated.

Nagori: La nostalgie de la saison qui vient de nous quitter by Ryoko Sekiguchi

informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.75

This is a nice non fiction to read between summer and autumn. An interesting take on the multiple links between our food consumptions, seasons and our relation with time. Written with poetry and clarity.
Still, I couldn't shake it off my mind that the author clearly live a luxurious life, and it was a bit difficult sometimes to relate or to feel ok with the indecency of certain sentences due to her situation.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I had a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that I finished the book. I read it in two days, it really stuck with me. There's something really poetic and beautiful when we just navigate through the House with Piranesi, through the sculptures and the floors and the waters. 
I give it 4,75, because it was one of my best reading experiences of the year, but also because maybe the solution to the mystery was a bit disappointing. 

I think I was prepared for the "evil" to come from the House itself, due to the emphasis on Piranesi's naive view on the House's kindness. I eventually really liked what was the explanation behind Piranesi's identity, but still disappointed that we don't learn more about the House and its construction, and why ideas become statues, and why are there tides, what do they express.. As The House really is depicted as an entity with its own will in a way, it felt like something was missing at the end. But despite that..

 
I really loved being lost with our main character in those endless rooms, and all of the symbolism hidden in every sculpture. This main character, Piranesi, is loveable, because he sees the best in everything and everyone, and he is deeply kind. I will certainly go back to the House, from time to time.

Nana, Tome 1 by Ai Yazawa

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a nice first volume, and both Nana are loveable. Hachi's vision of love and men can be quite annoying, but after all she is a 18 yo in 1990-2000. Ai Yazawa succeeds in making me emotional already with the first volume, can't wait to read the rest.

Circé by Madeline Miller

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What an incredible book. I've read The Song of Achilles before reading Circe and I thought that it couldn't get better than this. I think that the most important quality of Circe is character development. I couldn't explain what it is about her but she is so human, she is flawed, the worst of her is never hidden and never without consequences. This really makes a good book a great book : everything has an outcome, and it will not always play in the favour of the gods (literally). 
The feeling of loneliness is so well described, and, as always with Madeline Miller, there is so much poetry in every page without ever being too much. She makes poetry out of simple words and short phrases and it is beautiful. There is also the major theme of womanhood and everything that can come with it, i.e. being rejected because of the independence that we claim, being manipulated by men that only love us when we are weak and at their feet, having to find happiness and wholeness even alone, even without the approval of the men that are supposed to be the figures of power. We feel so close to Circe, because even if she spends an eternity living alone and seems to find herself in the process, even if she is powerful and decided about how she would never make compromises again, she's still so vulnerable without ever being weak. The beauty of this reading was found in the subtle way in which Circe is written, as a complex being, and a loveable and understandable one. One of my favourite books of all time.

Incandescence (Incandescence, #2) by Ayako Noda

dark tense fast-paced

3.75

Compared to the first volume, I was nicely surprised to see some serious reconsideration about the relationship between the two characters. But a bit disappointed to not feel the warm and moist atmosphere that gave its charm to the first volume (ok this one happens in september bUT-). The style is still appealing to me, even though it can be unsettling sometimes (and not where it should be unsettling). A lot more tension in this volume, there's more at stakes, or so it seems. We slowly lose confidence in almost every character and don't know who to trust anymore (imho : do not trust the old yakuza that goes to hostess bars, grooms a 19 yo, and seems to be an asshole to his family).
The main character is more and more annoying or incomprehensible to say the least. Ok, she has a crush and a fascination for a bad guy, but why does she trust him so much ? She never doubts him, and even says that she'd trust him even if he lied. Weird.
Pros for when she's not with him but thinks about him and how she feels, we learn more about her and how she views herself. Some poetic moments too (but maybe it's just me being sensitive to some topics). Cons for the trope of the obsessed ex-gf/hookup, and how quickly she is declared guilty and how quickly the love interest of our main character is cleared. But there's still room for the story to show that she shouldn't trust him, or at least not so blindly and so fast. I really hope the tension built in this volume will end on a conclusion of this kind.
I feel like there's some great potential to this story, to what she does with her graphic style, but there's a tendancy to come back to easy and overseen tropes, that at best are just boring and predictable, at worst makes no sense.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Seuls Au Monde - Tome 1 by Emmy Laybourne

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A nice YA dystopian story, that I read once a few years ago and that really made an impression on me, so much that I read it again. The main character can sometimes be a little annoying but I guess it's the cost for being in the head of a 14 yo boy. The plot is not revolutionary, but the writing is enjoyable as of the development of the characters. I will read the volume 2, and I can't wait to know more about what is happening in this world !