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taxidermy's reviews
154 reviews
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder
2.75
I somehow liked this a little bit, even though I mostly hated it. Might edit this to go more in depth on my thoughts later.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
3.5
This is a book about how it's sososcary when new people move into your nice white Suburban neighbourhood I guess. It's decently-written (on a technical level) even if the writing doesn't actually make me believe that anything is really BAD about the main conflict.
It's a rightist fantasy about foreigners (or in the allegorical sense, literal pod-people-from-outer-space) who "look and act just like you and me but are NOT people" moving in and killing the narrator's nice proper town. And also there's some romance in there. There isn't much else to say about it.
It was hard for me not to agree with the sentiment the antagonists expressed: that the purpose of life, for any creature, is to live.
It's a rightist fantasy about foreigners (or in the allegorical sense, literal pod-people-from-outer-space) who "look and act just like you and me but are NOT people" moving in and killing the narrator's nice proper town. And also there's some romance in there. There isn't much else to say about it.
It was hard for me not to agree with the sentiment the antagonists expressed: that the purpose of life, for any creature, is to live.
Sophocles I: Antigone/Oedipus the King/Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
4.0
I always come back to her (Antigone) ...
Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation's Most Elusive Serial Killer by Robert Graysmith
2.25
Mildly interesting, but biased & just not factual. Also... not very well-written as far as writing goes.
The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
3.0
Predictable, and not in the fun "I feel like I'm being given pieces of a puzzle to happily put together on my own while still being delightfully surprised in some way by the creativity & payoff of the ending" way, but instead in the "I feel like I'm reading a book at some points, and at others it feels more like a rough draft where the author just didn't know what to write, threw something down, and forgot to edit it later" way.
Plenty of chapters that felt pointless, could have been left out & still leave you with a coherent narrative. Some chapters were written better than others, which gave me the "kinda book, kinda draft" feeling. Some pointless side characters with pointless connections to the main characters so there could be sixteen OBVIOUS red herrings going at once, and I know a couple of them could have been cut out and everything would have been fine. Some chapters & scenes didn't make sense even within the retroactive context of the "plot twist." A few plot holes, and a few parts where it felt like the writer wanted to use a particular plot point but just forgot about it (this added to the "rough draft" vibes as well.)
Also the way the final reveal was...revealed, just kinda sucked. Not that I hated the plot twist itself (though it did feel too easy tbh) I just thought the way it was written was rushed & uninteresting. A time skip? Come on. That's writing language for "cop-out" and everyone knows it. And something about "the very last chapter takes the reader by the hands & explains what just happened back to them" feels lazy & condescending to me, I just think the book... could have been written better in this regard...
But it wasn't the WORST book I've read, and the author did TRY. I just felt like it was average?
Suicide TW?? (Not technically spoilers, it's just me talking but it can read as insensitive if you're a stranger reading this instead of a friend.) -->There was a brief period about 75-80% through the book where I thought a character was going to kill themselves, and in that moment I thought I was about to enjoy the rest of the book a lot more than I actually did. That would have ruled. If it was written well.
My final statement: Character named "Scott Summers" had me blinking & wondering why the X-Men were here every time his full name was mentioned.
Plenty of chapters that felt pointless, could have been left out & still leave you with a coherent narrative. Some chapters were written better than others, which gave me the "kinda book, kinda draft" feeling. Some pointless side characters with pointless connections to the main characters so there could be sixteen OBVIOUS red herrings going at once, and I know a couple of them could have been cut out and everything would have been fine. Some chapters & scenes didn't make sense even within the retroactive context of the "plot twist." A few plot holes, and a few parts where it felt like the writer wanted to use a particular plot point but just forgot about it (this added to the "rough draft" vibes as well.)
Also the way the final reveal was...revealed, just kinda sucked. Not that I hated the plot twist itself (though it did feel too easy tbh) I just thought the way it was written was rushed & uninteresting. A time skip? Come on. That's writing language for "cop-out" and everyone knows it. And something about "the very last chapter takes the reader by the hands & explains what just happened back to them" feels lazy & condescending to me, I just think the book... could have been written better in this regard...
But it wasn't the WORST book I've read, and the author did TRY. I just felt like it was average?
Suicide TW?? (Not technically spoilers, it's just me talking but it can read as insensitive if you're a stranger reading this instead of a friend.) -->
My final statement: Character named "Scott Summers" had me blinking & wondering why the X-Men were here every time his full name was mentioned.