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thexwalrus's reviews
189 reviews
Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio
3.5
the atmosphere. the ensemble dynamics. no one does it quite like m.l. rio.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
4.0
shirley jackson's prose is unbeatable.
this is so heartwrenching and tense - my sympathy for merrikat and constance was never overshadowed by the feeling that something was not quite right. i especially appreciated how much of my own OCD tendencies i noticed in merrikat's thought processes - like the way she thought is how i feel on my worst days when i have to fight my brain. it was a really grounding detail that made it all feel real.
i love shirley jackson. this was so great and a quick read.
this is so heartwrenching and tense - my sympathy for merrikat and constance was never overshadowed by the feeling that something was not quite right. i especially appreciated how much of my own OCD tendencies i noticed in merrikat's thought processes - like the way she thought is how i feel on my worst days when i have to fight my brain. it was a really grounding detail that made it all feel real.
i love shirley jackson. this was so great and a quick read.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
4.0
this was gonna be a 3.75 until the ending, and it was so sweet that i teared up and had to bump it up to a 4.
i love love love how andy weir deals with hopefulness and humanity in his writing and this was no different. i loved rocky. this was a great time and i'm so glad i read it.
i love love love how andy weir deals with hopefulness and humanity in his writing and this was no different. i loved rocky. this was a great time and i'm so glad i read it.
That's Not My Name by Megan Lally
4.0
THIS WAS SO GOOD. the ending caught me off guard but was such an excellently executed plot twist that it was SO SATISFYING. the epilogue brought me to tears. genuinely one of my favorite thrillers in recent memory - there were moments when the line-level writing felt a little stilted to me (as someone who likes to wax poetic) but otherwise this was such an excellent debut and i'm so excited to see what else lally writes bc this is SO promising. if the next one is anything like this in terms of being well-written and executed, i might have a new favorite author to follow!
War of the Foxes by Richard Siken
i love art that makes you think about art and how it gets made. i love art that makes you feel feelings that you can't articulate. i love art!!
Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan
3.75
i love a spooky story featuring hecate, and this is no exception. the standout moments for me were the ones with hecuba and gale - the empathy and kindness percy exemplifies shine through so much and had me deeply emotional. i love you, seaweed brain. you're the best.
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
5.0
i COULD NOT put this down. holy shit, we are starting 2025 with bangers on bangers.
the narrative took hold of me and would not let me go. i was so invested and so uncertain about who did it until the very end, and then it hit me like a truck and GOD my eyes LITERALLY WIDENED when i saw who it was. it was SO GOOD. it nods at classic murder mystery/thriller tropes and subverts them beautifully and the ending had me BEAMING.
i loved the crowns. the whole fuckin family. i love the way cosby wrote the dialogue bc they all sound so real to me.
idk! i just loved this so much!
the narrative took hold of me and would not let me go. i was so invested and so uncertain about who did it until the very end, and then it hit me like a truck and GOD my eyes LITERALLY WIDENED when i saw who it was. it was SO GOOD. it nods at classic murder mystery/thriller tropes and subverts them beautifully and the ending had me BEAMING.
i loved the crowns. the whole fuckin family. i love the way cosby wrote the dialogue bc they all sound so real to me.
idk! i just loved this so much!
Bright Young Women: A Novel by Jessica Knoll
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
oh this was compelling. this was challenging and wonderful and raw and i adored it.
i read and adored the stranger beside me by ann rule when i read it a few years ago - because it showed the full spectrum of what a truly evil person is like. no person is born evil, and no person is only evil - even the most evil people will have friends and be charming in moments. ted bundy is a perfect example of that, using his charm as a weapon against these young women, as a defense mechanism in the court (and in the court of public opinion), while still having friends like the discerning ann rule who couldn't tell something was wrong from someplace so close.
this book hones in on that, and by fictionalizing the bundy murders, it allows us to really pinpoint the societal bullshit that allowed things to happen the way they did, and how it shaped the women who survived.
misogyny is a systemic, institutional problem, and watching ruth and pamela and tina under its weight was infuriating and frustrating because i knew exactly how it felt. and while ruth was never truly free of it, and pamela took a long time to break free from patriarchal expectations, there were so many little baby steps throughout of internal pushback against society's rules at the time that had me smiling. yes, girl, brian sucks! dump his ass! yes, girl, tell people no! you don't have to be nice all the time! it's sad that these are little things to cheer on, but like... we live in a society, and women who were young adults at that time had a lot of pressure on them that was hard to shake. (my own mother is a perfect example of this, because she's JUST NOW learning to stop being a people pleaser and she's in her 60s. this shit is hard to unlearn.)
pamela as a protagonist is naive and, at times, frustrating, but she has such a good heart that leads her through the entire book in a way that endears her to the reader beyond anything i expected. i adored her. seeing her try to be strong for her sisters while also desperately trying to hold herself together... i felt seen. if you're constantly doing a million things, you can't stop and think about the trauma, right? tina is an excellent foil, direct and unapologetic and kind. she's kind but not nice - like new yorkers or bostonians, who will be annoyed with you for walking slow on the sidewalk or stopping in front of them, but then they'll give you really clear directions and make sure you understand them when you ask bc google maps is fucking up. it's a kind of character i love but rarely see in books, and i will be holding tina in my heart for a while.
tldr, basically my review is this: women <3 :)
men >:(
i read and adored the stranger beside me by ann rule when i read it a few years ago - because it showed the full spectrum of what a truly evil person is like. no person is born evil, and no person is only evil - even the most evil people will have friends and be charming in moments. ted bundy is a perfect example of that, using his charm as a weapon against these young women, as a defense mechanism in the court (and in the court of public opinion), while still having friends like the discerning ann rule who couldn't tell something was wrong from someplace so close.
this book hones in on that, and by fictionalizing the bundy murders, it allows us to really pinpoint the societal bullshit that allowed things to happen the way they did, and how it shaped the women who survived.
misogyny is a systemic, institutional problem, and watching ruth and pamela and tina under its weight was infuriating and frustrating because i knew exactly how it felt. and while ruth was never truly free of it, and pamela took a long time to break free from patriarchal expectations, there were so many little baby steps throughout of internal pushback against society's rules at the time that had me smiling. yes, girl, brian sucks! dump his ass! yes, girl, tell people no! you don't have to be nice all the time! it's sad that these are little things to cheer on, but like... we live in a society, and women who were young adults at that time had a lot of pressure on them that was hard to shake. (my own mother is a perfect example of this, because she's JUST NOW learning to stop being a people pleaser and she's in her 60s. this shit is hard to unlearn.)
pamela as a protagonist is naive and, at times, frustrating, but she has such a good heart that leads her through the entire book in a way that endears her to the reader beyond anything i expected. i adored her. seeing her try to be strong for her sisters while also desperately trying to hold herself together... i felt seen. if you're constantly doing a million things, you can't stop and think about the trauma, right? tina is an excellent foil, direct and unapologetic and kind. she's kind but not nice - like new yorkers or bostonians, who will be annoyed with you for walking slow on the sidewalk or stopping in front of them, but then they'll give you really clear directions and make sure you understand them when you ask bc google maps is fucking up. it's a kind of character i love but rarely see in books, and i will be holding tina in my heart for a while.
tldr, basically my review is this: women <3 :)
men >:(
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
4.0
i got deeply, deeply emotional when snowy was found in the woods, and then a few chapters after that i was a wreck.
this was extremely cozy but also extremely good at dealing with grief and the fluid nature of it. these books have always been full of heart, but this one in particular had so much it was overflowing from every page.
i love these kooky old people so much.
this was extremely cozy but also extremely good at dealing with grief and the fluid nature of it. these books have always been full of heart, but this one in particular had so much it was overflowing from every page.
i love these kooky old people so much.