universe_of_possibilities's reviews
86 reviews

Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

Nahr.... you are more than a woman. You are beyond gender, greater than gender, one a plane one can only reach by facing the ugliest truths of life without apprehension. I think one of the main reasons Narh is so vast is because her story is not her own. She is the product of so many real women who have experienced what she has and it's just profound to me. The beauty and evocativeness of Arabic was the muah cherry on top. Books about woc always reach deep into my soul!!

Witnessing a love like Bilal's and Nahr's is something so new to me. It's so raw and honest and ugly and painful, but the negative characteristics are not because of the way they treat each other. A love like theirs under occupation and constant threat of death and things worse than death... I've never seen a representation of love this intimate and true and unceasing. What the fuck. I can only dream to be loved this deeply but I fear it may only come with the shared trauma of survival under occupation. 

Not only was their romantic love a blessing to read, but their love for family and friends, the trees, for strangers. Palestinians are a loving ass people; when Abulhawa wrote we must fortify ourselves with love, I had to stand up out of my chair. Everything in this book is built on the foundation of fortifying yourself with love, and before reading that sentence, I understood that in a very abstract way, but reading those words made a light bulb go off in my brain. A value that strong in oneself is something passed down from generation to generation. Maybe, in this life or another, I'll be able to be a part of something like that.

Living under occupation is such a losing game. One step forward and three thousand steps back; the perseverance and love the Palestinian people show each other, their land, and oppressed people abroad despite facing such unyielding evil is so touching, beautiful, and important. It emphasizes terribly the lack thereof here :( makes me sad. Makes me wonder what it is like to feel a kinship with your homeland, makes me miss what I and my ancestors could have had, especially makes me sad for what my great ancestors had and then had stolen from them. Also, kind of related but not really, the mention and reverence of Black radicals in this book is so important to me :)

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to read books that evoke such strong emotions in me. I love feeling and being alive and experiencing the warm waves of compassion, sympathy, empathy, and love!!

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Yes, maguire is a FREAKAZOID but this book is not nearly as terrible as everyone says. Long and haughty but not unreadable

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

funny informative medium-paced

4.75

I love reading books sometimes it makes me feel so hopeful. 

Not only is this a book about likeness theft, BUT also about living in a capitalist surveillance state, the devaluation of the meaning of words, medical diagnoses through a fascist lens, the relationship between the United States and European fascism of the early 20th century, hyper individualism and the strength of class solidarity throughout the west!! So many topics and yet so seamless. Naomi u deserve **** *** ***! 

HOWEVER she was kinda sucking the farts out of Bernie 

Sanders' ass at the end and there's no way she didn't know his views on palestine. So .5 stars off for that!

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

funny informative

3.5

Finishing this book was like pulling teeth. For many reasons. One, I was very clearly not the target audience. Everything written in this book, I've already read before. Crt through the lens of his history specifically is cool I guess but like.... he's just explaining systemic racism and whiteness as currency in the US.  Plus it was written in second person and addressed the reader (white) as beloved (??). Idk why he was doing that, i'm going to just assumed I missed something. Two, there was a lot of ego stroking going on. Especially in the beginning. It comes off very self aggrandizing and ion like det. Three, not intersectional enough for me. I want to say it was a valiant effort at intersectionality but I think I would be lying. He did point the reader in the direction of other books written by diverse audiences but I think this book would have really benefited from tying in other theory with his. LASTLY I think that the people who need to be reading this book simply are not. Unless it's like text for a sociology class or something

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

Uhhh ok. This is the only one of Nnedi Okorator's books I've read but I do not believe world building to be her strong suit. I wish I could picture this futurist Ghana and the integration of Al and robotics but I simply could not. I love the idea of finding community but why everyone she builds community with dies??? lol. Idk. Also with Hajja, Sankofa was more of a guard dog than anything, which I didn't like. I wish Sankofa didn't have to experience so much pain, or at the very least we could have an epilogue where she is happy and content with the life she's been given. Anyhoo I Nnedi has a very captivating way of writing both fear grief, and similarly the narrator Adjoa Andoh conveys it amazingly, as well. 

I think this concept is amazing and would love to see it as a short animated film!!

Funny Story by Emily Henry

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I love reading books by people who have gone to therapy

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

adventurous fast-paced

3.5

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Oh man. I love celie. I feel so deeply for her; I see myself in her and every black woman that I've ever loved. I never expected this book to be so intimate. I have only ever seen the original movie, the musical, and the movie musical, which aren't even comparable to the book to be honest. They are different Celies, different Netties, different Shugs. But the format of the book, reading Celie's personal letters to God and to Nettie, and Nettie's to Celie.... these characters are just so real. So real and flawed and deserving and enduring. 

Celie's queerness is so vital to her identity and i don't understand why they decided to minimize it so in the movies and musicals. And same for Shug. Celie is a woman who has been done nothing but wrong by men, never felt anything for them, only loved one woman. Her love for Shug ignited something in her that was stronger than her trauma. Celie is a LESBIANNNN and that's important and amazing!! Don't jump me but the sanitizing Celie and Shug's relationship to one giggly kiss kinda makes the adaptations feel lazy. Like the sparknotes version for people who didn't want to read the book.

Dear God, dear Celie, dear Nettie, dear trees, dear sky, dear stars, dear peoples, dear everything, dear God. I CRIED. I honestly cant put into words how Celie's relationship away from/to the God she learned to speak to as a girl and the God she met as a woman. But oh man i cried. When Celie ended her letters to Nettie with amen, idk i felt something crack open in me. Alice walker girl idk how you do this writing shit. This is the best book i have ever read in my entire life.

When Celie said "i don't think us feel old at all. Matter fact, i think this the youngest us ever felt," that was the last straw lol. Celie and Nettie are the EPITOME of 'we were girls together.' They were girls together!!! As grown women, they reunite finally feeling supported, secure, loved, safe, everything they were supposed to be feeling as children. They can be young now :( good grief.

Of course this book, as all books, has its flaws (although they are few and far between) but i have never read something like this before. This book is beyond. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, and Child abuse

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

4.0