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vampfang's reviews
100 reviews
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
4.0
overall, i really enjoyed this story. it’s a powerful analysis of both power and fighting back. it raises powerful moral questions that mirror ones in our world today, yet manages to not be too heavy-handed with its comparisons. i loved reading about zélie’s righteous anger, but i didn’t like inan’s flip-flopping. he’s shown from the beginning to be a sympathetic oppressor, a dangerous myth if there ever were one. when he magically switches to zélie’s side, he retains his blind faith in the establishment, convincing zélie that reform is the answer to his father’s tyranny. he does eventually switch sides again perhaps showing that there really is no such thing as a benevolent ruler, only to have what could be construed as a change of heart at the very end. true, his story is heartbreaking and meaningful (especially with its obvious connections to a queer child being shunned by their family), but it seems to uphold the harmful idea that those in power can have the people’s best interests in mind and that a corrupt system can be reformed. worse, his relationship with zélie causes her to believe this, with their planning for a better orïsha still including some sort of monarchy. he even causes her to briefly fear their magic, with the belief that it automatically poses a threat to orïsha. this myth is obviously another parallel to the real world and how oppressed peoples, particularly black people are a) automatically deemed to be dangerous threats and b) only allowed to fight back when their fighting causes no real damage to the establishment. while eventually zélie comes to her senses, the original message is there. overall, the book could have been a bit more radical for my taste (denouncing not only police brutality but the inherent brutality in the existence of police and the state as a whole), but overall a poignant message about protest and power.
Silence: A Fable by Edgar Allan Poe
the inherent horror of silence seems to suggest that humanity requires some form of interaction with each other/the world in order to survive, an optimistic take coming from a horror story.
Shadow: A Parable by Edgar Allan Poe
you can clearly see the groundwork for my personal favorite poe story, the masque of the red death, in this even shorter story about the inevitability of death. the contrast between reflection, or being forced to confront one's metaphysical form, and the physically ambiguous shadow, bringer of death, was a potent one.
Carrie by Stephen King
4.0
many thoughts head full. first of all, the plot itself seemed a bit predictable. it may just be because i've heard a lot about the movie so i already knew she'd get covered in blood and also probably kill people, but i wasn't necessarily surprised. that being said, judging by the fact that the story is partially told through books and articles (a nice touch in my opinion), perhaps we're not meant to be surprised. still, when you think about it, the plot can really be summed up as "bullied girl gets supernatural powers and uses them for revenge." looking back, i don't know how the first part took up almost half the book. now i understand why someone who saw me reading it described it as a slow burn, a phrasing i thought was strange at first because it was so easy to read. this was something i liked, however; after my last few dense reads, it was nice to have a book that i could read quickly that still had a lot to say. speaking of which, let's move onto the themes of the novel. this book covers so much, from womanhood to bullying to religious fanaticism to teenage angst, and i thought it did all of those things quite well. i especially loved the symbolism of blood, and how it connects to so many parts of the novel (period blood, writing in blood, blood as in family, the importance of jesus' blood in christianity, and of course pig's blood). i love how the characters in this story work on two levels, as both catalysts of an enormous disaster, as well as just kids. i did have two major problems with the story, though. the first is that we really don't get a sense of who carrie is as a person. true, we do hear from her perspective, but when we do she doesn't seem to have much of a personality and exists in almost this childlike state of innocence and naiveté, while simultaneously awakening her sexuality. even if it was intentional for king to not give a clear impression of carrie herself, it feels as if by doing so he perpetuates the treatment carrie receives from her peers; in their eyes, she's "prayin' carrie," nothing more than a pig, and framing her solely in terms of what has been done to her only further strips her of her autonomy and personhood. similarly, so much of carrie's value is tied to her beauty. she's bullied because she's ugly, and instead of this being a commentary on arbitrary judgements of people's worth based on their appearance, we just have a complete switch once tommy finally pays attention to her and realizes she's actually not ugly. moving on, a quote that really spoke to me was "this is the girl they keep calling a monster" on page 170. obviously, it's pretty good foreshadowing. in pointing out how cruel the girls can be, sue unknowingly calls attention to the self-fulfilling prophecy of it all. but it also points out how much carrie is just a girl who was bullied. i think this is part of why the story didn't scare me. commentary on the book is that it's gory and horrifying, and while the last 70 pages are certainly intense, i didn't feel this way. it may just be because when i've read it i've usually had the light on, and i don't think i've ever been scared by a book (maybe i just don't visualize enough when i read?), but i think it's also because the true horror of this story is not the destruction carrie inflicts upon the town, but everything that's led up to the moment. at its core, carrie is not a horror story, but a revenge story, in a manner similar to jennifer's body or teeth. and i just love when a girl gets to express her righteous anger.
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
3.0
forgot to review this, the plot twist was good, not a fan of the "scorned people fight back but they fight back the wrong way and must be stopped" message