vivakresh's reviews
535 reviews

Data Mind: Poems by Joanna Fuhrman

adventurous dark funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

Smart, funny, surreal, and relevant. Amazing book!

Kantika by Elizabeth Graver

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring fast-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? No

4.0

The Humans by Matt Haig

hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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

2.0

Fairly entertaining, but reads like a children’s book, and the premise and much of the novel was very predictable (been done before many many times). Also way too much exposition — simple takes on the human condition littered with cliches and  empty quotes. 

The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A masterpiece, obviously 

Berg by Ann Quin
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.

The narrator is nuts, and I couldn’t read a murder story before bed

The Midnight Club by Margot Harrison

adventurous emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Really enjoyed this sweet, thoughtful, nostalgic YA book! Yes, even though the author markets this as her first adult book, I’d say this is the definition of YA—emotional, full of the energy and anxiety and anticipation and plot twists of youth—with a perspective of the adults in the future who are still young at heart. What have we learned? You can’t change the past. Every moment of your life is real, every day counts. You can’t predict the future. As a college student, I ran a literary magazine, so this cast and setting spoke to my past and filled my memory bank and made me wonder where all my friends ended up twenty five years later! Why the 3.5 stars? The time travel stuff was amusing but felt shallow, in the end—and I think I’m skeptical that adults would behave like such children for such a long time. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

informative inspiring medium-paced

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

2.0

Stuffy, repetitive, flat, incurious. 

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

An astonishing collection. The language, the writing, the characters, the plots, the settings, the pacing, all so perfectly crafted. My only complaint is that these stories felt almost too polished, in that late ‘90s overworkshopped vibe. But again and again I finished reading a story with a sigh—amazed at the virtuoso performance of the writer. 

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-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? No

4.0

After watching the show, I read this book. It’s a somehow calming book despite the post pandemic apocalypse setting. The show took the book almost as a template and complicated each character’s story, enriching (IMO) the original narrative in a way that was not antithetical to the original but really enhanced it. I enjoyed reading what the characters were sensing and thinking, the way the author describes the forest and heightened awareness of the dangerous world. At the end, I felt extremely thankful for what we have.