h_motionless's reviews
351 reviews

Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Othello by William Shakespeare

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Beloved by Toni Morrison

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Beloved is a novel that I believe to be impossible to fully comprehend after one reading - I have read every page, but I know for sure that I didn’t entirely grasp every aspect. The writing is remarkable, each of the characters is complex and affected by different demons, and the harsh effects of slavery on an individual’s psychology and identity is crystal clear. This novel is brutal and carries an extraordinary amount of emotional weight and cultural significance, to the point where it is oftentimes overwhelming. Despite this, I need to reread this novel after I’ve given it a chance to settle in my mind, as I know that there is so much more for me to digest.

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

challenging slow-paced

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

2.75

Hard Times communicates a lot about Victorian society’s industrialisation and working conditions, so I recognise its importance and impact, and many of its characters are great, especially Bounderby and Louisa - Dickens never fails to disappoint me with character work. My main gripes with the novel are the overall weaknesses of the plot itself, and the particularly annoying dialogue of Stephen and Sleary, whose accents and speech patterns make the text relatively difficult to decipher.

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

3.25

The Old Curiosity Shop is fun and cozy, while tense and bleak at times, and balances the two very well. The cast of characters is immaculate, especially the villainous Quilp who stands out as one of Dickens’ most detestable antagonists. My two major problems with the novel, however, are the extraordinarily slow pacing in the middle portion of the novel, and Dickens’ tendency to over-write seemingly insignificant scenes, while almost brushing over the scenes with potent emotional impact.

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Dance Dance Dance feels creepier and eerier than Haruki Murakami’s other works, as if it was a merge of styles between both Haruki and Ryu Murakami. The magical realism we are accustomed to within Murakami’s works is present and spectacularly done, and its darker edge never diminishes its quality. The presentation of Yuki is strange - she’s an incredible character, yet the way she is referred to is highly questionable from the perspective of a man in his 30s, though I believe this is a case of mistranslation so it doesn’t bother me excessively. This book is everything great about Murakami but with an additional sinister tone, similar to After Dark.

The Trial by Franz Kafka

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Kafka’s The Trial has an incredibly philosophical and deliberately provocative concept, but the overall novel feels unfinished, likely because it was. The final chapter is short, blunt, and bleak, but feels far too abrupt. I appreciate the almost random nature of the book reflecting the mental state of Josef and the confusing situation he was placed in,  but this didn’t always make for the most enjoyable reading.

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye

challenging dark informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Shon Faye wrote this book with unadulterated excellence - every topic she touches on is rich in detail and so clearly throughly researched, while also being widely accessible and easy to understand. Faye was able to articulate aspects of my own life in a way that I could never express in my own words, and did so with a crushing sense of immediacy and importance.

I Saw a Man by Owen Sheers

dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

After reading and studying Skirrid Hill, I was hesitant to read any other Owen Sheers fiction, but this novel far surpassed what I was expecting. I Saw A Man is a deeply reflective representation of guilt and grief that is rare to find - the closest thing I can think of is Christopher Isherwood’s novel A Single Man. This was incredibly written and had a pungent message, just lacked a little in overall plot.