Scan barcode
julieuh's reviews
381 reviews
The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
so obvious that this is headed towards animal cruelty and the reviews on Goodreads confirmed it. also wasn't even that interesting or well written
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
5.0
"you're in the trolley problem!"
"I thought I would be the one operating the lever..."
"no, that's someone else"
-Alex Krokus, 2024
similar to Taxi Driver in that the original work is a million times more interesting than it's reputation would make you think
"I thought I would be the one operating the lever..."
"no, that's someone else"
-Alex Krokus, 2024
similar to Taxi Driver in that the original work is a million times more interesting than it's reputation would make you think
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías
reminded me of Severance by Ling Ma and Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin but pales in comparison to both. the story feels frictionless, the choices that the narrator does and doesn't make seem to hardly matter, which is the overall point of the novel - "I cannot stop a future that has already arrived," our narrator tells us. if this were just a meditation on what it means to hold on to the past while everything around you is irreparably changed, it would work. but the character of Mauro, a kid with a syndrome that makes him insatiably hungry and, because he's from a wealthy family, very fat, is a bizarre element. Mauro lives with the narrator for several weeks at a time, despite her living on the coast where the horrific electrical storms are the most dangerous, because she is willing to be paid to care for him and his parents are desperate to get rid of him without fully abandoning him. the narrator's relationship with Mauro serves as a parallel to her relationship with her childhood caretaker, whom she adored and viewed as a mother figure while her own mother neglected her. he also seems to be some kind of metaphor for gluttony and insatiable desire, as his syndrome demands that he keeps eating even when he's full, even when it hurts him, even when there's only trash or drywall or cotton balls to eat, and even when our narrator is starving and malnourished, because she will give her portions to him to hold off another tantrum while they quietly run out of food. he is also just a disabled kid living at the end of the world, being taken care of by people who either love him despite his disability or make their contempt for him plain. the problem is that the story doesn't really do anything with this. and I want to be okay with that, because the story doesn't really do anything with any of the elements it presents to us, but the image of an absurdly fat child, who couldn't stop eating even if he wanted to, is so charged in a world where fatness is seen as a moral failing, that it feels offensive that the story didn't do something interesting with it.
Heat by Jean Wei
it's easy to see why Heat has remained in the indie comic canon, Jean Wei's ability to strike a balance between melancholy and humor makes for a very effective story about finding meaning in your life and in yourself. the glassblowing sequence really struck me! also, the physical edition that was released last year is really beautiful, the embossed cover feels so nice to hold.
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
liked the ending/final reveals more than I thought I would. someone needs to tell me that I don't always need to read a mystery on flights!