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saint_eleanor's reviews
294 reviews
James by Percival Everett
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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
This is objectively a really good book and super quick and easy to finish. At first the writing style felt very detached to me like I felt like I was a step removed from James' thoughts and feelings which kind of softened the blow on the more emotional parts, but then you kind of find out that there's an explanation for that which I really liked.
This is really an adventure book with devastating historical context, I don't remember enough about Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn to say how much it departs from that canon or whatever, but I feel like kids should have to read this as a companion to Tom Sawyer if not just this one by itself. I feel like this is an important book and although the stakes are life and death the scenebuilding is so beautiful, the Mississippi river and the steamboats and the forests, wow.
This is really an adventure book with devastating historical context, I don't remember enough about Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn to say how much it departs from that canon or whatever, but I feel like kids should have to read this as a companion to Tom Sawyer if not just this one by itself. I feel like this is an important book and although the stakes are life and death the scenebuilding is so beautiful, the Mississippi river and the steamboats and the forests, wow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Pedophilia
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
I love Mariana Enriquez's writing and how uncomfortable it makes me, but I think I really liked Things We Lost in the Fire better than this collection. I felt like a lot of the stories were the same and actually pretty similar to TWLITF so maybe I'd feel differently If I had read this one first? There is something Mariana touches on in her writing that is so hard to describe when you feel it yourself, like when you feel like everyone is pretending to be fine around you and you're like everything is so f*cked up here???? y'all arent upset????
Big themes for this one: pooping on the ground, ghost children, hating the city you live in.
Big themes for this one: pooping on the ground, ghost children, hating the city you live in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Pedophilia
Model Home by Rivers Solomon
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
3.5
This book definitely snuck up on me, I don't think you are prepared for the ending its wild
I was getting kind of annoyed with the main character but then everything kind of falls into place and you're like AHHHHHHHH
I didn't, however, enjoy whenin the end Elijah is not saved from the hotel situation in time I feel like it was weird and then they kind of all were like 'haha yay our family is back together!' I was like wait didn't something devastating just happen? twice?
but yeah super lit and also really gay, there's something about the writing style that I feel is distinctly gay and wow the twist I really did not see coming, it was so so upsetting
I was getting kind of annoyed with the main character but then everything kind of falls into place and you're like AHHHHHHHH
I didn't, however, enjoy when
but yeah super lit and also really gay, there's something about the writing style that I feel is distinctly gay and wow the twist I really did not see coming, it was so so upsetting
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Rape
Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Death of parent
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
This reminds me of the movie Sick Of Myself and book Nightbitch
(Actually very similar plotline to nightbitch) , i think i loved it up until i realized like it was almost over. I was waiting for something else to happen the whole time yk..
But i loved the writing style and how insufferable everyone was, and how tapped in it is to modern internet culture like wow
Definitely recommend but not if you are expecting a grand story, more like a thinkpiece
(Actually very similar plotline to nightbitch) , i think i loved it up until i realized like it was almost over. I was waiting for something else to happen the whole time yk..
But i loved the writing style and how insufferable everyone was, and how tapped in it is to modern internet culture like wow
Definitely recommend but not if you are expecting a grand story, more like a thinkpiece
Carcoma by Layla Martínez
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Idk i really could not hold my attention to this story at all, i don't really know why i feel like this is usually my jam, i think I had a hard time keeping track of the narrator? Idk. And I didn't really find the plot to be that interesting but i really really liked the writing style and also the setting. Maybe will try to read again someday because I can tell its a good book lol it kind of reminded me at times of a Spanish version of Parasite
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Classism
Le Nostre Mogli negli Abissi by Julia Armfield
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I love the banality of this title and how mysterious and slow it is and how gay as well, but i felt like the payoff at the end wasn't quite enough for me. I wanted to be a little more disturbed and a little less melancholy because the buildup took so long. But this is definitely a fire book and as a waterbaby i love the writing and the language
Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.
Content Warnings
Minor: Confinement
Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Okay Cormac McCarthy really pisses me off but this was metal as f*ck
A carnival of depravity and endless suffering if u will
I just don't understand why he has to Tarantino the damn thing and pepper in every possible slur he could think of big eyeroll
A carnival of depravity and endless suffering if u will
I just don't understand why he has to Tarantino the damn thing and pepper in every possible slur he could think of big eyeroll
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, War
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
sad
slow-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? Yes
4.0
Once again i am so blown away by Hanya Yanagihara's writing. I think this is a must read for everyone. I feel like she understands soft power better than any philosopher or marxist, especially this in combination with her amazing (and more disturbing) book 'The People in the Trees' . This book is like a triptych kind of with a bunch of different converging timelines and people in different stages of societal collapse. It's as much about love and relationships as it is about the downfall of society and human rights. I feel like so much of her writing can be traced back to the phrase 'it starts with an idea', and the like micro-aggression pyramid. I also can't understand how her writing is so slow-paced, but I cannot physically put it down. There is an underlying disturbing, upsetting feeling told through minor details that aren't even really integral to the story (the drowning, the rocking, the death of the twins), Hawaiian history, and the re-use of names for different characters gave everything a very Lynchian vibe. That two people are the same but they are in different times and spaces, the wormhole thing. Also the fact that this is truly a science fiction novel, idk I could go on and on. I think Hanya Yanagihara is an actual genius.
The only reason I took one star off was because I felt like the ending was building to something a bit more intense than what happened, although it did make me cry.
The only reason I took one star off was because I felt like the ending was building to something a bit more intense than what happened, although it did make me cry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Colonisation
Moderate: Child death, Homophobia
Minor: Slavery
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
This was a really beautiful book it was so alien, I would definitely put it in the science fiction category even though we don't have much evidence for that. It's so disturbing due to the lack of details and those that are slowly revealed. I definitely wanted to know more about what was happening but I know that the point is to marinate in the unknown. 🙄 'I'm dying of a poisoned womb, I who have never known men' is craaaazy
also the idea that apathy can be a result of growing up in isolation, that the MC didn't fear death or killing
I also think the author did an amazing job forcing the reader to examine themselves, I kept catching myself being like 'oh I hope they find civilization' and then realizing that they are civilization and what I really felt was I hope they find men. Like why doesn't a group of 50 women constitute "people" ??? I think it really exposes our biological biases, that feeling 'last' (can't have offspring) is the same as feeling alone, but why?
also the idea that apathy can be a result of growing up in isolation, that the MC didn't fear death or killing