Cecilie
Oh my goooooooood, I love it
I love Mr. Gray SO MUCH, okay? He's so... reliable? God, I just love him.
Adam, baby boy, finally had his head in straight. I'm so proud of you, honey.
I had totally forgotten about what happened with Persephone in this book. Can't believe I forgot that. Like. How.
Anyway, this was amazing. And I love Blue. So much. Also I find it weirdly endearing when she and Gansey are fighting. Idk why. I just do. Maybe it's because they're always so cute when they make up again. Who knows
An absolutely wonderful and insightful read. Took me a long while but I got there in the end. What I particularly liked was that the book was written by a British author and focused mainly on British issues. It's not something I've really considered much, but there is a vast difference between the racism in America and the racism in my own country. And though I'm not British, the racism problems Britain is facing come much closer to the ones in Denmark.
It was delightfully well written and well structured. I don't really know how to rate non-fiction books, but it was great. I really enjoyed reading it.
The overall story of this book is actually really good, probably 4 stars, maybe even 4.5 stars.
But!
It is sooo. daaaamn. looooooong.
Like, it's just too long, and would have benefited greatly by decreasing it by at least 50 pages. AT LEAST.
So yeah. That knocked off a star or so because it was simply too long.
Otherwise, I really really enjoyed it!
This was a very interesting read. I've never read something as animal-centric as this, and the point of view of an elephant and the liberties taken in this story with elephant “culture” is definitely interesting as well.
It's 3 stars because I don't have any strong feeling about it. It was fine and I enjoyed some parts of it.
This was so good!
I mean, it was totally weird in the beginning. I didn't really understand the point or where we were going, but it was so interesting! So i kept reading, and by like 150 pages I was absolutely invested. The characters started forming bonds and stuff, so it just became a lot more enjoyable to follow the story.
Content warnings for eating disorders, sexual assault, miscarriage, and more, probably, but those were the ones I picked up on.
Imagine my surprise as I went into this book expecting contemporary and what I got what magical realism 🙃🙃🙃
I was so shook holy shit 😂😂
This was a really interesting read that went in probably every single direction I WAS NOT expecting. I have a habit of going into books without knowing much about them, but I usually at least know the genre. For this I didn't lmao. But I enjoyed it despite some flaws. Overall, it was intriguing and engaging, despite my early pacing complaint.
I adored the relationship between the two sisters, and I found myself being very intrigued by the people Effie was getting closer and forming bonds with. I really liked Wallace too, I wanted more of him, and I wished we could have seen more of the friendship between Effie and Isabella too. However, I thought Tavia's storyline was somewhat tame in comparison. Don't get me wrong, I loved the self-acceptance and confidence she found, but I think I actually just would have liked to see her interact with more people. I don't know.
I wish the world had been more flushed out in general. I felt thrown into a parallel world, but I never really felt comfortable with it. It could have benefited from more exposition in that regard. The ending also felt a bit rushed in comparison to the pacing of the majority of the book (which, aside from being slow in the beginning, I really liked! It was a very comfortable pacing for the most part)
Hm. Definitely one of the most interesting classics I've read so far. I was pretty much never bored, you know, it was really well paced.
Um... but it was also just deeply unsatisfying. I think I had too much sympathy going both sides and somehow that ended with me feeling that the ending was not tragic enough for either of the two sides.
Also, just don't end your story with the villain monologuing why they did what they did. A bad idea. That actually WAS boring. Don't do that, it is awful. The end.
An absolutely wonderful and insightful read, and the audiobook is fantastic! I can highly recommend listening to it.
I really enjoyed the insight of a Black woman and her personal experiences, and I loved how she didn't shy away from talking about how white supremacy and its roots can take hold even in Black people.
I would have liked a longer chapter on cultural appropriation, but alas one book can only do so much, and Oluo really dives into a lot of different topics within racism, so I understand that some things were more “superficial” than others. So informative, and the narration is engaging and easy to follow, which I thought was great. Just very good, overall, you know?
okay, i literally don't even know what to say
it was so good????????
like omg???
like, holy shit, frances is just so relatable and amazing and i love her and i love everything and omg it was just so good what the hell!!!
also, side note, alice oseman is twenty five years old and has written like eight books, i am in literal awe, especially if all of them are THIS GOOD??????????
i'm just completely entirely wholeheartedly one hundred percent in love with this and i can't. oh my god i love it so much.
thank you, that's it
x
This was a really insightful read, specifically written for White people, and I can't recommend it enough. This is really only a “beginner's level” book on racism, but, quite frankly, I think that's exactly where we all need to start. You won't get anywhere if you don't know the groundwork, anyway, and White Fragility puts a lot of things on the table simply as it is, and forces you to reconsider a lot of the maybe normal parts of life that you've missed out on realizing were really quite harmful towards people of color. It's things we say without thinking, or subconscious reactions we make, and the only way to improve ourselves is to realize where the problems lie and do our best to change them so it doesn't happen again. This book is a great starter for that in the realm of racism and it would do every White person on earth wonders to actually read it.
Can definitely recommend.
This was really good! It touches on many important things (but mainly sexism and toxic masculinity) and it was just such a pleasant surprise. I think I went into it thinking it would be kind of rom-com-like with the “hihi-haha I'll pretend to pledge for virginity to get an in with a girl I like” plot we had going on, but it went so much deeper than that and I'm so happy it did, it was so good!
Del as a narrator was interesting, although he's not exactly likeable. He's very arrogant throughout most of the book and so fucking oblivious as well that I occasionally felt ready to punch him in the face. I also had a bit of a hard time with the plot revolving around Kiera, who I thought was pretty bland and she and Del had no chemistry whatsoever, which also made it weird that he kept on wanting to pursue her. This decision makes sense the further you get into the story, but it was quite frustrating at times. Especially considering that he had so much chemistry with Shianne, quite a lot with Mya too, and honestly I kinda wish he would have been written as bi because Jameer was there, hello, hi, Jameer. Oh well, a girl can't have everything.
Shianne was by far my favorite character of them all. She was honest, funny, cool, and she really knew how to put Del in his place. Like, I'm stuck between wanting to date her and wanting to be her, she was just chef's kiss.
I loved Jameer and Cwan too. They were just such great characters and I wish we had seen Del spend more time with them. At first I was suspicious of Jameer's intentions around helping Del because I thought he had the hots for Del and was doing senseless work helping Del get with Kiera while Kiera was helping Jameer get with Del... This was certainly not the case, although I wouldn't have minded lmao. It would have been fun and would have given me more Jameer, so it would have been a win for everyone, honestly. Cwan was just a really supportive friend who seemed like the type to learn from situations well, and I loved how he changed a bit after meeting Angie, although I also wish we would have seen more of him instead of Del always being like “he's off with Angie”. Oh, well, once again, a girl can only ask for so much, right?
The religious element in any story is very much a struggle for me, mainly because I personally feel so entirely estranged from believing in religion in almost any capacity, and in this story it was definitely aggravating me too. You can't put a bigoted character in front of me and say “oh, he's a good person deep down” like, nah, dude, he's bigoted and he's bad. I get the whole learning and getting better by the end, but before that I was just so put off by the idea because this man had shown quite literally no sense of progress so why would that even compell you to give him the benefit of the doubt?
On a last note, I will stand by the fact that Cressie and Jaylen are gay for each other till the day I die.
Goodnight.
This was so good! I enjoyed it so much, and it was such a genuine surprise the entire way through.
What I absolutely loved the most about this was the found family. Hana and Caravaggio especially have such a wonderful bond with each other, the way they banter, and how they knew each other before the war and are now able to see how it has changed each other and like the other for it more, it was just so heartwarming.
Kip ended up being a nice addition to their little family, despite him being a bit in his own little shell a lot. He ends up being the one to make them all hang out together with the English patient in a way where you really feel their love of each other's company.
All of the characters had such interesting stories, and were traumatized by the war they had been part of in different ways, but were understanding of each other and always respectful and I just really loved their family dynamic, okay, it was so wonderful!
Throughout, I was often wondering how I would rate the book, as I enjoyed almost all of it, and when I wasn't entirely enjoying it, it was more from a perspective of me not quite understanding what was happening for a page or two. But when we got to the last chapter is when it fell through a bit. There was a lot of exposition suddenly, and not in the way it had been before, and I wasn't a huge fan of it. Kip's reaction to hearing about the bombings in Japan, however, I thought was incredibly valid and nicely done and I can completely understand why he reacted the way he did, but then when we get to the last 4 pages, we're sent into the future that I didn't want to know about, and which I felt was focused on the wrong person.
I think it was an odd choice to end the story the way it did, but alas I can do nothing to change that. But it definitely solidified the rating for me.
I loved the way the story was told overall, and how moments of humor would come in to break the tension. The tone of the book is heavy, but it's never dark or grave, at some points it even feels light hearted. And when the English patient is telling his story, which is long and comes in parts throughout the book, it helps so much to have Hana or Caravaggio occasionally come into the picture and have them asking a question or something, which pulls you out of the story he is telling for a short second, relieving some tension, which helped to digest it much easier.
I also loved the setting of the book, and it made me realize how I have practically never considered how South Europe was affected by World War II, which is awful actually. Being in this deserted part of Italy was a great setting for the story, as well as intriguing for me personally, and it was incredibly interesting how there was an entire storyline about spies and Egypt and secret intelligence, which I would have loved to know more about, it was so fascinating!
Overall, it was just really really good, man.
Percy is a fantastic and wonderful narrator, and the audiobook narrator was really good at finding Percy's voice for it, which was great. I think putting lots of modern references in the dialogue (like tempting a god with cookies) was a clever way to make the storylines feel more modern too, like the amount of times the word ‘babe' shows up in this book is honestly probably too many. I wasn't kidding when I said the male gods all sound like jocks, lmao.
As a remnant of the old stories, I'm sure, there was a repetitiveness in the stories which was rather tedious at times. The amount of times Zeus raped females (because they weren't always goddesses or humans) is appalling (and Poseidon did it too!), and the gods getting mad at each other and killing someone else out of revenge or jealousy is just 🤦🏻♀️. You can only listen to the same thing happen to different people by the same people so many times before it goes stale.
Otherwise it was great.
I finally finished this beast. Actually, it's only 236 pages but it felt like a beast. It took me so long and I'm not well so it took me even longer.
It had interesting parts but I felt like it dragged overall. Pretty much all the characters were interesting, but again, it dragged. So I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I didn't hate it and I didn't love it. It had a nice message, and it wasn't hard to figure out what it was trying to say.
I adored this so much. Such amazing and wonderful characters in this story who I just love.
Cordelia is such a wonderful main character! (James is also a main character, but I like Cordelia more, leave me alone). She's so smart and she never makes rash decisions, she always thinks about it so that when she makes a decision things don't go WRONG! What a refresher! I've gone through three series of main characters who do not think before doing, and god I love Cordelia so much!
Alastair, also, like, can we talk about Alastair????? The snippet we got before the release told me about as much as I needed to know - he will get a redemption arc - AND CAN WE JUST- I JUST- I NEED SOME CLOSURE HERE- WITH MATTHEW- AND ALL THAT- APOLOGY TOUR, PERHAPS? ALASTAIR, I LOVE YOU, BOO, PLEASE DO THE TOUR. IT IS NEEDED. Also, hello Thomas. THOMAS!
Anna is just wonderful in every single aspect and I really wish there was more of her! I loved how she was kind of the collected older sister everyone goes to when they need help and can't ask the adults, lmao. I think I know what her role will be in the next book (or next two) AND I CAN'T WAIT.
Charles.... And Grace..... I fucking can't. I need them both to just leave. Mostly Grace, but Charles, fuck, you're such an asshole. And Grace is literally on an entirely different level. Charles is like level 2 assholery, and Grace is like level 57. I cannot with this girl, she aggravates me to no end and I need her to sit the fuck down and STOP. Regain her conscience. Apologize. And move on.
LUCIE IS SO ADORABLE, I LOVE HOW EVERYTIME SOMEONE IS FOCUSING ON JAMES SHE'S LIKE “I'm here too, hi!”, AND I LOVE HOW SHE RUNS TO CORDELIA AND HUGS HER AND YELLS OUT HER NAME EVERY TIME SHE SEES HER, AND I LOVE HOW SHE TAKES NO FUCKS AND TELLS MATTHEW OFF, AND I JUST FUCKING LOVE HER SO MUCH, OKAY, PLEASE DON'T HURT THIS PRECIOUS BABY, CC, PLEASE!
Now, the parents.
Seeing our previous mains as parents, I was dying! It was amazing! Will is the jokester dad (as expected ofc), and Tessa is the common sense, I love. Cecily is such a feminist, and she shuts down Gabriel and Will for trying to disagree, I love. Henry is Christopher's mentor and I LOVE. I just love, I love all the love, I LOVE. (unfortunately, there was not enough of Gideon and Sophie, nor Charlotte).
Matthew is a character who I adored in the short stories, but was slightly annoyed with here. It is probably mostly because he's drunk all the time, but I really just need him to step the fuck up occasionally.
Generally, I adored the absolute shit out of this book. My only gripe with it is actually the plot. In general, the book feels like a starter book in terms of character introductions and period setting, which means the plot gets pushed to a later time, just a bit. I really loved seeing all the bits of Cordelia navigating this posh world she has landed in, it was so entertaining. But the plot felt smaller than I've become accustomed to with CC's books lately, yet at the same time it felt like it wanted to be larger than it was.... does that even make sense? Idk. But it did feel a little bit lackluster at times, you know, it feels like a book whose purpose is to set up the next book (as books in a series obviously should, but I hope you know what I'm getting at.)
It was so aggravating at times BECAUSE FUCKING GRACE, and often I got so blindsided I was like wha- did you jus- but I thought- it's- but- wut. Other times, I was simply very confused about the decisions that were made, like HELLOOOOOOOO.
Overall, this first book is very much character-driven, and thankfully I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEEEE the characters, which made it very easy to love the book. There were so many good character moments, like I get happy just thinking about it. Gah! I want more! Ahhhhh! Closer to the end I was worried I was gonna chuck the book across the room when it was over, but I actually was VERY happy with what happened at the end and the outcome it leads into for the next book, like I AM SO EXCITED OH MY GOD. THIS TROPE.
I can't. Like I fucking can't. Yes. All the yesses.
I FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK. It was literally sitting for six months waiting to be finished.
I loved this so much! I think it actually helped that I left it alone for six months after reading like 90 pages because everything I remember about the beginning was really fucking depressing. When I started reading again things were finally picking up and getting more exciting!
Can I just say I am such a hoe for the Avitas/Helene ship, like I am all the way here for it, from the second I started reading the book again I was just like “I NEED THIS, I WANT THIS, GIVE IT TO ME!”
Like, Avitas is just so chef's kiss.
Helene's singing literally saves their asses so many times, like we wouldn't be here if it weren't for that. We'd all be fucking dead. Thank god for her singing. And also, thank god she didn't stay an emotionless blop, I was so scared I would be mad at her the entire time, but I wasn't. I actually love her, even though it's annoying how she always underestimates the Commondant, and I need her to trust Harper more because he's smart and knows things, but all that is besides the point that I really fucking love her.
Until Laia was making her way to Antium, her storyline was by far the least interesting. Every time we went back to her, I was just like “no! i want more Helene!!” Elias's was also interesting, but that one was quite frustrating because it was really just a waiting game on when things would start to go to shit.
I cannot BELIEVE Cook, I cannot- like I can't- I just- I can't. I really fucking can't. And Darin knows, but I can't for the life of me figure out how the fuck he knows! He's only a couple years older than Laia, it makes no sense that his tiny little brain would have been like “must remember, must notice, must gather information.” Because Spiro did not tell him all this. So how??? In Kauf? The Commondant???? I DON'T KNOOOOOOOOW. Also, I really thought he was lying about knowing how to make the steel. He was way too hesitant... I'm sure the next book will let me know.
Speaking of the Commondant, when is this bitch going to fucking die off, I cannot with this piece-of-shit lady, I just- ugh, you can't see me but I'm pinching the bridge of my nose just thinking about her. And honestly, the jinn? They are only a single step below the Commondant on the scale of terribleness, like A SINGLE STEP. Because they are fucking shitty AF too, like why y'all gotta be so manipulative???? The fuck did these people do to you, they weren't alive A THOUSAND FUCKING YEARS AGO WHEN EVERYTHING WENT TO SHIT. I just can't.
I have this theory, that something is up with the Commondant's health, like for some reason I think she's poisened or something and will die slowly, in like a year. I'm either remembering something subtly mentioned in another book, or it's just wishful thinking. I don't know.
Also can we just talk about Laia and her rash decisions for a second because a bitch is fed up, okay. She jumps to conclusions in a second, and it's not cute, Laia, it makes you look real fucking stupid. EVERYTHING IS NOT ABOUT YOU! Don't project yourself onto things that obviously aren't you! Like, shit, just sit the fuck down and think about it, geez.
When we got to the last chapter, I was confused about where Elias was at. I wanted him to jump in and be like “hey! how's ending humanity going?” but he didn't, so I guess he was preoccupied, but like, with what? HE'S IN THE FUCKING FOREST.
Anyway, I don't think I have much else to say. It was really really good, I loved it. It's a rough plot, but like I mentioned, I think it helped me to be seperated from the terribleness of the beginning and get back into when things were heating up. It's sad because it's war, but I didn't think it overpowered everything, it didn't feel like it was just war, war, war, with more war. It was really balanced and I loved that. It was just really well done, in general, and I just can't wait for the next one! It was so good!
You know, on an some level I could probably put this higher, but with the terribleness of it all I can't really bring myself to it.
The storyteller is a racist among other racists, and it comes through in every description of people who aren't white just how racist she is. On top of that, she wants to employ sympathy from the reader for her and her friends, almost just as much as for the main character of the story. And then there's the glossing over of these really terrible and awful acts as if they're not completely appalling. I just can't.
It's definitely an interesting read, but there's just so much bad shit from the author's side that I'm like.... no.