Fawn
I adored this. “It's disjointed” Do you know what a memoir is “Why does it include Canadian history” Do you know what a memoir is “There's too much explicit sexuality” DO YOU KNOW WHAT A MEMOIR IS “Too much SA for me to enjoy” DO YOU KNOW WHAT A MEMOIR IS. DO YOU KNOW HOT TO CHECK FOR CONTENT WARNINGS. DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING NOT BEING TO YOUR SPECIFIC TASTES DOES NOT MEAN IT IS BAD. “I feel like I didn't learn anything about being trans from this” Points aggressively to the author's note at the beginning of the book. I laughed and I cried, I learned a whole lot and felt seen and understood. So much forgiveness and empathy from somebody who was wronged countless times. There IS fucking strength in being soft. Felt like unlocking a friend's lore over a bottle of wine and comfort music.
i really enjoyed the cute moments with our protag and her love interest but unfortunately the majority of the second third of this book really set it back for me. for some reason this is riddled with typos which were continuously breaking my immersion. the pacing feels way off, our main character spends a good chunk of the book misunderstanding/refusing to understand a situation with her friend, only for this to do a total 180 in the span of two sentences. flawed characters are so important to me but in this instance it almost felt wasteful as i approached the final parts of the books. the time spent reading was enough to turn the dynamics around, but the writing's focus wasn't there, therefore the shifts felt out of place and jarring. i appreciate any story that touches on grief, because it always feels like a vulnerability from the author and it can be done in so many different ways because everybody's experience is so unique. sadly i struggled with not getting angry with becca throughout her grief journey, and i know a lot of that was intentional, but i think i found it to be the case when the intent was to make the reader feel sympathy or empathy, too. could i write a better book? no. absolutely not. this isn't a bad book by any means but i really think some further editing would work wonders for it, even if it's just to reduce the double take moments the reader has from running into a misused or misspelled word.
‘you're not thinking. you're feeling.' absolutely lush writing and i loved the author's narration in the audiobook good LORD. also there was a part of their ~dynamic~ which resonated really strongly right now and hit me just the right amount. ugh, chef's kiss. unfortunately the second person perspective was a struggle and a miss for me personally.
☆ really dug the general vibes and atmosphere
☆ enjoyed the norwegian setting and learning bits and pieces about the language and culture
☆ huge stig fan, personally
✗ was not a fan of the romance in this, i wish it was a platonic relationship
✗ there were a few insensitive moments but nothing too extreme (as far as im aware)
✗ pacing was a tiny bit too slow for me but im being nitpicky
✗ “girls who are different” 🚩
— i think this book would be great for people who are nostalgic for pjo, sadly that isn't me
— was not a fan of the audiobook narrator
— unsure if i'll try book two
— also can somebody PLEASE tell me what it mean when “[character]'s face darkens” like what exactly does that look like!
content warnings: animal cruelty, animal death, blood, body horror, cannibalism, child abuse, child death, death, death of parent, emotional abuse, excrement, gore, islamophobia, mental illness, misogyny, murder, physical abuse, pregnancy, racial slurs, rape, sexism, sexual assault, sexual violence, torture
i'm not even kidding, this and dead inside have the exact same problem of being so formulaic where every chapter is the repeat of the previous one with like. a sentence of a difference. extreme horror is great but only when done with an iota of something that isn't just ~oooo disgusting description that will make the reader gag~. it sure will!! but what's the point if that's all there is? WHY did so many influencers recommend this lmao
content warnings: necrophilia, rape, cannibalism, child death, animal death, gore, drug abuse, body horror, misogyny, self harm, miscarriage, abortion
this is just like. shock factor porn for edgy incels. i wanted it to be more because i'm so desensitised and want something that will make me recoil and uncomfortable, and while the subject matter itself is enough to do that the writing is just so.. cringey? (“so I figured I'd bite the bullet and just do it, Nike-style” LIKE CMON) and i hate that word. i don't know. this could have been so fucked up and engaging but instead it was just fucked up and embarrassing. so many of the positive reviews for this book stem from ‘well it's fucked up and appalling because that's the point!' yes we know, but that doesn't mean we don't also deserve good writing and an actual plot over just the same gore porn for however many pages. extreme horror can be good! this is unfortunately not an example of that.
content warnings: physical and sexual assault, gore, death, mentions and depictions of rape this is a tough one to rate. it turned out to not be predictable like i had thought but things like our survivor narrator referring to a girl who was grabbed and manhandled and barely freed from a man as ‘almost-victim' was so incredibly insensitive and unaware it was astounding. for some reason i've had it in my head for years that our author was a woman so it made sense when i learned he's a 49 year old white man, lol. i think i would recommend this, i just don't think i've found my niche with mystery thrillers yet.
I loved this book, but it's in the category of “I loved this piece of media but would never recommend it”. I understand people's distastes towards this book and why they might find it exploitative or a form of torture porn, though as a victim myself I didn't feel this was the case, it just felt very deeply dark and horrible and gripping. I fell in love with our protagonists and haven't rooted so hard against antagonists in a long while. The ending felt a bit too lacklustre/rushed for my tastes, but otherwise this retelling was exactly what I needed to get me out of my slump and I will be picking up the next book.
A captivating but comfy set of tales woven together to create a beautiful novel that reminds us of why we read and why we love.
This was the perfect book to start 2023 with, I immediately fell head over heels for the characters, and was so deeply immersed in the lives of these friends we make on our journey through this book. I found myself tearing up a lot throughout, and while I definitely had my favourite character, all of the people we meet are flawed and real, making them all the more lovable. So many quotable passages, so many simple sentences that are structured perfectly just to get you choked on your tears a little bit each time.
My eyes were prickling the whole time reading this, it's a perfect example of how to wrap the reader up in a blanket and make them forget they're reading. A very bittersweet journey about life, love, and the magic of books. Would recommend to anybody and everybody.
I hate Liz and I don't like Raahosh so this was kind of miserable for me. Didn't really understand Liz's defensiveness of Raahosh to the others despite her inner monologue still being pissed off at being controlled. It felt too much like denial of abuse as opposed to the first book, where it was fear and reluctance into love. These two just feel unhealthy overall, even by the standards of this kind of series. Excited to go back to Vektal and Georgie.
I enjoyed this a lot more the more I read. There was something about the writing style, maybe, that my brain really struggled to get behind at first. This was possibly due to Kawaguchi also being a playwright, but the longer I sat with it and allowed myself to be immersed in that vivid-in-my-imagination coffee shop, the more I was transported and was able to be hit with waves of feelings.
It's a comfy read that feels almost anthology-like with the way it's formatted, and I really enjoyed it. Perfect for one sitting with a coffee, or multiple sittings curled up in lots of blankets. Tears were shed and I'm glad I stuck with this despite my initial hesitancy.
Okay I never do text reviews because who would be interested in me doing that but after seeing so many people with the same opinion as me I had to. The book could 100% have been 200 pages shorter. It sucked that after 600 pages of really decent and engaging horror building up, we're slapped in the face with a bunch of not even subtle religious “sub”text.
Also I dislike King so the similarities that I did notice were really disappointing but not something I really want to talk about on Storygraph.
madness in many colors.
i remembered this being good, but not this good. it's super rare a book can make me cry these days, but i was gripped until the very end with tears stinging my eyes, even if i had an inkling of a memory of how it ended.
sci-fi for people who don't, or feel like they can't, read sci-fi, and incredibly engrossing.
