Indira Pranabudi
I loved reading this; it definitely made me feel closer to my roots. Child of All Nations has more serious undertones that This Earth of Mankind; it has a lot less romance and a lot more discussions on colonialism, the struggle for independence, and humanity. This is the kind of book that really immerses you in a completely different time and place. In a way, I'm not sure how much me enjoying this book is because I feel that I can relate to it, vs it actually being a great book. Regardless, I really enjoyed it. It's such a thought-provoking books and there were so many moments I felt that I had to stop to really think.
The ending was a big letdown for me, I feel like the build up was huge and it ended so quickly. There were also a few things that I felt weren't completely tied up at the end. However, it was still a great book to me, so I'm giving this a 4.5/5.
This book is so unique; I almost struggle to find the words to describe it because it's so different from any other book I've ever read. It's a great book, but definitely somewhat haunting, and I'm not sure I would recommend this book to everyone.
Some other thoughts about this book:
* The main storyline was hands down “unputdownable” to me but I didn't enjoy Lude's story nearly as much
* The typography and page layout in general is so peculiar... there were parts that I blazed through and some other parts I didn't even know how to read. But I guess that's the point of the book?
* Big book fear prevented me from picking this up sooner but I'm glad I finally did because it's definitely one of those books you don't really stop thinking about
This is an Indonesian classic, and it's about time I read this!
Having already already watched the 2019 film adaptation featuring Iqbaal Ramadhan an Mawar Eva De Jongh, I'm already familiar with the storyline. However, reading the book was an even better experience because I got to really immerse myself in the story, including all the details that were left out in the film.
I thought the book was great. At its core, it's a political novel, and it serves as a great insight into what life might have been like as a Native in the Dutch East Indies back in the late 1800s. It's quite interesting because as I'm reading this in the 21st century, I realize that my life is vastly different from life back then (e.g. the Dutch no longer rule in the East Indies and Indonesia has become an independent country), and yet, in many ways life is still the same (e.g. the Western world still “rules” Asia and the repercussions of colonialism are still felt).
The main character, Mike, is a Native. Yet unlike most Natives, he lives a very privileged life and attends HBS (Hogere Burgerschool), an elite school even for Europeans and Indos. In a way, he's straddled between two worlds: Natives and Europeans, and doesn't quite fit in either. As someone who is Indonesian but has lived in “Western world” for the past 10 years now, I could really relate to this aspect of the story.
One of my favorite characters in the story is Nyai Ontosoroh, the concubine of a wealthy Dutch man. The fact that most Native women at that time did not receive an education, combined with the fact that as a concubine she constantly faced shame and ridicule makes it even more incredible that throughout the book she continuously shows how smart, wise and strong she is. This makes it even more annoying how Nyai Ontosoroh's own daughter, Annelies Mellema is depicted as such a weak woman. In fact, she's described as a “doll” multiple times throughout the book. I just don't get it.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to pick up the next one!
My first thought after finishing this book: “Did anything actually happen?”
The prose was beautiful and it wasn't necessarily boring, but it honestly felt like nothing of importance happened. I can't figure out what exactly I'm supposed to take away from this book and I just have mixed emotions having finished reading it.
Such a well-written book on race, religion, and identity in America that's extremely relevant in the current climate. I loved hearing bits and pieces of Lalami's background too as there were quite a few things that I was able to relate to from my personal experience of living here in the US.
Perhaps not as relevant unless you live in the US since most of the examples are US-specific, but I do think that a lot of the themes discussed in this book apply outside of the US as well.
I have such respect for the work Jane Goodall has done as a naturalist/primatologist, so really wanted to like this book but it was just so meh.
I didn't quite realize this book is presented as a conversation between Jane Goodall and Doug Abrams, so I got the audiobook cause I thought it would be good to hear Goodall narrate her own story, but the whole conversation dynamic was just weird as an audiobook. You'd hear Doug narrate “And then Jane said” followed by Goodall narrating what she actually said... which was just odd.
I also completely agree that we need hope in order to tackle the current climate crisis, but I felt that what was discussed in this book was too handwavy. Yes, there were some nice tidbits here and there, but overall, I'd love to hear more concrete evidence.
I did finish the audiobook, but honestly I spaced out after 70% of the way.
Olga Dies Dreaming had all the necessary ingredients for a great book in my eyes: a unique backdrop, complex characters and strong political/cultural themes. It's generally an entertaining read, although some of the things that took place in the book did feel a little forced and far-fetched.
I was going to give this a 4/5 but dropped it down to a 3/5 because the ending for me was just disappointing. There was a lot of build up that wasn't fully resolved.
Wow, what an incredible book. Incredibly informative and thought-provoking yet easy to read. I love how Kolbert starts each chapter off with an animal and uses the history of that animal to ease the reader into the greater arc of the story. I like how Kolbert makes her point in a matter-of-fact and non-judgemental way whereas I feel that some other climate-change-oriented literature tend to be rather sassy in a “we're screwed, this is XYZ's fault” kind of way.
Overall, such a great book and an essential read for everyone.
I was reading this book on the T when a girl came up to me and said that The Song of Achilles was one of her favourite books; she liked it so much that she even got a tattoo of it!
I was hesitant to read it at first because I read Madeline Miller's Circe and thought it was kinda meh, but I'm glad I finally read this because this turned out to be such a wonderfully written re-telling of the Iliad. 10/10 would recommend!
Touching and honest memoir on Ashley C. Ford's childhood, growing up with an incarcerated father and an emotionally absent (and often physically abusive) mother. I consumed this as an audiobook, and Ford as a narrator did not disappoint.
I was originally going to give this a 4/5 but it's been a week since I finished reading it and I already started to forget some of the things I read in this book... which probably means it wasn't as memorable for me? 3/5 it is!
This was surprisingly good. I honestly don't know much about Will Smith and wasn't planning to pick up an audiobook copy, but I recently got recommended Will's “Best Shape of My Life” series on YouTube in which he includes excerpts of his new book... and I was hooked.
From his audiobook, you can really tell how good of a storyteller he is. I loved all the different voices he did in it and all the music he included. Prior to listening to this audiobook, I only knew of Will Smith as a famous actor (heck, I had no idea he was a rapper, let alone the first person to ever win a Grammy for Rap), but I now have a newfound appreciation for how hard working and talented he is. It's inspiring to see a black man accomplish so many groundbreaking accolades!
The only thing I wanted to call out was the ending — I thought it was a little cheesy. I think I would have preferred it with less of the “life lessons” so that the audience can interpret his story however they want.
I went into this knowing nothing about Bob Iger aside from the fact that he was the CEO of the Walt Disney Company and I was pleasantly surprised! It was really interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look of the aquisitions that Disney made during his time. It also felt pretty candid and authentic, and included some good nuggets of advice throughout the book. It was engaging (and short) enough that I ended up finishing it over the course of a weekend.
It was little dull compared to the first novel; not a lot of action but felt like more of a backstory for what's to come next. Or at least I hope so!
It was generally a good book, but honestly, I don't think I would've found this book as interesting if I wasn't already invested in Paul Muad'Dib and the rest of the Dune universe.
This book made me both mad and sad, but mostly mad. In a good way though!
I love that it's fiction but also kind of non-fiction (the author interweaves some statistics throughout the book), and I absolutely love that it's feminist. It's a pretty short book so I think it would also make for a good book club kind of book.
4.5/5
I absolutely love Adichie, I absolutely love books on feminism and I loved this book too! Very concise and straight to the point.
Giving this a 4/5 instead of 5/5 cause I felt that it completely ignored the fact that gender and sex are different, and it was very focused hetero relationships. These are things that are top of mind for me (esp in 2021), though I understand it might not have been as common to talk about in 2014.
Dune is a great book, and the cultural impact it has had is immense. I loved the world building and I thought the underlying themes touched on issues that are still relevant to this day (e.g. oppression of indigenous peoples such as the Fremen).
I really wanted to love it enough to give it a 5 star rating but although this book was engaging, it wasn't necessarily a can't-put-down book for me. The ending also felt a little anticlimactic for me and though I love the Middle Eastern and Islamic undertones, is it just me or does it also feel like appropriation?
I found this book hard to read and just plain confusing. Each “chapter” is very short, often just one or two pages, and jumps back and forth between different people in different locations. There were quite a few people mentioned and I found it difficult to keep up with them all (maybe I'm just dumb? lol). I ended up skimming through the last third of the book cause I just wanted to get it over with.
I was originally going to give it a 1 star rating but TBH there were some interesting historical tidbits in there, so it wasn't all bad!