Parris
It's cliche but a part of me changed when I read this book. Khorram writes about depression in a way that I have never experienced before, something so honest and in such plain terms that it really hit me hard.
I wanted to hug and protect Darius just as fiercely as his Mamou did. Every struggle between Darius and his father was soul crushing and you're just sitting there praying they could understand each other a little more.
The depictions of Yazd were so easy to visualize in my head, and I loved the often gentle hand holding through various Farsi words and phrases and cultural customs. I want to try eating everything mentioned.
The deadpan humour and Darius' inner commentary about the things that happen around him are hilarious, and I definitely let out a lot of little giggles here and there.
This book made me cry three times throughout, and then a fourth time in the afterword. It's just a really beautiful, tender book. It's definitely the best book I've read so far this year and will absolutely be right there whenever someone asks me for a book recommendation.
This book completely fascinated yet utterly destroyed me. I've never read something written quite like it, the narration style and frequent upfront foreshadowing and jumping around through time really worked for me. I struggled reading the last 50 pages or so through many tears, but the book was not only sad. There were so many scenes of love, curiosity, laughter, bewilderment. A lot of heart was put into this book and I'll never forget it.
This was just too cute. No trauma, no prolonged misunderstandings, just a really sweet story about a guy who finds out that his one-sided love had never been all that one-sided!
Loved the writing style. Plot was something new and fresh, and the story just kept getting weirder and wilder. After the big secret is revealed the book loses some steam, and the ending is a little anti-climatic, but the ride there was pretty fun.
I feel like real horror in this book was fragile and toxic masculinity, and buying really fucking expensive tools at home depot.
Picked this up for the catchy synopsis and it was pretty good! I would be down to read another book by this author :)
What a disappointment. The synopsis pulled me in, and with each character's intro chapters, I was good to go. And then... nothing. This book is bland and boring. None of the characters have any strong motivations, there is no clear goal, and about 200 pages could have been cut from this book because of shallow “philosophy” banter that wasn't as significantly relevant to the overall theme as the author must have thought it was. The book's biggest sin is being boring. The plot doesn't really move, characters don't change or grow, and the last couple of chapters are I guess supposed to build up to this big reveal but it doesn't matter because the book. is. not. interesting. Pass, I do not recommend.
It was... ok? There were some neat things that happened, and I so believe I somewhat grasp what happened, both physically and mentally, but... it was a little bit of a miss for me. It's a neat little book, but not really my cup of tea.
Somewhere between a 3.5 and a 4. The writing was good and the story was captivating. About half way through I realized that this wasn't going to be a murder mystery that I should try to solve, but that I should just buckle up and enjoy the ride.
I also really appreciate that each character was pretty distinct and had clear personalities, flaws, motivations. People felt real, and everyone is just making do with the shitty cards they've been given.
Would read a book from this author again!
The first half was 5 stars for SURE and then the last half kinda overstayed its welcome with like 4 back-to-back sex scenes and a weird non-conflict conflict. Also the character growth for Landon is a bit dubious and not really deserved imo.
Overall it's a fun quick read but nothing much deeper than that!
I knew this would be a 5/5 from the very first couple of chapters. What a ride!! Turns out I can't get enough of Wendig's work!
This book merged the supernatural, sublime body horror, and the most terrifying thing of all, humans' ability to be pieces of shit, seamlessly together in a way that was just so riveting. I couldn't put the book down!
Apples! An insanely terrifying story revolving around apples!! Wendig you mad man.
When the fuck boy ends up home boy. A fun page turner where you don't really need to think that hard. Minus one star for the predictable and overly perfect ending, but that could very well be the 5th star for someone else :)
This book kept drawing me in until the very end. Really, really strong characters and a chance to think about what makes us who we are, faults, insecurities and all.
I debated between one or two stars. The book is bad, but just compelling enough to not dnf. To anyone who DID dnf, I completely understand why because the first 10 chapters (of a 23 chapter book) where excruciatingly bad. Some of the sloppiest writing I've read so far. The second half is slightly better, but the author did not deserve any of the emotional buildup later on between the two characters with that awful beginning.
The premise and characters of this book were let down by atrocious writing. Characters were set up to be a certain way (personalities, backstories, hangups) and then acted and spoke in ways that were absolute opposites to what their character should be like. The characters are all supposed to be adults teaching at private school, but not once did any of them act like an adult who's had a job or required to be professional before. No one in this book acts like a real, living, breathing human being.
The book also badly needed an editor. The phrases “he bristled”, “licked his lips”, “wiped their hands on (clothing)” all appear at LEAST 5 times throughout the barely 200 page book. Not to mention the drink that is a beer one page and then gin the next.
Unfortunately will not be reading another book by this author as there are more creative, capable m/m writers out there who I would rather spend my time reading instead.
I liked the writing and I liked the idea of the plot. But good lord the pacing of this book is atrocious.
40% of this book is a woman running in circles away from evil things to only bump into more. Coates could have taken at LEAST 100 pages of that and put it towards the conclusion, instead of somehow wrapping up everything neatly with a bow in like the last 5% of the book. Also, the last-minute “sorry and thank you” trump card? Comical!!
Poems of which many are so deeply personal that I won't even pretend I understood. Some of them had me mesmerized as I read, some my eyes just glazed over as I didn't understand how any of the words connected together to make meaning.
Personally, I felt the most emotionally engaged during “Kunstlerroman”, and I loved how effortlessly he painted a movie in reverse. “The tape skips and I see, on the screen, a sheet of dust shoot up from the surface of a river, then gather into a cloud under a bridge, before funneling into the copper urn cradled in the man's arms” ... wow. “Ars Poetica as the Maker”, “The Punctum”, and “Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker” also gripped me as I read through, each hitting its themes simply but relentlessly.
3 stars out of 5 because I would say I only had the kind of reactions above 3/5 of the time. “Dear Rose” seems like the big finale the book is working its way up to, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I don't know enough to even grasp the small insights he's giving me into that relationship, and that's ultimately fine. Other readers might be able to read between the lines better than I could. Will definitely read more Ocean Vuong in the future.
Sorry not sorry, I really liked this book!
I have to admit, the beginning was a bit rough. I was seeing a lot of potential plot holes or shaky plot set up, couples with a ton of characters introduced that I couldn't keep up with who was who. Mack is also a bit of an too-edgy-4-me protag to begin with.
But as the story progressed I got more and more into it. Someone of these characters become really fleshed out with their back stories, especially LeGrand, Brandon, and Ava. I felt myself rooting for them, and their motivations to keep interacting with the plot despite high stakes became fully realized in the last third of the book.
The plot has all the factors I love about horror, and additional social commentary on the horrors of white privileged old geezers was more than welcome. The “lore” was a bit info-dumpy at times but I was really into it so I didn't mind. Pacing was ok!
Not a 5 star, but I would easily round this up to a 4.5. I'm looking at other reviews now and seeing a lot of low scores, man, my feelings on recent books have been complete opposite of general opinion, do I have questionable taste? Lol
I dunno, I just found the entire story, premise, characters, and final reveal to be bland.
I never got fully invested into the story because the characters and their daily lives (?) were just not interesting. The book doesn't start leaving breadcrumbs leading to the final reveal until about the last 1/3 of the book, and when it's revealed I just couldn't be bothered to care. It's a little hard to feel for the death of a character we didn't know about, and even harder to find sympathy for the culprit who is just as guilty.
I think ultimately a little more time on fleshing out each character and giving us a chance to grow attached to them would have really helped.
Minus points for FBI agents acting really dumb, minus points for an unprovoked and unchallenged utterance of the R slur, and minus points for just being so bland!
My enjoyment of this book started moderately high and then just completely plummeted as I continued.
I dunno what bugged me more - the unrealistic dialogue as people spoke purely just to drag the plot forward? Long descriptions of objects or side thoughts that had no relevancy? Plot bandaids that only existed to explain completely farfetched plot points away to keep the story flimsily held together?
I don't recommend. I finished it, but I did not enjoy 2/3s of this book.
Oh, and somehow the author touched on racism, drugs, class, gender in the most superficial way. Like dipping your toes in at the beach and then just getting up and calling it a day.
This book was a bit of a slog tbh. If you're okay with knowing the ending ahead of time, but about 200 pages of characters convincing themselves they don't deserve happiness, well by all means dig in. While i did enjoy the real look at depression and learning how to self-love, the severity of the depression shown by a certain character was so intense that it made it hard to believe when the ending worked out so neatly. The lows were frustrating and the highs didn't really do it for me. 3/5
It's just so WHOLESOME. The “they're not your shoes to wear...” comment/analogy was just
Yo this book was great!! Really good chemistry between the two leads, and I loved the constant ribbing but also support from all of Mickey's friends and family. The book did such a good job handling issues like family pressure and depression, and I think a lot of people could relate to Mickey's struggles throughout the book.
Whenever a book has you panicking because there's only 50 pages left and you just do NOT want it to end, you know you've got a winner on your hands. 5 stars!
A capable thriller/mystery that keeps the pages turning, but the last minute plot reveal at the ending left me a little unsatisfied.
I think I enjoyed the story for what it was, but I wonder if more fully fleshing out the relationships between key characters would have elevated this into a four star. While the author did an okay job at creating flawed characters, there were times where I would roll my eyes as people made certain decisions. There's also this thematic element tackled of women not being taken seriously by men, while at the same time, the main (female) character gets talked down to by both her boyfriend and brother, and she gives them a pass for it almost every time... hmm. It's your 3 star mystery novel.
I guess “cozy” means “plot with no friction”?
This mystery was a miss for me. I feel like I could really go into it.... Hmm... let's go.
- I don't remember any of the characters except for Molly, her mom, love interest, and her aunt. There were like 20 other characters and they all felt the same.
- Everyone in this book, including the prose itself, sounds like a middle aged woman. No one yells “Stop! Stop I say!” in the middle of a chase.
- Protag is American and explains every British slang/phrase to the reader... Why couldn't an actual British person have explained it to the character instead? This was really cringey and you know what, the words “fit” and “mate” don't need an explanation... please give us readers a little bit of credit.
- Book feels like the entire world revolved around Molly. She gets her way every time, her suggestions go universally accepted and unchallenged, makes friends with and is trusted by everyone instantly, tags along with people or to events that she doesn't have a natural reason to be there... it's kinda crazy
- This author has the weirdest writing style where things are overly and unnecessarily described: “I slurped my beer to lower the level”, “I uploaded the photos to the cloud, for easy access”, “Keiran showed up with my beer and we stood at one of the high tables to drink them.”
- Murder mystery was kind of boring, and the reveal and Scooby-doo monologue from the culprit explaining their motive and confessing to everything they did REALLY took me out if it.
- Insta love from Keiran, despite Molly being really boring.
- Not sure if intentional or not but there are times when Molly would say something pretty blunt or rude, and it really gave this feeling of “American in another country not caring about social norms”. If this was intentional, than touche, author.
2/5, not really interested in another book by this author
I really struggle to see who this book is for. While I can appreciate the tying together of horror elements, survival, and trying to make an identity for yourself, this book was so fucking long.
It felt longer than A Little Life despite being half the length. Imagine a book being about driving a car somewhere. After the first 100 pages you get into a car crash. 200 pages of you contemplating the predicament you're currently in. Then the car explodes and you're on fire. 150 pages of you on fire. Then the car, on fire, teeters off a cliff. 100
pages of you on fire and falling to your death.
The characters are not very like able, and even though we're supposed to be rooting for Jonathan, on his “journey”, he treats the people around him pretty shittily and lacks compassion when he's also simultaneously hoping for compassion from others.
I feel like I could go on and on but this book was NOT for me and I should have dnf'd at some point but i'm stupid and wanted to have another book/number of pages added to my 2022 reads. I need a sappy gay romance to cleanse the pallet like ASAP.