Natalia

It wouldn’t be fair for me to rate this collection of essays today because it’s 2025. Most of the topics West discusses will be very familiar to liberals, millennials, and feminists (the intersection of which seems to be the intended audience). I have heard her arguments time and time again, and even after such a short time, so much else has happened that the book feels dated. However I will say that West’s delivery is consistently sharp and funny - her essays were often fun to read even if I wasn’t learning anything new.

This was my intro to Balzac. It’s not deep in terms of its plot or characters but it showcased his writing in a flattering light. The most interesting part was the long passage about Parisian society, which precedes the introduction of the protagonist. I enjoyed Balzac’s style and will continue reading his work.

DNF at page 111 when I found myself forcing my way through by speed reading. The description of this book makes it sound way more interesting than it is.

This story is told by Elizabeth, a woman who was involved with a murderer (Bell) who was just released from prison. As the story unfolds, we learn about the events that got her locked away and in doing so Elizabeth reveals her obsession with Bell. She doesn't reveal the victim until the end, which kept me in suspense, but I became frustrated with her dropping hints and refusing to follow through - there's a lot of "if I had only known" and "so I thought" and "I believed her at the time" etc. I wanted to like this book, but the narrator's meandering style did not work for me. Also, she and the other characters were hard to relate to. I guess I was expecting more suspense. I'd imagine if I'd read The Wings of the Dove before this, I would have put the book down midway (there were a lot of references to it in the book and when I looked it up at the end, I found that the plots are pretty similar).

GRR gets 5 stars for atmosphere (steamboats on the Mississippi!) and 3 stars for the plot. It was good, especially at the beginning, but my enthusiasm fizzled out after the first encounter with the bad guys. I also liked how GRR played with the vampire myth - it was an interesting take.