archie
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - i didn't know what to expect with this one & it definitely wasn't that, zoe thorogood did an excellent job with the art & the story is strong concept-wise but some of the writing & character development left something more to be desired. still really enjoyed reading this & do recommend it if you like graphic novels & dystopian tales but be warned there is a fair amount of gore
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - conflicted bc i hated this but also loved it so im not feeling confident in my rating. i started this book in the middle of a reading frenzy & then got in a slump so it took me a while to get thru. the writing & characters are well done but i'm also not really rooting for any of them & i was left with a weird uncomfortableness the whole time i was reading it, felt like a fever dream. so much happened but the writing style is so nonchalant that it felt like nothing was happening at the same time
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - rly enjoyed the story & it kept getting stronger throughout, i found the protagonist april to be annoying sometimes but given the circumstances it is realistic & very human for her to be annoying ! social media & online attention are weird
the writing was distracting at some points & felt a little wordy, & im by no means an editor but there were some editing mistakes that were distracting as well but overall very fun story, solid commentary about social media, the state of the world, hive mind mentality, etc etc
it took me a while to get through this as it's the longest book of poetry i've read since starting to read poetry recently, but it has a great premise for an anthology & is a solid collection although not all of the poems really spoke to me. there were only a handful that really shined through for me, but the way they flowed together raised the rating a lot for me & i liked the ability to sit down for a minute & read one or two poems or sit down for an hour & get through a good chunk of them. really appreciate having words from all sorts of queer people compiled into one larger body of work & was a wonderful experience working through it the past 2 months
i listened to the audiobook & it is beautifully read & the text was written with so much grief & love & thoughtfulness, it is tough to have so many conflicting emotions & find a way to put them into words so concisely but michelle achieved that. i saw japanese breakfast open for alex g in 2017 without knowing much about them outside of the music & i really enjoyed experiencing this book, it is emotional to now know some of what michelle was going through in the years leading up to the show i saw
a good introduction to queer theory, it breaks down a lot of complex ideas in a more accessible way & im glad i read it. the title is misleading as i wasn't expecting this to be about queer theory & it was more academic than i anticipated. the graphics don't typically add to the text, but they do break it up & make a generally dry academic text more enjoyable to get through which i appreciate as someone who struggles with nonfiction. i did find it strange that at a couple points the text is phrased really awkwardly like “in regard to trans” & “the trans,” i am paraphrasing but i find that to be off putting. the trans WHAT??? identities? people? community?
also the n slur was written out a few pages in as an example when discussing reclaiming slurs. this put a sour taste in my mouth for the remainder of the book as to my understanding, the authors are not black & that felt unnecessary, though i myself am white so i can't speak for the black community or any black individual
3.5 ⭐️ rounded up - very sweet & i loved the ending, i listened to the audiobook & enjoyed the reading but also think it made it feel more YA than it would've had i read it. not a bad thing that it's more YA than i thought but isn't my personal cup of tea
overall, a lovely book & good fiction intro to topics of gender, neurodivergence & ethnicity
2.5 ⭐️ rounded up - hmmm idk i started out enjoying it, the writing isn't great but 95% of the time it's readable & i like the concept but the execution just wasn't there when i got about halfway thru, feel like a lot of the plot twists/major info came as multiple page monologues from supporting characters which is fine to do but repeatedly doing that gets old. also vague SPOILER AHEAD the riddle was sooo cheesy
i sadly find myself relating a lot to keiko in that it feels simpler to shape your identity around your job & have that inform your personhood outside of work rather than figure out who you actually are in the absence of everything else, also with how she thinks of speech patterns & character traits with taking on parts of those you surround yourself with. i notice i unconsciously do that a lot as an autistic person, just mirroring what i'm seeing for the comfort of the other person
anyway i don't think it was intended to be taken this way by the author but think this speaks to a lot of autistic peoples experience living under capitalism. i can see where a lot of readers found it to be funny at points, & while i think the character of keiko is charming, i mostly just found it sad
fun premise & art & characters but i want more story & world building, it felt very abrupt & surface level