andintothetrees's reviews
573 reviews

Good Material by Dolly Alderton

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Enjoyable and genuinely funny but ultimately not that deep and rather generalising.

Plot/compellingness 4/5
Themes 3/5
Characters 3/5
Emotional resonance 4/5
Writing style 5/5

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

dark funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5

Plot/compellingness 3/5 - I enjoyed the story but aside from a few sections it wasn't an "OMG I have to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next" kind of book
Themes 5/5
Characters 5/5 - the MC is quite passive, like in the other Jen Beagin book I read this month (Pretend I'm Dead) but she's also older and more complex, and I found her much more sympathetic. Loved the side characters who were often pretty funny.
Emotional resonance 5/5
Writing style 5/5

I feel like this book will stay with me a while, but it didn't quite hook me in enough for it to be a full 5 stars.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Plot/compellingness 4/5 - I was definitely compelled but found some aspects of the plot a bit repetitive/convenient, especially in the last third
Themes 5/5
Characters 5/5
Emotional resonance 4/5
Writing style 5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Pretend I'm Dead by Jen Beagin

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Plot/compellingness 3/5 (improved as it went along)
Themes 3/5 (all the trigger warnings for this one. I like a bit of weirdness but this felt forced at times)
Characters 3/5
Emotional resonance 2/5 (I found the main character too passive to care too much)
Writing style 4/5

Submarine by Joe Dunthorne

5.0

I saw the film version of Submarine at the cinema earlier this year and enjoyed its quirky style and non-mainstream plot – it’s always refreshing to see British actors on the big screen and/or a narrative that doesn’t neatly fit into one of the set Hollywood genres. Quietly satisfying as the movie was, the novel is far, far superior. Within a few seconds of finding it in the library, flicking through pages and reading a few sentences I couldn’t wait to begin reading.

...[Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/submarine-by-joe-dunthorne]

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

3.0

I admit it, I judge books on appearances, some of the time at least. I first came across The Particular Sadness… when I saw an advert for it in the Guardian’s Saturday TV Guide supplement, and was drawn in by its pretty blue cover and quirky elongated title. A few weeks later a colleague kindly passed a copy onto me, with the warning that it hadn’t been all she’d hoped. I was between library books (waiting on some reservations coming in) so decided to give it a go.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/the-particular-sadness-of-lemon-cake-by-aimee-bender/]

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

5.0

I feel envious of those who haven’t yet read this book, as they still have the pleasure ahead of them. It’s quite a hefty book and I was glad to be taking the train to London and back last week as that provided me with the ample undisturbed reading time The Marriage Plot deserves. I have read all Jeffrey Eugenides novels and enjoyed each one more than the last; he has combined natural talent with a dedication to improving his craft and I feel he is one of the greatest American novelists writing today.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/the-marriage-plot-by-jeffrey-eugenides/]

All Made Up by Janice Galloway

4.0

Janice Galloway has the best book titles. The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, This Is Not About Me and now All Made Up, her second memoir. It picks up where This Is Not About Me left off and follows Janice through her high school days in 1960s/70s Saltcoats (that’s on the west coast of Scotland for those who don’t know. I’ve been there, it’s a fairly typical run-down seaside town). Admittedly I came to this book biased, being a fan of Janice Galloway’s other writing. I hastily snatched it up from the front desk of the library where it was proudly on display as a brand new book (isn’t it lovely being the first person to read a library book and know you’re not going to come across any dubious stains or old bus tickets sandwiched between the pages?), took it home and got stuck straight in.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/all-made-up-by-janice-galloway/]

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

3.0

A few months ago, The Guardian published an excerpt from The Psycopath Test in their Saturday magazine. It concerned the story of a man, endowed with the pseudonym Tony, who was convicted of serious assault in his late teens and decided to “fake madness” to try and get placed in a psychiatric hospital rather than a prison (believing the former would be a more comfortable environment to spend a few years). Tony used references to mental health issues in popular culture to populate his apparent delusions – a strategy that may have seemed risky in terms of prompting discovery – and succeeded in avoiding jail. Instead of ending up in a comfortable local hospital however, Tony found himself diagnosed a psychopath and placed in England’s notorious Broadmoor unit, living amongst serial killers and rapists and remaining unreleased for far longer than he would have been had he served his original prison sentence. In this book, Jon Ronson has used Tony’s story as a springboard to analyse how exactly mental illness, and psychopathy, are diagnosed, and what approach society should take to managing them.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/the-psychopath-test-by-jon-ronson/]

The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld

4.0

Before I begin, I’d like to confess that until I googled for an image to accompany this review I had no idea Curtis Sittenfeld is a woman (I have previously only come across men with that first name, maybe that’s just a British thing though). Not that the gender of the author matters, but it does rather negate the point I was planning to make about a male author having written a very convincing female lead character. Anyway, the cliché “don’t judge a book by its cover” is well known, but in this case I think “don’t judge a book by its title” is equally well placed. When my friend Ingrid recommended Curtis’ books to me I decided to see what the library had available and I must admit I felt embarrassed to check out a book with such a cheesy title (I would rather have checked out her first novel, Prep, but the only copy was a giant hardback that would have been difficult to carry around). This was no feather-light “chick lit” novel however, despite the impression its name may give.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/the-man-of-my-dreams-by-curtis-sittenfeld/]