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bardspeak's reviews
9 reviews
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Violence
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.5
It got a little gross for me halfway through. Also I find some of the actions of past humans morally awful. But it was a good informative book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Medical content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Excrement, and Cannibalism
Minor: Racism
It's a lot but often in a lighthearted or at least neutral/informative way.
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
2.25
When I first began reading this (downloaded, from the recommendation of a wonderful Jacob Geller video) I was prepared to have my world rocked, even as the book came from an author who I wouldn't spend any significant amount of time with - as he would hate me for who I am, etc etc. I was prepared for themes of death, grief, autopsy, striving to understand each other and coming just this close and failing. What I got was... some of that. Each topic seemed to have been fulfilled halfway, with a handwaved resolution to each that felt dissatisfying. The character of Libo, one of the driving forces in the plot, was reduced to almost nothing by the end. And this is not a condemnation of the characters for moving on, the process of grieving dictates that it be so, but that he was little mentioned at all. The people that seemed to feel his death most keenly were the ones who least understood it.
I enjoyed the differences between the alien race in the book and the humans and the exploration of the divide, but it felt to me as if all the humans except for the main character Ender were painted by a single brush for him to understand, all a conglomeration of the same feelings for him to eventually come to completely understand for little reason other than it was his job to. Novinha's entire foundation of character was ripped from her, leaving her with what? A family she had built little connection with? A man she'd known for as little as days?
The piggies, as they're called, were also painted with broad strokes. Vague and not understandable to the humans watching them, all with nearly the same voice and same desires. The claims to love the individual in the preface at the beginning fall flat midway through.
In addition, while I couldn't find specific examples of a fascist or conservative view underlining this, most of what the humans said about the piggies was awful, only disputed by a few men - mainly Ender, the main - white - character among characters who were primarily black, as stated by the author. It was as if the author prescribed a higher level of understanding of ethics and morals and the other to this white man who would swoop in and save all of the others from misunderstanding that seriously could have been easily solved by themselves.
And finally, the book felt overwhelmingly mormon, as someone who was raised in a mormon family myself. Perhaps, if you're interested in the themes, go check out the Jacob Geller video on youtube titled "What's the point of taking apart a body." He summarizes the book better and more evocatively than the book did for itself.
I enjoyed the differences between the alien race in the book and the humans and the exploration of the divide, but it felt to me as if all the humans except for the main character Ender were painted by a single brush for him to understand, all a conglomeration of the same feelings for him to eventually come to completely understand for little reason other than it was his job to. Novinha's entire foundation of character was ripped from her, leaving her with what? A family she had built little connection with? A man she'd known for as little as days?
The piggies, as they're called, were also painted with broad strokes. Vague and not understandable to the humans watching them, all with nearly the same voice and same desires. The claims to love the individual in the preface at the beginning fall flat midway through.
In addition, while I couldn't find specific examples of a fascist or conservative view underlining this, most of what the humans said about the piggies was awful, only disputed by a few men - mainly Ender, the main - white - character among characters who were primarily black, as stated by the author. It was as if the author prescribed a higher level of understanding of ethics and morals and the other to this white man who would swoop in and save all of the others from misunderstanding that seriously could have been easily solved by themselves.
And finally, the book felt overwhelmingly mormon, as someone who was raised in a mormon family myself. Perhaps, if you're interested in the themes, go check out the Jacob Geller video on youtube titled "What's the point of taking apart a body." He summarizes the book better and more evocatively than the book did for itself.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by Ted Orland, David Bayles
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
When first starting it, I really really loved this book. The writing style and the subject matter and the mood were all so inspiring to me and my own work, especially in regards to the main character and her best friend B. I especially enjoyed the sort of dissociated feeling, the take on food and body image, and relationships with other people when someone 1) assumes they know everything about someone at any given moment and 2) doesn't really think of them as other people. The characters in the book are somehow both less people than the main character and more a person than she's ever been.
Around halfway through the book, though, it started to lose me. Perhaps because I'm just not a fan of cults, or because I was more invested in the relationships between the characters and the writing style than the predatory nature of companies and body image and the media, and of course, cults. It is interesting in that aspect too! The only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is that by the end I had lost the thread of my own inspiration, but I had also lost the thread of.. Why things where happening when they did. The ending came about abruptly and confusingly to me, and didn't have many answers to any questions I might have. I'm willing to accept the possibility that I might just not have gotten it, though.
Around halfway through the book, though, it started to lose me. Perhaps because I'm just not a fan of cults, or because I was more invested in the relationships between the characters and the writing style than the predatory nature of companies and body image and the media, and of course, cults. It is interesting in that aspect too! The only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is that by the end I had lost the thread of my own inspiration, but I had also lost the thread of.. Why things where happening when they did. The ending came about abruptly and confusingly to me, and didn't have many answers to any questions I might have. I'm willing to accept the possibility that I might just not have gotten it, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
disordered eating, MAYBE body horror, surreal and dissociative, and overall very yucky.
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
challenging
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I found this book much less compelling and gripping than the first of the trilogy, although I still love the writing style to pieces. I enjoyed Control's character but didn't think he was as compelling or changing as the Biologist was. The book itself was a bit confusing to me - but that might be the fault of me reading it in sessions far apart from each other. I thought the side characters were all very lively, though it had much to be desired for me in terms of exploration of character and horror. While there were tense moments in this book, and long moments of not knowing what was to come, only a few scenes come to mind when I think about horror.
I do look forward to the third book, to see what changes there.
I do look forward to the third book, to see what changes there.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book seeped into my bones while I was reading it - I read it all in one sitting up into the night - and it hasn't quite let me go since. I love how it slowly reveals things about the characters, even the main character, throughout the story as they're already being changed by it. It was just ambiguous enough to be mysterious and play at my love of surreal books, but understandable enough that I wasn't left feeling like I'd lost something along the way. The Biologist is such a lovely protagonist, flawed but so willing to think on it. Lost and trapped in the world and her past, but eventually wrapping up in a kind of wonderful way.
Divorce Simulator 2014, while also being horror, while also being kind of a lovely story about two people who are different enough to not know how to love each other until something has already changed. And not least I loved the horror and the environment.
Divorce Simulator 2014, while also being horror, while also being kind of a lovely story about two people who are different enough to not know how to love each other until something has already changed. And not least I loved the horror and the environment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Death
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75