Scan barcode
dimolkova's reviews
610 reviews
The Tenth Muse by Catherine Chung
3.0
there are some interesting elements, but i personally struggled to connect with this book. it somehow simultaneously felt like too much happened but also not enough
Book of Night by Holly Black
3.0
presenting your world building at just the right pace is the hardest task in speculative fiction, and i think this book fumbled with it (but the concept itself i enjoyed). the plot twists weren't really twisty. overall not a bad book, but not a particularly memorable one
More: A Memoir of Open Marriage by Molly Roden Winter
4.0
memoirs are hard to rate because giving a good rating feels like an endorsement of the author. and in this case also like an endorsement of how the author approaches non-monogamy.
so i would like to preface talking about the things I liked by saying that Winter does objectionable things over the course of this memoir without really unpacking them. the two most glaring ones are 1) meeting men on a website meant for cheating husbands 2) using a Latina pseudonym on that website even though she is white.
and the non-monogamy described in this book is far from perfect. in fact, i listened to a lot of the book with a concerned face expression. BUT i think it's pretty accurate representation of how many couples, especially cishet ones, get into non-monogamy. i found a lot--perhaps embarrassingly a lot--of this book relatable, especially Winter realizing that she was treating non-monogamy as the only way to be "free," and that until she overcomes her people-pleasing tendencies, she won't be able to maintain any of her relationships.
what's interesting is that at the end of this book, we're still in the middle of Winter's story. she has by no means figured non-monogamy out. but i really like one of the big messages of the book--every experience is an opportunity to learn about yourself.
if someone read just one book about ENM, this shouldn't be it, but i did enjoy it. the cliff notes is: everyone should go to therapy :)
so i would like to preface talking about the things I liked by saying that Winter does objectionable things over the course of this memoir without really unpacking them. the two most glaring ones are 1) meeting men on a website meant for cheating husbands 2) using a Latina pseudonym on that website even though she is white.
and the non-monogamy described in this book is far from perfect. in fact, i listened to a lot of the book with a concerned face expression. BUT i think it's pretty accurate representation of how many couples, especially cishet ones, get into non-monogamy. i found a lot--perhaps embarrassingly a lot--of this book relatable, especially Winter realizing that she was treating non-monogamy as the only way to be "free," and that until she overcomes her people-pleasing tendencies, she won't be able to maintain any of her relationships.
what's interesting is that at the end of this book, we're still in the middle of Winter's story. she has by no means figured non-monogamy out. but i really like one of the big messages of the book--every experience is an opportunity to learn about yourself.
if someone read just one book about ENM, this shouldn't be it, but i did enjoy it. the cliff notes is: everyone should go to therapy :)
Дім для Дома by Victoria Amelina, Вікторія Амеліна
4.0
книжка дуже емоційна, як і очікувалось. здається, це було головною метою книжки - викликати емоції (навіщо ще робити головним героєм собаку, що помирає в кінці?) але темам особистої та суспільної історії також присвячено порядно уваги. ps. обійміть своїх собак міцніше
Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs
3.0
writing novels takes practice, it seems, and this is a debut novel that didn't quite hit the mark for me but shows a lot of promise. pacing felt off to me: we spent most of the book in exposition and then so much happened in the last quarter of the book it felt rushed. but the ideas themselves and writing were good, so i will pick up this author's next book
Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee
3.0
the dystopian yet all too real premise, which was what interested me most in this book, felt underdeveloped
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
2.0
there is a genre of Nobel laureates' books that i can only describe as "sprawling"
Я бачу, вас цікавить пітьма by Ілларіон Павлюк
2.5
2.5. задумка хороша, але виконання мені не зайшло. мова здалася незграбною. багато що було розказано, а не показано. цікаво, що подяка автора в кінці написана живою і захоплюючою мовою. може і спробувала б інші його книжки
Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood
4.0
delightful. it's cozy and comforting in the way certain crime tv shows are--you enjoy it not necessarily for the most inventive plot twist, but for the atmosphere it creates. will definitely be reading the rest of the series.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
5.0
i am sucker for books that interweave memoir with research, and this was one of them. beautiful