emcatbee's reviews
160 reviews

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

This book reminded me why I don't read books written by men. I have no idea how Murakami became a canonised author. His writing is fine I guess but it's eclipsed by the incel level misogyny and fatphobia. Not a single good portrayal of a woman in this book at all and to be honest the men didn't come off great either. One start because I guess the descriptive writing was fine.

Content Warnings

Howl: Original Draft Facsimile, Transcript, and Variant Versions, Fully Annotated by Author, with Contemporaneous Correspond by Allen Ginsberg

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dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

I think there was more beauty in thos poetry than I was expecting, and I enjoyed the explanation annotations, especially the intertextuality of it.

Let Them Eat Chaos by Kae Tempest

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

Tempest's poetry is absolutely incredible. Bucket list to see them live.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I think that with the knowledge of Kuang's historical input, and from the setting up of a fantasy, this was good. But the traumatic results-of-war scenes were too much for me, and it felt like in places the plot was a little loose?

Content Warnings

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

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emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Beautiful, heartwrenchingly sad in a gentle way.

Skirrid Hill by Owen Sheers

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reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

The poems that I expected were as I expected - beautiful. I got thrown off by all the poems about shagging though.

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

Incredible book - the setting, the time period, the focus, the lore...loses .25 ONLY because it was absolutely silly to recreate a dinosaur and WHY DIDNT THEY KISS xxx

Tell Us What We Are by John Clifford

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emotional reflective fast-paced

4.75

A beautiful book of poetry filled with moments of stillness that will hold you gently.

Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced