fiatzar's reviews
96 reviews

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

slow-paced

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

3.25

there were brief moments of enjoyment, but for the majority of the book i felt like the idiot for having read it at all.

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

i wanted to like this book, but i found i just wasn't as dark and gritty as i needed. there's no dispute that what the men did was wrong or that the women have the right to react harshly, or debate over the theological dominion of men over women. what i was really looking for was a book that really challenged the central ideas of patriarchal religions, but this just didn't cut it.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

made me want to get a job at a convenience store. strange women with desires that violate social norms rise up!

Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

a little bit too relatable right now

We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by adrienne maree brown

informative reflective medium-paced

2.75

an interesting reflection on cancel culture, but, like most books from this section of the left, would have loved to have had it be more substantive. a lot of concepts introduced but not fully fleshed out or reflected on. which is a shame, because i think there's a lot of depth to this topic which this book began to introduce.

(also: i would love to hear her discuss her thoughts on abusers in more depth, because whilst i don't want to mischaracterise her, i think some of her perspectives are not merely wrong but at times actively harmful, but i also don't think i've ever heard anyone with this perspective discuss it in depth, which might mean i'm missing something important!)

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

a classic, but not a particularly good one; probably great at the time but very much a historical text - i found it to be quite dull and probably a somewhat inferior text to other analyses of politics since. however, as a groundbreaking text, i suppose it holds much credit simply in pioneering many of its ideas, and on the meta-level i found the way machiavelli constructs the 'virtus' as the synthesis between moral and practical achievement to be interesting.

Othello by William Shakespeare

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.75

emilia was the best character no contest (close second place to desdemona)

on a serious note, an excellent play, but he's written better, and it really took until the second half (especially acts 4 & 5) for the play to truly develop its biting emotional core. still, when it emerged, it was amazing, and there's a reason why shakespeare is the greatest playwright!

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

fabulously depressing, valley of the dolls is the perfect showbusiness corruption story. it highlights the decadence and alienation of the entertainment industry, whilst also commenting on the social restrictions placed on women in this era - all in a very camp manner (probably not intended, but a highlight nonetheless). i loved jennifer and anne (and had a love-hate relationship with neely), and found their stories fascinating. an intimately camp portrait of a descent into, well, the valley of the dolls.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chödrön

emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.0

When we find ourselves in a mess, we don’t have to feel guilty about it. Instead, we could reflect on the fact that how we relate to this mess will be sowing the seeds of how we will relate to whatever happens next. We can make ourselves miserable, or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same. 

whilst i have a distinct and differing spiritual outlook in comparison to chödrön, i found her viewpoint to be informative and enlightening. whilst the book was often repetitive, the abstract natture of the ideas discussed meant this was a somewhat useful construction, and assisted in gaining more depth in my comprehension of what was discussed. i will note that, in contrast to the book's title, it deals far more with everyday difficulties (and some large-scale ones) as opposed to personal tragedy, which is what i was hoping for when i read it.

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters

informative medium-paced

4.75

watters takes the time to really guide you through an understanding of how psychiatric imperialism functions, and how it harms the nations it affects. an encompassing book that fully engages with its subject matter.