janson's reviews
289 reviews

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

Nothing stuck, though pleasurable enough in accompanying the journey.

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A knotted ball of impressions, tight and pregnant with life.

Harry Sylvester Bird by Chinelo Okparanta

dark funny fast-paced

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

3.0

Quick, but also cut to the quick both too soon and a bit too obvious.

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Brutal in that oppressive summer heat way, the kind that stifles and sweats and suffocates until the clouds break. Sensuous in that sticky summer heat way, the kind that soaks and sweats and spins until the hips gyrate in the dark.

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I came at this at the wrong time. Liturgical & grandiloquent befitting the subject but not the reader, not now. 

Quicksand by Nella Larsen

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

Peek through a window into a slice of Black American life not oft' taught.

Lot by Bryan Washington

funny sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Tied tight by family, in an unfamiliar knot of gay, black, poor, texan. 

Tremor by Teju Cole

adventurous informative slow-paced

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

3.0

Fine and good, by way of autofiction.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Perhaps too, too upfront for me.

How to Escape from a Leper Colony: A Novella and Stories by Tiphanie Yanique

inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Some sunk, albeit leisurely, others swam with a stubborn defiance. I'll be thinking about "The International Shop of Coffins" for a long while...