jonahksmith's reviews
20 reviews

At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

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adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

5.0

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

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dark reflective 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

3.5

The translator’s notes in this edition were very helpful. I read this shortly after a visit to Sachsenhausen, a NS concentration camp north of Berlin converted to a “special” camp after liberation. Though Ust-Izhma must be a very different environment, the style is sufficient to demonstrate how bleak and straightforward life must have been as a prisoner in such a camp.

The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges

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medium-paced

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

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.75

this was an incredibly ham-fisted exploration of depression. the dialogue is far too awkward to be believable, the OED definitions at the beginning of each chapter are corny and stupid, and the attempt to include every possible malady of 21st century life — pandemic, police brutality, cost of living crisis, etc. — neatly into a 250 page work was executed very poorly and sloppily.

I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced