kristinhunziker's reviews
432 reviews

Ana María and the Fox by Liana De la Rosa

1.0

DNF @ 20%.

I quickly noticed that the prose in this book felt very juvenile, over-explaining really simple concepts, with lots of irritating info-dumping. I put a page of this book into a readability checker (assesses the grade level of the writing) and it said 4th grade reading level, appropriate for 8-9 year-olds. LOL bye.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

This is Nghi Vo's only book that I have disliked. (Empress of Salt & Fortune and Siren Queen are 5-star masterpieces.)

Vo creates such galactic narrative distance between the reader and the characters that the characters all feel, at best, unknowable. At worst, they're emotionless and boring. I didn't care about Jordan Baker, and I didn't feel any tension regarding Daisy-Gatsby, Daisy-Tom, or the death that I know occurs at the end of the story.

The original work, The Great Gatsby, had a lot to say about how money can't buy happiness and the American Dream isn't real. This retelling strips all of that out. Although the story glancingly refers to the marginalization that Jordan experiences as a queer, Vietnamese, immigrant, adopted woman, it doesn't excavate those themes deeply. Thus, it doesn't remix the original's themes, and it doesn't interrogate the new themes. It feels shallow.

If you don't mind the huge narrative distance and the lack of thematic richness, this book's strengths are that it is an incredibly faithful retelling of the Great Gatsby, and Vo's lyrical prose is rich with imagery. Her prose continues to be some of the best in the genre.

Content Warnings

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

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adventurous slow-paced

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

2.0

Salman Rushdie is a very good writer (breaking news), but this story is just not interesting. Rushdie keeps huge narrative distance between the reader and the characters, so it is very hard to care about them.

I got to 50% and realized that I did not care what happened to Pampa Kampana, I did not care about the survival of Vijayanagar, I don't feel like I'm learning real history of the Vijayanagaran Empire, and I've read other stories that had more interesting explorations of gender, power, and religious myopia. So DNF!

Content Warnings