lyratoulon's reviews
8 reviews

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Circe by Madeline Miller

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Forever a favorite.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I won’t do this book the injustice of saying a few words about it, except to say that no words could possibly be strung together that I could ever enjoy more. Mais, vrai, j'ai trop pleuré! Les aubes sont navrantes.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

dark tense fast-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

The morality conversation is tired at this point and, as pointed out by the author himself, was never the point to begin with. Nabokov’s command of the English language may be second to none (or a select few) and a single page is testament.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

“And I can't be running back and forth forever between grief and high delight”

While it’s probably best read during the height of teenage angst, Franny and Zooey will forever walk a delicate line as a beach read that might leave you staring blankly at a wall questioning your life for several hours after reading it. Brilliantly funny and occasionally devastating— some of Salingers best work. 

Nana by Émile Zola

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

"There she stood, by herself, amidst all her treasures, with a whole horde of men grovelling at her feet. Like those dreaded monsters of old whose lairs were littered with bones, she was walking on skulls and surrounded by cataclysms."

This is the first piece of naturalist literature I read and it made me completely fall in love with the style. Nana Coupeau, a streetwalker turned high class prostitute during the end of the Napoleon III’s reign, rises from the lowest dregs of society to a life of luxury through exploitation of her lovers . Monstrously self centered she breaks everything she touches and leaves all who dare to love her in pieces . Despite her vicious opportunism, she’s a character you can’t help but love even in the moments you despise her. Furthermore, she’s a character you can’t help but understand. The naturalist writing evokes every sense and leaves nothing to the imagination. At the end of 450 pages you’ll feel as though you’ve experienced Nana’s world perfectly but from the perspective of standing on a cold Paris street in 1870 looking through a window to watch a high society candlelit party descend into something much more sinister.