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pendularium's reviews
69 reviews
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb
4.0
Iām very boring. Least favourite of the trilogy, Fitz is so funny though fr fr
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
4.0
Look. I review based entirely on vibes. And the vibes tell me that I love this series ok!
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
4.5
I really liked it. Probably a reread will shuffle it up to being a 5 star read for me, but at the moment, just not fully there.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
3.0
Slapping the 'I fundamentally dislike the YA style of writing' sticker on this bad boy.
That's it really, the concept is fun, and the characters are interesting, if somewhat blindingly obvious, but the writing does let it down
That's it really, the concept is fun, and the characters are interesting, if somewhat blindingly obvious, but the writing does let it down
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The satire is good! How much of a total loser obsessed with image and being 'hip' Patrick Bateman is is good! The deep existential despair he feels at how his perfect life is immensely unfulfilling, and even his stepping into the 'taboo' world doesn't stave off that emptiness. However, the levels of extreme sexual violence against women are uh. deeply unnecessary?
It makes sense within the context of who Patrick is, but it truly doesn't feel like any point is being made(1); the violence against women is immensely gratuitous, especially compared to the few few times that any men are murdered; the actual meat of the satire in this book comes from the parts that people seem to deride as being dull; his obsession with designer clothes, fancy restaurants, gatherings with his 'friends', and the way that his violent acts contrast with that is, yes, a key part of the satire, but it's really hard not to notice how much more detail and emphasis Bret Easton Ellis puts on what Patrick does to the women.
Ellis' prose carries the book along well, and the satire and emotion at the core of the story is genuinely good, but despite his claim that "it [the book] wasn't four hundred pages of torture and mutilation and advocating the death of women. It's just some boring novel." American Psycho kinda is a whole lot of torture and mutilation and advocating the death of women, and for all that the rest of it is genuinely good, I can't really get past that and give it the rating I think the rest of the book deserves.
(1) yes, yes, its about how women, as an 'inferior' social group can be targeted in this way; Patrick murders and otherwise abuses a whole series of people who he deems lesser than him on the basis of race, religion, sexuality - it is only Paul Owens' murder that results in a detective being sent out - the book was conveying this fine and effectively in the earlier chapters where there was considerably less incredible violence specifically against women going on.
If anyone who is thinking about reading the book is reading this review, trust me it is almost certainly significantly more graphic than you are thinking - the film is incredibly sanitised in this area.
It makes sense within the context of who Patrick is, but it truly doesn't feel like any point is being made(1); the violence against women is immensely gratuitous, especially compared to the few few times that any men are murdered; the actual meat of the satire in this book comes from the parts that people seem to deride as being dull; his obsession with designer clothes, fancy restaurants, gatherings with his 'friends', and the way that his violent acts contrast with that is, yes, a key part of the satire, but it's really hard not to notice how much more detail and emphasis Bret Easton Ellis puts on what Patrick does to the women.
Ellis' prose carries the book along well, and the satire and emotion at the core of the story is genuinely good, but despite his claim that "it [the book] wasn't four hundred pages of torture and mutilation and advocating the death of women. It's just some boring novel." American Psycho kinda is a whole lot of torture and mutilation and advocating the death of women, and for all that the rest of it is genuinely good, I can't really get past that and give it the rating I think the rest of the book deserves.
(1) yes, yes, its about how women, as an 'inferior' social group can be targeted in this way; Patrick murders and otherwise abuses a whole series of people who he deems lesser than him on the basis of race, religion, sexuality - it is only Paul Owens' murder that results in a detective being sent out - the book was conveying this fine and effectively in the earlier chapters where there was considerably less incredible violence specifically against women going on.
If anyone who is thinking about reading the book is reading this review, trust me it is almost certainly significantly more graphic than you are thinking - the film is incredibly sanitised in this area.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
1.0
ššš thank you ACOTAR for breaking me out of the SJM spell. I, and I admit this with shame now, was a ToG girlie. The writing in this book was impressively bad; continual restatements and hitting you over the head with what happened as well as a truly beautiful example of a 'not-like-other-girls' main character utterly devoid of any real personality, as well as a truly upsetting amount of blatant sexual harassment done at the hands of Rhysand meant I waved a not so fond farewell to this book, and with it the few feelings of positivity I still granted towards SJM. ššš
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
3.5
Nothing about this book other than a slight melancholic tone has stuck with me. My reviews are so vibes based it's not even funny.