snowbenton's reviews
3199 reviews
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
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? No
2.0
This is an Idea Book, but it's not a novel. The characters are all just paper dolls for Ng to move around in her almost-dystopian-but-frighteningly-realistic world. It was a chore to read.
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama XIV, Douglas Carlton Abrams
4.0
Nothing groundbreaking and the format was a little slapdash, but it has lots of lovely and important life advice.
Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming: A Memoir by Rheta Grimsley Johnson
slow-paced
2.0
Grimsley Johnson has no idea what kind of story she is trying to tell. She starts with some trying-to-be-humorous-but-aren't stories about her childhood, then describes her newspaper life in painstaking detail, then ends on a bunch of love notes to her late husband. None of these are bad things, but they don't work well together. This is a memoir that left me feeling like I know nothing about the subject except that she's vain enough to write a memoir.
The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel
4.0
Slightly less bombastic than the first, which kept me guessing because I didn't know which way the story would turn. The detective, Nevada, Clean Head, and Tinkler are all special (affectionate) and special (derogatory) in their own ways, and I love watching them solve the mystery while firmly entrenched in a moral grey area.
Friday The Witchteenth by Amanda M. Lee
3.0
The pacing was all off on this one. The first half is super slow, and the denouement was too jammed full of information too late in the story.