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svrye_docx's reviews
212 reviews
Bolla by Pajtim Statovci
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
Seahorse by Janice Pariat
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Picked this one up in preparation for a weekend trip and honestly? Could not have made a better choice.
'Seahorse' is a slow moving ping-pong match. Yeah it's a weird way to put it but hey, just when you're lulled into the beautiful and almost languid prose, suddenly the narrative shifts to a flashback. So then you settle into, once again, measured and paced-out writing - and wham! You're in the present now again but in a different present moment than the one you were in previously.
It would be confusing if it weren't that each shift in time is related to what comes before it or after. Sometimes, a bit of conversation in the present hearkens back to a flashback that Nem, our protagonist, falls into right after. Other times it's his own ruminations and reflections in the present that then set off the flashback. The connections are there - I had only one discombobulating experience and that was in the last section where present time Nem references something and I spent a whole 15 minutes reading through every previous flashback scene thinking that I must have missed this detail, only to see that a paragraph after Nem references the detail in the present time, there's the memory of it giving us the flashback.
I liked Janice Pariat's writing in this; I said it before and I'll say it again - it's measured and languid pacing. And there's a heavy focus on the surroundings and environment in almost every scene. Which is, I think, what keeps this book from sounding too cerebral and philosophical. It delves almost wholly within Nem's own perspective and is quite a reflective narrative but it breaks his inner monologuing and feelings with crisp and clear external imagery. Yes, Nem is very much a thinker, an ponderer, a deep-thoughts-haver but he isn't untouched by the world and the people around his. And I enjoyed that feeling. It made Nem a bit real and Nem's world real.
'Seahorse' is a slow moving ping-pong match. Yeah it's a weird way to put it but hey, just when you're lulled into the beautiful and almost languid prose, suddenly the narrative shifts to a flashback. So then you settle into, once again, measured and paced-out writing - and wham! You're in the present now again but in a different present moment than the one you were in previously.
It would be confusing if it weren't that each shift in time is related to what comes before it or after. Sometimes, a bit of conversation in the present hearkens back to a flashback that Nem, our protagonist, falls into right after. Other times it's his own ruminations and reflections in the present that then set off the flashback. The connections are there - I had only one discombobulating experience and that was in the last section where present time Nem references something and I spent a whole 15 minutes reading through every previous flashback scene thinking that I must have missed this detail, only to see that a paragraph after Nem references the detail in the present time, there's the memory of it giving us the flashback.
I liked Janice Pariat's writing in this; I said it before and I'll say it again - it's measured and languid pacing. And there's a heavy focus on the surroundings and environment in almost every scene. Which is, I think, what keeps this book from sounding too cerebral and philosophical. It delves almost wholly within Nem's own perspective and is quite a reflective narrative but it breaks his inner monologuing and feelings with crisp and clear external imagery. Yes, Nem is very much a thinker, an ponderer, a deep-thoughts-haver but he isn't untouched by the world and the people around his. And I enjoyed that feeling. It made Nem a bit real and Nem's world real.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
So this third book, the finale, is the one that won the Booker Prize, yet for me, it's the weakest one in the trilogy. Having said that, 'The Ghost Road' is still a really well-written book.
With the end of the Great War in sight, Barker now plumbs the depths of flashbacks and non-linear narrative to continue the story of our two main protagonists. It's done well and neatly, the ping-pong between the past and the present as well as between setting never feels confusing or difficult to grasp. Yet, for all that, I did wonder why?
Maybe I missed out on a vital detail in my devouring of this book but the flashbacks into the past that are set in the Solomon Islands felt incongruous in theme. Rather than focus on war and trauma, as the first two books had largely dealt with, these flashbacks dealt with colonisation, imperialism and the effects of such on indigenous cultures and traditions. Death, loss and grieving did crop up in these flashbacks but nowhere near as underlined enough for it to be the reason one of the main characters are experiencing these flashbacks in the first place.
So when the book ends, it struck a strange note.
And to be frank, I did like the ending. Or rather, the non-ending. War cuts short all endings as we tend to think of them. Rude interruptions and fullstops in the middle of a life in progress. And this Pat Barker has portrayed to perfection at the book's close.
With the end of the Great War in sight, Barker now plumbs the depths of flashbacks and non-linear narrative to continue the story of our two main protagonists. It's done well and neatly, the ping-pong between the past and the present as well as between setting never feels confusing or difficult to grasp. Yet, for all that, I did wonder why?
Maybe I missed out on a vital detail in my devouring of this book but the flashbacks into the past that are set in the Solomon Islands felt incongruous in theme. Rather than focus on war and trauma, as the first two books had largely dealt with, these flashbacks dealt with colonisation, imperialism and the effects of such on indigenous cultures and traditions. Death, loss and grieving did crop up in these flashbacks but nowhere near as underlined enough for it to be the reason one of the main characters are experiencing these flashbacks in the first place.
So when the book ends, it struck a strange note.
And to be frank, I did like the ending. Or rather, the non-ending. War cuts short all endings as we tend to think of them. Rude interruptions and fullstops in the middle of a life in progress. And this Pat Barker has portrayed to perfection at the book's close.
The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
QAs the second in the series, 'The Eye in the Door' picks up where 'Regeneration' left off and loses nothing in the way of pacing and style.
Where the first book focused on mental health among soldiers and war victims and the effects of the trench warfare raging in the fields of France, the second focuses on a quieter war being fought on the home front; that of conspiracies, conscientious objectors to the war and a homosexuality scandal and trial raging across the public sphere.
What struck me was that this shift in focus never felt undue or from left-of-field. These themes were, in fact, seeded in the first as ancillary problems that were poised to become larger issues in the future so when the second book dives into these issues in earnest, it's actually quite a natural transition.
'The Eye in the Door' is a much less hopeful book than the first one in the series, I felt, but then perhaps that's on me for expecting a war novel to be hopeful.
Where the first book focused on mental health among soldiers and war victims and the effects of the trench warfare raging in the fields of France, the second focuses on a quieter war being fought on the home front; that of conspiracies, conscientious objectors to the war and a homosexuality scandal and trial raging across the public sphere.
What struck me was that this shift in focus never felt undue or from left-of-field. These themes were, in fact, seeded in the first as ancillary problems that were poised to become larger issues in the future so when the second book dives into these issues in earnest, it's actually quite a natural transition.
'The Eye in the Door' is a much less hopeful book than the first one in the series, I felt, but then perhaps that's on me for expecting a war novel to be hopeful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Regeneration by Pat Barker
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
First encountered this book several years ago in a university writing class (Literature of the First World War) and got really into it. We sadly only read part of it and now, years later, found the book again and read it in full.
It's not a gripping page turner, nor is it your standard war novel full of battlefield exploits. It's a psychological exploration of men dealing with war trauma.
Though the book is fiction, Pat Barker has dived deep into historical records and research to feature historical figures as the main characters in this book and from what I was able to gather through my own parallel googling, most of what she's depicted is fairly accurate.
As the first in a trilogy, I think 'Regeneration' is a strong entry into the series' themes of war trauma, masculinity in turn-of-the-century Britain, mental illness and its treatment and homosexuality. It's full of conflicted characters and a sense of inevitability that neither the characters nor we, the readers, can quite look away from.
It's not a gripping page turner, nor is it your standard war novel full of battlefield exploits. It's a psychological exploration of men dealing with war trauma.
Though the book is fiction, Pat Barker has dived deep into historical records and research to feature historical figures as the main characters in this book and from what I was able to gather through my own parallel googling, most of what she's depicted is fairly accurate.
As the first in a trilogy, I think 'Regeneration' is a strong entry into the series' themes of war trauma, masculinity in turn-of-the-century Britain, mental illness and its treatment and homosexuality. It's full of conflicted characters and a sense of inevitability that neither the characters nor we, the readers, can quite look away from.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 50%.
This if the first Murakami book I picked up in a while after having inhaled a whole bunch in my late teens and early twenties. And boy did everything bad I'd read about Murakami prove kinda true with this book. Those critiques notwithstanding, I though I would finally give this book ago though. I remembered loving some of his other books as a younger reader and I had always wanted to read what many called his magnum opus so there I sat down with it.
How Murakami managed to turn one of the more concepts for a story into a meandering, unfocused, slice-of-life narrative with glacial pacing still stumps me to this day. I suppose there's some craft in taking a potentially action and intrigue heavy story and turning it into a slow-burner but I couldn't, for the life of me, get behind any of it. I felt nothing for the characters and could barely detect any motivations or personal drive from any of the main and supporting characters so when I finally managed to get to the 50% mark I decided that I'd given it a worthwhile chance and I did not finish it.
How Murakami managed to turn one of the more concepts for a story into a meandering, unfocused, slice-of-life narrative with glacial pacing still stumps me to this day. I suppose there's some craft in taking a potentially action and intrigue heavy story and turning it into a slow-burner but I couldn't, for the life of me, get behind any of it. I felt nothing for the characters and could barely detect any motivations or personal drive from any of the main and supporting characters so when I finally managed to get to the 50% mark I decided that I'd given it a worthwhile chance and I did not finish it.
The Absolutist by John Boyne
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and War
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse