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thewordshaker's reviews
182 reviews
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
What an unexpected book! Lulu challenges assumptions and belief in her quest for hope and purpose, without deluding herself on white lies to tell herself.
Part memoir, part recounting of ichthyologist history, the book comments on the short coming of science and scientists as well as explaining the misunderstood.
I feel some of the topics covered here should have come with a warning. Lulu talks about suicide, rape, and forced sterilization with an occasional warning to not be squeamish - but being squeamish or sensitive to these subjects is only human and also based off of experiences. It may come from a place of trying to protect her vulnerabilities but it is wrong, and it made the book an uncomfortable reading, and why I chose not to give it 4 stars.
Part memoir, part recounting of ichthyologist history, the book comments on the short coming of science and scientists as well as explaining the misunderstood.
I feel some of the topics covered here should have come with a warning. Lulu talks about suicide, rape, and forced sterilization with an occasional warning to not be squeamish - but being squeamish or sensitive to these subjects is only human and also based off of experiences. It may come from a place of trying to protect her vulnerabilities but it is wrong, and it made the book an uncomfortable reading, and why I chose not to give it 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, and Trafficking
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Heart breaking, his loneliness. It takes so much strength to live as he did despite all the curveballs and senseless violence he faced. This is an important book. And I’m glad I could read it.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What to read when you’re suicidal or giving up on yourself. There is always potential.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It’s a heavy book, exploring difficult subjects. That’s what kept me reading, though at times the dialogues and descriptions felt a little flat and characters seem to mesh into one. That doesn’t take away from the significant topics covered here.
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
What a trip. It’s a slice of life book following four young women and their friends in an apartment block. It’s a look at the struggles Korean women face and the pressures to look a certain way. It’s.. easy to read and there’s a lot of strength in the characters.
Content Warnings
Minor: Miscarriage and Suicide
Destination Paradise: Among the Jihadists of the Maldives: Among the Jihadists of the Maldives by Francesca Borri
0.0
It.. sucks and makes a caricature of Maldivians. When this came out it was ridiculed on Twitter for being the racist, lazy book that it is. Little fact checking has gone into it and it’s just. Not good.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
4.0
To love or to fear.
We’ve had political leaders we’ve loved and feared, and it’s a tricky question what works better. Machiavelli wrote a Dictator’s guidebook here - and while I don’t think they’d like reading about it - it’s helpful for us to learn political science through this simple book.
We’ve had political leaders we’ve loved and feared, and it’s a tricky question what works better. Machiavelli wrote a Dictator’s guidebook here - and while I don’t think they’d like reading about it - it’s helpful for us to learn political science through this simple book.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
5.0
This is the route Maldives would take towards a dystopia. It’s all there - the suppression of women and rights, the sudden coup, the silence from the governments. It’s... so terrifying to think of and made more real as religions become radicalized.
It’s a classic dystopian novel and worth reading, though it feels less and less like an imagined reality.
It’s a classic dystopian novel and worth reading, though it feels less and less like an imagined reality.
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
4.0
It’s sometimes easier to read about countries from the perspective of an outsider. I wanted to read a book about India and here it was - but it is very much a book about an Australian criminal on the run in a foreign land.
He’s quite good with prose and I have vivid recollections of his passages even years from then. Some parts of it are fantastical - and though it can be read as an autobiography, I think that’d be unfair to the country it’s based in and the people he writes about.
He’s quite good with prose and I have vivid recollections of his passages even years from then. Some parts of it are fantastical - and though it can be read as an autobiography, I think that’d be unfair to the country it’s based in and the people he writes about.