toldo1's reviews
6 reviews

The Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

The Republic of False Truths by Alaa Al Aswany

challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Gun violence

Educated by Tara Westover

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.75

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The description of the 'Georgia Flu' and how it brings down society are terrifying, and the individual storylines and characters are great, most of them were linked together pretty well. Book mixes together events from before, during, and after the flu throughout the novel. The ending is anticlimactic though.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Primarily about how individuals, groups, and nations exploit and prey upon other individuals, groups, and nations. I felt like the theme of reincarnation was more of a neat way to connect the short stories, rather than anything more meaningful. The quality of the short stories varied a lot. Somni-451, Letters from Zedelghem, and Timothy Cavendish were all very good. Mystery of Luisa-Ray was fine, and Adam Ewing was rather bad. Sloosha's Crossing was the worst, and a lot of it comes down to its writing style; parts of it were excruciating to read. Mitchell is pretty heavy-handed with his themes as well, making it very obvious what the book's about.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

adventurous mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

Excellent; you really get absorbed into how Piranesi cherishes the world around him. The house is surreal and seemingly infinite, simultaneously frozen still with thousands of marble statues yet lively with crashing tides and flying birds. The book does a great job of showing how the different characters treat the house, and fundamentally how they treat discovery, knowledge, science, and other people.