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aliciaclarereads's Reviews (1.25k)
read for Popsugar 2019 Reading Challenge: a book you think should be turned into a movie
This book had SO MUCH HYPE, I didn't know if could live up to it. But boy oh boy it did!
This book was so excellent. Evelyn Hugo is so dynamic and complicated. She makes a lot of terrible and morally bankrupt decisions in this book to get ahead, but she's unapologetic about the life she lived. She jumps out of the page and took us through a tour of an unbelievable life. The relationship at the center of this book is devastatingly beautiful. I spent the last 50 pages crying and trying to read through my tears (very difficult in glasses).
My only qualm is Monique who I understand needs to be a part of this book. However, she's so bland. I mean in comparison to Evelyn, it's hard to stand out. I just felt myself getting frustrated when we went back to Monique, even if it was only a couple pages. But Evelyn certainly makes up for it.
I'm just so glad I picked this up. I truly love this so much. I'm gonna shove it in everyone's face.
Also this desperately needs to be adapted into a film.
This book had SO MUCH HYPE, I didn't know if could live up to it. But boy oh boy it did!
This book was so excellent. Evelyn Hugo is so dynamic and complicated. She makes a lot of terrible and morally bankrupt decisions in this book to get ahead, but she's unapologetic about the life she lived. She jumps out of the page and took us through a tour of an unbelievable life. The relationship at the center of this book is devastatingly beautiful. I spent the last 50 pages crying and trying to read through my tears (very difficult in glasses).
My only qualm is Monique who I understand needs to be a part of this book. However, she's so bland. I mean in comparison to Evelyn, it's hard to stand out. I just felt myself getting frustrated when we went back to Monique, even if it was only a couple pages. But Evelyn certainly makes up for it.
I'm just so glad I picked this up. I truly love this so much. I'm gonna shove it in everyone's face.
Also this desperately needs to be adapted into a film.
read for Popsugar 2019 Reading Challenge: a book with a plant in the title or on the cover
Probably more of a 3.5, but I'm rounding up because I really love the dynamic between Chung and her sister. It's always weird to rate a memoir, and the things I didn't like were more about the writing and what she chose to include. I really wanted a bit more from her adoptive parents when she starts the process of finding her biological family. I was a little surprised at how short the book was, and I was definitely left wanting a bit more from the story.
I'm really have happy to have read this! The only book I can think of off the top of my head with adoption as a focal point is [b:The Love That Split the World|25467698|The Love That Split the World|Emily Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433990957s/25467698.jpg|45236172] by Emily Henry. However I didn't love that as a well-respected Native author, Debbie Reese, wrote very critically about how poorly the adoption was handled of a Native child to white parents. All this to say, I really appreciate Chung's candor and her willingness to share the complicated history of her family. It definitely makes me feel motivated to read more stories about adoption, specifically from adoptees.
Probably more of a 3.5, but I'm rounding up because I really love the dynamic between Chung and her sister. It's always weird to rate a memoir, and the things I didn't like were more about the writing and what she chose to include. I really wanted a bit more from her adoptive parents when she starts the process of finding her biological family. I was a little surprised at how short the book was, and I was definitely left wanting a bit more from the story.
I'm really have happy to have read this! The only book I can think of off the top of my head with adoption as a focal point is [b:The Love That Split the World|25467698|The Love That Split the World|Emily Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433990957s/25467698.jpg|45236172] by Emily Henry. However I didn't love that as a well-respected Native author, Debbie Reese, wrote very critically about how poorly the adoption was handled of a Native child to white parents. All this to say, I really appreciate Chung's candor and her willingness to share the complicated history of her family. It definitely makes me feel motivated to read more stories about adoption, specifically from adoptees.
in this town everything born black
also burns
I love this so much. I've got to order my own copy so I can mark this up to my content.
also burns
I love this so much. I've got to order my own copy so I can mark this up to my content.
I don't know how to talk about this book. I keep writing and erasing sentences because I can't seem to quite put into words how I feel. I'm glad I listened to this on audio, because Laymon's narration is excellent. He's a brilliant writer and his prose gracefully danced off the page even while discussing so much trauma. I skimmed other reviews and saw a few comparisons to Roxane Gay's [b:Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body|26074156|Hunger A Memoir of (My) Body|Roxane Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1448064366s/26074156.jpg|42362558] which I think is very apt. However, the comparison I drew was Gay's [b:An Untamed State|18467818|An Untamed State|Roxane Gay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395145925s/18467818.jpg|26127435]. The books themselves as vastly different as Gay's is a novel and this is a memoir. But my reaction was really similar, particular the end of Heavy. I became so anxious and worked up as Laymon describes his trouble with addiction that I just wanted to jump out of my skin. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but this book doesn't cover pleasant topics.
Anyway this is all to say that I thought this memoir was truly excellent.
Anyway this is all to say that I thought this memoir was truly excellent.
read for PopSugar 2019 Challenge: a book about a family
So James Baldwin knows how to write a sex scene. Damn.
So James Baldwin knows how to write a sex scene. Damn.
read for PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge: a book recommended by a celebrity you admire (Roxane Gay)
This book was so intricate and layered that I think it's going to take me a few days to process it. Plus, I'm looking forward to the discussion with my book club!
This book was so intricate and layered that I think it's going to take me a few days to process it. Plus, I'm looking forward to the discussion with my book club!
On this reread, I bumped up my review one star. My biggest issue with this book the first time around was that it wasn't a good ending to Lara Jean's story. There wasn't too much of a resolution, and I was left rather disappointed. However, now that the story is a trilogy, I can appreciate this book so much more. It does function as a good middle of the story. This book is plagued by a lot of Lara Jean's insecurities, perfectly normal in a 16 year old, and we see her go through them and eventually start to be a little less self centered (again totally normal in a 16 year old!).
This series functions so well as a trilogy, I'm happy Jenny Han wrote another book. This reread has me SO SO SO excited for the film coming out next week!
This series functions so well as a trilogy, I'm happy Jenny Han wrote another book. This reread has me SO SO SO excited for the film coming out next week!
I forgot just how much I adore this, and how cruel the ending is. Going to reread the second and third books ASAP! I cannot wait to see this on the big (laptop) screen from Netflix.
read for PopSugar 2018 challenge: a book set on a different planet
read for Popsugar 2018 challenge: a past Goodreads Choice Awards winner
I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. I took a break from reading it when I was reading exclusively black authors in February, but when I picked it up again, I could not put it down. Celeste Ng weaves this really incredible domestic tale about these two families and how they deal with the world. She writes really great characters who change throughout the novel in subtle but complicated ways. I was so invested in the Richardsons and the Warrens, while being totally enthralled in the background story of the court case. Plus everything just crashed together in the end so perfectly! I don't even have words to articulate how much I loved this.
I was also delighted to find out that Ng was born in Pittsburgh, and features it at one point in the story! She grew up in Cleveland, hence the setting, and it was just so cool that the story felt so local to me (Shaker Heights is so genuinely like the town I grew up in).
It's just been announced that Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington will be producing and starring in an adaptation (a limited series I believe?) and now I am so pumped!
I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. I took a break from reading it when I was reading exclusively black authors in February, but when I picked it up again, I could not put it down. Celeste Ng weaves this really incredible domestic tale about these two families and how they deal with the world. She writes really great characters who change throughout the novel in subtle but complicated ways. I was so invested in the Richardsons and the Warrens, while being totally enthralled in the background story of the court case. Plus everything just crashed together in the end so perfectly! I don't even have words to articulate how much I loved this.
I was also delighted to find out that Ng was born in Pittsburgh, and features it at one point in the story! She grew up in Cleveland, hence the setting, and it was just so cool that the story felt so local to me (Shaker Heights is so genuinely like the town I grew up in).
It's just been announced that Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington will be producing and starring in an adaptation (a limited series I believe?) and now I am so pumped!