alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)

One of the crazier cult stories I’ve heard about! Polygamy, drug cartels, arms dealers, assassin wives, this has a little bit for everybody. I bet Netflix is already salivating to make a documentary, lol. I listened to the audiobook and it was fine but I had to stop trying to remember which family did what. Everybody is a first cousin or a half brother, so it’s confusing. The cartels were also hard to keep track of, for the same reason. Whoever is ultimately to blame for the 2019 massacre, one thing is certain: there’s too many siblings doing too many crimes.

Simple but good. The practices at the end were the best part. I don’t know if this book would help me if I were truly suffering, but the practices can help me now.

“The miracle is not to walk on water or thin air, but to walk on Earth.”

So wholesome. This series is like a cozy hug.

CD does a great job of demystifying taboo subjects in a light-hearted and honest light. Each chapter answers a question people have about dead bodies, and since the author, who got her start on Youtube, does her own reading, it sounds like podcast episodes. Great sort of thing to listen to while multitasking.

Masterful and classy sci-fi. I loved how this book tied in to the author’s previous book, and it was a delight to read the genre pivot. I need more like this.

This wasn't how I expected the series to wrap up but I liked it! The plot was great and the pacing was spot on. There were deffinitely some tense moments that had me nervous. I was kind of tired of the characters by this point but overall a rock-solid series.

This was a great introduction to Taoism. I'm impressed at how easily I understood the concepts. It also made Pooh make more sense, haha. I never really liked Winnie the Pooh stories as they always felt nonsensical and surreal. They improve when treated as a fable. A lot of Taoist and Buddhist humor is that sort of joke--childlike wordplay, rhymes and riddles.

In the introduction it mentioned the painting The Vinegar Eaters, commenting on the contrast between the the three figures who represent Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. I can see how Confucianism stands apart as unique from the other two, but I would like to learn where Buddhism and Taoism differ in their philosophies of daily living. I don't really see a difference right now.

2022: Still so bittersweet and moving. The characters are incredible and lifelike. I love them.

2014: Love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love! Every part of it is so, so good. Plot, characters, writing, narration, themes, development...all are perfect. I laughed, cried, dreamed, and wondered. I will definitely, like Liesel Meminger did with her books, read this over and over again.

PS I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator did a stellar job.

Pretty cute! I liked the premise of the MC—Phoebe is writing her dissertation on serial killers in pop culture and there are tons of true crime references sprinkled throughout. But honestly Phoebe's younger brother Connor is the real star of this book. I found both Phoebe and the love interest Sam to be bland.

This story is about mothers and daughters, how traditions are passed down and defended, and reverse culture shock. The writing is careful and calculated and the narrative has a simple yet effective twist. But I resonated most with how it captures the sense of how jarring it is to return to a place that you used to know--our memories fool us into thinking we know a place, but in the meantime both our perspective and the place have changed. It's not easy to accept a different reality, the disappointment at seeing your past self in a new light, and the idea that your memory was deceived you into believing something that's not entirely true. Perhaps that's why reverse culture shock is so much harder than initial culture shock.