bennysbooks's Reviews (668)

Took a large break in between readings of Grendel due to library borrowing times. I think this book was very successful in the way that the prose blended the poetic elements of Beowulf with more modern (circa the 70's) language. There were passages that made me laugh, that I wanted to record for later, that made me think about the world or language differently. Where I think it fell flat for me was in the philosophical musing. Maybe it's the distance of 50-ish years, or my own studies/interests in philosophy, or maybe even the proliferation of books told from the perspective of villains. Whatever it was, I just didn't find Grendel or his moaning all that interesting or thought-provoking. I managed to finish the book by allowing myself to be swept up in the stream-of-consciousness writing, but I don't feel particularly moved by the experience (which I think is what I expected). 

I have a decent background on the history of Black Panthers, so it might be a better book for those looking for an introduction, but I also had an issue with the writing. On a sentence-by-sentence level it was perfectly fine, but the structure was all over the place and needlessly confusing. I wanted it to be more cohesive, and with a stronger storytelling element. 

It did spark an interest in reading more about Afeni Shakur, so I look forward to that! 

Read with my 6-year old. He loved it, we finished it in one day and he gave it 100 stars 😉 I enjoyed the reading experience too. It reminded me of that feeling of getting into a new series as a child. It was creepy, it was cozy, and it's a great choice if your child can handle/enjoys some darkness. My kid seems to prefer something creepy over something emotional. We had to stop reading The Tale of Despereaux because he couldn't handle how mean the mouse's parents and siblings were, but book two in this series involves

a cat being roasted over a fire and eaten by goblins,

and he was fine with that.

I was prepared for this book to be bleak, I'm comfortable with the occasionally bleak read. But it has to have some payoff to keep me invested - interesting commentary, a unique writing style, a dark sense of humour, something new or experimental or just executed so well that I can't help but admire the craft. There were a few lines that made me laugh, and I enjoyed how despicable the main character was, but the payoff wasn't there for me. I think I was expecting something more in the vein of Morvern Callar (bleak but so compelling I couldn't look away) and I did not find that here. I dreaded picking it up every time I sat down to read. Ultimately not for me. 

Took me a long time to get through because it's quite dense and challenging, and I wanted to be able to process things properly. I can't say that I loved every piece, or even finished every piece. I can say that when I loved one of these stories, I mean that I loved it in a way that has become fundamental to who I am as a person. So that's nice. 

I can't decide between a 2.75 or 3 star rating for this book. I'll probably err on the side of generosity and give it a 3, because if you had asked me in the first half of the book how I felt, I would have told you that I loved it. Jalaluddin's writing occasionally reads a little saccharine for me personally, and her dialogue can be stiff at times, but she infuses enough heart, warmth, and quippy humour that I can look past it. I found all of the things that I loved about her writing in Hana Khan Carries On, and I was enjoying the You've Got Mail-style romantic developments, but the further I got into the book, the more exasperated I felt. 

I prefer for my romance reads to have more going on plot-wise, but I think I counted around 18 different plotlines (or sub-plotlines, or dropped plot points, or underdeveloped points that had less bearing on the story than I would have thought at the outset, or threads wrapped up in an easy sentence because there wasn't time or space to deal with them more thoroughly). It became very scattered, in my opinion, and sometimes lost impact. I was also super disappointed in the "plot twist" at the end, because it was melodramatic in a way that didn't fit with the rest of the story. Even after finishing, I still have questions about the purpose of so many things, big and small. I could have used either more book, or less clutter. It isn't even that I didn't enjoy the various elements of the story, but that they might have been more interesting spread across more pages (or more books, honestly. The "plot twist" could have made an entirely different book). 

In the acknowledgements, Jalaluddin said something about her first book taking much longer to write, and I think it shows. I'm still excited to read Much Ado About Nada (freaking fabulous title👌) and see what I think about it. 

Just not for me. I think I can see why it works for people, and I did find it funny/charming. I just didn't feel anything about the main love interest or think there was much in the way of chemistry, and the plot never captivated me. 

Disclaimer: the demon's name is the same as a friend's D&D character, and that definitely didn't help. I don't think it would have changed much, but it did produce the occasional cringe.

Two for two. Challenged, expanded, sobbing. 

"Language is not so transparent, but we are sometimes known, even so. If we are lucky."