booksonmars's Reviews (670)

finally, finally an anticipated read that is actually good! this book was everything i expected it to be and more: i was ready for the angst and yearning, but i was not ready for it to be so elegantly written and from the first chapter too! 

the main characters gaunt and ellwood are best friends from school who both believe are in unrequited love with the other. understandable, as it's the 1900s, just before the first world war. but it's so devastating to have this person who you know will be the only person who will ever truly know you (maybe more than you know yourself) who is your soul's other, and to live in a time such as this one. i'd say the war is another main character in the book, with the way it permeates every character and their relationships. it's arresting, reading about these young boys who witness unspeakable things and are forced to do these unspeakable things. it's haunting, to watch what this does to their souls, to the way they love and hurt and hate. alice winn gives every character a story, and shines a light on the way there's no one way of loss in this war, no such thing as being unaffected. i don't usually read war novels but this particular one really ties into why reading only for escapism isn't ideal: sometimes we should read to understand the people around us, that then and now people can still hurt and be scared and love. 

such a good book to read in the winter. the descriptions of the bleak landscape reflected the plotline, the doomed end of the protagonist. agnes' story was poetic in prose and heartbreaking in sentiment, which made the ending so tragic. i enjoyed the historical elements too and learning about 19th century iceland, i'll definitely read more books about this time period.

the first mystery i've listened to as an audiobook and it was so good! i was invested in the plot from the get go, and kept an ear out for clues, but the reveal was still chilling. each of these characters are bad people but they're bad people written well. charlie was a great main character/final girl, although i wish she stuck up for herself a bit more. both mysteries, past and present, were intriguing to uncover, the former being more emotionally tragic. the narrator did a great job at making me hate them and their posh accents, although i did feel sympathy for their deaths. kinda deserved though. 

the epitome of cosy winter read. i didn’t realise that the other parts of the movie are actually part of the second book so i will be reading that too. each chapter felt like a little window into the lives and the way the world changes the sisters and their relationship with others. having it set between one year showed how much they really grew. meg was my favourite from childhood and she still is today, i just love her elegance and quiet devotion to her sisters. i love you march sisters! 

i did stop reading this many times at the beginning, which felt slow and too meandering. then when i got to the core of the story, i realised what this book was about: the search for human connection, and the great trials we go through to for them. this was such a tender and sweet book that im definitely adding to the list of classical books that have broken my heart. 

hate when a bad bitch loses her powers and becomes weak and fragile to the mmc 

rereading reminded me that as a teenager who had nothing exciting going on in her life the drama of this book was my peak entertainment 

don’t have much to say because i read this after watching the tv show; both were good and i really liked the multimedia of the book. 

disliked more than just kids, the magical realism element was so unnecessary and so much of it was pointless rambling. some good quotes and i did enjoy her thoughts on loneliness, travel, and the loss of loved ones. 

an insightful feminist manifesto that all people should read. i felt so empowered listening to this, particularly the poems on the anger of black women, and ‘poetry is not a luxury’.