ginny23's Reviews (259)

Well now I have to read everything Hanya writes. I was worried a book this long wouldn’t hold my attention. Wrong. I loved the characters. The main character lives such a tortured life- it’s so sad. Beautifully written. So captivating. Heart-wrenchingly tragic. I loved and hated this so much. Just check trigger warnings

I was so excited for this book! I had such high expectations and it just didn’t do it for me. It was a good book but not great. It reminded me a lot of hunger games and didn’t really give me any new or different insight into our horrific carceral system. I wanted more. Also the couple romance scenes did not feel believable to me. It’s likely an unpopular opinion but I just wasn’t that impressed.

A poignant inspiring and educational memoir. He was an exemplary human.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the author’s writing style. It’s easy to read, follow and understand- she’s not overly verbose. I loved that the story takes place over one day. It’s such an interesting concept to me to have the story be so distilled down and have the little details of the day be a large portion of the story. My mother died of ALS so I found it relatable and insightful to read about the main character’s struggles with Parkinson’s. I also appreciated the light the author shines on bodily autonomy and how religious organizations feel they can control what a woman does or doesn’t do with her body. I am an atheist and it was refreshing to read the MC’s point of view on death. There is so much about this story that I appreciate and I hope everyone that sees this review reads it! I will definitely be reading all of her other translated works.