goatsrsexy's Reviews (604)

Ahhhhh. I didn't know what to expect at all going into this book and I truly feel it was a life changing read. This is a collection of short stories that all take place in the same world with an overarching narrative, which is one of my favourite formats for a novel. 

It takes place in a dystopian future where earth has been colonized and oppressed by the rest of the universe and it's much more technologically advanced beings. It's an analogy for Cuban politics in the 90s which I'll admit I don't know enough about to understand the references, but there's lots I did pick up on, and even without that context the stories are breathtaking.

This book made me laugh, cry and at times feel like I was literally gonna pass out. The world building is immaculate and the characters are so nuanced. No one in this book is really a villain, even if they seem like they might be at first. 

I would recommend reading this book quickly so that you don't forget previous chapters and can recognize recurring characters. I would also recommend checking trigger warnings as there are a LOT. But if you can stomach it, this book is so so so worth it.

I didn't really know what to expect going in but it was a really strong story about how terrifying it is to be a teenager and to be bullied. I didn't have the same teenage experience but I saw a lot of myself in her trauma and in her resilience. I loved all the kind and supportive people in her life.

This was such a touching book! It was all one story but each chapter felt like a short story in some ways. Now that I know it was based on a play that makes a lot of sense!

So much grief and loss and healing and love took place in such a short book. It was really beautiful and I definitely teared up a few times. I'm super curious about the ghost lady and the way the cafe actually works and I'll definitely read the other books eventually to see if there's ever any explanation.

I'm a big fan of literary fiction and also a huge sucker for contemporary romance, this is a combination of the two which I'm sure has been done many times but it was a first for me. To start, the writing itself was crazy beautiful. I swear I was ready to highlight the whole book. I didn't realize until after I'd started reading but I've actually read Freshwater, also by Emezi, and found it to be absolutely incredible so I'm not surprised I loved the writing in this. 

All the men in this book are so kind and thoughtful in their own way. I've been so tired of hating all the male characters in romance novels. Milan, Nasir and Alim are all so sweet and gentle in different ways, although I was really disappointed at the turn Alim took. 

I'm not normally into big age differences but Feyi and Alim coming together over shared grief made perfect sense and honestly they just seemed so well suited to each other, they understood each other on a fundamental level.

I'm really interested in romance novels that explore grief and finding new love after loss, this book does so in a beautiful way.

Linguistics is something I've always found incredibly interesting, but I am not particularly academically minded. A fair portion of Babel is literally just lectures on linguistics and etymologies, and despite my lack of knowledge it felt completely accessible to me. In order to explain a complicated subject in a way that laymen can understand, you need to really understand it, and I consider it the mark of a truly intelligent person to be able to do this.

Politically, Babel didn't expose me to anything I didn't already believe, but the way it criticized things like colonialism and capitalism were incredibly harsh in a great way. I know this book had a huge impact on so many people for that reason. Despite taking place in an alternative past, the comparisons to current society were obvious, and in many ways I see this book itself as a call to arms for a revolution that feels inevitable.

The world building was stunning. Usually when I read something with fantasy or magical realism I'm left with a bunch of questions, but Rebecca left no stones unturned with this. Btw footnotes are amazing and I wish books used them more! I read this digitally on my Kobo and I love the way footnotes are integrated. But honestly the magical realism in Babel is so subtle and well integrated that sometimes I felt like I was reading straight historical fiction and silverworking was a real thing. 

Plot wise, Babel can be very dense and it did take me longer to read than most books this length would. I loved the descriptions of love, friendship and happiness between Robin and his friends. There's a strong sense of family and the turns this book took were very bittersweet. I think the ending of the book was incredibly impactful and it's definitely something that will stay with me for a long time.

This book was a wild ride! It's definitely the type of story that keeps you up all night reading because you just have to see what happens next. It has multiple POVS and short chapters which is a combination I really like specifically for this genre (thriller) The juxtaposition in this book between some very dark and serious subjects and almost cartoon like villains/ action Scenes shouldn't work and yet it does. There were a few scenes where thought to myself "okay this is too much this is silly" but I was still extremely riveted so guess it wasn't too much. The ending of this book is so sad and melancholy in a brilliant way. I definitely recommend this for a quick read. There's nothing super graphic but l'd still look up trigger warnings.

I didn't want to like this as much as I did lol. It feels like the story no one asked for about the character no one likes, you know? But it was way more interesting than the original trilog y

I've never been a huge fan of Margaret Atwood and life is too short to read boring books

I am such a huge fan of Lynn Painters books! Her characters always feel so real and the stories always give me that happy feel good romcom energy.

This was my first time reading an adult book of hers and I loved it even more than her YA. Mr Wrong number is so much fun! I laughed out loud so many times. The chemistry was great and I was rooting so hard for the happy ending even though I knew it was coming. Can't wait to read the love wager! 

Named after the hurricane that tore apart her family the day she was born, Wanda is often looked at as someone to blame for the way things are. The much harder truth is that the world her parents grew up in doesn't exist anymore. Natural disasters are getting worse every year and cities along the coastlines are being abandoned by governments. This story takes place over the course of Wanda's life, stating before her birth. It's a story about the world as we know it ending long before we thought it would, before we're ready. But it's also a story about hope and resilience that shows us the world can still go on even after the one we know ends. It was devastating  at times but ultimately optimistic