Wow. I am currently on the fence about whether or not this book is going to be put on my favorites list. That being said, it should be pretty obvious that I loved this book. At first, I was a bit lost and wasn’t sure whether or not I would keep going. This feeling was amplified by the fact that the reader of the audiobook has a certain repeating intonation about her voice that took me a while to get used to. However, once I got used to it, I found that I actually loved the narration and I became quickly engrossed in the book. This book is extremely effective at eliciting emotion – much more so than books I have read in the past. I felt anxious when the character was anxious. I felt sad when the character was sad. Relating to the character, even if you’ve never been in a similar situation, is pretty easy with how effectively emotion is communicated. I will mention, however, that some part of this might simply be the voice acting in the audiobook. I did read part of this from a traditional paper book and I found that it was slightly less effective that way. Either way, the story is engrossing and leaves you feeling addicted. If I had to give a negative critique, I would say that a few changes in scenery towards the end of the book seem a bit rushed and could have been explored a bit more. Other than that though, I loved it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is confused about why adopting outside ones race can sometimes be a risky proposition.

I can see why Rumi’s poetry is so well loved but I can also see where it intersects with a good deal of other poetic work from past periods. If you are a big fan of the simple speech and subtle nature present in most Japanese haikus then you may like this poetry despite the longer length. Also, if you tend to be a fan of work that is more metaphorical in nature, rather than anecdotal, then you may like this poetry. Overall, I liked it and respected it, although it is not the type of poetry are usually go for. Most of these homes all have a very specific sequence that goes something like this: 1st part: A metaphor or aphorism. 2nd part: A statement about nature or an every day action, such as eating food. 3rd part (optional): mention a religious figure, commonly Jesus or Muhammad. 4th part: A statement about love or life. I’m not mentioning this formula in order to make fun of his work or say that it isn’t good, because it is very good, I’m just giving you an idea of what to expect. This may help you recognize whether or not this poetry is for you.

Holy sh*t. I really hated this book at first. The young friend group reunited in adulthood, the single female friend, the consistent mention of bicycles, and many other elements reminded me too much of IT at first but too be honest I was just making random connections. The ambience and plot aren’t similar at all. The middle of the book had me both confused, uncertain about my feelings, and curious. By the end I loved a few of the plot twists but also felt annoyed at the delivery of some of them. The ambience and brief horror moments were excellent, although a few of the characters were definitely more believable and original than others. I did have a few serious issues with the book. One is that it uses g*psy. Not in dialogue but in a casual way through narration which seems entirely inappropriate considering it’s a slur. Any other words used, and there are some nasty ones, are used in dialogue or in reference to dialogue so come off differently. Overall it wasn’t perfect but I enjoyed it once I got past about 1/3 of the novel and I would recommend it.

Beautiful art but the rhyming meter is a little off a few times. Still a great book for kids.

Jesus f*cking Christ- where to start with this book? It was a whole spiritual experience. I suppose I should start by mentioning that the writing was quite beautiful and though at times it was poetic, it was also quite easy to read. The book had a lot of interesting information about the aboriginal people of Taiwan, which I am ashamed to say that I knew nothing about prior to reading this book. This is definitely a piece of magical realism and it is also definitely environmentalist work. If you care at all about climate change, magical realism, spirituality, aboriginal people, and human memory, then you will likely love this book. My only criticism is that at times the pacing was a bit odd. Certain parts of the book in the beginning and middle were far longer than they needed to be while part at the end of the book felt a little bit rushed. Overall, the pacing issue wasn’t even enough to take away a single star because reading this book was such a life-changing experience – as dramatic as that sounds, it’s true.

Absolutely beautiful. Stunning. I don’t want to spoil anything but if you love magical realism, politics, short stories, the 80s, queer literature, or pop culture then you’ll love this book.

This is a very short book and while it isn’t technically a graphic novel nor a novella, it’s something in between. For a book based on a random video game story, I was surprised at how good it was! It really captures the feeling of film noir/ detective stories while also being (essentially) a medieval-style fantasy setting.