Reviews by librarymouse | The StoryGraph

447 reviews by:

librarymouse

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I read this book once before, as a child, but I forgot how much it hurts. Beautifully written, heartbreaking, and begging the reader to confront and understand a horrifying ethical dilemma within the view of a pastoral childhood, this book is one that I will never be able to forget and one which will never stop hurting.

Content Warnings

The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer

Dean Jobb

4.0

informative mysterious medium-paced

This is a well written and engaging account of a terrible man.

Content Warnings

Last Day on Mars

Kevin Emerson

4.5

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was a fast and engaging read, and I can't wait to read the rest of them.

Phoebe not being human is really interesting twist. I'm not sure how I feel about the only hinting about her being different from the other kids being a disability, but I do like that she was never excluded from anything by her friends. I'm curious how the next book will resolve the sabotage plot lines. There are only two more books in this series, and I'm not sure that they can fit everything that I want from the rest of this series within them, but I'm looking forward to figuring that out.

This book uniquely and very interestingly frames the end of the world as you know it as something that is very much not the worst case scenario.

Content Warnings

The Sleeper and the Spindle

Neil Gaiman

5.0

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a fun, short read with a stunning twist. The bits and pieces of lore sprinkled throughout the text are engaging and thoughtfully done in such a way I am simultaneously left satisfied with the time I've spent with the book and yearning for more time with the characters and the world. I adore the queen.

Content Warnings

Everything Is Beautiful, and I'm Not Afraid: A Baopu Collection

Yao Xiao

4.5

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

This collection of comics is eye catching, tender, and incredibly vulnerable. It's a quick read, but what I really want to do with it is read it while wrapped around it under the blanket with a flashlight, curling back the pages in a way that breaks the spine, like I did with my books as a child. This collection tastes of nostalgia, and makes tangible the feeling of liminality when you're young, unmoored from home, and can't go back.

Content Warnings

A Jury Of Her Peers

Susan Glaspell

3.5

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

A good, fast read, showing the folly of misogyny.

Content Warnings

The Library at Mount Char

Scott Hawkins

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is fantastic! I think the non-linear narrative really added to the suspense as the plot unfolded slowly. I enjoy how this novel puts readers into the position to root for Carolyn as she does exestentially terrifying things, the consequences of which ramp up slowly. Yet the author is still able to root the horrors of the reality Carolyn creates to the reality we know through Steve and Erwin.

This was recommended to me as horror, but I can't help but feel that while it is scary and gory, horror isn't the correct genre for this novel. Horror makes me panic at night. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading The Library at Mount Char.
This is everything I could want and more from a book that starts out with the vibes of a post-hayday magic school memoir of sorts.

Content Warnings

Flung Out of Space: The Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith

Grace Ellis

5.0

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Patricia Highsmith is a terrible person, but her story is engaging and fantastically portrayed by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer. I really enjoy that they've shared a bibliography for further reading.

Content Warnings

King Lear

William Shakespeare

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a play full of rich royalty doing stupid things then dying (for the most part). I'm gonna need some more time and a seminar paper to ruminate on my thoughts.

We the Animals

Justin Torres

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book pulls at the threads of humanity, fraying the fabric until it's distilled to its purest parts. The narrator shows the core memories of childhood, building up into the moment of the fracturing of his family unit and the unit that was made up of his brothers. Their childlike, experimenting, queered, and crushed mother makes such a complex character, as does their father and the juxtaposition of his tenderness and machismo. This book is truly unsettling and full of life.

Content Warnings

More...