Take a photo of a barcode or cover
literatureaesthetic's Reviews (540)
love how diverse this was, definitely one that younger muslims would love <3
RATING: ★★☆☆☆
Ok wow, this book was disappointing.
I was expecting a cute, fluffy contemporary novel that would make me laugh and that was not what I got? I don't get the hype.
This book focuses a lot on the characters, which isn't a positive for me. Other than the main character, Cath, and her roommate, I didn't actually care for any of the characters. I found that they were bland or boring or unlikable. Wren irritated me beyond belief, Levi was so bland and her mother sucks. I appreciated Cath's father, a single parent who is having to cope with both of his daughters leaving home for University at the same time. He's obviously struggling with his mental health and I appreciate that Rainbow Rowell included that representation of having an ill parent.
Cath was the honestly the only reason I pushed through and finished the book. She is a freshman at University, and this book is all about her adapting to a completely style of life whilst coping with anxiety. Her anxiety was so relatable for me. Her character growth is my favourite thing about this novel. We watch her morph from an uncomfortable teenager who finds it difficult to even leave her room to get food to eat, to a much more confident woman who pushes herself and has developed many newfound relationships and finally is beginning to understand and find herself. The anxiety representation, at least in my opinion, was done so well.
However, Cath's character was honestly the only positive in this book for me. The plot was non-existent, and the Simon and Baz references were so tedious. It got to the point that I didn't even read them, I skipped all of the Simon and Baz excerpts, which is shocking since everyone loved those scenes and those characters. I understand that this novel is called, 'Fangirl', and is about Cath being a fangirl and obsessing over Simon and Baz, but I just didn't care about them? I'm not sure if that's because Rainbow Rowell didn't spend enough time at the start of the book making us fall in love with them. The scenes where Cath is reading out parts of her fan fiction, and then the excerpts between chapters of Simon and Baz felt unnecessary, they added nothing to the story and honestly didn't care about them.
The writing style was average for me. I found the dialogue extremely cringey at times. That's all I have to say about that
Ok wow, this book was disappointing.
I was expecting a cute, fluffy contemporary novel that would make me laugh and that was not what I got? I don't get the hype.
This book focuses a lot on the characters, which isn't a positive for me. Other than the main character, Cath, and her roommate, I didn't actually care for any of the characters. I found that they were bland or boring or unlikable. Wren irritated me beyond belief, Levi was so bland and her mother sucks. I appreciated Cath's father, a single parent who is having to cope with both of his daughters leaving home for University at the same time. He's obviously struggling with his mental health and I appreciate that Rainbow Rowell included that representation of having an ill parent.
Cath was the honestly the only reason I pushed through and finished the book. She is a freshman at University, and this book is all about her adapting to a completely style of life whilst coping with anxiety. Her anxiety was so relatable for me. Her character growth is my favourite thing about this novel. We watch her morph from an uncomfortable teenager who finds it difficult to even leave her room to get food to eat, to a much more confident woman who pushes herself and has developed many newfound relationships and finally is beginning to understand and find herself. The anxiety representation, at least in my opinion, was done so well.
However, Cath's character was honestly the only positive in this book for me. The plot was non-existent, and the Simon and Baz references were so tedious. It got to the point that I didn't even read them, I skipped all of the Simon and Baz excerpts, which is shocking since everyone loved those scenes and those characters. I understand that this novel is called, 'Fangirl', and is about Cath being a fangirl and obsessing over Simon and Baz, but I just didn't care about them? I'm not sure if that's because Rainbow Rowell didn't spend enough time at the start of the book making us fall in love with them. The scenes where Cath is reading out parts of her fan fiction, and then the excerpts between chapters of Simon and Baz felt unnecessary, they added nothing to the story and honestly didn't care about them.
The writing style was average for me. I found the dialogue extremely cringey at times. That's all I have to say about that
Piranesi has to be the most unusual book I think I've ever read. Reading this is like completing a puzzle: the longer you spend on it, the more the pieces begin to come together until you finally have a complete picture.
This book is told through a series of journal entries written by Piranesi, a man living in a labyrinthine style building called The House. Piranesi's House isn't an ordinary building, its halls are endless and the walls are lined with thousands and thousands of statues. Along with Piranesi, we begin to discover the secrets of the House and how Piranesi came to be there. (This description is rubbish lol, it's just a really difficult book to describe).
Piranesi read like a fever dream. It was slow and strange, magical and almost dream-like. The entire time I had no idea what was happening and which direction the story was heading in, until the end where everything came together and suddenly it all made sense. I could spend hours, even days, analysing this book. It felt like I was reading a strange myth.
This is definitely one of those books where you should start reading it knowing nothing, and slowly discover it's secrets on your own. It was slightly confusing and disorienting at first but I think that was intentional. Overall, it was beautifully written, and I highly recommend it
:)
This book is told through a series of journal entries written by Piranesi, a man living in a labyrinthine style building called The House. Piranesi's House isn't an ordinary building, its halls are endless and the walls are lined with thousands and thousands of statues. Along with Piranesi, we begin to discover the secrets of the House and how Piranesi came to be there. (This description is rubbish lol, it's just a really difficult book to describe).
Piranesi read like a fever dream. It was slow and strange, magical and almost dream-like. The entire time I had no idea what was happening and which direction the story was heading in, until the end where everything came together and suddenly it all made sense. I could spend hours, even days, analysing this book. It felt like I was reading a strange myth.
This is definitely one of those books where you should start reading it knowing nothing, and slowly discover it's secrets on your own. It was slightly confusing and disorienting at first but I think that was intentional. Overall, it was beautifully written, and I highly recommend it
:)
Finally finished!!!!
Damn, this book a crazy ride. At first, I found the world quite boring, and I found the main character quite difficult to connect with. I also felt like majority of the stories were similar in essence and involved Geralt finding a monster and killing it. It was boring.
However, the last quarter of the book definantly picked up pace. I feel like the last few stories were more interesting, I loved Yennifer, and I also feel as though I could appreciate Geralt as a character a lot more. Personally, short stories have never been my thing, which is why I didnt like this book much, or at least thought it was average. I do have high hopes for the actual start to the series, after the short story collections.
Damn, this book a crazy ride. At first, I found the world quite boring, and I found the main character quite difficult to connect with. I also felt like majority of the stories were similar in essence and involved Geralt finding a monster and killing it. It was boring.
However, the last quarter of the book definantly picked up pace. I feel like the last few stories were more interesting, I loved Yennifer, and I also feel as though I could appreciate Geralt as a character a lot more. Personally, short stories have never been my thing, which is why I didnt like this book much, or at least thought it was average. I do have high hopes for the actual start to the series, after the short story collections.
the author excelled at revealing the necessity and beauty of nature. the whole concept is unique, the characters were portrayed so well (I LOVE BEAR). i think my favourite element in this book is how emotional it is. there were parts where i sympathised with Juniper and Bear so much that i just wanted to cry lmao.
the pacing was quite slow, though. i just really wanted things to move along at a faster pace.
the pacing was quite slow, though. i just really wanted things to move along at a faster pace.
“i have been crying out to you from the start.” — if it's not alex and darlington, then i don't want it
3.5 ☆
read for uni — it's a modernist book, so naturally it's very abstract and difficult to grasp. i'm not even entirely sure i understood majority of it (which is the entire point, tbf). there's so many layers to this novel, i feel like i could spend an entire year analysing it. but for now, it was fine, i guess??
virginia woolf and anaïs nin fans are probably the only people i'd recommend this to lmao. it's such a specific type of novel, extremely ambiguous, it definitely won't appeal to the masses.
read for uni — it's a modernist book, so naturally it's very abstract and difficult to grasp. i'm not even entirely sure i understood majority of it (which is the entire point, tbf). there's so many layers to this novel, i feel like i could spend an entire year analysing it. but for now, it was fine, i guess??
virginia woolf and anaïs nin fans are probably the only people i'd recommend this to lmao. it's such a specific type of novel, extremely ambiguous, it definitely won't appeal to the masses.
