nadia's Reviews (587)

I was surprised by how much I ended up being affected by this book. I was concerned that it had been too long since I'd read the first one — just over two years — and it did take me a while to connect with the characters again, but Backman does an excellent job of catching you up, reminding you of what's gone on before, and teasing (often darkly) at what's to come.

I didn't cry, but it's the closest I've ever been. He has a magical way of writing so succinctly whilst being so incredibly emotive, without coming off as cheesy.

I think Backman might be one of my favourite storytellers ever. I've only read the Beartown books so it's high time I explore his backlist!

A great memoir about one woman’s experience of growing up mixed-race in 1950s England and then navigating the world as an adult beyond that.

Goldsmith’s story spans 6 decades, a multitude of countries, and themes of identity, racism, politics, feminism, family, belonging, acceptance, and more.

Something I particularly enjoyed was how Goldsmith’s narrative voice mirrored the age she was at each point of her story. For example, at the beginning, the book didn’t read as if it was a five-year old writing it or anything, but you’re in the mind of Esuantsiwa at five, having a sense of what she was thinking and feeling at each moment recounted to us, without the benefit of hindsight.

Tip: If you don’t want to have a sense of what happens to Goldsmith later on in her life, I  recommend skipping the photo segment until the end. :-D

I enjoyed these poems, especially the variety in each one’s structure and subject matter. It's a really creative, emotive collection all about a range of experiences from the perspective of black women, showcasing strength, resolve, pain, and vulnerability.

Here’s a snippet from one of my favourites, “Strongwoman”:

When Dennis stole my research
for a boardroom showdown, I didn’t 
doubt the strength of my words
to humble him, I wove my voice
into a low even tone, lashed him calmly
question after question and didn’t relent 
when his answers lost their way, not until
he conceded the game I never agreed to play. 

This was such good fun!!

A little tedious at times, especially with some of the name-dropping, keeping the huge cast of characters and their relationships between one another straight, taking too long to get back to the more exciting story lines...but overall it was just what I needed and I'm looking forward to getting to the second book in the series!

My first Morrison novel as an adult! I've only read Beloved, and that was as a teen. Now I've decided to work my way through her books chronologically.

In The Bluest Eye, Morrison asks: What did it mean to be young, poor, black, "ugly", rejected, and unloved in 20th Century America?  What is beauty, and what happens when your own is invisible to you?

This was a dark, heavy, and uncomfortable read. A lot was packed into these 200-odd pages, especially characters with actions and thoughts that make you want to look away at times. Yet, the beautiful, lyrical writing was a joy to consume and certainly made me want to keep on turning the pages.

I'm looking forward to more of Morrison's work!

This was a lot of fun, with quite a few laugh out loud and steamy moments! I even stayed up a little late one night, struggling to put the book down, eager to see how things unfolded.

The story features great portrayal, I believe, of mental health issues, especially living with anxiety and panic attacks. I really comment Talia Hibbert for expertly focusing on these dimensions in her characters as this is what makes them feel incredibly real and human!

Just Eve left now!

I went into this with super high expectations. And it was a good, enlightening read. I think I was just expecting more revelatory experiences, that suddenly made things I already knew super clear (disclaimer: I studied Physics until just before university/college, and wanted to have a degree in Engineering for a time, so not a complete newbie here).

Instead, I was still left a bit uncertain with the explanations and piecing it all together in my head...and often Rovelli would say things along the lines of: Sounds confusing or contradictory? Well, that's how physicists feel!

I think this book is perfect if you know nothing/hardly anything about Physics, find it intimidating, and want to have some idea of the questions it seeks to answer, what's already been figured out, and what's still being worked on. I still think this book is a little hard to follow, but it definitely explains most things in straightforward, accessible ways, assuming no prior knowledge.

What an epic book! And what a reading journey this was!

It took me just under two months to get though, weaving in other books. 

The cast of characters was huge but King does a great job of helping you to stay on top of who’s who as you get deeper into the book.

So many interesting themes and questions are raised with this, and while the scope is large, it all fits! Family, death, violence, grief, survival, sociology, community, politics, law and order, religion, war, and more. It’s all in here.

It is all about a global pandemic, so if you’re feeling like it’s too close to home, then pass. I kept on thinking about it how terrifying the beginning segments would have been if I’d started reading it a year earlier.

I was intrigued by Njambi McGrath's story throughout Through the Leopard's Gaze, and was especially curious to see how the relationship with her various family members developed over the course of the book. I struggled with the writing style a little — at times it seemed too blunt or succinct given the intimate and emotional subject matter, and this sometimes led to a disconnect for me. But overall, it was definitely a worthwhile reading experience. I especially appreciated the harrowing accounts of life in Kenya under British colonial rule and how that served as important context for analysing how surviving amidst such wildly distressing circumstances may serve in completely altering the makeup of a person.