nadia's Reviews (587)

The cover of this book says that it's "intricate and extraordinary" and those are two of the best words to describe this book and this series.

Normally I'm not one for books where I have to work so hard to get a grasp of what's going on, but N.K. Jemisin earned my trust ever since The Fifth Season and I was so here to put in the work.

And it was worth it! This is definitely a series I need to reread now that I have much clearer idea of what's what.

If you're curious about this series, love challenging books and science fiction, and want to disappear into a novel, ingenious world, with a unique magic system, then I highly recommend The Broken Earth trilogy.

There's a lot packed into this account of Katy Massey's historically strained and evolving relationship with her mother, and I appreciated the different directions this book pulled me in. 

We're invited to reflect with Katy on her experiences in the realms of family, identity, especially growing up mixed race, grief, body image, bullying, and mental health. It's pulled together with flowing, sometimes poetic, prose, and packaged in short, digestible chapters.  

I enjoyed the jumping around in history, as well as the stories from the perspectives of both Katy and her mother.

It took me a handful of essays to get into We Are Never Meeting In Real Life and to look forward to picking it up again, but then she got a few laughs out of me and I was sold. I still never fully got into a smooth flow with the book — that might just be because a lot of the time I started reading it before bed, fell asleep, and then always took a bit of time to re-orient myself in the story — but the value of multiple out-loud laughs are high around here!

A sad, moving, beautiful story. 

I loved the dual perspectives and the lyrical, yet simple, language. It took me back to when I visited Việt Nam six years ago and learnt a lot more about the country's history, coming to terms with how much we aren't taught in school (and how impossible it is to fit everything in), and which pockets of history get erased or rewritten to suit a narrative.

If you like multi-generational stories, want to learn more about Việt Nam's history, and can handle heaps of sadness and strife on account of a war-torn environment, then this is a book for you!

I can't believe I've reached the end of this epic quartet. I read My Brilliant Friend at the very end of 2016 and didn't pick up The Story of a New Name until the beginning of 2018.  So, it's been a slow 4-year journey on my end!

I just love the way the whole thing was written and translated. There were so many facets to the narration, the storytelling, the translation, and the dialogue. I felt so transported, and I don't think I've read such a vast and rich portrayal of a friendship. A set of books that will leave you stewing and wondering when you'll pick them all up again for a reread!

(My fave of the series was the third book, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, read in the latter half of last year. That one had me seriously hooked and racing through the pages.)

Upon reflection, I wouldn't have chosen my first time to experience this book to be via a Planet Money (a popular Economics podcast) episode, where each chapter, or even half a chapter sometimes, was read by a completely different person. 

It really affected the flow/continuity for me and I felt I couldn't fully appreciate what were evidently brilliantly beautiful passages of writing. I spent the beginning of each chapter readjusting, in particular resetting my vision of the story's narrator. You're probably wondering why I continued, but by the time I was a fair way into chapter 2, I thought: well, you've wanted to read this book for so long. You're already this far in. Press on!

And I am glad I did. This is one of those books that I didn't realise how much I was captivated by it until the end, when I couldn't stop thinking about it. I felt sad. I had questions, things I reflected on and researched. I was eager for other's opinions on the characters and their decisions and read a bunch of reviews afterwards, which isn't something I normally do.

A great book to study in English class and also one for a rich book club discussion, I say! I am both super excited to watch the recent movie adaptation, but also hesitant if I want to put myself through it all again.

I really enjoyed this! I didn't realise I was heading into a full-blown romance book — when I picked it up to get going on my Jacaranda #Twentyin2020 in 2021 challenge, I didn't pay close attention to the genre tags nor did I reread the blurb — yet I found myself quickly invested in the story. It was emotional, steamy, and fun. The characters felt real; their decisions for the most part too. I needed to know how everything ended up that I stayed up late one night to finish the book!

I did struggle to get into this book. I didn't think it'd break a 4⭐️  rating for me. For one, having the theme of religious faith be so central to the plot was initially a challenge — I needed more explanation for certain things — but just like real-life faith: you can't really explain it, you have to accept and go with it. So that's what I did.

For most of the way, I remained intrigued, wanting to find out how the events unfolded, and, ultimately, the story, the protagonist's narrative voice, and the writing were absolutely beautiful. 

I think I enjoyed this one a little more than This Is Going To Hurt, which I read in early last year. I certainly laughed out loud more. Maybe the fact that I read this around the time that it's set, i.e. Christmas/New Year, helped, and there were definitely fewer, less dense, footnotes.

Or maybe it’s the fact that I feel I ‘know’ Adam Kay a bit more, and I’ve been on a journey with him during the first book, so he’s naturally funnier, and there were vibes of catching up with an old friend.

This was a real fun, (very) steamy read! I was really enjoying it at the beginning, but then it got a little slower and a lot more cheesy/cringe-inducing at times, but overall it was such a lovely, refreshing book. Looking forward to Dani's instalment!