natashak1's Reviews (265)

Equus

Peter Shaffer

3.5

challenging dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Backwater Sermons

Jay Hulme

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

It's true that I just really love poetry, so invariably poetry books are always highly rated by me. On the other hand, this was absolutely gorgeous and deserves all the hype it's been getting.
Favourite poems (for my personal reference and also as recommendation):
Towpath Bodies
Sketches from an English Summer, 2020
A Very British Pandemic
All of This is Worship
What I Couldn't See
Golden Golgotha
Nine Altars
Vox Pops from Golgotha
The Carpenter (this is my favourite, I think)
The Volunteer
Jesus at the Gay Bar

Beastings

Benjamin Myers

4.5

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

Well that was quite intense.
Not a lot to say - the blurb pretty much covers it and there's no real way to explain how the book conveys it's message but it certainly does so well.

Content Warnings

The Truth

Peter James

1.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Basically a complete copy of Rosemary's Baby but worse, because instead of sowing doubt about the paranoia of the main character, you are explicitly told that there is, in fact, a conspiracy, thus absolutely abandoning any nuance.
Sexism and a little racism is also dotted in (primarily in the first half, though most grievously including John, who is otherwise portrayed as a great husband despite forcing Susan to have sex at one point) and the character Kündz is a ridiculous caricature apparently there as a plot device that also allows the author to write horribly uncomfortable things about women.
Really didn't enjoy this one, and I'm baffled there aren't more people who view this as an almost copy and paste of Rosemary's Baby (which is by far superior in every way). Admittedly the last 150 or so pages extend the period that the film deals with, but there also seems to be a drastic change of style which only highlights the lack of originality in the first section.

Content Warnings

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

4.0

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Definitely the style of lit-fic I really enjoy regardless of subject or objective quality (not to say this isn't objectively good). A very intriguing take on immigration and compassion, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the odd pacing issue or rushed passage.

The Body on the Shore

Nick Louth

1.0

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

An overdramatic, disjointed,

mafia-based

crime novel. Not groundbreaking, and fond of sexism (why must you describe school age girls at a state school as 'jailbait' or 'destined to become hairdressers') I found this mindless in the bad way and guilty of making an almost ridiculous premise also boring. Meh.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Susanna Clarke

5.0

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Oh I am so glad I wasn't disappointed by this after reading Piranesi. The pacing over such a long novel is brilliant and all the detail carefully dotted around the place is genius. I absolutely adored it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

J.K. Rowling

2.5

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Look, I hate that I still listen to Harry Potter as much as the next person, but as long as you ignore the interesting elements of Rowling's writing they're just fairly decent very nostalgia inducing books that I like to stick on when I'm cleaning. Sue me.

Porno

Irvine Welsh

4.5

challenging dark funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Better and worse than Trainspotting, the focus on one storyline as opposed to following the characters through a series of disparate events certainly appealed to me.
The slow decline of Sick Boy and the upwards clamber of Spud along with the bursts of energy from Begbie and depressed straightforwardness of Renton all combine (with Nicky, who provides a refreshing newness) to create an insane but completely engrossing story that elevates itself above Trainspotting, as far as I'm concerned.
The pacing dragged a little in some places, and Dianne felt like more of a throwback than an actual character, but the maturing of the book to be more coherent than its predecessor worked well, if perhaps not quite mirroring the lack of maturity from the returning cast.

Sputnik Sweetheart

Haruki Murakami

4.5

challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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