natreviews's Reviews (445)

I really enjoyed this book. It's fascinating from both a narrative stand point and a history standpoint. Seeing how lesbian it actually is (especially for being published in 1980) is amazing. I won't go into the history of queer publishing, but to have a novel like this be as explicit as it is (not spicy explicit, but there is lesbian sex and showing of relationships) is a wonder (even though knowing the 80's were better for publishing a novel like this than past decades). 
It's also interesting reading this 45 years after it was published and being able to relate to the apocalypse thinking and how the new world functions. Seeing how we're shifting back to traditional gender roles and religion here in the west, the set up of the world outside Demeter isn't shocking. It's shocking how much things haven't changed since this was published. 
A very cool piece of queer literature that I would've never known about if not for picking it up at a used bookstore. 

This is a really nice Sunday read. Not as queer as I thought it might be, but had a cast of queer side characters. I found the book lost its urgency around a quarter to a third way through. I knew then that everything would turn out fine in the end. Kind of like how you know a character in a tv show is gonna live, so when they get stuck in a high intense, live or die situation there isn't any urgency or edge of seat feeling to it. That was the main flaw for this book, but definitely worth the read. 

This book was not what I was expecting. I've been a fan of Anna's photography for years now, and I was expecting something... More creative? Maybe analytical? This book is a memoir, so it is hard to critique because of that, but this fell flat for me. At times it felt like "Okay, I see the dots you are laying out, and in the end will have this conclusion," but that never came. At times this felt like diary entries or stream of consciousness, which is fine, but I originally thought she'd analyze some of her feelings and beliefs more in depth, maybe go into some history of misogyny in general and in medical fields in specific. But nope.
At times, she came off as your stereotypical white lady who likes the occult and bitches to her friends over brunch about that thing X person said (we all know the type I'm talking about), which was really annoying and made for a dragging experience.

I guess I thought this book would be one thing, and ended up being another. 

Man what a book to read after rereading The Locked Tomb. If you're a fan of Harrowhark Nonagesimus, you will be a fan of Fragile Animals. 

It's this beautiful blend of the lies we tell ourselves, religion and losing faith, what we do to feel love and how we punish ourselves for that feeling, and about how our actions effect others. Just an excellent read. 
(I might also be a bit biased because this is the first book my girlfriend has gifted me, but man did she nail it out of the park)

A good collection of stories. A lot of them are repetitive, but that's no surprise. I did really like how it was written with the dialect, but still understandable. 

I reread will be needed to fully grasp this story, but the first read was good. A nice quick tale. 

An interesting collection of stories. None of them were awful, just fine at worst. Of course there's some favourites of mine, but the majority hung around the fine to good range. 

This was fine. A good read, but nothing great. The moments when it shines are when it commits to its horror elements. Those were in the last couple of chapters, so you have to get through the book to reach them. I found I liked the first one more, but for the length of it, I have no complaints. 

.... What did i just read? 

A cute short story that helps fill out some backstory on the Sixth house. It's amazing how Tamsyn can write differently depending on which character is speaking. Most authors write how they write, but Tamsyn writing Gideon vs. Harrow vs. Camilla vs. Judith are all distinct and different. I loved seeing a peek at how a house other than the Ninth operates, and would love to see more. The story overall is a small Sixth story that doesn't super connect and could be read before Gideon the Ninth, but would make more sense after.