paulaks's Reviews (171)

Yes.. but not really. 
This review is solely on my experience and not rating the author's life! 
Very unique concept of formatting a novel. 75% consisted of the dialogue with a short reflection after each chapter. The last quarter was just reflection on different aspects of her life. This partially worked but my recommendation would have been to mash the reflection more into the main chunk. Only at the end I could grasp Baek Sehee (or the character) more. I wished there was a longer or more fluid introduction in the beginning. 

Because of that, I only related to a sentence or quote that was being said. I felt a bit tumblr-esque doing that. A bigger picture would have helped. The dialogue itself worked and presented a realistic take on therapy. A mixture of advice sessions on life and medication.

Oh, the title?! I don't know, cute but didn't match the situation the author was in (at least of what we know of). 

Lastly, props to the author of taking that step of publishing this intimate work! It shared the complexities of life in East Asia and their standards. Interesting insights that sadly suffered from the chosen format. 

Yes, yes, yes! Taylor Jenkins Reid did it again. This novel is insanely captivating as a Tennis player and literary fiction reader. 

Stunning writing and interesting characters made this book entertaining. The make or break for this book has to be wether you can keep up with an unlikeable main character. This is definitely a critique that Carrie Soto is over top but I was fine with it. Her relationships felt unique and refreshing compared to other novels. Great book with a twist that hit me like a truck. Would recommend!! 
Side note: If you're not okay with white authors writing about non-white characters and culture, be aware of that happening here. I'm still struggling with my own opinion on that. Carrie and her father speak Spanish in this book, even though the author isn't native. 

A multi layered play and well deserved candidate for the Literary canon! 
While it isn't as easy to read, it shines in its themes, metaphors and complex relationships. Definitely worth to analyse. 
Many themes and topics are covered throughout the story: desire, longing, domestic abuse, gender roles, social class, mental health, family struggles and power dynamics to mention a few. 
The characters seem straightforward at the beginning but get complex and less easy to like or relate to once you get further into the play.
We follow Blanche as the protagonist, an unlikeable, delusional but confident women fighting against but being held back by gender roles. Her past is disturbing and melodramatic as well as her motivation and fatal flaw. Stanley functions as her opposition, a traditional, abusive and rough person. He is married to Blanche's sister Stella, a passive, good willed but weak character. 

Tennessee Williams was able to capture the life and its expectations in the 1940s and confronts the reader with a tragic set of characters and their horrific fate. 

An interesting but messy mystery! For fans of A good girl's guide to murder and One of us is lying: a high school mystery and drama. Had no notes for the first 75% since it had a well rounded plot, back story and characters. I was really invested and shocked by every twist. Then it got a bit messy: The ending felt too "low stakes" in comparison to the middle and the reveal was... lazy but tried a new concept to reveal the murder (I guess). Warning, plot hole!

Brynn stops her internship half way through to show Tripp support. I expected this to come up again, maybe as a sad answer email from the internship team or Brynn regretting her choice..? NOTHING. Weird.

The characters worked well and sometimes it felt more like a high-school drama than mystery but nothing that I wouldn't enjoy :) 
Overall, I would recommend this, it's a nice plot to get immersed in but I've read better mysteries before.

An absurd, cozy, camp and witty read. I really don't understand who the target audience is which is one reason for why this didn't land that well for me. A fun set up that just starts to work in the second half near the end. To be honest, the first hundred pages were a confusing start with lazy writing. Once you start to understand what is going on I had a decent time. Some characters fell flat, others were surprisingly interesting. You follow a lot of side plots which I did enjoy. The only book it reminded me of was "A man called Ove" but only in comparison with Thomas Major as a grumpy character. I did get sucked in because the author clearly goes all out without being afraid of seeming absurd. 
Overall an okay character study with a strong ending but for what price. 

Zehn Bilder einer Liebe befasst sich in 10 Kapiteln, welche jeweils geteilt in die 2 Sichtweisen der Hauptcharaktere sind, mit der vielschichtigen Beziehung von Luisa und David. Eine spannende Aufmachung mit mehreren Zeitsprüngen gibt dem Leser die Möglichkeit zwischen den Zeilen zu lesen und die Entstehungsgeschichte zu verstehen. Es war unfassbar spannend das erste Mal über Corona in einem Roman zu lesen. Insgesamt schafft Hannes Köhler mit seinem Schreibstil und setting eine sehr frische und progressive Geschichte in Berlin, die offen über Altersunterschiede, Familienkonstellationen, Kinderwunsch, Fehlgeburten und Arbeitsverhältnisse spricht. Die Charaktere sind ohne Ausnahme super vielseitig und tief, sodass ich oft glaubte eine Biographie zu lesen. Die Beziehung ist dynamisch und damit realistisch. Der Hauptfokus ist auf Beziehungen gesetzt, was einerseits sehr spannend, aber auch etwas unklar werden kann. 
Persönlich hat mir manchmal ein roter Faden gefehlt und das Ende hinterließ einen nachdenklich anstatt zufrieden. Objektiv ist es dem Autor aber gelungen, Fenster in die Welt der Charaktere zu schaffen. Einzigartiges Buch! 

It's complicated sums up the novel perfectly for me. I'm really struggling with forming my opinion on it, so there might be a future update. 
Currently: I get the themes of love, war and friendship. They are communicated through the lens of a 17 year old boy. He is a bit dry and unsure of life but maybe that's just teenagers. For me, he felt too distant. The writing was straightforward and uninspiring. 
Especially the ending makes this book so hard to rate. You just wonder: why? But maybe this is the point of life and character driven stories? Wow, really philosophic haha! 
The thing I enjoyed reading about were Franz' relationship to his mother, his "boss" Otto, Sigmund Freud and Anezka. That really makes the book and shapes the main character. 
Should you read it? If you're into coming of age stories during a world war 2 setting in Vienna with a boy in puberty... go for it.. 

What a great book! This was love at first chapter. 
Important to mention is that this is a story about Elizabeth Zott, a strong but imperfect women, chemist and mother. The novel follows her life over a twenty-ish year span including the ups and down. We follow themes of science, education, motherhood, misogny, family, friendships and her career. 
Great pacing, writing and character building. Is the setting historically accurat? I'm not sure. 
On top of that and most importantly: I enjoyed it. I really related to the characters and loved the complexity in them. The relationship between mother and daughter was delicate and empowering. Reading about the scences where women were treated horrible wasn't easy but important. The novel deserves the love it gets and I do understand the few that dislike the novel. If you don't vibe with the main character, I'm certain that you will not have a good time - I had. 
Go read it! Definitely a highlight in my reading year :) 

A good ya romcom! A good book, nothing more or less. The story and characters were realistic and likeable. Loved the writing style, it's definitely really easy to read! I wished I was more invested though. While I had a fun time reading, I wasn't giggling and kicking feet (if this makes sense). I would still recommend it, objectively this is great but personally I found it rather "okay".

I received what I expected! If you like the premise and are fine with YA - this is the book. 
I loved the use of different types of people and how they would progress during a crisis. This is a rough dystopia that really gets you thinking: what would I do?
Fast pacing, a few plot twists and great writing. I was seated, entertained and scared. No notes. 
I understand if this was a let down because of it being a YA novel. However, I believe that it's a good aspect! One, it's important that young readers can access such an important book about climate change and two, reading this as an adult novel would absolutely give me anxiety. It was good to have chaotic, annoying and unpredictable teenagers to balance out the seriousness of the topic ;)