postmodernblues's Reviews (465)

Fifth of July

Lanford Wilson

3.0

challenging emotional funny reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

"After they had explored all the suns in the universe, and all the planets of all the suns, they realized that there was no other life in the universe, and that they were alone. And they were very happy, because they knew it was up to them to become all the things they had imagined they would find."
- Landford Wilson, Fifth of July, pg. 74

Challenger Deep

Neal Shusterman

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Queens of New York

E.L. Shen

3.75

dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen

5.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Henry Tilney is my favorite Jane Austen Man™ that I've ever read. What a great guy.

The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Craig Davidson

4.25

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If this was an 80's or even 90's movie, Uncle C would have been portrayed by Dan Aykroyd.

Lingered at around 3.5 stars until the last third of the book or so, which wraps the story up in a way that makes it well worth the read. So sweet.

The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Frodo and Samwise are incredibly sweet.

A Warning About Swans

R.M. Romero

3.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-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

Where the Road Leads Us

Robin Reul

3.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A solid YA with some poignant conversations about grief and loss. Cliche'd to hell and back, but I have to admit, if this book was a Netflix original film with a gauzy, somber color palette, a standard Hollywood Dilf™ like Luke Wilson or Paul Rudd as one of the parents, and two waify former Disney Channel kids as the leads, I would 100% watch it.