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ppkfs's reviews
142 reviews
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
A boring and difficult to follow story interspersed with some truly beautiful prose. A shame - I was hopeful after The Sound and the Fury surprised me and I was vibing with it until they started fording and then it went just never picked up very well.
Also I hated everyone.
Also I hated everyone.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
dark
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
An experiment into trying audiobooks as something for me. It was pretty successful. The book was rather good too. Maybe I'm taking it too literally but as a dark comedy about a guy waking up as an insect and going "oh dear I'm a giant bug. Better go to work" whilst everyone around him goes "aaahhhhhh giant bug" it was both quite funny and also sad. It did not overstay its welcome or push too hard. A solid read.
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I don't know how to review this book. Was it absolutely "I need to finish the last 170 pages right now because I can't put it down"? Yes. Did I think it was a satisfying story where I felt for the characters? Absolutely not. I strongly disliked everyone in this book (except, perhaps, Mrs Greene) and the book was certainly kind of lacking in...depth. It was very clear from the start what was going to happen, it was very clear of the commentaries on gender and race and class, including all the character developments, and it indeed happened exactly as you'd expect.
The ending was sort of "and then this happened. the end". But by god was it good at making me want to read one more page. That alone takes it from a 2.5 to 4/5.
The ending was sort of "and then this happened. the end". But by god was it good at making me want to read one more page. That alone takes it from a 2.5 to 4/5.
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
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
3.0
It was alright. Yeah that's all I got really. It was okay.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
By far the funniest of Vonnegut I've read - which is saying a LOT when you consider how the guy is just utter insanity personnified. It loses 0.25 marks for just deciding to throw random slurs in all the time??? There was an exceptionally minor theme about racism in early 20th century America but it did feel like there were just..endless racial slurs for no actual reason.
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
I can respect a book that makes me read 250 pages of a single sentence but it wasn't going *anywhere* and I have so many other books I could be reading. I think either there needed to be SOMETHING going on or it to be quarter of the length.
I do think the rating is going to be wayyyyy out of wack because of this - nobody is coming close to finishing this for less than a "5/5 this is a masterpiece" and I imagine it's only as low as 4.1 because people are marking it 'read' to give it 1/5.
I do think the rating is going to be wayyyyy out of wack because of this - nobody is coming close to finishing this for less than a "5/5 this is a masterpiece" and I imagine it's only as low as 4.1 because people are marking it 'read' to give it 1/5.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
What an absolutely fantastic book. All that wonder of being a kid reading about pirates and magic and sea monsters and treasure and adventure except as an adult. Just pure joy. It being set in 12th century Arabia with a Muslim woman captain was the icing on the cake of making it all fresh.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An enjoyable little bite of gothic horror. Quite nice to see that there's more to the whole Jekyll/Hyde thing than the cultural idea we have now (as in, it wasn't just "guy has an evil alter ego that is evil and does evil things the end").
It absolutely oozed that gritty dark Victorian London gothic feel and I have no idea *how* but somehow the prose just completely nailed that. It nailed it so hard that I put the score up from 3.75 to 4 as I wrote this review.
It absolutely oozed that gritty dark Victorian London gothic feel and I have no idea *how* but somehow the prose just completely nailed that. It nailed it so hard that I put the score up from 3.75 to 4 as I wrote this review.
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I do my very best to not use this to describe books, but in this case it fits: pretentious nonsense.
"Exploring what good and evil mean, religion, family, love, class, immigrants..." - maybe there was but it was completely lost in the mess of confusing prose going seemingly nowhere. It wasn't particularly beautiful, it was just a colossal wall of mess. I don't even know what the purpose of the secondary narrative thread over the Prophet Muhammad was.
A huge slog that I should've DNF'd at 100 pages in but there was always another paragraph that made me hope it would explore something about these peoples' lives (the side stories of Chamcha's father for instance) or go more into the Ayesha Haj (which felt like a completely independent afterthought) or the racial tension in London (which felt like it was introduced and then treated as if it was a major thing but it was just quietly wrapped up the end) but no, he just wanted to talk about Chamcha's massive goat bulge repeatedly for some reason.
"Exploring what good and evil mean, religion, family, love, class, immigrants..." - maybe there was but it was completely lost in the mess of confusing prose going seemingly nowhere. It wasn't particularly beautiful, it was just a colossal wall of mess. I don't even know what the purpose of the secondary narrative thread over the Prophet Muhammad was.
A huge slog that I should've DNF'd at 100 pages in but there was always another paragraph that made me hope it would explore something about these peoples' lives (the side stories of Chamcha's father for instance) or go more into the Ayesha Haj (which felt like a completely independent afterthought) or the racial tension in London (which felt like it was introduced and then treated as if it was a major thing but it was just quietly wrapped up the end) but no, he just wanted to talk about Chamcha's massive goat bulge repeatedly for some reason.