This was enjoyable! I really had no expectations going in other than that I really enjoyed "Big Little Lies". I think Liane Moriarty's writing is really easy to follow and even when I was getting annoyed or bored with a character I found myself turning the page. The setting was fun and really added to the unhinged factor that, although a bit unrealistic, I could honestly see taking place. I started out not really a fan of any of the characters and by the end I honestly wanted to give MOST of them a hug. I do think that this could have been like 50-ish pages shorter, but it was still interesting to see all the different perspectives. The ending was cheesy, but in a good self aware way that I liked. It is overall a slower book and not so much plot driven but really character driven.

Okay. This is more of a me thing, but I guess I just got the wrong idea for what this book was going to be covering. I was expecting more of a look into weird human things involving medical cases, but instead it was more so a combination of creepy crawlers, some body functions, and how different characteristics show up in the brain.

I think this is a fairly accessible book considering they are blog posts put into book format. The author has a fun tone throughout, like a friend telling you things that they have recently learned. I did feel though that quite a few of these entries were not so ...., I guess, unpopular that people haven't heard of it before. Or maybe it could be that I have spent far too much time on the internet.

It was okay. 

Whoa imagine my face when I'm reading the acknowledgements and Donna Tartt makes an appearance! 😱

I enjoyed this more than I thought I was going to, even when I got to the second part and was really questioning if I wanted to continue. I would not say this is horror, but more so has horror elements that really help establish this story. As you continue to dive into the plot, which is very slow burn, the horror also dissipates and becomes more of a steady mystery. I enjoyed the writing and how Darnielle creates scenes you can really feel yourself in.

Although it did feel like the story lost itself for a couple pages in the middle, where everything was just a tad bit too confusing, it really does come together in the end. This is definitely a book I want to reread, knowing everything that is going to happen because I do think it would create an even better experience. I am excited to pick up Darnielle's other books if the writing in those are at all similar to the writing in this.

In 2024 I really want to make my way through my physical TBR and create better curated bookshelves. Anyway, I finally picked this YA thriller up and despite not really being interested in YA anymore I decided to finish it all.

I'll be short: the way this book spoke about horror movies really grinds my gears. Felt like a very typical "this girl is so quirky and misunderstood" YA trope, but done in an even more unoriginal way. It took too long to get to anything actually exciting and spent far too many pages being repetitive about everyday stuff. I really have nothing else to say other than Bram is a pretty cool first name.

This was an okay read. Nothing necessarily exciting, but also nothing so bad that made me pause. I will give it to TJR, her writing style is simple and digestible, I found myself turning the page even when I was questioning some plot choices made. I did feel like this was both too long for the story told and not long enough for the story it wanted to tell. I didn't care for the whole Monique story and reading those scenes just felt so out of place for me. I wanted to hear more about Evelyn and old Hollywood, instead whatever scenes we did get were more surface level stuff. I can admit when a book is not for me and this book just wasn't for me. I was hoping this would have some substance and I'm sorry but that ending was kind of lame.

I'm not gonna rate this as the majority of it went over my head. I don't think I am at the right stage in my life or in the right headspace for this book. There are elements I really enjoyed and others where I was just so lost. Definitely will be rereading some time later down the road I think. 

The American movie version played a big part in my childhood and to this day I will sometimes get really creeped out remembering certain scenes from the movie and will sleep with the lights on. 

I was really excited to read where it all began and I think it’s extremely fascinating to see how this could have influenced some of the J-horror that followed. I will admit that I didn’t find this as scary as I was hoping, even though there were some creepy feeling scenes, overall any terror I felt was amplified by remembering movie scenes if anything. I would say this is more mystery, thriller than horror. 

I liked how easy it was to get into the story and even when it felt like things may start to drag a little something immediately came up to move everything along. Although I was not the biggest fan of the two main characters, I thought that everyone else was fairly interesting to read about. At times did feel like things came up a little too conveniently, but these were things I could overlook. I know any little thing that might not have done it for me could probably be due to this being a translated work. 

TLDR: I had fun! I’m excited to revisit the movies and I have already ordered the sequel to this book. 

The same year (1785) that Sade was in prison writing this book, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb published his paper on the electrostatic force between two charges. This is now known and studied as Coulomb’s Law, in which he even has a constant (a Coulomb) named after him. This paper was monumental and allowed for even more discoveries about electromagnetism (my favorite part of physics) to be made. 

Sade is the origin for the word sadism. 

I will not be rating this book other than to say that it is very clear this is an unfinished piece of writing and interesting to see the political aspects (and how they can relate today). 

There are better reviews out there that perfectly capture why this book was mildly disappointing to read after all the hype. I would like say though that for a book that relies a lot on talking about online discourse, especially Twitter, I wish this was formatted differently. A more mixed media approach would have made for a more enjoyable experience. The ending felt a little too rushed and a pretty obvious "twist", if you want to call it that. 

I do feel that this would make a really fun movie, one where we're not just in this character's head the whole time. I did enjoy the overall concept, but the execution just didn't do it for me. Still interested to read Kuang's other books.