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I can’t believe no one told me that this glorious book has Filipino representation. Y’all have failed me.
Anyway, this book has my heart. Someone buy me Ruse please.
Review to follow.
Anyway, this book has my heart. Someone buy me Ruse please.
Review to follow.
I went into Love & Other Natural Disasters with the expectation that I was in for a delightfully silly treat about sapphic fake dating. And while this novel was indeed a delight to read, it also cut a lot deeper than I expected.
Now that I'm in my twenties, I rarely find myself thoroughly immersed and captivated by YA contemporary novels. For the most part, I've outgrown the genre. However, Love & Other Natural Disasters has easily made its way to my list of exceptions, alongside Sarah Kuhn's I Love You So Mochi. This book really got under my skin in the best possible way, and the author's note had me blubbering tears.
Final impressions:
• Messy teenagers being really messy. Sometimes in a vaguely amusing way, sometimes in a frustrating way.
• Made me wonder how much mainstream media has rotted people's brains, including my own, especially in blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
• I usually cannot stand annoying teenagers, but Nozomi eventually grew on me.
• I was impressed by how this book takes on the narrative of "coming out" to family, especially in Asian households with "traditional" values.
• The book offers a nuanced take on love, relationships, and communication that I think many teenagers would benefit from.
• A great reminder that sometimes love doesn't conquer all, and that's okay.
Highly recommended!
Now that I'm in my twenties, I rarely find myself thoroughly immersed and captivated by YA contemporary novels. For the most part, I've outgrown the genre. However, Love & Other Natural Disasters has easily made its way to my list of exceptions, alongside Sarah Kuhn's I Love You So Mochi. This book really got under my skin in the best possible way, and the author's note had me blubbering tears.
Final impressions:
• Messy teenagers being really messy. Sometimes in a vaguely amusing way, sometimes in a frustrating way.
• Made me wonder how much mainstream media has rotted people's brains, including my own, especially in blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
• I usually cannot stand annoying teenagers, but Nozomi eventually grew on me.
• I was impressed by how this book takes on the narrative of "coming out" to family, especially in Asian households with "traditional" values.
• The book offers a nuanced take on love, relationships, and communication that I think many teenagers would benefit from.
• A great reminder that sometimes love doesn't conquer all, and that's okay.
Highly recommended!
This is the first translated fiction I’ve picked up since high school.
The writing style was a little clunky, and it took a while for me to adjust. Nevertheless, the emotions that the text hoped to convey still shined through. I really appreciated the themes that were touched on in Before the Coffee Gets Cold. As I expected, this book offers a subtle, thought-provoking exploration of relationships, personal communication, and the “value/fulfillment” that we find in human connections. A short-read that’s meaningful and perfect for introspection.
Recommended!
The writing style was a little clunky, and it took a while for me to adjust. Nevertheless, the emotions that the text hoped to convey still shined through. I really appreciated the themes that were touched on in Before the Coffee Gets Cold. As I expected, this book offers a subtle, thought-provoking exploration of relationships, personal communication, and the “value/fulfillment” that we find in human connections. A short-read that’s meaningful and perfect for introspection.
Recommended!
Last Tang Standing is a literary train wreck where all the passengers are bigoted in one way or another. I hate to break it to the author, but despite her author's note, you can't throw in heaping amounts of unchallenged -isms and -phobias and explain them away with "But it's part of the culture!
Maybe I'm just embarrassingly uncultured. Or maybe Honey Girl is so absurdly boring that it took me a month and a half to finish reading. Or maybe the story just doesn't translate well into an audiobook?
In any case, while I'm sure that this book has a target audience (I'm not a part of), I can't say that I can confidently recommend it. (Please don't hate me, friends.)
In any case, while I'm sure that this book has a target audience (I'm not a part of), I can't say that I can confidently recommend it. (Please don't hate me, friends.)
It’s genuinely been a long while since a book fully captured my attention and refused to be put down. And to think that I was sneaking in reading time while I was at an amusement park in Tagaytay. If that doesn’t convince you that The Library of the Unwritten is a page turner, I don’t know what will.
