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simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)
I read this for the second time and it's absolutely wonderful. It has a nonbinary sapphic main character, and it's pretty short, but I just love stories that play with portal fiction and doorways and what happens /after/.
Very cute, and has genetically engineered mini dragons
I rarely review poetry, but I flew through this collection and I loved it. It follows the author's life chronologically, starts out with pictures from her childhood, has musings about the difficulties of being an identical twin, has some really sad parts about loss, and then goes on to talk about getting married, becoming part of your wife's family, and trying to start a family.
Towards the end, I kept waiting for that one poem where I would go "finally!", but as Marissa says - she couldn't keep waiting. It was a little strange that the collection ended on a more negative note, but you can still feel the hopefulness and the love, so it's okay.
Towards the end, I kept waiting for that one poem where I would go "finally!", but as Marissa says - she couldn't keep waiting. It was a little strange that the collection ended on a more negative note, but you can still feel the hopefulness and the love, so it's okay.
Not sure how much build-up I expected in a 120-page novella, but like... more than this? I felt the characters entered the relationship too quickly, with very little conflict about either the age difference or the student-teacher relationship. After that, we go straight to relationship problems, while finding out basically nothing about the main character's background.
And then... the story ends. 69% into the ebook. The remaining 30% (one third of the ebook!) is advertisements from the author's other works. I was shocked when it just ended abruptly like that, and I was going to give it 3 stars originally, but after that ending I'm only giving 2.
At least it was a quick read?
Note: there's several sex scenes and explicit masturbation.
And then... the story ends. 69% into the ebook. The remaining 30% (one third of the ebook!) is advertisements from the author's other works. I was shocked when it just ended abruptly like that, and I was going to give it 3 stars originally, but after that ending I'm only giving 2.
At least it was a quick read?
Note: there's several sex scenes and explicit masturbation.
This book was a wild ride. Instead of a coherent story, you basically have a new mystery in every chapter. Everything is happening way too fast, there's too many characters to keep track of, and plot twists that will make your head spin. I love the married banter between Tuppence and Tommy, and I did enjoy this book despite the rushed feeling. 3.5 stars.
[HU] Kíváncsi voltam erre a könyvre, mert sokféle magyar gyerek egy-egy napját meséli el, és az előszó szerint (amit egy gyermekjogi szakértő írt) épp az a lényege, hogy a toleranciát növelje. Van benne szegénységben élő gyerek, intézetben élő gyerek, mozgássérült gyerek, cigány gyerek, külföldön élő magyar gyerek, diszleksziás gyerek, farmon élő gyerek, olyan gyerek akinek elváltak a szülei, stb. Az osztályban és a tanárok között is vannak más országból érkezett osztálytársak, tanárok. Ami érdekes, hogy viszonylag sok sztoriban legalább az egyik szülője külföldön él vagy dolgozik a főszereplő gyerekeknek - ez viszonylag sokat elmond.
Érdekes volt a sok popkultúra utalás, külföldi és magyar tartalmakra egyaránt. Van itt Minecraft, Kylo Ren, magyar youtuberek akikről életemben nem hallottam (de igaziak! megnéztem), és sok egyéb.
Ami nagy csalódás volt, hogy egy kifejezetten a toleranciáról szóló könyvben abszolút semmi LMBT téma nincs, sem a gyerekek, sem a szülők között. Még csak említés sem esik, hogy ilyen egyáltalán létezik. Ez egy magyar könyvben alapból nem lepne meg, de ebben azért rosszul esett.
A másik ok amiért csak 3 csillagot adok neki az az, hogy sok sztori olyan semmilyen volt, és nem igazán keltett bármiféle érzelmet vagy érdeklődést.
[EN] I was curious about this book because it's about Hungarian children with different backgrounds, and according to the note at the beginning (written by a children's rights expert) it was specifically written to teach children tolerance towards those different from you. There are children living in poverty, children living in institutions, physically disabled children, Roma children, Hungarian children living abroad, children living on a farm, children with divorced parents, etc. There are also teachers and classmates who immigrated from outside of Hungary. The interesting thing is that in almost half the stories at least one of the parents of the protagonist kid lives or works abroad - that should tell you about conditions in Hungary, but I digress.
There are many pop culture references to both Hungarian and foreign media, from Kylo Ren through Minecraft all the way to Hungarian YouTubers I've never heard of (but they exist! I looked them up).
My biggest disappointment was that in a book specifically written to spread tolerance there was absolutely no LGBT content. No gay parents, no transgender parents, no LGBT or questioning kids or even an acknowledgment that they exist. This normally wouldn't surprise me in a Hungarian book, but in this one it was outright hurtful.
The other reason I'm giving it 3 stars is that many of the stories were just plain boring.
Érdekes volt a sok popkultúra utalás, külföldi és magyar tartalmakra egyaránt. Van itt Minecraft, Kylo Ren, magyar youtuberek akikről életemben nem hallottam (de igaziak! megnéztem), és sok egyéb.
Ami nagy csalódás volt, hogy egy kifejezetten a toleranciáról szóló könyvben abszolút semmi LMBT téma nincs, sem a gyerekek, sem a szülők között. Még csak említés sem esik, hogy ilyen egyáltalán létezik. Ez egy magyar könyvben alapból nem lepne meg, de ebben azért rosszul esett.
A másik ok amiért csak 3 csillagot adok neki az az, hogy sok sztori olyan semmilyen volt, és nem igazán keltett bármiféle érzelmet vagy érdeklődést.
[EN] I was curious about this book because it's about Hungarian children with different backgrounds, and according to the note at the beginning (written by a children's rights expert) it was specifically written to teach children tolerance towards those different from you. There are children living in poverty, children living in institutions, physically disabled children, Roma children, Hungarian children living abroad, children living on a farm, children with divorced parents, etc. There are also teachers and classmates who immigrated from outside of Hungary. The interesting thing is that in almost half the stories at least one of the parents of the protagonist kid lives or works abroad - that should tell you about conditions in Hungary, but I digress.
There are many pop culture references to both Hungarian and foreign media, from Kylo Ren through Minecraft all the way to Hungarian YouTubers I've never heard of (but they exist! I looked them up).
My biggest disappointment was that in a book specifically written to spread tolerance there was absolutely no LGBT content. No gay parents, no transgender parents, no LGBT or questioning kids or even an acknowledgment that they exist. This normally wouldn't surprise me in a Hungarian book, but in this one it was outright hurtful.
The other reason I'm giving it 3 stars is that many of the stories were just plain boring.
from the bright cover I expected a happier story, but this was a miserable experience and I had all kinds of problems tbh
warning: this isn't a very coherent review, just my rambling thoughts
- it's full of abuse, attempted sexual assault, drugs, homophobia and cheating, and just pretty depressing
- even the story's "present" is told in past tense, but then there are also flashbacks, and flashbacks within the flashbacks, and I had no idea what was happening when
- the whole thing is written like the protagonist is telling the story instead of things /happening/, so there was a lot of tell-not-show, and the timeskips were weird?
- it does that thing where it tells the story from one person's POV and then the second half is the same story from the other POV and ehhh
- this isn't really a problem, but in the end there was a twist and the ending couple wasn't even the one I was expecting?
warning: this isn't a very coherent review, just my rambling thoughts
- it's full of abuse, attempted sexual assault, drugs, homophobia and cheating, and just pretty depressing
- even the story's "present" is told in past tense, but then there are also flashbacks, and flashbacks within the flashbacks, and I had no idea what was happening when
- the whole thing is written like the protagonist is telling the story instead of things /happening/, so there was a lot of tell-not-show, and the timeskips were weird?
- it does that thing where it tells the story from one person's POV and then the second half is the same story from the other POV and ehhh
- this isn't really a problem, but in the end there was a twist and the ending couple wasn't even the one I was expecting?
I love my idiot bi son.
unfortunately, the translation has some glaring mistakes.
unfortunately, the translation has some glaring mistakes.
I wouldn't particularly describe this book as gripping, thrilling, and certainly not a mystery in any way. It's a story about a right-wing Hitler fanatic who creates emotionless soldiers to... you know what, I read this entire book and I'm still not entirely sure what her original goal would have been if things don't go wrong?
She also says shit like "they feel no falsely directed pity for the poor or the oppressed, as the bleeding-heart liberals of the world have us all do" and "they will be devoid of the stupid sentimentality that pervades the minds of the woolly-headed liberals that want to shape our modern society", because that's the kind of person she is. Her creations, on the other hand, say shit like "hmmm, love, that stupid concept keeps cropping up in our studies of human behaviour and throughout the history of literature", because that's the kind of "people" they are. (Oh, and of course in the end she's judged mentally ill.)
The thing is: this book is written entirely in a chronological order, with no time jumps. The murders that are described in the blurb don't happen until 85% in, and by that point there is absolutely no mystery at all, because we've already read everything that happened. Also, I had to read about the childhood and upbringing of the detective who eventually solves the case even though he's not relevant to the story until 85% in?
Honestly, the woman behind this mess was so overexaggerated that I couldn't take her seriously, but fine, okay. This could have been an interesting mystery if they started with the murders and revelead everything else gradually in flashbacks/as the investigation goes on. But this way it was just... not entertaining at all, and again, with absolutely no amount of mystery.
There is a cliffhanger/twist at the end, but by that point I found even that weak because I don't see where it could go other than the guy dying in a year or something.
I was going back and forth between 1 and 2 stars, especially that I've only ever rated around two books 1 star, but you know what, this one deserves it.
She also says shit like "they feel no falsely directed pity for the poor or the oppressed, as the bleeding-heart liberals of the world have us all do" and "they will be devoid of the stupid sentimentality that pervades the minds of the woolly-headed liberals that want to shape our modern society", because that's the kind of person she is. Her creations, on the other hand, say shit like "hmmm, love, that stupid concept keeps cropping up in our studies of human behaviour and throughout the history of literature", because that's the kind of "people" they are. (Oh, and of course in the end she's judged mentally ill.)
The thing is: this book is written entirely in a chronological order, with no time jumps. The murders that are described in the blurb don't happen until 85% in, and by that point there is absolutely no mystery at all, because we've already read everything that happened. Also, I had to read about the childhood and upbringing of the detective who eventually solves the case even though he's not relevant to the story until 85% in?
Honestly, the woman behind this mess was so overexaggerated that I couldn't take her seriously, but fine, okay. This could have been an interesting mystery if they started with the murders and revelead everything else gradually in flashbacks/as the investigation goes on. But this way it was just... not entertaining at all, and again, with absolutely no amount of mystery.
There is a cliffhanger/twist at the end, but by that point I found even that weak because I don't see where it could go other than the guy dying in a year or something.
I was going back and forth between 1 and 2 stars, especially that I've only ever rated around two books 1 star, but you know what, this one deserves it.