skudiklier's Reviews (647)

I've been reading this book for almost an entire year at this point; this is for several reasons, and shouldn't just be taken as "wow this book is slow/dense." It is a very comprehensive look at the areas in which policing fails, the reasons for these failures, the way these failures are systemic, and ways we can help replace policing with other solutions. It is also very dense in the sense that it's a lot of facts, statistics, and figures, with very little to break it up. For me that's harder to get through, so I read it very slowly over the course of a year. But I would highly recommend this book, especially to those who think the police should not be abolished. I have a hard time imagining how someone could read this book and come away still thinking the police are a force for good. 

This was entertaining and funny but not super well-written. I enjoyed it immensely and I kinda want to reread AART now. I like getting to see a little bit more of Robin too. 

This is a lovely vibrant joyful zine and I'm so happy I got the chance to read it. Thank you to everyone who contributed to it.

Heidi Wong's poetry is always amazing, but this collection has to be her best work yet. I was absolutely blown away by the poems included here, and they flow so well together, with themes running throughout the entirety of the book. So many lines made me gasp, and I wrote down the titles of probably a dozen poems that I wanted to go back to read later. 

Wong is incredible at making specific experiences feel compelling to anyone; this collection has a lot of heavy topics and dark imagery, but more than anything else it feels defiant and inspiring. I would absolutely recommend this book to any poetry lover.

Thank you to Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the chance to review this ARC. 

Holy shit this book was wild. Just...the most mind-bending thing I have ever read, full stop.

I thought I knew what this book would be like; I read the summary, and the "letter to the reader" at the beginning was, in my opinion at the time of reading it, too detailed and spoilery. I thought it gave away exactly where the book was going.

I could not have been more wrong.

This book takes you on a journey for a while. It feels dark and weird, sure, but it also feels relatively expected. I took notes about how it felt aggressively white, and I rolled my eyes at some of the male-centric pieces I disliked.

But I don't even know how to talk about this book without giving it away...it's like one of those things where the premise is built on a twist, so you can't tell people why they should read/watch it, but you just reassure them "trust me, it gets better."

I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend this to anyone; it kind of fucked me up. It ended, and I was reeling, and then the eARC I got just went on with white pages for a while. There wasn't anything at the end to bring me back into the real world, no note from the author, nothing. I just was stuck having had this experience that no one could possibly understand or relate to.

What I will say is that this book made me think, and is still making me think. Kennedy is also amazing at referencing earlier small parts of the text that you nearly could have missed; all the little details we learn about the narrator's life, every small strange thing or tangent off to the side, it all comes back in the end. And it doesn't feel forced, even though it doesn't feel natural either—how could it, given how strange the ending is.

This book is a masterpiece, and unlike anything I've ever read. I don't know if I can forget it, even though part of me wishes I could.

Thank you to Netgalley and Quirk Books for the chance to review this ARC. 

This book was really interesting! I liked it more than Universal Harvester. I went in knowing nothing about the book (I just really like John Darnielle so I bought it forever ago), so it was probably more intriguing for me than it would be for someone who knew the premise. It was a nice audiobook to listen to while doing dishes. It made me think a lot. (minor spoilers about the end)

I expected the ending to be more dramatic/emotional though; it was pretty much just tense.

Makenzie Campbell's poetry is so beautiful and raw and heartfelt! I love the range of emotions here. 

This is like a comedy of errors except the narrator is an annoying, sexist old man complaining about "youth these days" and how the state of the world is worse with internet and social media. I think it could be cute and heartfelt if it weren't for the narrator's annoying asides, and the annoying way all the women are clearly ridiculous and babbling while only men are reasonable and logical (except of course this only applies to the men and women above the age of 30. Anyone younger is peak stereotypical teenager/millennial). Instead I'm frustrated with all the people and situations, and I don't find any of the humor funny. It feels like a parody of something deep? Ugh I just. I can't remember that last time I DNFed a book from disliking it, but I just couldn't get through it. 

A lot of it feels like "old man yells at cloud" in the sense that he's just complaining about gluten free bread and writing caricatures of teenagers who are only ever on social media and who find it offensive to talk about someone's height. It makes me sure I'll never want to read anything by this author. 

The Past is Red is depressing and funny and beautiful and horrifying and captivating. Going in I knew pretty much nothing about this book, so I was not at all prepared for how much it would tear at my heart. I don't think I'll ever forget this story, or these characters, or this world. 

While reading, it kept catching me off-guard; so much of it is irreverent and darkly funny, but then it will occasionally slide effortlessly into heartfelt and sincere. It breaks my heart even more because of how rare and unexpected it is, and how genuine I know it is on the part of the character.

Also, semi-spoiler ahead, but I don't know how I was surprised every single time I ran into

"None of that really happened, of course." I kept not expecting it, and it kept betraying me, and breaking my heart, and making me wonder.

The narrator, Penelope Rawlins, was wonderful as well. At first I was a little unsure, but wow they just made the story so real and charming and heartbreaking. For once I'm glad I listened to the audiobook rather than reading a print copy. 

To end, here are two of my favorite quotes from the book. Because I listened to the audiobook, often while doing dishes or other things that kept my hands occupied, I didn't get to highlight/write down many lines while reading. But these were good enough that I had to:

"I think a joke like that is a present you make to yourself, so every time you say it, even if it hurts, you get a very cohesive feeling out of it, because the past you and the present you are talking to each other, and it's nice to have friends." 

"The kind of hope I have isn't just greed going by its maiden name."

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the chance to review this ARC.

God, I love this series.

It's a bit bittersweet because I've only recently become fully aware of the extent of Rainbow Rowell's issues--namely, her racism in her earlier book Eleanor & Park, and her subsequent lack of apology or any form of acknowledgement of the harm she's caused. Eleanor & Park continues to be her most well-known and successful work, and it's being adapted into a movie, and Rowell still hasn't done *anything* to make up for its racism. Which is inexcusable, and leads me to think I shouldn't support her or her work moving forward. 

That said, I do love this series. If I were to think of this book without that knowledge of Rowell's racism in her other work, then I would unreservedly recommend this trilogy, and say this book was my favorite of the three. It's so much about intimacy, and healing, and how to make relationships work, and family, and I cried even when I didn't need to at all. It was beautiful. 

But I don't believe the art and the artist can be separated like that--not when she has refused to listen to those she's harmed, or acknowledged said harm at all. I don't think Rowell or her work should be supported, at least for now. I won't be buying any of her future books unless she fully reckons with the harm her racism has caused.