songmingi's Reviews (199)

This book ruined my life, if Nezha was a real person I would find him and pummel him to death with my bare fists and then piss on his corpse. /srs

This is a beautifully told story, full of divinity and witchcraft. Told so vividly I felt like I shared the experiences Circe had and learned and grew with her. It truly felt like I spent thousands of years with circe and was able to feel each change in her mentality and outlook. This is almost a perfect book my only gripe is it was hard to read in large pieces, it was a book that had to be experienced over a period of time. 

My view of this book can in short be summarized by this quote: 

I am someone who is very forgiving of media if I atleast enjoy consuming it even in a hateful way. However love hypothesis was such an unpleasant book I enjoyed no aspect of it. 

I did not care for any of characters main or side. Olive's thought process infuriated me 95% of the time. Why does she not just tell her friend the truth she is 26!!! not 16? Why did she hate Canada so much? How was she pursuing her PhD in the USA if she is struggling to eat? Why does she not just wear glasses if she cant afford new contacts???  Her friends seem to be there for diversity points, you know anh to represent poc and malcolm so this book can have a lgbtq+ tag. Their inclusion is almost insulting since they are put down as side characters in the story of a straight white couple. Adam is just boring I cant tell you a single thing about that man besides the fact he is tall and has black hair.

The writing is so bad it is a pain to get through. So many mundane things are described in excruciating detail for example just how tall Adam is. The book is set in academia yet everyone acts like they are a high school student. I didnt care for the romance at all it all felt typical and played out. The fake dating trope has been done many times and has been written better many times aswell. Getting through the sex scene also took years off my life. 

The pacing was also so slow. I felt like I was reading this book forever! 

I've heard rumours this story was originally reylo fanfiction if so it should have stayed on ao3 where it belongs. 

I've complex feelings for this book at the beginning I found the writing mundane and the romance parts incredibly cheesy. However once the conflicts of the book started I enjoyed reading it more. I think this is a worthwhile read for his exploration and discussion about domestic abuse, however the writing was unbearable at times not dealing with the heavier themes in the book. Also just hated that the guy was called Ryle that is a smaller concern however. A good read but I didn't find it to be spectacular 

I want to throw up, this book put me through it i want to scream uninterrupted for 5 hours 

This book was so crazy, there were so many times where I annotated it with "what the fuck". While I ended up enjoying it overall I found parts of the opening uncomfortable in a bad way as opposed to the rest of the book where I was uncomfortable in a good way. So removing half a star for that. 

The pacing was perfect, it's a little slow to start off, the opening monologue can seem long and made up of completely unessacary tangents and strange views, but when the final part of the chapter hits it's like being smacked in the face. Simply jaw dropping. 

I could never predict where exactly the story was going, I was constantly on edge, searching for clues. It was completely crazy, never went where I thought it was going and sometimes things so shocking happened I had to put it down and process it for 10 minutes atleast. 

The different narratives are what makes this book particularly spectacular. Each one provided a small piece of the puzzle, it highlighted the complexity of each of different characters. The writing style for each was so distinct I knew I was reading the perspective of a different person as the chapter changed. 

Speaking of characters I dont think I liked any of them, they are all deeply flawed and unstable. They've lived miserable lives and it shows. However I don't think this a book where you are meant to enjoy or empathise with any of the characters. They are just parts of this incredibly bizarre and messed up story.

I think this is definitely a book reading atleast once. I've yet to read something like it. 

This was an insightful and heart wrenching read for me. It is amazing how controversial this short simple book is, controversial because it highlights the truth of being born a woman backed with evidence. 

It's genuinely impressive how this book documented how complex misogyny is within society. You learn the tale not only of Jiyoung but of her mother and various other women in her life. From even before her birth, right up to the present moment of her mental break, you see how misogyny makes life so incredibly difficult and suffocating for Jiyoung. The book is so short but it covers SO many issues, educational inequality, sexual harassment, wage gap, motherhood are just a few. 

Despite growing up in a different country, being of a different race and speaking a completely different language I could relate to so much in this book. So much of it was things I already knew, put down formally in writing. Yet it also pointed out some elements of misogyny I had not yet thought about, how difficult it is to continue working after becoming a mother, how the world is judgemental if you choose to stay in the workforce yet still judgemental if you choose to leave. This is a book that truly inspires thought and makes you evaluate the world around you and even your thought process. 

My only complaint is I wish as readers we got to see Jiyoung's road to recovery from her childcare depression, the ending left me wanting some sort of closure but perhaps like in reality there might not be any. 

This is a book that I will be sure to recommend to others, the used language is impactful yet simple making this book highly accessible. This is one of my favourite reads this year so far.