I really enjoyed this book and I agreed with a lot of what the author talked about. A more minimalist lifestyle is something that I’ve been interested in lately and this look definitely taught me some more of the benefits it can have. My only critique is that some of the points the author makes like, “only keep the items that spark joy.” Got a little repetitive after while. I understand why, she wanted to make sure that the most important points of the book are really stuck in your head by the time you’ve finished. I definitely wouldn’t remember something if it was only mentioned once. But still I would have enjoyed it more if she had said that sentence a few less times. Overall I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it!

I ended up dnfing one story (Last Stand at the Cinegore by Libba Bray) because the story just took too weird of a turn for me and I think a few of the stories are a bit too long but overall it was a cute read. I think I might have liked it better if there were a few less stories in it though because for me personally one love story after another got a bit old.

Reread 1/24/25:
I read this for the first time during my sophomore year of high school and now I'm rereading it to refresh myself on the story before I teach it to sophomores during my student teaching. How does time go so fast??

I didn’t loathe this book as much as some people, but I did find it to be deeply mediocre, way too long, and inconsistent at times in world-building details. It also spelled things out for the reader instead of letting the reader figure it out themselves which was off-putting for an adult novel. The only parts that kept me reading were the scene where the characters bonded with their dragons and the sex scenes🥴

Unfortunately this didn’t really do much for me. It was really short which made it hard to fully get into. The first half was just okay and the second half was starting to entertain me but by then the story was over😭 I wish it had been extended a bit more into a novella.

There were a few silly moments that made me chuckle and I could find myself really liking Zyll as a character if I got to spend more time with her. There just wasn’t enough there.

I read this for my Senior Seminar. It was a strange book but in a good way. The writing was incredibly intentional and well-crafted, and I loved the style of it. I found myself reading some passages repeatedly because of how impressive they were. I would be interested in picking up some more of Nordan's work in the future. 

I read this in my senior seminar and I really enjoyed the discussion that I had of it with my peers and professor. Erdrich’s writing style is unique and incredibly skillful and she writes characters that are very complex and vivid. I almost feel like I could go to the setting of the novel and meet these characters in real life. 

The novel’s discussions of drug addiction, alcoholism, boarding schools, and mental health were (in my opinion) thoughtful and thought-provoking even though they were hard to read about. 

Although I am far from the first person to discover this, Erdrich is a very talented writer and I could see myself picking up another of her novels in the future. 

I have to say this novel was incredibly gripping! I was very invested in Mel’s and Bernadette’s escape plan and whether they were going to succeed or not. When the book starting switching between snippets of the couple and then of the FBI agent following them I was even more glued to the page. I couldn’t wait to find out how it would all end. However, the ending took a turn that was disappointing for me. I didn’t care much about what was happening with the government and president of Ghana and that seemed to be the main focus of the last part of the book. I wish the main couple had remained the focus throughout. Also, the magical realism aspects felt a bit out of place for me and I kept thinking that they would come together by the end of the novel but I was left unsatisfied.