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watermelleon's Reviews (254)
When I started reading this book I was heavily impressed and was convinced this would be a 5 star read. The descriptions of food were beautifully written and dripping in depth, and the plot had so much promise. I fell in love with how everything was written, then at some point in the middle of the book, I realised that I was starting to have problems.
There was one main problem I had starting off, perhaps not the writer's fault unless she thought this was the case, but THIS BOOK IS NOT MAGICAL REALISM. before any of the other events happen with other characters in the book I can tell you that. it's trying to be, but it isn't. its honestly just a bit quirky and I think people are using the term too much to define books these days.
That aside, i'm just going to make it short where my problems lie:
- I didn't connect with any of the characters. Rose felt entirely distant to me as the main character, and I didn't feel like I understood her entirely after I finished the book
- the plot was extremely messy. too many things were tried out and the whole thing just seemed unfinished. Not in its ending, just in terms of what the main plot was actually supposed to be? too many things were just touched upon and left and returned to whenever the writer wanted.
- everything felt rushed, but also really slow. at some point in the book, Rose grew up really quickly. Like within 50 pages or so she went from a 9 year old to a teenager to an adult. doing this made me feel like I had missed out on so much. Events just happened quickly; the brother suddenly moving out, rose suddenly growing up, most events just didn't seem right in terms of pacing at all.
The redeeming quality of this book that also slightly sucked:
Joseph and his story. I honestly think if it wasn't for him this book would be 10x worse. His character reminds me very much of a child high on the autistic spectrum, and from what I've heard about having an autistic brother the moments he spent with rose when they were children was very very accurately written. Their relationship really did mirror something real that I have heard of many times. If the book was just about these two characters it really could have been something beautiful. However, yet again, this was something the writer really fucked up.
Its like Aimee Bender literally just wanted to be quirky and didn't know how, and I have no idea why she decided tomake joseph have the ability to turn into furniture. SERIOUSLY IS THIS IS SERIOUSLY A THING SHE DID? I LITERALLY FELT MY IQ DROP READING THIS. IT WAS JUST THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I HAVE EVER READ I ALMOST LAUGHED. IT MADE THIS BOOK AN ABSOLUTE JOKE.
I somehow ultimately managed to figure out the point of this book, and the ending makes it very clear. I will give it credit for the message it gave, but in reality this message to me didn't ever seem to be at the forefront of the plot. It was like at the end she decided to change what her main focus of the book was in the mess of plots she had going.
This book just really disappointed me. It did not go the way I expected and I feel like I almost need a funeral for it, and grieve for its loss of potential.
There was one main problem I had starting off, perhaps not the writer's fault unless she thought this was the case, but THIS BOOK IS NOT MAGICAL REALISM. before any of the other events happen with other characters in the book I can tell you that. it's trying to be, but it isn't. its honestly just a bit quirky and I think people are using the term too much to define books these days.
That aside, i'm just going to make it short where my problems lie:
- I didn't connect with any of the characters. Rose felt entirely distant to me as the main character, and I didn't feel like I understood her entirely after I finished the book
- the plot was extremely messy. too many things were tried out and the whole thing just seemed unfinished. Not in its ending, just in terms of what the main plot was actually supposed to be? too many things were just touched upon and left and returned to whenever the writer wanted.
- everything felt rushed, but also really slow. at some point in the book, Rose grew up really quickly. Like within 50 pages or so she went from a 9 year old to a teenager to an adult. doing this made me feel like I had missed out on so much. Events just happened quickly; the brother suddenly moving out, rose suddenly growing up, most events just didn't seem right in terms of pacing at all.
The redeeming quality of this book that also slightly sucked:
Joseph and his story. I honestly think if it wasn't for him this book would be 10x worse. His character reminds me very much of a child high on the autistic spectrum, and from what I've heard about having an autistic brother the moments he spent with rose when they were children was very very accurately written. Their relationship really did mirror something real that I have heard of many times. If the book was just about these two characters it really could have been something beautiful. However, yet again, this was something the writer really fucked up.
Its like Aimee Bender literally just wanted to be quirky and didn't know how, and I have no idea why she decided to
I somehow ultimately managed to figure out the point of this book, and the ending makes it very clear. I will give it credit for the message it gave, but in reality this message to me didn't ever seem to be at the forefront of the plot. It was like at the end she decided to change what her main focus of the book was in the mess of plots she had going.
This book just really disappointed me. It did not go the way I expected and I feel like I almost need a funeral for it, and grieve for its loss of potential.
UPDATE: Just discovered Lupin is supposed to be a metaphor for incurable diseases such as HIV/AIDS? nahhhh son that's fucked up. I am heavily disappointed (again) in Rowling YET AGAIN and this time it really hurt. this is probably the only series I have continued to read even though the author is such a shitbag.
-----------------------------
I considered not even reading this and giving up on the series, but I remember promising myself I'd only do that if I did not enjoy a book after finishing the goblet of fire, so here we are. Luckily, this is the first book in the series that I can comfortably say that I have enjoyed, and the only one I would ever consider rereading so far. One conclusion is for certain though, and that is while this series comes with its fun and adventure, it suffers from a lot of really ugly problems, more-than-occasional boughts of bad writing, and uses gross stereotyping to get points across.
Disclaimer: I do not believe that Rowling has some weird hidden agenda in using the damaging tropes that I am about to explain, but I do believe that her worldly experience has resulted in her use of these tropes without her having the awareness to see them as being problematic. An example that springs to mind is how some have read the gringotts goblins to be antisemitic. Of course, I am not JK Rowling, but I do believe that this was not directly her own message but a reuse of goblins being portrayed in such a way for a very long time. Is it her fault for continuing the trope without questioning it? Yes, of course. And this is the problem I have found myself having time and time again with this series.
I feel like I need to have a bit more structure in these reviews, because sometimes I feel like I am repeating myself a lot. So have some headlines that summarized what I have thought in previous books and how this either has or has not changed through the series.
Character building
THIS IS IT!! THIS IS THE BOOK WHERE I ACTUALLY CONNECTED WITH THE CHARACTERS SO MUCH MORE! Lupin by far was the best character who I felt incredibly attached to (which indeed I should, seeing as this is written through harry's perspective I would be irritated if I wasn't!). I also really felt horrible for neville, and felt really cross at harry for treating him like shit multiple times.
Female characters
Cho Chang is introduced by blushing at harry. The only time we shall hear her speak in this book is to wish harry luck. so I guess her sole purpose as a character is to be used as an interest for harry...
As mentioned previously, Mcgonagal was the only good female character going for me at this point. I was really disheartened to see her largest purpose in this book was bitching about trelawney, another woman in her profession, instead of supporting her and working alongside her :(
Trelawney: another female character that isn't taken seriously.
Ginny: still hasn't said anything of value and I have 0% investment.
Hermione: Could be admired up until this point for her amazingly hard work ethic but it had to be revealed that she was in essence cheating by having the ability to literally take any class, any exam, and have as much time as she needs to study. like I have never been a fan of the time turner subplot because it is incredibly unnecessary (apart from the whole buckbeak freedom operation but seriously was this the only way to do this??)
Annoying problematic tropes
the biggest thing with this book was stuff about weight. lots of stuff about weight. I'm really getting tired writing this review now but in short theres lots of stuff about slimmer people being rewarded and larger people being the butt of everyone's jokes (black is able to escape askaban because he is slim. harry is able to use the secret passage to hogsmeade because he is slim. dudley dursley described as lazy, fat, piggy and plump and is arguably taken too far with harry's jokes. aunt marge is punished by "blowing up like a balloon" and harry told vernon she "deserved what she got".
Plot
#1 - enough plot, but underdeveloped due to the incredibly short length
#2 - not really any plot at all
#3 - This book has the best plot BY FAR, but it became very unclear as to what the main focus of the plot was. first we get told about a dangerous man who is supposedly looking for harry, then we are getting very heavily hinted that our favourite new teacher *cough* MAY be a werewolf (the hinting was so excessive that it was not really a mystery all, and the lesson with snape I think took it too far.) , then we are in a rush to save an exotic bird from it's death, and then 30 pages before the end we are whirled into some really crazy and unfitting subplot about how hermione has been time travelling all year. Hated it when the movie came out, hated it now. SLOW DOWN, THIS IS A SERIES.
Regardless, the charm of the book really lies in the pages that take place in the shrieking shack. The storyline really ties up nicely here! (or at least you know, a few of the bigger sub plots and mysteries buzzing around anyway)
Weird use of plot devices to keep the storyline going
not so many this time!! although THE TIME TURNER THING (doesn't need repeating)
Question to JK rowling about something that really didn't make sense
According to the chamber of secrets (as mentioned in that review) hogwarts has 336 students, considering that all dorms are the same size and all years/houses have the same number of people. My question is the logic of the slytherin/griffindor quidditch match. if 3/4's of the crowd are griffindors and the rest are 200 slytherins, then I am going to ask the same question: HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ATTENDING THIS SCHOOL??? ARE THERE ONLY TWO HUFFLEPUFFS??? IS THAT WHY WE DON'T HEAR ABOUT THEM VERY OFTEN???
-----------------------------
I considered not even reading this and giving up on the series, but I remember promising myself I'd only do that if I did not enjoy a book after finishing the goblet of fire, so here we are. Luckily, this is the first book in the series that I can comfortably say that I have enjoyed, and the only one I would ever consider rereading so far. One conclusion is for certain though, and that is while this series comes with its fun and adventure, it suffers from a lot of really ugly problems, more-than-occasional boughts of bad writing, and uses gross stereotyping to get points across.
Disclaimer: I do not believe that Rowling has some weird hidden agenda in using the damaging tropes that I am about to explain, but I do believe that her worldly experience has resulted in her use of these tropes without her having the awareness to see them as being problematic. An example that springs to mind is how some have read the gringotts goblins to be antisemitic. Of course, I am not JK Rowling, but I do believe that this was not directly her own message but a reuse of goblins being portrayed in such a way for a very long time. Is it her fault for continuing the trope without questioning it? Yes, of course. And this is the problem I have found myself having time and time again with this series.
I feel like I need to have a bit more structure in these reviews, because sometimes I feel like I am repeating myself a lot. So have some headlines that summarized what I have thought in previous books and how this either has or has not changed through the series.
Character building
THIS IS IT!! THIS IS THE BOOK WHERE I ACTUALLY CONNECTED WITH THE CHARACTERS SO MUCH MORE! Lupin by far was the best character who I felt incredibly attached to (which indeed I should, seeing as this is written through harry's perspective I would be irritated if I wasn't!). I also really felt horrible for neville, and felt really cross at harry for treating him like shit multiple times.
Female characters
Cho Chang is introduced by blushing at harry. The only time we shall hear her speak in this book is to wish harry luck. so I guess her sole purpose as a character is to be used as an interest for harry...
As mentioned previously, Mcgonagal was the only good female character going for me at this point. I was really disheartened to see her largest purpose in this book was bitching about trelawney, another woman in her profession, instead of supporting her and working alongside her :(
Trelawney: another female character that isn't taken seriously.
Ginny: still hasn't said anything of value and I have 0% investment.
Hermione: Could be admired up until this point for her amazingly hard work ethic but it had to be revealed that she was in essence cheating by having the ability to literally take any class, any exam, and have as much time as she needs to study. like I have never been a fan of the time turner subplot because it is incredibly unnecessary (apart from the whole buckbeak freedom operation but seriously was this the only way to do this??)
Annoying problematic tropes
the biggest thing with this book was stuff about weight. lots of stuff about weight. I'm really getting tired writing this review now but in short theres lots of stuff about slimmer people being rewarded and larger people being the butt of everyone's jokes (black is able to escape askaban because he is slim. harry is able to use the secret passage to hogsmeade because he is slim. dudley dursley described as lazy, fat, piggy and plump and is arguably taken too far with harry's jokes. aunt marge is punished by "blowing up like a balloon" and harry told vernon she "deserved what she got".
Plot
#1 - enough plot, but underdeveloped due to the incredibly short length
#2 - not really any plot at all
#3 - This book has the best plot BY FAR, but it became very unclear as to what the main focus of the plot was. first we get told about a dangerous man who is supposedly looking for harry, then we are getting very heavily hinted that our favourite new teacher *cough* MAY be a werewolf (the hinting was so excessive that it was not really a mystery all, and the lesson with snape I think took it too far.) , then we are in a rush to save an exotic bird from it's death, and then 30 pages before the end we are whirled into some really crazy and unfitting subplot about how hermione has been time travelling all year. Hated it when the movie came out, hated it now. SLOW DOWN, THIS IS A SERIES.
Regardless, the charm of the book really lies in the pages that take place in the shrieking shack. The storyline really ties up nicely here! (or at least you know, a few of the bigger sub plots and mysteries buzzing around anyway)
Weird use of plot devices to keep the storyline going
not so many this time!! although THE TIME TURNER THING (doesn't need repeating)
Question to JK rowling about something that really didn't make sense
According to the chamber of secrets (as mentioned in that review) hogwarts has 336 students, considering that all dorms are the same size and all years/houses have the same number of people. My question is the logic of the slytherin/griffindor quidditch match. if 3/4's of the crowd are griffindors and the rest are 200 slytherins, then I am going to ask the same question: HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ATTENDING THIS SCHOOL??? ARE THERE ONLY TWO HUFFLEPUFFS??? IS THAT WHY WE DON'T HEAR ABOUT THEM VERY OFTEN???
Felidae is darkly funny, curiously intriguing, action filled... and badly written. watch the movie.
This is such a great concept!! A murder mystery with cats??? sign me tf up. Grumpy neighbourhood cat francis gets roped into playing detective after many neighbourhood cats begin to be murdered.
This book is filled with so many unexpected pop culture references which I fully enjoyed. I also massively appreciated how much research pirincci did on cats to really make this an accurate portrayal of how they actually act!! from having sex to social behaviours, he really paid close attention to detail with fully explained footnotes. the humor was dark and right up my street, and I did on the whole enjoy this story!!
"but elle, you rated this three stars!" I hear you cry. Yes, yes I did. Because even though I loved the story and the characters, there was a huge problem with this book. You can create a good concept and characters, but writing them down is another situation all together, and honestly, Pirincci sucked. For note, I am reading a translated edition from the original German, but I honestly don't think this is why I had such a hard time with this.
when I started to read this book, I was doing okay with it. However, there is a part of the book (I won't spoil it) where the narrative voice changes and that certain part was INCREDIBLE. I was IN LOVE with the words and what was going on. If I could rate that specific section it would be five stars. I would read an entire book with that narrator. But then, I returned to the situation at hand, and realised that I was really disappointed to no longer be reading that section anymore. this was when I started to have problems: the plot got dull and tedious 3/4s in, "big reveals" started to become very obvious, even at the end when things start to get revealed I got SO MAD because all the things I had recognised earlier as being overlooked were becoming major plot points. THINGS WERE TOO OBVIOUS. The ending did pique my interest again, and was a ~good~ finale, but it was not enough to save the book. The messages intended to come across were so decent but badly handled, and I really see this as such a shame.
there's many more things I could go on about that annoyed me, but I really want to keep this short. This is a good story that was put on paper by the wrong person. however, I feel like this story in its lessons is really important to me, so if you can I really want to recommend the film adaptation. I haven't seen it as of yet, but my friend is lucky enough to have this on dvd so I will update this to confirm my theory (I have no doubt in my mind that it is worth it.)
This is such a great concept!! A murder mystery with cats??? sign me tf up. Grumpy neighbourhood cat francis gets roped into playing detective after many neighbourhood cats begin to be murdered.
This book is filled with so many unexpected pop culture references which I fully enjoyed. I also massively appreciated how much research pirincci did on cats to really make this an accurate portrayal of how they actually act!! from having sex to social behaviours, he really paid close attention to detail with fully explained footnotes. the humor was dark and right up my street, and I did on the whole enjoy this story!!
"but elle, you rated this three stars!" I hear you cry. Yes, yes I did. Because even though I loved the story and the characters, there was a huge problem with this book. You can create a good concept and characters, but writing them down is another situation all together, and honestly, Pirincci sucked. For note, I am reading a translated edition from the original German, but I honestly don't think this is why I had such a hard time with this.
when I started to read this book, I was doing okay with it. However, there is a part of the book (I won't spoil it) where the narrative voice changes and that certain part was INCREDIBLE. I was IN LOVE with the words and what was going on. If I could rate that specific section it would be five stars. I would read an entire book with that narrator. But then, I returned to the situation at hand, and realised that I was really disappointed to no longer be reading that section anymore. this was when I started to have problems: the plot got dull and tedious 3/4s in, "big reveals" started to become very obvious, even at the end when things start to get revealed I got SO MAD because all the things I had recognised earlier as being overlooked were becoming major plot points. THINGS WERE TOO OBVIOUS. The ending did pique my interest again, and was a ~good~ finale, but it was not enough to save the book. The messages intended to come across were so decent but badly handled, and I really see this as such a shame.
there's many more things I could go on about that annoyed me, but I really want to keep this short. This is a good story that was put on paper by the wrong person. however, I feel like this story in its lessons is really important to me, so if you can I really want to recommend the film adaptation. I haven't seen it as of yet, but my friend is lucky enough to have this on dvd so I will update this to confirm my theory (I have no doubt in my mind that it is worth it.)
This is a review for the 1st comic arc as a whole!
THIS IS THE BEST COMIC SERIES I HAVE EVER READ. to repeat everything I have already said, the artwork is great, the story is FANTASTIC, and the characters are so well rounded. Everything in this arc just got rounded up so well and I absolutely loved it. Most comics I have rated 4 stars, with two 3 stars and three 5 stars!! I really struggled to have any issues with these comics!!
There is very rarely a dull moment in these comics, they are BY FAR better than the tv series and some comics really stand out as the best. Highlights include learning about the black roses of meridian, the big finale, and I will always have a soft spot for the first comic. I think I noticed that occasionally the art went a little bit weird, but that could be because they changed the artist for one or two issues?? Can't be certain though.
I really don't want to give much away, but PLEASE READ THESE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Onwards to the next comics 🔅
THIS IS THE BEST COMIC SERIES I HAVE EVER READ. to repeat everything I have already said, the artwork is great, the story is FANTASTIC, and the characters are so well rounded. Everything in this arc just got rounded up so well and I absolutely loved it. Most comics I have rated 4 stars, with two 3 stars and three 5 stars!! I really struggled to have any issues with these comics!!
There is very rarely a dull moment in these comics, they are BY FAR better than the tv series and some comics really stand out as the best. Highlights include learning about the black roses of meridian, the big finale, and I will always have a soft spot for the first comic. I think I noticed that occasionally the art went a little bit weird, but that could be because they changed the artist for one or two issues?? Can't be certain though.
I really don't want to give much away, but PLEASE READ THESE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Onwards to the next comics 🔅
I listened to the audiobook of this and it was absolutely charming. it was a lovely way to take in the story (which funnily enough ended on a train journey), however I do think for further poirot readings I will try the reading experience as I felt slightly at times I missed out through the narrators use of fake accents.
THIS BOOK. OH MY. definitely a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Admittedly, the first ever murder mystery I have read, definitely not my last. I fell in love with the concept that the murder took place in a very compact but interesting location (the whole premise of there is a murderer among us is something I love), and that was enough for me, but this book really pulled something out of the bag. I felt a bit nervous that the mystery would be too obvious, or on the other end completely illogical in this conclusion, and this book offered something a bit less predictable in terms of tropeyness which was fab.
I did have a few issues with how badly it dated however. comments like "it cannot be a woman as she is too weak to stab like that" along with other mentions and even racial stuff at times annoyed me a bit as they relied less on evidence and more on assumptions and stereotyping which was a shame but I can attempt to forgive it in light of the novel's age. As well, I did guess some parts of the mystery a little early which seemed blindingly obvious to me, and instead of feeling smart it made me question why poirot as a undoubtedly intelligent man hadn't figured it out at that point. namely the handkerchief evidence, I had already made a correct guess very early on with the information already given about the characters.I understand I'm reading war and peace at the moment, but it said many times that bloody woman was russian
DESPITE THESE POINTS however, the ending absolutely blew me away. It was deeply emotional and left me a bit teary which is not something I would expect from a murder mystery, but it was clear this one had so much heart. what really breaks the mould with this one is its lack of conventionalism in terms of the genre. Cannot wait to get my hands on more mysteries now!
THIS BOOK. OH MY. definitely a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Admittedly, the first ever murder mystery I have read, definitely not my last. I fell in love with the concept that the murder took place in a very compact but interesting location (the whole premise of there is a murderer among us is something I love), and that was enough for me, but this book really pulled something out of the bag. I felt a bit nervous that the mystery would be too obvious, or on the other end completely illogical in this conclusion, and this book offered something a bit less predictable in terms of tropeyness which was fab.
I did have a few issues with how badly it dated however. comments like "it cannot be a woman as she is too weak to stab like that" along with other mentions and even racial stuff at times annoyed me a bit as they relied less on evidence and more on assumptions and stereotyping which was a shame but I can attempt to forgive it in light of the novel's age. As well, I did guess some parts of the mystery a little early which seemed blindingly obvious to me, and instead of feeling smart it made me question why poirot as a undoubtedly intelligent man hadn't figured it out at that point. namely the handkerchief evidence, I had already made a correct guess very early on with the information already given about the characters.
DESPITE THESE POINTS however, the ending absolutely blew me away. It was deeply emotional and left me a bit teary which is not something I would expect from a murder mystery, but it was clear this one had so much heart. what really breaks the mould with this one is its lack of conventionalism in terms of the genre. Cannot wait to get my hands on more mysteries now!
Characterisation: bad
Story: non-existent
Alice: the most irritating little shit ever written into a book, if I lived in wonderland I'd execute her personally.
Positives: great in its historical context in contributing towards how children are written about in Victorian literature
Was looking forward to this but it's really not been worth the hype. Probably not going to read the sequel. Would be putting this down if it wasn't so short. Only thing interesting me is the stuff that they didn't put in the film adaptation but it really doesn't add anything. Soz.
Also little edit: as much as I didn't like this i did really love the edition - it has a really lovely publishers note which adds great concise contextual information before reading. It's also nicely illustrated and the full verses Of rhymes that were later added on to are included. This edition is complete and unabridged to the original version, so if you are an Alice fan this is definitely a nice one to get.
Story: non-existent
Alice: the most irritating little shit ever written into a book, if I lived in wonderland I'd execute her personally.
Positives: great in its historical context in contributing towards how children are written about in Victorian literature
Was looking forward to this but it's really not been worth the hype. Probably not going to read the sequel. Would be putting this down if it wasn't so short. Only thing interesting me is the stuff that they didn't put in the film adaptation but it really doesn't add anything. Soz.
Also little edit: as much as I didn't like this i did really love the edition - it has a really lovely publishers note which adds great concise contextual information before reading. It's also nicely illustrated and the full verses Of rhymes that were later added on to are included. This edition is complete and unabridged to the original version, so if you are an Alice fan this is definitely a nice one to get.
I just noticed that I rated this 4 stars when I read it many years ago. this, as a reminder, was when I sped read it to give myself a reason to go to the cinema with a straight girl I was in love with to watch the sequel and connect with her over how much I pretended to love the male love interest. then I tried to actually read it afterwards which apparently took 2 months but its okay guys, 2014 me says THIS IS A GREAT BOOK.
In today's thoughts, katniss is a terribly written female character and it doesn't fill me with the greatest confidence that collins pretty much plagarised the plot, characters, and order of events without giving the source material any credit and denying openly that she never even heard of it. I appreciate modernisations/westernised adaptations/retellings when writers tell you the work is as such but like is she literally this dumb.
would be 1* for originality but it works as a typical shitty YA novel so i'm just going with the 2 for now, hope everyone loved this review and the little snippet of my love life which was probably more interesting than the entire series romance plot (not that I ever finished it). she is still straight but is on a rowing team now so I'll let you know if she ever changes her mind.
In today's thoughts, katniss is a terribly written female character and it doesn't fill me with the greatest confidence that collins pretty much plagarised the plot, characters, and order of events without giving the source material any credit and denying openly that she never even heard of it. I appreciate modernisations/westernised adaptations/retellings when writers tell you the work is as such but like is she literally this dumb.
would be 1* for originality but it works as a typical shitty YA novel so i'm just going with the 2 for now, hope everyone loved this review and the little snippet of my love life which was probably more interesting than the entire series romance plot (not that I ever finished it). she is still straight but is on a rowing team now so I'll let you know if she ever changes her mind.