This book needs to be required reading for film classes that focus on studying diverse film. Even though this is a fictional tale, it’s clear that the author went above and beyond to research every bit of history discussed. The characters were perfectly fleshed out, and the switching between timelines flowed naturally. The only thing I would have wanted was a little more on the aftermath from the ending, which I think could have been added if some of the earlier parts of the book were sped up a bit pacing wise.

This has a little bit of everything for whatever type of smutty book you like to read. Some of the situations are a bit over-the-top for my taste since this is a grounded (not fantasy-like) story, and there were some aspects of the plot I would have changed, but otherwise I enjoyed this and was fancasting the whole time lol.

I wish that I liked this more, but overall I thought it was just ok and a bit dry (I’ve read a bunch of graphic memoirs with more personality). I feel like I got more from the synopsis than actually reading this. However, I think that Bechdel’s discovery of her sexuality was very well done as well as the artwork. 

This was so informative on the aspects of passing as white in a time period more prejudiced than our current one. The fears that arose with potentially being discovered and the lengths which were taken in order to prevent that happening is/was so heartbreaking, and I think this should be required reading for it's historical aspect (or at least the film should be required viewing). 

This was such a perfect urban legend horror story that I hope that it gets turned into a 'Perfect Blue' type anime film. My only issue was that I thought the side stories took me out of the fucked up-ness of the main story (specifically the doll one in the middle of the book), and I would have actually liked those to have been full-length manga as opposed to one-offs included in this one. 

I was so immersed into this collection of short stories that I honestly forgot this is a work of fiction. I can’t wait to see what Mutonji does with a full length novel! 

This has been on my TBR for a while purely because of the length of it. I ended up doing a tribrid reading experience of digital (the format in which I own the book) at work or in situations where I'm waiting, physical (I rented a hardcopy from the library), and audio (for the car and while working on other things like cross stitching or cleaning up). Overall, I thought the book was a bit long for what it was trying to accomplish story-wise and I feel like the story was more based on Levin's experiences than Anna's. However, I do very much appreciate Tolstoy's impeccable detail and I DID learn a lot about the historical and societal aspects of that time. This is definitely one of the few books that I actually DO want to watch the movie (in this case movies) in order to view the story in a different method and in one sitting.

This was very much on the YA scale but I did very much enjoy the horror-y aspect of this book. It would definitely be cool to see this adapted for a service like Shudder.

I love a good cult-y fiction story and this one definitely exceeded my expectations on that aspect. I think that the summary blurb is slightly misleading, but otherwise I’m happy that this didn’t leave us on a cliffhanger and that the pacing was clean with no rushed ending. Bonus points for the inclusion of traditional Filipino dishes because it inspired me to embrace my heritage and cook some of those up!

I think the overall goal of teaching a younger reader (or someone actively wanting to learn) about the modern/current world of gender and queerness comes off beautifully and easy to digest. Character-wise, I think one side character would have sufficed regarding the overall character development of Ash. Story-wise, this would have been AMAZING as a longer length fantasy story in graphic novel form.