444ndromeda's reviews
152 reviews

In Defence of Separatism by Susan Hawthorne

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informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

Flowers of Fire by Hawon Jung

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emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.0

vigorously researched and nicely narrated—‘twas something.
Black and Female by Tsitsi Dangarembga

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

Penile Imperialism: The Male Sex Right and Women's Subordination by Sheila Jeffreys

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

extremely informative and well researched book. much needed as an introduction to the subordination of women and how such problems came to be. 
Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Ashes by Kenzo Kitakata

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

an easy read, with nothing much going on for itself. 
the slow descent into tanaka becoming the boss, and his own ignorant realization towards it was good, though predictable. the prose was mediocre, but i don’t know if it’s because i read a translation or the writing was just like that.
Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 64%.
completely forgot about its existence.
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
tried to get into it once more and maybe this book is just not for me.
My Death by Lisa Tuttle

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challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

it died on its crib and even if it tried to amount to something, there was never something sustainable enough to justify whatever was written here.
maybe i didn’t get it, maybe it was not as flimsy as i interpreted it to be, i don’t know, i don’t care.
Stoner by John Williams

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

though it has a somewhat slow, unwavering start, i suppose that’s how it was meant to be taken. stoners’ loneliness is palpable since the very start, and williams’ writing enhances it in such ways that i felt hope when stoner did and the closest thing to despair when the situation called for it too.
in the introduction, stoner is described as a love story, and though it took some time for that idea to develop, i fully stand by it now. stoners’ feelings, his motivations (or lack of) rounded out a character that cannot be fully described.
“what did you expect?” stoner asked himself, and to the audience, as he recounts his life and his mistakes, as he slips in and out of consciousness and takes his final breath. there’s a certain cruelty, or rather a feeling of being laughed at, by that question, because truly: what did i expect?
the loneliness that followed throughout the book seeps into the bones, and it possesses you as well as it did stoner, but even amidst it there is a refuge, there are books, there is katherine, there is teaching and loosing oneself into knowledge, and just there the subversion of a routine happens and leaves us to question what exactly did we expect.