afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

he way I want to be as cool and unbothered as her.

I swear, reading this had been like getting a glimpse of this beautiful, cool, lady that we all aspire to be. Not only that we get her insights of the 70's politics at the time, especially on blacks, her commentary on slavery and also her observations of the discrimination from the different classes of race at the time in the South, we also get to know Didion as a person in some ways.

I loved her observations on the women and children at the time, the way this woman is so bloody hilarious and its lowkey like listening to your friend gossiping but in an intellectual way :') And lowkey, I love how unhinged and a menace this madam can be, and I'm highkey all here for it.

This was her commentary after listening to a speech about women having to conform to "weak-beings" and I liked how her train-of-thoughts are just relatable. This book is as mundane as it can be but its written in a witty, wonderful but also non-info-dumping, which makes reading about the politics at the time fun.

Definitely a book that I ddin't expect to love but loved it anways. What a read.

4.25🌟for this gem!

This book is not at all means the most perfect book, but it somewhat had caught my heart, still. And I'm living here for it.

This book might be a bit dry for some, and it can be quite simple, and if explored just a bit more - especially on the characters - it could have been a 5 star read and a book that will be enjoyable to all. However, I think since I was in the right mood for this book, I kind of liked the simplicity of it all. Its simple yes, the plot could have been developed better, but I liked how when we read through the lines, there's a sense of nostalgia that hits me.

I always love books that explores about food. My complex relationship about food growing up makes me appreciate books that relates food with nostalgia. And this book is about that overall. I felt that - as simple as it is, it served its purpose. I think the writing reminded me a lot of Before the Coffee Gets Cold in a different way that the writing can be a tad dry, but since I read it with the audiobook, it had changed my perspective about it. I feel that this book would be the same way and I will definitely looked thru the audiobook when it comes out.

The stories of the 6 people in here all revolves around the same theme - a diner that can recreate the food of your memories, only found by people that is meant to find it, and is managed by a man that was previously a detective who can cook very well. Food and nostalgia goes hand in hand together and I loved how each story comes with its own realization. Its the kind of book that you will need to figure out what you've learnt on your own and I feel that's why the book is appealing to me during the time I'm reading this. Its simplistic and yet the way each food jogs down memories for each people warms my heart.

A book for me quite perfect for beginners. Simplistic and straightforward and definitely made me so so hungry and crave for Japanese food :')

Will you go on your own?

Personal Ratings : 3.75🌟

I feel that this is a novel that I would be revisiting again. And my thougths that I put out today (I'm in my late 20s now) and the thoughts that I would put at maybe a later time of my life would be totally different; hence these are what I feel as of now. Today.

Reading this novel felt that it sucked out every sunshine and soul in me; and I only had so little in the first place. Finishing this not only left me bleak and hollow, it felt to me how the meaning of existence and self can be so substantial when all you are living for is today?

There is a quote from the translator that had really gotten me :

So by all means if you're reading this, this is a moment of spiraling thoughts that might be incoherent and by all means I'm not a philosopher student, but I would just need to vomit the words out to scratch the itch in my brain.

At first, coming into the novel, I was intimidated as heck (as I am with loads of classics), but to my happy surprise, the proses, and the story is actually pretty straightforward. But yet, if you're taking it into a surface level, you will only get what the translator has quoted ; meaning that The Outsider; and everything that is happening in the novel is due to the face that he is an outsider to society, and a foreigner because he is a Frenchman in Algeria. . But if you look deeper down that leads to my heavy feeling after finishing the book; is that its more than just that. The word èstrange in French might hold much more meaning (and yes at this point of time, I wish I learn epidemiology at a certain level) but I do feel that the word itself can hold so much meaning, hence what the whole point of the book is about.

To me, I translate the meaning The Outsider more as our main character questioning about life and his existence, and in how, not only he is an Outsider to society and how they are obsessed for someone to conform to their own set of rules, its also how he is an Outsider to his mere existence in this world. It sets out an array of questions in itself,
>> is life in this existence worth any meaning?
>> are there more to life than just being in the present?
And the scene where the questions of God and his debate with the priest on Beliefs and again, his blatant desire for our MC to believe in the same thing that he believes in , leads to another point of being An Outsider . Is an outside someone that does not conform to norms of society - that can lead them to a death that might be unjustifiable or as such?

At times I do feel that, if you meet someone in real life like the main MC, he is just someone that lives his life as his own - weird and quirky to society's standards - but honest. His views on death equates to the freedom that he searches, in the hows that someday when death comes approaching, its only a phase in life. Unpleasant when spoken out loud, but it also made quite sense in a way :')

If one of the things that I liked is how Camus plays around with nature and, its somewhat related to him being an Outsider. The meaning of him being free is being with nature itself - and even the events that had led to his demise was because of one simple reason, the sun - in which can be translated to a lot of things, but what I took out of it its in the simplicity of the our main character to just be there, in the present.

Was this a happy novel? Not in the slightest. It felt like it reached a deep part of me that got me spiraling on my own ; but perhaps, I picked it up at definitely a right time. I will leave the philosophical reasoning to the experts , but as far as my thoughts are concerned, I would definitely reread this again. It left me with the same hollow feeling as when I've finished No Longer Human but in a different sort of hollow that is pretty inexplainable.

I end my spiraling thoughts with this

4.5🌟

Lowkey, one of the best I've read in this genre.
Plot? Spice? and just the overall feelings in general :")
And I like that everything is done not in haste. Like the author knew what she was writing and not just some base stuff. The vulnerability, the importance of the sport itself and mostly on how their relationships smoothly transitions from enemies to acquaintances to lovers.

Oakley is cutie i wanna hug him so badly.
I think its done just as well. Not too many filters and I get what I want haha.
4.75🌟

Holy shit what the heck did I just read :')

There's something about this books that pulled me in and didn't let me get out.
We follow an unnamed narrator, searching for the answers to a murder of a man named Fra Keeler. As we go into the depths of the narrator's thoughts, the lines between reality and what is seemingly in the narrator's head blurred significantly. The author is one heck of a writer. The writing may not be for everyone but goddamn was I sucked into this and went spiraling with the narrator as well. It felt like everything and nothing is all real and fake; and you'll be wondering which one had really happened and what had eventually just happened in the narrator's head.

Reading this somewhat will challenge your sanity and it spoke out a variety of themes such as the insanity that comes with the depths of loneliness. A very intriguing read. I was sucked into it and came out a changed woman.

Personal Ratings : 4.25🌟

Sebuah novel yang aku kira tidak perlu masuk dengan apa-apa ekspetasi. Yang perlu tahu, masuk, baca dan hayati apa yang diceritakan oleh penulis. Masuk dengan minda terbuka kerana bagi aku, cerita ini bukan untuk semua orang. Ia mempunyai banyak unsur yang akan membuatkan pembaca terasa mual, jijk dan juga rasa seperti banyak benda yang dilakukan lebih daripada luar jangkaan manusia. Tetapi itu moral bagi buku ini. Dunia ini kalau berpaksi kepada kegelapan, maka kegelapan akan jadi milik seseorang itu.

Bila aku fikirkan balik, aku rasa penulis sangat bijak dengan cara penyampaian cerita. Kita dibawa dengan kisah kembar yang rapat dan kasih sayang mereka yang lebih daripada segalanya, kepada kisah keluarga, agama dan juga diberikan details sedikit demi sedikit. Plotnya bagi aku sangat unpredictable. One minute you're thinking it would go in one direction but the story somewhat took such a different turn that you're there left... speechless.. I came out of this book literally a changed woman.

Banyak benda yang aku hendak kupas, tetapi aku tak mahu spoil the fun of reading untuk sesiapa yang belum membacanya. Seeloknya, masuk dalam buku ini dengan ekspetasi yang kosong. Yang pasti, aku rasakan penulis telah berjaya lagi sekali membawa aku ke dalam dunianya dan membuatkan aku sangat-sangat invested. Dia mengingatkan aku kepada salah seorang penulis luar negara yang aku suka juga dan setiap cebisan yang ditulis bukanlah hanya fillers untuk melengkapkan cerita. Ia seperti memberi klu kepada apa akan terjadi , tetapi dengan cara yang membuatkan kau akan menggaru kepala.

Kalau aku nak highlight satu benda tentang buku ini, adalah cara penulis mengetengahkan beberapa isu penting seperti, kepercayaan kepada agama, soal privilege and the workings of the minds of an evil person. Niat tidak menghalalkan cara dan ia boleh menjadi sesuatu yang boleh memporak-perandakan kebahagiaan seseorang. Satu benda lain yang aku suka dengan buku ini dengan cara penulis menceritakannya dari perspektif ramai karakter berlainan. Ia memberi dinamik yang lebih baik dalam buku ini.

Bagi aku, its not the most perfect novel out there in the world. tapi, aku tak sangka aku akan menyukai novel ini lebih dari jangakaan aku.

Vile. Absolutely terrifying and of love, in any form.

Every minor detail that makes up a whole scene.
A quiet novel in brilliance.

And one that showed, in each detail, in every minor attributes, from the roads to the oppression under the occupation, to the stories that were told, to the geographies that were wiped out of existence to the very being that was looked upon. How events that had unfold in the past, are still happening, but with greater force and one that is only experienced by those living and breathing there. Its a story that is told in a quiet resilience in wanting to seek out the truths from a single moment in the past, in which unfolds the horrors in every little detail during the present.

Such a brilliant story. Where there are no profanities, told from two different perspectives, in which coincides with what is currently happening. It truly is a book that gives volume and magnifies the minor details in every single thing; and stimulates every sensory detail at play. Brilliant. Leaves me feeling hollow and numb, but written with such brilliance.

When a novel started with the sentence:

For a novel that is less than 100 pages. It blew me away.

I feel that, its not so easy to write a short story, especially one that can entice your readers to the very end. It will have to be compact but not too tight, and having to actually portray the emotions of each characters to the readers. And good lord, this book did just that.

In less than 100 pages,an array of emotions hit me as I am reading through it. I was angry, I was sad, I was devastated, and I even cried. And most of all, I was SO SATISFIED with how it ended. The open ending gives such a leeway for the readers to imagine what they wanted at the end.

For me, Ginzburg has the power to capture her audience in such a way that you feel enamoured. Her writing, the way she moved her readers with her unnamed narrator and being able to understand the emotions that the narrator is facing and just the slow descent of rage and anger, her loneliness and her unworthy feeling towards herself and the world. Its the rage of a woman that has bottled up her feelings and in turn had led to the demise of the person that she once loved. Its both tragic and unnerving.

I can't tell how much this book opened the doors for a great female writer again for me. I love this to death. Highly recommended.

4.75🌟 for this gem

Well.. that was something haha.

Garam. Penghapus dosa.

Quite an interesting concept and one that I enjoyed in one seating.
Penulisan Ruwi Meita mengingatkan aku sedikit sebanyak dengan buku-buku japanese crime thrillers aku dan secara jujurnya, secara kesuluruhan, aku berpuas hati dengan cerita ini. Halfway thru, I kind of guessed what the ending would be, but it still definitely kind of took me by surprise.

Apa yang aku suka tentang buku ini adalah cara penulis membawa isu-isu sosial dan semasa ke dalam cerita dan latar belakang overall plot dengan cara yang subtle tetapi maksudnya sampai. Pacing-wise untuk sebuah cerita detektif, aku rasakan ia cukup menarik perhatian dan banyak elemen yang agak mengerikan kerana kesnya sangat unik. Cuma ada satu perkara yang aku rasa ada sikit melewah adalah kisah percintaan Kiri dan Kanes. Mungkin sebab preference aku lebih kepada kisah cinta yang subtle kalau dalam genre sebegini, tetapi pada pengakhirnya aku faham kenapa ia penting dalam plot. Cuma aku lebih akan suka untuk nampak cara kerja Kiri dan dilemanya dari hanya memberi konklusi overall pada pengakhiran cerita.

Secara kesuluruhannya? Not bad. Would definitely recommend it to someone to read.

Rating keseluruhan : 4🌟

Ada sesuatu tentang penulisan Azmen yang membuatkan aku tidak berhenti membacanya hingga ke pengakhir cerita.

Sebuah novela yang cukup simple dengan plotnya yang bagi aku agak mundane dan berkisarkan tentang seorang pemuda dalam ceritera hidupnya, dengan manusia sekeliling yang dijumpainya dan seorang wanita di dalam ingatannya.

Aku kira, penulisan Azmen menjadikan novela ini ada ciri standout nya tersendiri. Penulisan Azmen membuatkan seperti aku berada di situ, menjalani kehidupan harian pemuda di dalam cerita itu dan seperti penonton setia yang melihat setiap events in the main mc's life unfold one by one. Paired with Azmen's dark sense of humor , ia menjadikan novela ini sebuah kisah yang seakan tiada apa-apa tetapi juga merangkumi segala apa yang ada.

Soal kesunyian, soal melangkah ke hadapan, soal kekosongan hidup anak muda di kota , dan soal persahabatan yang terjalin tanpa disangka. Polaroid membawa aku dalam sebuah perjalanan seperti filem senyap yang aku bergerak mengikut pace aku sendiri. Its a quiet novela; the kind of quiet that lets you be drifted through the story. Tiada karakter yang sempurna di dalam cerita ini, tetapi setiap karakter yang ada menambah sinar warna kepada hidup pemuda itu; walaupun ia berpaksi kepada seorang wanita yang sudah hilang kelibatnya.

Recommended! It took me by surprise, and its a good kind at that.