afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

Well hello, I was not expecting this to be a good one!!

A turn of event had urged me to start with this one - as I had actually started 3 chapters in the full novel which is A Master of Djinn, I wondered wether the prequels will play a role in understanding more of the novel itself, and honestly, I was glad to trust my instincts, stopped at chapter 4 of Master of Djinn and started with this one first , because holy damn I was in awe and it totally gives more depth to what I have read in the first 3 chapters of the full novel.

For a novelette, it actually served its purpose. It was packed with actions, with sufficient information to create a worldbuilding that is unique and interesting for me and how each of the elements that has been taken to create the story was inspired by true events and scholars but with a twist in an alternate world. Goddamn, I devoured it. I loved it. And I loved all the references that might be hard for those who are not familiar (but Google is free , so.. :p) and how intricate Clark's worlbuilding is. The writing is also easy to digest, but again, you will have to google some terms - which you won't regret a single thing - and I was honestly totally in love with the storyline albeit if its short.

I get a feeling I would be loving Fatma very very much. She's not only sassy but so badass with her own touch of empathy towards the people around her. Not only that, her very profound sense of fashion makes her so endearing to me and I can't wait to read more of her adventures.

Definitely a good start and a series that is a mix of various adventures and subtle references to the real history infused and intertwined into the story. I'm definitely binging the next short story The Angel of Khan el-Khalili and the novella , The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and will delve into the novel with its full glory, especially knowing that Al-Jahiz has appeared in the novel (damn this scene is still imprinted in my head)

3.75🌟 For this one! Super short but super impactful!

p/s: The story is available for Free on TOR's website! Click here to read it :) You definitely won't regret it!
Read A Dead Djinn in Cairo Here!

There's something satisfying about a book that is relatively simple and yet so wholesome.

With the first book from the author that I have read which is The Journey & Big Panda and Tiny Dragon By James Norbury 2 Books Collection Set, the Cat Who Taught Zen is how the author talked about the concept of Zen in a relatively simple manner that will be easy to understand by everyone and anyone who is reading it. Alike the first book from the author, the illustrations in here is just beautiful and so well done . It totally fits in the whole narrative of the story and I liked how its just wholesome to read till the very end.

The book started off with the cat who has been through various journeys in his life and wanted to find the ultimate solace. When the rat suggested him to find the "big tree", he set off on a journey to find the inner peace that he's seeking. I love how throughout his journey, he had found various other animals, all with their own set of problems and tribulations, and each served a purpose to the cat in realizing that us - beings and nature - are connected as one. What one does will affect the other and its relatively that , the simplest concept of Zen to be understood and taught, in a manner that is both easy to understand and won't be confusing.

At the end of the day, for me, the concept of Zen is how we perceive ourself to the world. How every being in this world is somehow connected with the other and its our duty to be responsible for our actions. Only then, the inner peace we seek will come naturally.

Loved the works from this author and can't wait to read his next books!

4🌟

Thank you to Times Reads for this copy, I appreciate it always :)

Keigo can write a shopping list and I will eat it up. Lowkey for real, this book.
This freaking book

Disclaimers: No spoilers ahead don't worry.

Not only it had got me sobbing and almost had an asthma attack at freaking 1.30AM, my heart was utterly broken. Its now in shambles and I'm picking up the pieces bit by bit. And I can't even let you guys know the full truth to the book but to just let everyone read it on your own.

The experience I had with this book? Bloody phenomenal. And I won't even talk about the story much but I would like to write my thoughts on how much depth a Keigo's characters can be and how much thought he had put out in the story - to a point that will leave you grasping to seek in your heart wether to blame the characters or simply blaming the system that led them to act the way they did. And no, I don't condone any actions done by the characters , but its this state of mind, its the way Keigo manoeuvres us readers to the brink of exhaustion, into stepping over the fine line of a thin gray line. There's no absolute black and white in Keigo's works and it was explored fully and wholly in this book, to a point that had left tumbling into my own conscience. Who do we blame?

And since its the last installment for the Detective Kaga series, I cannot not write my thoughts without including THE Kyoichirou Kaga himself.
Kaga is an eccentric character , an honest man and a very good policeman. I love how he is a mix of the characters from his other series that I loved, and it molded into this character that I absolutely adored. The fact that we don't even get HIS POV but we learn his mannerism, his eccentric behaviours and all of his good qualities from the eyes of the people around him - makes him more endearing. Kaga is the kind of person who has a good judge of character and I loved how he approached the case in here. Mind you, please do read the rest of the series to understand the depth of him as a character. In the Final Curtain, we will see him as someone that is also human , and even someone as phenomenal as him is only human at the end.

Not only this book had explored a lot of themes , (view spoiler) it had brought in an array of emotions. Keigo's writing is what made me fell in love with Japanese literatures and its slow take on life, on death and how on the surface, it felt like an easy case to solve but the depths and complexities are similar to being human. On the outside someone can look like they have no care in the world, but humans are indeed intricate and complex beings which was written and portrayed so well in the book.

This book. This freaking book. Keigo had never failed me , and I'm so happy I made this my first book in 2024. Definitely a good start to the year. And definitely one that I will remember for a very very long time.

7 full stars.

Jhumpa Lahiri has became one of my favourite authors and anything by her is definitely a yes-autobuy for me. But whilst I can literally read her whole shopping list and gave this one a 4 stars overall, Roman Stories was also listed as one of my most dissapointed reads in 2023.

So yes, whilst I do love this book, I also somewhat hated it as well. And I might be the only person feeling this but coming from one of your favourite authors, and an anticipated read at that, Roman Stories fulfilled my cravings for Lahiri's writing but also - overall - it felt very very underwhelming.

Lahiri's writing has never failed to dissapoint me. I've read Whereabouts twice, and her non-fiction essays on her struggle to translate Italian and learning the language itself has made her one of the authors that I will read anything and everything that she wrote. Her ability to write out her struggle and her isolation in the most quiet ways had led me to love her writing very much.

Roman stories is a collection that is set in Rome and showed the struggles of both the people there that felt unseen in their daily lives. Its interesting when I think about it, how the overall collection not only focuses on the immigrants that came to Italy to learn and live through the culture and language, its also focuses on the isolation of the people who grew up in Rome and experienced Rome throughout their lifetime but still felt like the city and language like a stranger. That's what appealed to me for Roman Stories - its in the slow and everyday lives of people that can collectively felt the same thing, wether you are from the country or not. The lull and feeling of loneliness that exerts in every detail and every story comes from the her deep-rootedness into her crisis with the Italian language as well. Its fascinating when Lahiri tried to somewhat project her insecurities through the characters and their lives and this makes such an interesting character study for some of her stories.

There were three stories that had been translated by Todd Pornowitz - which also happened to be the few faves of mine in the collection -:
1) P's Parties - 4.75🌟
Loved this one so so much. The story revolves on what could have been and the dilemma of loving someone that should not be yours.

2) Well-Lit House - 5🌟
One of the best in this collection. The concept of home and how its different from everyone. Sadly, when we are seen as an outsider, the house that looks like home to us, can be a place of darkness to everyone else. It questions on how, a home is only entailed to the people who speak and is born into the language and the city? Good lord this was such a good story.

3) Notes - 4.75🌟
A woman's spiral due to the notes that she received. It shows the anonymity and rejection to the people that does not look the same to us. One of the best in the collection as well.

The three stories that were translated by Protnowitz for me was clever and so-well done. The rest of the stories were translated from Italian by Lahiri herself, in the same attempt that she tried with Whereabouts. And what's interesting for me is that the rest of the stories somewhat reflect her struggle in translating them as well - in the ways that she felt as an outsider whilst loving the language. Its such an interesting take for all of the stories and I do have some favs too, especially the first half of the collection.

But what made it felt underwhelming was how long it felt whilst reading this. It was slow, and not the kind of good slow that I enjoyed and it almost led me to have a reading slump :') And thats what felt underwhelming for me - its in how these stories do come across to be good but it also is so dreary that (epsecially the second part) that it gives you the sense of helplessness that I don't particularly enjoy.

Regardless to say, I still do love this book. This collection may not be the best from her but its also one that is experimental and fundamental in getting to know Lahiri as an author. Her struggle with Italian is somethng so profound and yet makes you want to root for her.

4🌟 for this collection!

Thank you to the Times Reads team for this ! I truly appreciate it!

Goddamn.

Understand how again - this review is written at 2AM, and it will most probably be me spiralling in my own messy brain - but this was such an amazing read. I feel like, the more I think about it and how it concluded towards the end, the more my brain lights up and going - GODDAMN.

A book that started off with an unknown narrator on a drive, ended up in the woods and seemingly, there that everything and nothing all happened at once. Reading A Shining felt like a dream. It questions wether which and what is real and which and what is not. It leaves you on the edge of the seat, wanting to know more, eager to find out what will be at the end of the road. It gives you a sense of dread - of expecting something bad will happen - but also curious of wanting what will happen next. You will sort of turn to the next page, going over the repetitive words and the syntax and getting slowly sucked into what Fosse is writing. It almost feels as though you're detached from your body, and you're there with the narrator, in the woods, feeling what he's feeling and goddamn its and adventure in itself.

I feel that the ending of the book - may or may not be predictable to some, but I do like how he writes about the process. From the symbolism, to the imagery, to the syntax and sparse of each words to the constant repetition of phrases that is somewhat like being hynotized. To write about death in a way that feels like a separation of the body and the soul and how at the end it will become one with the nature itself. The open ending leaves so many things to be interpreted, and how I see it is the form of a human before its last moments tethering on Earth, to the last few things that actually matters before it cease to exist from this world.

And at the end, will death actually matter? Will the end matter when we cease to slowly fade from the world?

This book left me with a lot of feelings. It left me with a sense of helplessness but also a sense of freedom. It felt exasperating to read but it also leaves a dent in my heart that I feel that I remember for a long time. It got me questioning on life and death at the end , how will we go from this Earth? Totally alone? In silence? or surrounded with the voices of your loved ones?

That is an answer for another day. Perhaps.

Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟

A short but such an impactful and heartfelt read.

I came in this book looking for a read that will highlight the complicated relationships of a child and a father - but turns out, I came out gaining that perspective and more. This book does not only highlight the complexity of the author's relationship with his father, it also intertwined closely with the social repercussions that came from the political stance of France at that time ; and how it had further affected his family and his father's relationship as a whole. It was a read that led me down through a rabbit hole of the current French president and the start of his policies and how it had affected the social working class ; how the ruling class became richer and the working class had to work their bones to be able to afford anything on the table. Its a story that not only showed the author's resentments and love towards his parents but also how he had shown that at the end of the day, everything that happens in one's lives is affected by the choices from the people in power at the time.

I feel that for such a short read, the author had seamlessly brought us in into his world. Written in short excerpts from different timelines, starting from his boyhood till now - and true to the title, we find who exactly had murdered his father - and not in the literal sense but how it had affected him as a person and how he had treated his family, including the author himself. The social repercussions due to the ruling class at the time and how the author is adamant in making the politicians know through his writings that its their fault that his father had been reduced to his current state. And I love how he had used his writings to bring out the importance in naming these people, making them responsible for their actions.

We also go into the author's complicated relationship with his parents, his family and most importantly on the toxic masculinity that has been imposed in his life. The complex relationship that he had with his father and the questions on how he loved him but also resented his father all of his life. I feel that the dynamics from a father figure that has been molded into the norms of "how a man should be" and "how a man should act" had changed his views on how a man should act growing up. His reflections through his fights and arguments with his father and how it had affected the other figure in his life - which is his mother. For every child that has a complex relationship with their parents, the feeling of love but also resentment that is embedded felt relatable in a sense and I loved how he had shown that at the end of the day, a child and their parents love is inevitable even if strained.

Definitely a book that I will recommend to everyone! His writings also reminded me a bit of Annie Ernaux's writings, and if you're a fan of that, you will definitely enjoy this one :) Will check out more of his works soon :)

Personal Ratings: 4.5🌟

It was just an okay read for me at the end.
But in some ways, the struggles of being the way they are and of self-discovery is the one i liked.
But overall, it was an okay read.

3.5🌟 overall

The end to one of the cutest and most heartwarming manga series.
I'm sad and happy that it ended the way it did. I feel that if the mangaka were to make a sequel, I would love for it to be them as grown ups. But in some cases, its better for the manga to end here, on a note that promises youth and the love, preserving everything there is to it.

I loved this one so much and I felt nostalgic as I followed the manga from the very first it was serialiazed until it became a 9 volume manga, but this one would be one that I will remember for a very long time.