alf_read's reviews
113 reviews

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Sally Rooney doing a retelling of The Brothers Karamazov? Yassssss! It’s so fascinating to compare and contrast them. This is light years ahead of Normal People in terms of creativity and intrigue.
Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

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

4.5

This was everything I wanted Call Me By Your Name to be. Such a heart-wrenching tale of queer love in a time and place where it was never accepted. Come for the queer coming-of-age tale, stay for the gorgeous Polish countryside.
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

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adventurous dark funny reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It’s a solid creature horror but I did find the four parts a bit inconsistent. I secretly wish the whole story had been told from the perspective of M, since that was the most thrilling and interesting section, almost like Perfume but the sense is taste and it’s infectiously queer. 
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The rise and fall of the American Dream has rarely been as perfectly portrayed as is shown in this book. I cried on a train over it and you would too.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Lightning in a bottle. It’s so rare for a book to not only deliver exceptional storytelling and characters, but present us with an aesthetic and a state of mind that is so infectious. The book is so brilliant that it sucks you into the very object of its ridicule. 
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Perfection. If I could give it six stars I would.
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

4.25

Fitzgerald wrote this book at just 23-years of age. While this fact certainly comes across in the chaotic arrangement of a plot, it was clear from the beginning that Fitzgerald was a genius and through the character of Amory Blaine we see the beginnings of the defining voice of the Lost Generation.
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick

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adventurous reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

A tale that feels very derivative of H. G. Wells The Time Machine, this story has some of the beats that make PKD a master of the genre but not enough to make it a standout in his oeuvre.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Gregor Samsa’s tale of unlikely transformation is a classic of 20th century writing. The story is very short so it would be easy to underestimate but it’s certainly a thinker that has staying power if you embrace it.
Passing by Nella Larsen

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

3.5

While a must-read classic on the history of racism, it’s a very short novella so many of the ideas presented aren’t as fully rendered as I would’ve liked.