babygirl's reviews
170 reviews

The author has an overwhelming love of literature, the act of reading, the connections it brings, people and their struggles and their triumphs. Genuinely delightful and easy to read. I found myself both rooting for and angered by the cast of characters, which is remarkable in a novel only 147 pages long. I think this is a great gift for anyone in a transitional period, including for yourself. Reading the bond Takako and her uncle Satoru hold together, and build with other community members is really sweet and special. Great book. 

A work created with a lot of care. The author really took her time to share deeply intimate parts of her life, journeys through grief of loved ones, of simply living and surviving it. Amazing use of color -- oranges and yellows, and blues and purples, both were contrasted against one another to show stark depictions of deep loneliness and loss. I came upon this by chance; I haven't read much by Canadian authors and hope to rectify that. Excellent use of repetition to show how grief stops us in our tracks, even our thoughts. And yet, the world goes on: the dog needs to go on a walk and get cleaned up and go to the vet and it also dies. Everything and everyone dies; will we find each other again? Will we recognize each other, whatever comes next. Leavitt tries her best to explore this, while living in this world and all the beings in it. I really appreciate the strength and sheer time embedded in this book. Wonderful. 

Kind of boring -- I'm not really a fan of "then" and "now" moments being interspersed throughout books, and I don't think the author did it especially interesting or special here. Very honest about OCD and how the character experiences some genuinely horrifying moments, lies to people (family, her therapist) about her thoughts, how her family accepts those lies to avoid digging deeper. Deals with grief, death of a sibling as a child, discusses wealth semi-in-depth. Mainly though, it was just boring to me. The romance was the least interesting part. I think people might like it, who like "even at your worst, at your lowest, most uncommunicative and lying point, knowing everything about you, I, an intelligent, lonely, misunderstood, hot 21-year-old man am deeply in love with you, a modest, 21-year-old, virgin, successful career woman who has family, relationship and mental problems whom I've known from childhood." Helped me pass the night when I couldn't sleep. 

Really cute art-style. I think it's both good for children and adults looking to understand how intense every moment is when you are young. Really interesting plotline made of both fictional and true moments, that come together wonderfully to tell a story of being: lonely, an outsider, an older sibling, a new friend, and someone finding herself and good rules to follow in life. Enjoyable read. 

wish the writer and editor had been more strict about this book. A lot of unnecessary detail that did not add to the quality, lessons, themes, or anything else of the story. There were many pointless asides that felt like an exercise in showing off how much he remembered about his childhood, which, while fantastic for an individual himself, is a bit frustrating for the reader. Where are you going with this? Why does this matter -- and very often, it kind of just didn't. I think the editor should have been more ruthless about the structure and details included in this book. The stories could have been much more impactful this way, in my opinion, and maybe included one or two more (if he desired) with the amount of unnecessary text that would be taken out. 

Was a bit confused also about the level of censorship in this book. He writes, "shit," "damn," and some other profanity but then writes "F---" multiple times. What's the difference? He also censors "p----" in the beginning, but later uses the word "pussy." Pick one? He also describes for a while masturbation, but does not use the word, nor any other euphemism for it. No disrespect, but I was confused. Why talk about it obliquely for various paragraphs and then not say it? Why censor one word in one instant, and then not later on? Why is one cuss word so much worse than the rest? Why not just not use it, including when talking directly to the reader (as in: not directly recounting other's speech but a conscious 4th-wall break). 

Also, the constant translations/clarifications about accent in language was a bit tiring to read. I kind of wish he trusted his reader a bit more or instead used footnotes -- it just broke the flow of sentences and got annoying after the 50th "cah [car]" bit (fake example). 

Some of this things strike me as something that might be funny if told aloud in a story, but were genuinely bothersome to read. Maybe it works better as an audiobook? I don't know. 

What I did enjoy was how brutally honest the writer was, about his own flaw as a child and his confusion about understanding how to be. There were really funny moments, such as when he described not really trusting blonde men as a child (same!) or trusting guys with glasses. His constant looking for older guy mentors is something I don't think many would admit, and was interesting to read about. His genuine confusion that he was being mean to his classmates, and that his teacher (whom he considered a friend) would not check-in with him prior to mid-year report cards to his parents made a lot of sense and made me sad to read. Sometimes kids emulate things that they think will bring them closer to others, and really don't understand that it's actually alienating them. Adults sometimes do this, too. It's great that he's communicating his own journey in realizing this, as it is something I haven't read about in many memoirs. It was also fascinating to read about his perspective on the 80s as a child, what social dynamics looked like (his K and some elementary teachers being his neighbors; his father being able to advocate for him being held-back to be bigger than the other boys (wild!); how people adopted comedy routines to use on their friends at parties/get-togethers; etc.). There was a steady track of sexism going on in his thoughts during his childhood that I think was common back then -- calling adult women floozy's and bimbo's, even when he's a little kid -- that I think we use different language for today that was also interesting. I feel like people really self-buff themselves into being amazing and that makes them untrustworthy narrators; Gulman is incredibly honest about what was happening and exactly what he thought about it. 

Reading his 'modern-day' (2017-18) segments is also interesting to see how connected he is to his community, family, and girlfriend while feeling incredibly isolated. He really rallied, as did his loved ones, for him to get better. Again, a great aspect of his taste for details leads to others really understanding exactly how he was feeling when he was truly in the depths, including feeling a lot of shame, which I think is an emotion internationally, but also many Americans in particular, really hide from. Both from themselves, and talking about in the public sphere, despite it being one of the most overwhelmingly human emotions possible. This is a really important book for that reason. 

I think this might be helpful book for people with depression who need a distraction and also a source of connection with others who understand what they are going through. It might be more amiable to those open to "side-quests" or really enjoy detailed imagery about the entire dynamics of situations. 

Really interesting, with the source of conflict often being non-physically violent social dynamics that can still wreak havoc on communities, individuals, families, people's lives, etc. It was interesting reading something from this time period, and how often women were referred to by their married name, with sometimes mirror images between a mother and daughter in law, except for the power one wields over the other. Touches upon topics of racism, sexism, mob mentality over silly arbitrary things that  can really ruin someone. I had read "The Tooth" years ago, and thought it was familiar, but did not fully confirm this until we got to the bathroom scene. Which of these women am I? Why didn't I choose a better face? Can I fix it? Why isn't my identity in these papers? Oh, look, a helpful man came to help me, once again. It's crazy how quick she can establish the horror and confusion in identity making, in various stories, and also how enrapturing her use of language is. She purposefully dizzies a reader with complex, longer sentences or show how quickly a social cue disarms us with an entirely different structure. If Jackson wasn't born to be a writer, I don't know who, on planet Earth, is. 

I was personally confused about the groupings of the stories, and also the poetry throughout, to be honest. 

This was a re-read. I really enjoyed it. It had been a few years since I first read it, and it helped me really clean up my space. Her method is really gentle and helps remind you that you can't really live, "just for now." Eventually, it becomes your life. If there's any doubts in your mind to take the time to read it, please, read it. 

I also love the depictions of Marie Kondo in the manga, and am so curious how she worked and communicated with the artist in regards to her image. 

Ends abruptly in a way that leaves you wondering. Enjoy tracing the lines of the art with my finger. Really great stories that let you to continue thinking about it long after you've finished. 

Liked the art style! Sweet story. Enjoyed how often characters changed their outfits. The ghost being three separate entities was new and fun. 

Really well thought out. Everyone had flaws -- impulsivity, assuming, stubbornness. I loved that, along with the expressions of the characters, how relationships changed, and the research done.

I was a bit confused why there was only ever one ghost seen. I know for writing reasons, it's important to focus on one character to allow greater depth, but for in-universe reasons, I am curious why no other ghost sought vengeance.