bratatouille's reviews
204 reviews

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore

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medium-paced

3.5

Although this does fit into the “crooked girlhood” category, I found the characters lacking in any real depth or motivation! It felt like one big long exercise in nostalgia, which I enjoy, however it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi.
Gallant by V.E. Schwab

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

Something something reverse shadow dimension mansion. Her mother fucked a ghoul. There was no point to this book and it was lifeless no pun intended. 14yo me would’ve eaten it up tho.
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

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

3.0

The MC in this is older than I’m used to reading for but, God, did she not act her age. I! enjoyed how individually insane all of the characters were. They certainly all had their peccadillos and none that were unforgivable. The MC gets significantly more unbearable as the story continues which I sort of think is the point? This a sex comedy that somehow balances precariously between dark and fun. It’s getting it’s one HBO show I think? Idk I don’t have much to say about this! I know it’s true to life to have books where characters only sort of learn things but I find it so unsatisfying as a reader. Im giving it four stars even though don’t think I’d reread it; which is makes it 3 stars on my scale. It’s rly about shoving affection into a gaping wound and expecting it to close. Very gay!
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I’m struggling to consider this sci-fi because the Sci-fi elements simply did not matter. It’s a love story told through letters from two key agents (?) on opposite sides of a war. I think. There is not clarification of what rly their jobs are or what this war is. The correspondence is wonderful, earnest, and poetic. I enjoyed it, but creating an unexplained sci-fi world just to use as a setting for a letter exchange felt incredibly useless, albeit innocuous. It was such a short read that I think it’s worth a one time go but I wouldn’t read it again!
The Girls by Emma Cline

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adventurous
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I wanted more cult content. This noon starts with the knowledge of an impending murder and the actuality of the crime is less theatrical than I had hoped. This is more about girlhood yearning than it is about a cult. That being said, it was still a fun little read. It’s all the rage rn and I sort of don’t see why? I enjoyed it but, like, wouldn’t tell anyone about it.
My Husband by Maud Ventura

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

3.0

This lady is so fucking delusional and I ate that shit right up. She is OBSESSED with her husband. Absolutely batshit. It helped that I listened to this rather than reading it because, boy, does she go on tangents about drivel. I enjoyed the writing style and the end wrapped everything up in a surprising little bow! I likely wouldn’t read it again (there are more than enough books about pretty white women problems), but I had fun on the crazy ride.
Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum

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emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

This is absolutely one of those just okay books that I am going to habitually read throughout my lifetime. For a story that focuses largely on learning to interpret texts to find what resonates with you, it ironically does a lot of telling and not showing. There are a ton of sentences like “the boys grew silent, touched by Neil’s impassioned reading and Tennyson’s statement of purpose.” You could just say they went silent. I think I can figure out the rest!

I had movie brain going into this which actually helped me with the pacing of the book. It moves rather quickly on its own considering how short it is, but the large indistinguishable mass of male characters was clearer to me due to the faces I had already associated with the corresponding names.
There’s a scene in the book where the boys take a “pop quiz” in which they write an essay while Keating puts salacious photos of women on the projector? In order to teach them to focus for when they get to college or some shit which was incredibly wild! A stark difference from book to movie is that Todd doesn’t actually sign the paper at the end in the book! I found that better character development and am not sure why they had him cave in the movie. They also had him write his own funky little poem at the end.  
The ThingTM that happens at the end of this story feels almost out of place in the book. The sense of tension wasn’t raised as high as they built it in the movie, but it could be just that I knew it was coming. 

TLDR: Dark academia classic. Writing was inconsequential but I’m a sucker for a fruity little flowery story about some prep school idiot. Movie better than book, but the book was based on the movie which I didn’t learn until just now!
Unhinged by Vera Valentine

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

2.0

This is a book where a door falls in love with a woman and she fucks the door. It certainly was a book! It’s written at approximately a sixth grade level, all of the dialogue is ridiculous, and the characters sound exactly the same. All that being said! I’m not expecting a fuckin literary masterpiece from a door fucker book. It was v fun and so short of a read.
The door is somehow a son of Zeus?? Like Zeus fucked a tree with a particularly enticing dick shaped hole and now we have this door. Zeus says hey you get one shot to be with the woman you love but to make it happen she’s gotta fuck you! So! Appear to her in a dream!!! Which is so wild on its own. The door becomes a man halfway through which kinda ruined the appeal of the whole thing for me but don’t worry! In incredibly werewolf fashion he turns into a door again once a month and she has to sleep with him to turn him back! Also she’s like? A dommy mommy for the door? She calls him a good little door and he gets on his knees and shit. Also there’s a murder kind of. The door, when it ends up with a name, names itself after Idris Elba.
There are just so many things. It was too fun to get one star, so here we are!
Greek Lessons by Han Kang

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I despised The Vegetarian so imagine my surprise when I adored this book! Kang portrays loneliness in a way that is so intimate and cathartic. This could be a phenomenal indie film. The use of language and silence is monumental. As with many books I like, it has a dreamy quality but this one feels more like the liminal space between sleep and waking. Gorgeous, wonderful, big fan. It’s on the slower side of novels but the characters are so  complex that I didn’t mind. Kang’s imagery and word choice is unmatched in this story. It is the first time I would say Madeline Miller has a contender when it comes to prose.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

I was told this was marauders-esque so I had to do it. I enjoyed it! I thought the end left a bit to be desired, but it’s a series so that’s fair. It’s dark-academia adjacent. I’m easily enamored with the occult and anything harboring a posh countenance, so I was on board relatively quickly. I found most of the characters to be rather half-baked, but there was a plethora of people to care about and, again, it’s a series so I’m certain they’re fleshed out later. I was hoping for more drive? Like more reasoning from the characters? We understand why the main guy aches to find the leylines, but everyone else seems to only be doing it because he is? Unless I missed something somewhere. Also, I did not give a single fuck about Whelk. He was simply a Bad Man. No real moral turmoil there. I found him impeccably uninteresting and the threat of his involvement held no real stakes for me as a reader. All that aside though, there are two sets of found families in this and I adore both of them. It’s incredibly charming and I probably will read the rest of them. I can not, in good conscience, give this four stars. It’s better than just A BookTM though, so it sits at 3.5