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cultbyproxy's reviews
111 reviews
Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Gretchen deserved better, and I hope she finds it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Death of parent, and Abandonment
More: A Memoir of Open Marriage by Molly Roden Winter
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
2.0
Molly author’s note begins as follows, “When I first conceived of writing this book, I consulted my old journals and was shocked to discover how often I had lied to myself. I understood, then, that I would have to do a great deal of emotional work to find a deeper truth than any I had previously written down. This book is my attempt to retrieve such truth.” This book, and it’s author, are in no way perfect, and that’s the point.
In More: A Memoir of Open Marriage, Molly Rosen Winter takes us through the rollercoaster ride that began when she and her husband Stewart decided to open their marriage. We have a front row seat to ten years of a messy mix of sex, tears, therapy and love which I could only compare to watching someone throw out a recipe book and decide to wing it at the delicate chemistry of baking. Molly grapples with the discovery of how her marriage mirrors that of her parents, what finding herself in the midst of being a mother/wife/daughter looks like, and ultimately the troughs and peaks of an open marriage.
I don’t think this book is meant to be aspirational, or a guide to ethical non-monogamy. This memoir was written to be honest. To show the messiness of love, give insight into a world that is unknown and taboo to many, and to rival the perfect images of romance in most media.
I commend her ability to show her lowest moments, to bring forth the ugly parts of relationships that we tend to box away and deem too vulgar for the public eye. Did I despise all but one person in this book, yes (shoutout to Liam for being the only person in this entire book who I wouldn’t fear knowing). May a love like that between Molly and Stewart never locate me, but to each their own.
My favourite passage:
“I lie on the bed in the empty hotel room and feel love coursing through me. It’s painful and it’s beautiful, and the pain and the beauty are part of the same thing.”
In More: A Memoir of Open Marriage, Molly Rosen Winter takes us through the rollercoaster ride that began when she and her husband Stewart decided to open their marriage. We have a front row seat to ten years of a messy mix of sex, tears, therapy and love which I could only compare to watching someone throw out a recipe book and decide to wing it at the delicate chemistry of baking. Molly grapples with the discovery of how her marriage mirrors that of her parents, what finding herself in the midst of being a mother/wife/daughter looks like, and ultimately the troughs and peaks of an open marriage.
I don’t think this book is meant to be aspirational, or a guide to ethical non-monogamy. This memoir was written to be honest. To show the messiness of love, give insight into a world that is unknown and taboo to many, and to rival the perfect images of romance in most media.
I commend her ability to show her lowest moments, to bring forth the ugly parts of relationships that we tend to box away and deem too vulgar for the public eye. Did I despise all but one person in this book, yes (shoutout to Liam for being the only person in this entire book who I wouldn’t fear knowing). May a love like that between Molly and Stewart never locate me, but to each their own.
My favourite passage:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Death of parent
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
dark
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
0.0
it took me almost 4 months to finish this book but i persevered out of spite.
Charles yearned for his wife to die so he could marry Emma, only for her to marry him and then begrudge him for loving her and being a simple man. she had affairs with anyone willing, chose death by arsenic, and left him with no explanation or reconciliation besides the letters from her lovers and a mountain of debt. she really was the final boss of misery.
Charles yearned for his wife to die so he could marry Emma, only for her to marry him and then begrudge him for loving her and being a simple man. she had affairs with anyone willing, chose death by arsenic, and left him with no explanation or reconciliation besides the letters from her lovers and a mountain of debt. she really was the final boss of misery.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicide, and Medical trauma
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.0
arthur parnassus and linus baker are back, with their loud house of children, a new addition to the family and a greater enemy at hand.
teleported back into the world of magical beings, somewhere beyond the sea picked up where we left off in the house in the cerulean sea. this time, my favourite found family takes on the government, and tj klune creates a wonderful allegory for queerness and trans identity. it made me laugh, it made me cry, it make me mad, sad and happy in all the ways a book should.
i loved getting to delve deeper into the histories of arthur parnassus and zoe chapelwhite, the love between linus and arthur, and to see characters such as sal in new ways. i loved the scheming and adventures and community and sacrilege, but most of all i just missed our little guy lucy (aka, lucifer).
a fictional seven year old has stolen my heart!
teleported back into the world of magical beings, somewhere beyond the sea picked up where we left off in the house in the cerulean sea. this time, my favourite found family takes on the government, and tj klune creates a wonderful allegory for queerness and trans identity. it made me laugh, it made me cry, it make me mad, sad and happy in all the ways a book should.
i loved getting to delve deeper into the histories of arthur parnassus and zoe chapelwhite, the love between linus and arthur, and to see characters such as sal in new ways. i loved the scheming and adventures and community and sacrilege, but most of all i just missed our little guy lucy (aka, lucifer).
a fictional seven year old has stolen my heart!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Homophobia and Grief
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
martyr! by kavek akbar felt like the perfect book to read as my heart ached for every person martyred in Palestine right now. through genocide, i leaned on art, on literature, to find some kind of meaning to the world’s cruelty. in reading this novel i found peace, and sadness, and happiness, and anger. and finally, i found mourning. for all those living, who are also all those dying (some simply faster than others).
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Dying. It feels like such a throwaway to just die for no reason. To waste your one good death.”
martyr! by kavek akbar felt like the perfect book to read as my heart ached for every person martyred in Palestine right now. through genocide, i leaned on art, on literature, to find some kind of meaning to the world’s cruelty. in reading this novel i found peace, and sadness, and happiness, and anger. and finally, i found mourning. for all those living, who are also all those dying (some simply faster than others).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness
Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Grief
The Details by Ia Genberg
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the details by ia genberg has been a journey of nostalgia. each story touched upon the notion that to be loved is to be known, as genberg divulged the beginning (and end) of many friendships and relationships.
it challenged the notion that to love is to possess, to maintain forever. showing that even temporary connections can have life long impact and change you, for better or worse.
as a person with a tendency toward journaling and remembering, this book absolutely tugged at my heart.
it challenged the notion that to love is to possess, to maintain forever. showing that even temporary connections can have life long impact and change you, for better or worse.
as a person with a tendency toward journaling and remembering, this book absolutely tugged at my heart.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Infidelity and Rape
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
from the very beginning, Mellors had me believing that these sisters and their characteristics were cemented, forever encased in their grief. however, as the story took shape and their dreams, hopes and fears became my own, i was pleasantly surprised to feel my own grief.
to think back on my own experiences and see myself in these characters. a TikToker whose video i once watched (wild thing to be writing in a book review) stated, “it’s like i pull up my grief to every table i sit at,” and i think that holds to myself, to the Blue sisters, and for anyone who has every had to experience grief.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“Look at an umbilical cord—tough, sinuous, unlovely, yet essential—and compare it to a friendship bracelet of brightly woven thread. That is the difference between a sister an a friend.”
from the very beginning, Mellors had me believing that these sisters and their characteristics were cemented, forever encased in their grief. however, as the story took shape and their dreams, hopes and fears became my own, i was pleasantly surprised to feel my own grief.
to think back on my own experiences and see myself in these characters. a TikToker whose video i once watched (wild thing to be writing in a book review) stated, “it’s like i pull up my grief to every table i sit at,” and i think that holds to myself, to the Blue sisters, and for anyone who has every had to experience grief.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness and Infidelity
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual harassment
One Day by David Nicholls
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
(1 star deduction for taking my heart, cradling it gently while whispering sweet, sarcastic flirtations between Ash and Bel, feeding it with only the most nourishing hope and love, and then putting it in a blender with that ending… I WAS NOT OKAY)
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.0
with another Nancy Drew coded novel, and a hint of Gone Girl, Holly Jackson has left me shocked, laughing and in a puddle (albeit small) of tears.
Rachel Price has been missing for sixteen year and suddenly makes a reappearance, just as her daughter, Annabel Price — known as Bel — and family are filming a documentary about her disappearance. this reappearance brings with it many emotions of anger, sadness, joy and grief from Bel, who was abandoned in a car at only 2 years old on the day her mother was kidnapped. the shadows of family secrets and mysteries is a difficult place to grow up in, and as the lights (camera, bitch smile) are shone on this family, what seems to be a happy conclusion is only the beginning.
i enjoyed every second of seeing Bel messily navigate having her mother back, the scepticism surrounding her return, and the drama that came with it. from the shadows, she found her light, and beautifully blossomed. and her sleuthing similarities to Pip (AGGGTM) were nothing like i’d expected and more than i could’ve hoped for.
as a gnostic theist, i rarely bring religious lore into things, however to truly sum up this novel:
Rachel Price has been missing for sixteen year and suddenly makes a reappearance, just as her daughter, Annabel Price — known as Bel — and family are filming a documentary about her disappearance. this reappearance brings with it many emotions of anger, sadness, joy and grief from Bel, who was abandoned in a car at only 2 years old on the day her mother was kidnapped. the shadows of family secrets and mysteries is a difficult place to grow up in, and as the lights (camera, bitch smile) are shone on this family, what seems to be a happy conclusion is only the beginning.
i enjoyed every second of seeing Bel messily navigate having her mother back, the scepticism surrounding her return, and the drama that came with it. from the shadows, she found her light, and beautifully blossomed. and her sleuthing similarities to Pip (AGGGTM) were nothing like i’d expected and more than i could’ve hoped for.
as a gnostic theist, i rarely bring religious lore into things, however to truly sum up this novel:
Luke 8:17
“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Dementia, and Murder
Minor: Infertility, Mental illness, Stalking, and Pregnancy