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elizabethmercas's reviews
134 reviews
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The Merchant of Venice is at heart a simplistic story with people in love but it's not a love story. It has a villain, but is not heavily invested in action. It's a living fossil, and I mean that amicably. It's a wondrous fossil. Let's leave it at that.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
dark
reflective
tense
fast-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
4.5
Strong message and a captivating read, although challenging and full of ambiguities.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
challenging
reflective
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? It's complicated
2.0
The first half of the book was acceptable, the second half was word vomit with sparks of lucidity like these:
" I am thinking of freedom again, how the calf is most free when the cage opens and it is led to the truck for slaughter. All freedom is relative - you know too well - and sometimes it's no freedom at all, but simply the cage widening far away from you, the bars abstracted with distance but still there, as when they "free" wild animals into nature preserves only to contain them yet again by larger borders. But I took it anyway, that widening. Because sometimes not seeing the bars is enough."
(page 216)
"Monkeys, moose, cows, dogs, butterflies, buffaloes. What we would give to have the ruined lives of animals tell a human story - when our lives are in themselves the story of animals."
(page 242)
I don't know what I expected from this book but I was still disappointed.
" I am thinking of freedom again, how the calf is most free when the cage opens and it is led to the truck for slaughter. All freedom is relative - you know too well - and sometimes it's no freedom at all, but simply the cage widening far away from you, the bars abstracted with distance but still there, as when they "free" wild animals into nature preserves only to contain them yet again by larger borders. But I took it anyway, that widening. Because sometimes not seeing the bars is enough."
(page 216)
"Monkeys, moose, cows, dogs, butterflies, buffaloes. What we would give to have the ruined lives of animals tell a human story - when our lives are in themselves the story of animals."
(page 242)
I don't know what I expected from this book but I was still disappointed.
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
entertaining