eren_reads's reviews
413 reviews

Theoretically this book should be perfect for me with it being a collection of short stories that are retellings of Japanese folklores with a feminist twist. However, I found that whilst I didn't necessarily disagree with the feminist messages in the short story collection I found that it lacked subtlety when discussing these issues.

For instance, the short story Smartening Up focuses on the politics of shaving. I felt that whilst I didn't disagree with the issues the author brought up around shaving it felt as though there was no subtlety to it. Particularly in this quote:

It felt as though the author was just telling me how they feel about shaving rather than showing it. 

In other stories I felt as though they ended fairly abruptly and that they could have been longer.

This collection of short stories focuses on themes of love, including platonic, familial and romantic, and death. 

I'm not going to rate this book as I found that I liked some short stories a lot and others not so much so it doesn't feel fair to brandish them all with the same rating.

This is an important read on some of the key arguments of the vegan community and some of the key issues with the meat/dairy/egg industry. However, I feel like I can't rate this higher than a 3.5 as I already understand and was familiar with the arguments in the book and didn't find that the arguments had been added on by Ed Winters.

My least favourite section was the section on ethics. This was because of the issue laid out above, because I understand these arguments I didn't find it all too insightful to read about. Furthermore, when he was talking about the conditions on farms and slaughterhouses I found it upsetting and nothing more because I already knew what he was writing about.

However, I was informed about some things throughout this book. Such as the standard of RSPCA assured farms and the specific statistics behind the environmental impact of agriculture and aquaculture. 

All in all, I think this is an important book for the vegan-curious and vegans who feel they need to further inform themselves about key concerns in the vegan community. As I know a fair amount about this, this wasn't the book for me.

This poetry collection is split into three parts. The first part of the collection primarily focuses on the themes of identity and mother-child relationships. The second part felt slightly less coherent to me, delving into commentary on creating poetry, the significance of place, death and love. Then the final part focuses on tying identity with the significance of place.

I found this collection to be most effective when it was talking about identity and how it links to language. 

Here are some excerpts from some of my favourite poems in this collection:

- In the Englishman's Home

-New Accent

Hotel World, at its core, is about life and death. The variable experiences of the living, such as experiencing homelessness, and what it means to die and to lose someone.

Ali Smith, I felt, was at her best in this novel when she was being experimental with her writing. For instance, in the section titled future in the past, Smith creates a purposefully disorientating narrative voice. It is written in a stream of consciousness manner, including derailments and repetitions, that seems to reflect the fractured mental state of the narrative voice as she has lost her sister.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

This series of books so far has been a compelling look at the tumultuous lives and complex relationships between Lenu and Lila. I can't wait to read the next book.

Whilst short, this is an impactful collection of essays/a memoir about grief and the loss of a parent. 

Anyone who has lost a significant person in their life will be able to resonate to at least one aspect in this collection of essays/memoir. 

One part that particularly resonated with me was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about how death transforms memories of that person into a point of joy and sadness.

This was a comprehensive history of black people in Britain and their struggles. 

My only issue with this book is that at times I felt that the book focused too much on real-life accounts of black people who lived in Britain rather than the wider picture of black people's struggle as a collective. I feel that the accounts given are incredibly important and should be talked about but I think it should have been balanced out with the wider picture.

This book is incredibly heart-breaking. It analyses so many aspects of what it means to be queer and what it means to be queer in a country where it is illegal. 

This is the first book that I have read by Banana Yoshimoto and it will most certainly not be my last as I really enjoyed these short stories. One thing I found particularly striking about these collections is how the mundanity of human life meets these more fantastical ideas.