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glossy_feathers's reviews
200 reviews

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

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

4.0

Cute little portrait of a millennial couple of expats in Europe. I liked the writing style. It was really refreshing. Kind of a voyeuristic glimpse into characters' lives. The development of the story could have gone into more dramatic territory but the ending was good.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It's hard to review this one cuz it's out of my comfort zone and it was actually picked for me. The time and place are quite unfamiliar to me so is the people's mindset. However it was a solid read. I would like to know the context better although we get to pick some information from characters, especially through sheriff's diary/monologue which was a nice addition to the story. I liked the minimalist writing style but sometimes it was hard to follow the dialogues. 
I know it's pretty popular book, the movie even much more. I need to watch the screen version to fill the gaps in my experience.
Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Interesting portrait of a peculiar woman in somehow different South Africa where things had gone bad and there's a water shortage among other hazards and social injustice. Writer spends a lot of the novel describing daily life of our protagonist who is disabled and lives very messy. I appreciate realistic description of self-destructive way of living with all the injustice that had happened to our MC. It is done very well.
What I didn't like is the way the mystery crime element of the plot was handled. We get a hint of a horrible crime commited decades ago and then only chaptes later we get a follow up. There is sort of a revelation to it but there is no complete picture of what had happened. And there are many plot holes regarding that crime which are not acknowledged in the book. The story ended pretty abruptly, only partially being satisfactory.
So, solid writing but flawed plot development.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman

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emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

I loved it! I think this perfectly depicts young woman's experiences in the early adult life. There is much naivety but also a lot of profound thoughts in our MC. The mundanity of (college) life was excellently described as well as feelings about unrequited love. I liked the writing style a lot in this one, it matches the state of mind of a 19-year-old. 
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

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challenging emotional reflective fast-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

Liked the protagonist very much and the portrayal of disability. This was sharp, smart and provocative. It's very short but powerful. The ending is ambiguous and I still don't know what I think about it.
A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre

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

2.0

I didn't feel a thing with this one. It was more like looking through fog and Fanny, our MC, was just a silhouette. There were words, even fancy ones, but they were not painting a picture. And, yes, it's about heavy topics, like grief and mental illness, but the writing was too distant to make an impact on me. There was some beautiful writing at the end and it was kind of interesting that the narrator calls himself "the Narrator" and talks about himself in third person. Would prefer more "narration" though.
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Črna mati zemla by Kristian Novak

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Fino mračna knjiga, taman po mom ukusu. Odlično je složena, s različitim stilovima u pojedinim dijelovima. Prolog i prvi dio na prvu nisu povezani, ali ubrzo čitatelj počinje otkrivati gdje priča ide. A ide u Međimurje i u prošlost gdje nam glavni lik otkriva tajne iz svog djetinjstva. Matija piše iz perspektive odrasle osobe, ali toliko se unosi u poziciju svog šestogodišnjeg sebe tako da vidimo i tu dječju naivnu perspektivu kroz koju priča dobiva novu dimenziju. Puno je tu slojeva koje malo po malo otkapamo kako glavni lik otkriva sve više o događanjima u selu krajem 80ih i početkom 90ih. Hrvatsko selo odlično je prikazano živopisnim likovima i korištenjem dijalekta u njihovim dijalozima. Kako sam i sama sa sela, baš sam sve mogla zamisliti iako sam nešto mlađa od glavnog lika. Sviđa mi se i kako su narodne legende uklopljene u knjigu. Iako ne volim magični realizam, ovdje se savršeno uklapa i zapravo je ključna figura u naraciji.
Jedva čekam pročitati i ostale autorove knjige pa tako čistu peticu ostavljam za neki kasniji uradak.
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On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle

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

2.25

This book (and series) has interesting premise, speculation of being stuck in time. It sounded very promising but I did not enjoy it. I guess I was expecting something different. Instead of being an investigative and mysterious story it was very contemplative series of thoughts. It gets pretty repetitive often and it makes sense given the topic but it was a slog. The character was just boring and this ruined it for me. If she had been a little bit more inventive or creative, it would be much more interesting. We do get to see her change of moods and descent to resignation but the progression was still uneventful. She had a year of the same day repeating with so much possibilities and she does almost nothing. I know there's a whole series comming and I suppose there will be some other happenings but this start was mid.
There were some profound thoughts and the writing was nice but I wish it was more cohesive. I did not get the point. I'm debating with myself if I should continue the series because I still expect something from it.

And OMG I was so peeved by the wrong translation of bird species! I thought the translator was American but no, she's European. Because in Europe there are no Titmice! They are called Tits. Great Tit and Long-tailed Tit. Why nobody fact-checked that?
Sorry, I needed to get this out. I appreciate when wildlife is mentioned by species in any kind of literature. I hope in original language (and others) it is correct.
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Very creative and profound way of showing complicated situation between Israelis and Palestinians. Both, the speculative disappearance of all the Palestinians and diary entry of one of them who is missing his grandmother, are so well done and reveal so much information about happenings from 1948 nakba onwards. It made me angry most of the time but also hopeful. It's a very powerful book. It's not the easy read so check the content warnings.
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The Overstory by Richard Powers

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adventurous emotional informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is very ambitious work and I appreciate writing about nature in that scope. Powers really brought trees closer to people and did not shy away from sharing scientific knowledge. 
I was very excited to read this book knowing what was it about but got disappointed. I really didn't like the style. It was too melodramatic and pulling that many parallel stories was unnecessary. You can feel that it's trying too hard to be that epic book. And, I can't explain it, but it's so american. Now I feel reluctant to read anything else from Powers.