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justinlife's reviews
890 reviews
Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
When reading this book, I had a hard figuring out who this book was for. Is it for an audience who wants education on gender identity b/c if so, this isn’t it. Is it for people who are immersed in gender studies? If so, it feels redundant. The best I could come up with is that it’s for Butler to say what they needed to say and have it recorded.
The conclusion offered more pieces to why they wrote it and I wished it would’ve been included in the intro. There’s a lot to gender and we wouldn’t think so, but the people want to restrict who can be a gender, their tests only restrict everyone. There’s a lot of hate and gender has become a catch all boogeyman of a word that means different things to different groups. Butler does what they can to show how damaging this discourse is not just for love living outside the binary, but for democracies and free thought. It’s a big leap, but I think she’s successful.
If this is your first exposure to their work, I’d try something else. It was approachable but I felt like I was missing stuff. It made me miss Maggie Nelson. Also, if you play a drinking game every time they say phatasma, you’ll need a new liver.
The conclusion offered more pieces to why they wrote it and I wished it would’ve been included in the intro. There’s a lot to gender and we wouldn’t think so, but the people want to restrict who can be a gender, their tests only restrict everyone. There’s a lot of hate and gender has become a catch all boogeyman of a word that means different things to different groups. Butler does what they can to show how damaging this discourse is not just for love living outside the binary, but for democracies and free thought. It’s a big leap, but I think she’s successful.
If this is your first exposure to their work, I’d try something else. It was approachable but I felt like I was missing stuff. It made me miss Maggie Nelson. Also, if you play a drinking game every time they say phatasma, you’ll need a new liver.
Heartstopper Volume 5 by Alice Oseman
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Heartstopper is always sweet and lovely. Charlie and Nick continued to grow and Oseman’s art is delightful. Still a series people should try
In the Case of Heartbreak by Courtney Kae
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
2.0
Uuuuuuuuuuuuugggghhhhh
There’s a level of disbelief that goes in every book but the trauma in this one was on another level. The anxiety and stress the main character had was too much for me.
Maybe cuz I didn’t read the first one I missed critical pieces but it just didn’t make me feel joy. I wanted to like it, I did. I wish her all the luck though.
There’s a level of disbelief that goes in every book but the trauma in this one was on another level. The anxiety and stress the main character had was too much for me.
Maybe cuz I didn’t read the first one I missed critical pieces but it just didn’t make me feel joy. I wanted to like it, I did. I wish her all the luck though.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-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
4.25
Brothersong by TJ Klune
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Overall, the final book of the Green Creek series was, to me, the weakest. Carter leaves the pack to track his soulmate and what it does to him and the pack felt unnecessary. It felt like unnecessary drama. Don't get me wrong, I still liked it, I just didn't like it as much as the other books. By the third book, I realized I was reading basically the Fast and the Furious, but with werewolves and magic instead of cars. Lots of emphasis on found family and fighting for your space in the world. Once I made that connection, it became a lot more fun.
Carter takes center stage here and his story is just not as interesting as the others. Yeah he almost loses his mind, but we the audience have a hard time sympathizing with him b/c he did it to himself. It makes the reunion that much more enjoyable though when almost all of the other characters say the same thing.
Once again, Klune does a lot of repeating of the past. It's not bad, but if you read these back to back you're like "let's move it along already". The story wraps up nicely though with a nice battle at the end.
I would love to see Klune play in this world again, maybe not with this family, but someone else. His world is interesting and vivid.
Carter takes center stage here and his story is just not as interesting as the others. Yeah he almost loses his mind, but we the audience have a hard time sympathizing with him b/c he did it to himself. It makes the reunion that much more enjoyable though when almost all of the other characters say the same thing.
Once again, Klune does a lot of repeating of the past. It's not bad, but if you read these back to back you're like "let's move it along already". The story wraps up nicely though with a nice battle at the end.
I would love to see Klune play in this world again, maybe not with this family, but someone else. His world is interesting and vivid.
Heartsong by TJ Klune
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This books makes the reader work for it. It starts in a way that's deliberately trying to throw the reader off and make us confused. That's hard to want to continue. We get Robbie's story, the newest member of the pack who came in Wolfsong. Without spoiling it too much, Klune puts Robbie through hell. It's bad and it gives Klune a reason to look at the events from the previous books with new eyes. It adds to the repetitious thing. Overall though, I came back to certain scenes in this book the most. Klune also gives us some great horror by the end.
Robbie is a great character and I hate that he had to go through this. Overall a fun read if you can get into it.
Robbie is a great character and I hate that he had to go through this. Overall a fun read if you can get into it.
Ravensong by TJ Klune
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
We continue the Green Creek saga with the pack's witch, Gordo, taking the lead in narration. This is a second chance romance that also deals with two of the most stubborn characters in the series. It's a lot of fun and Klune writes these characters well. This also begins the repetition. I'm sure it's good for new readers who didn't read the first, but it gets old by the end of the series. To me, this is a fun mix of plot and character development.
Wolfsong by TJ Klune
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.5
I tore through this book.
I guess I was in the mood for a weird gay werewolf romance (?) novel. Klune creates a world of werewolves and witches tucked away in a small PNW town. There's Alphas, Betas, Omegas, and all sorts of weirdness.
What I appreciated about this book is that Klune has a talent for allowing the characters who are fighting to say their peace and have their moments in a way that the reader doesn't have to choose a side. We know what happened and we're seeing these arguments and discussions and we can see both sides. That's hard to do, particularly in a first person narrative. He's also really good with dialogue and keeping it just cheeky enough.
What's odd is the age gap and when the friendship/relationship starts. I'm not sure if it serves the story and feels icky.
The story is action packed, full of emotional journeys and complex feelings. It's a lot more than I was expecting from a werewolf book.
I guess I was in the mood for a weird gay werewolf romance (?) novel. Klune creates a world of werewolves and witches tucked away in a small PNW town. There's Alphas, Betas, Omegas, and all sorts of weirdness.
What I appreciated about this book is that Klune has a talent for allowing the characters who are fighting to say their peace and have their moments in a way that the reader doesn't have to choose a side. We know what happened and we're seeing these arguments and discussions and we can see both sides. That's hard to do, particularly in a first person narrative. He's also really good with dialogue and keeping it just cheeky enough.
What's odd is the age gap and when the friendship/relationship starts. I'm not sure if it serves the story and feels icky.
The story is action packed, full of emotional journeys and complex feelings. It's a lot more than I was expecting from a werewolf book.
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
What a delightful book.
This book is definitely comfortcore to the extreme and you tell that Klune was using this book to process his own grief. It's a fun a concept- basically ghost palliative care. It's got all the tropes of comfortcore- hot beverages, cozy vibes, forests. Here is a place where spirits have to deal with passing and moving on. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not. This is a nice meditation on passing and dealing with our own mortality and grief. Could make you cry, though, be careful.
This book is definitely comfortcore to the extreme and you tell that Klune was using this book to process his own grief. It's a fun a concept- basically ghost palliative care. It's got all the tropes of comfortcore- hot beverages, cozy vibes, forests. Here is a place where spirits have to deal with passing and moving on. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not. This is a nice meditation on passing and dealing with our own mortality and grief. Could make you cry, though, be careful.
Antisemitism in America by Leonard Dinnerstein
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Ugggghh what a book that's still timely to read even close to 30 years after it's publishing.
I found this book fascinating and learned a lot from it. I've found that reading how America has hated shows us who we are and how we aren't that different from our past. Progress matters. Every step matters. At times, this is the best time to be alive and we can see how living openly against the White Christian American family dream is still controversial and fear inducing.
There's a lot to learn here and it's very academic. Dinnerstein keeps with the historical records and things that are easily traceable (newspapers, brochures, etc.) to show the path of Jews in America.
What I found interesting is the lack of pop culture references. Looking back in 2024, it's hard to imagine how much Americans hated people different them. It's why some things in old films and movies don't ring as true anymore. Like now, it feels like "oh you're Jewish, cool!" while in the past it was a different vibe.
Highly recommend diving into this. It's an important text that leans academic and can be cumbersone but worth reading.
I found this book fascinating and learned a lot from it. I've found that reading how America has hated shows us who we are and how we aren't that different from our past. Progress matters. Every step matters. At times, this is the best time to be alive and we can see how living openly against the White Christian American family dream is still controversial and fear inducing.
There's a lot to learn here and it's very academic. Dinnerstein keeps with the historical records and things that are easily traceable (newspapers, brochures, etc.) to show the path of Jews in America.
What I found interesting is the lack of pop culture references. Looking back in 2024, it's hard to imagine how much Americans hated people different them. It's why some things in old films and movies don't ring as true anymore. Like now, it feels like "oh you're Jewish, cool!" while in the past it was a different vibe.
Highly recommend diving into this. It's an important text that leans academic and can be cumbersone but worth reading.