kaceyyy's reviews
367 reviews

LOVED the first half, not as keen on the second half 

The translation was so clunky I struggled to connect with any of the characters and storylines, everything felt too matter of fact. But it was an easy read and emotional near the end 

Weird, creepy, grotesque, and funny. This book knew what it was and committed to the bit fully, and i loved that 

this was so beautifully written and made me think so much for such a short book. Everything felt so intentional, from how we jump within time, to how we see different parts of the characters, to how we find out why Fonny is in jail.

While the ending was pretty open to interpretation, there was an ending there, and considering how many things hadn’t changed from the beginning to the end of the book, I think that rlly helped with how effective the story was. To know that things would end, but also keep you guessing on how exactly they ended.

I enjoyed the first 3/4 wayyyy more than the last 1/4. The whole exposition and building up of the atmosphere was very cool and creepy … but I just wanted there to be a more ghostly and supernatural aspect to it which I now realise was not the sort of book I was getting myself into 

This was so interesting and so good - until I arrived at the section on the civil war. It wasn’t engaging and I didn’t feel it was explained very well. I’ve been trying to read this for a few months and I’ve read history books where war is discussed before, but because this is focussed on Lincoln’s political gameplay, this is just a lot of tiptoeing around his management of different perspectives, and while I enjoyed reading about his upbringing and how he became president, this second half has been a drag, and it took me a month to read 10 pages. I feel like someone else would enjoy this a lot more than me, but the first half was pretty good

Decent and I would’ve liked it more as a teenager. It was just a little too repetitive for my taste and I felt like it was lacking in depth 

bro this was just about a woman being depressed, and it wasn’t interesting and it wasn’t really offering anything new except a few fun facts sprinkled in about teeth. After an hour and a half I expect to be somewhat engaged, but instead it’s just her moping about, and while there are books like that that I’ve enjoyed, I just felt like there was something missing

Some amazingly funny and insightful essays - I particularly liked his travel essays and tributes - but even where I wasn’t as keen on some writings, it’s fair to say that his creativity and style of writing is super unique and has an underlying naivety, humour, and quickness to it 

An intimate and concise portrait of napoleon when he was reduced to a myth and legend, and wanted to chase his fame at the end of his life. In painting him as (essentially) this sad little man desperate to find his way back to his glory days, it just reminded me that all men are the same - constantly trying to chase their peak even when they’re decades past it.