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kamrynharned's reviews
195 reviews
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
dark
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is truly one of a kind. I wish I was able to get through it faster to have a more conjoined experience, but because this book had such a limited setting and plot, it was doable to read it this way. I can’t believe Kesey’s ability to articulate what happens in the mind of someone who is mentally ill either paranoid hallucinations. He brought all of the characters to life through the eyes of Chief Bromden. While there wasn’t much to love about this book, there was much to appreciate. Nurse Rachett was one of the most incredibly written antagonists I’ve ever come across. Confirms the fact that I really appreciate a villain who isn’t black and white, and who is evil in the ways most of societies traditional villains aren’t. The ending was hard and also strangely redemptive. Much of the narrative from Chief Bromden was obviously unreliable, but the book as a whole calls attention to a part of our past (and sadly present) society that is very real and horrifying. We still have such a long way to go in treating those with mental illness with dignity and respect.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book is very tongue - in - cheek supposed to only be understood by children, but ironically, when I read this book/watched the movie as I child, I COULD not for the life of me understand why everyone thought it was so great. It made no sense, seemed very random and pointless. How far from the experience I had this time! Perhaps it just needs to be introduced at a younger age, but I’m so glad I gave it another shot as an adult. It is an incredibly emotional story that is written and illustrated so simply. A few of my biggest take-aways:
- the most important things in life are the invisible ones
- Becoming tamed or taming others is one of the most important things in life that so many of us don’t find the time to do because it’s “not a matter of great consequence”.
What a dissection of the human condition, and such a sweet reminder to find beauty and importance in the things that have actual consequence.
(This is a book I want to reread and I believe that next time I read it, it will be a 5 star!)
(This is a book I want to reread and I believe that next time I read it, it will be a 5 star!)
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
challenging
dark
emotional
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
3.5
This book was tough. Not in every way - I felt like I flew through it and was engaged the whole time, but I also can’t believe how graphic some of the violence was. I am especially triggered by violence towards children, and if you are too, be warned. I tabbed this book for the beautiful and interesting cultural moments, but I feel like I could have placed just as many tabs for the horrible and nauseating cultural moments. I really have to commend Achebe - he wrote about these people in such a frank yet intimate way, and while you cannot agree with every aspect of their culture, you also grieve with them over the loss of their unity and one-ness. I was surprised that the missionaries were not painted in an entirely negative light - the book even states that where there were missionaries, there was education, and that seems to be something that the people appreciated. The colonization had its effects on their society none-the-less, and you can’t help but just feel torn the entire time on how you are supposed to feel. It would have sat at a solid three star for me but the extra .5 star is for the African setting - I will never not love it.
“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.”
“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.”
“But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo's first son. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It was the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul—the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed. He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled.”
“But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. “
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
4.0
Honestly, I think this book was a bit of a disappointment for me, especially compared to Cloud Cuckoo Land. Cloud Cuckoo Land was what I consider to be a textbook example of how to do multiple POV’s and timelines well, and this book fell far short for me. Each chapter being a different character felt very disjointed to me, especially when towards the end of the book, certain characters would get two chapters in a row for no apparent reason. The alternating timeline did make for lots of anticipation and helped the pacing quite a bit, but I did guess most of what you could call the “plot twists”. The writing was choppy, almost felt like it was trying too hard to be lyrical, and would go off on tangents during important moments of the plot, which actually led me to skip whole paragraphs occasionally. Seemed a little strange that he purposely built up an exciting, thrilling situation only to try and slow you down with long descriptions.
My other issue with the book was the ending, but not necessarily for the reasons many people don’t like it. I appreciated that it was realistic and everything didn’t end with rainbows and butterflies. The war was accurately depicted - war eats people alive and affects them for the rest of their lives. What bothered me was how rushed the ending was - you spent 400+ pages getting to know these characters quite deeply over a span of 4 years. and then in a matter of 20 pages, you’re watching the rest of their entire lives play out. I would rather the book have been longer and gotten to follow them more closely through the years after the war, or not at all. Especially because of the unnecessary the r@pe scene. And even after all of the explanation of what happened to each character, the book is still left open-ended with one of the biggest questions left unanswered.
All of the stars I have for this book really come from the characters. They had a lot of depth and many layers, the third person perspective gave the perfect amount of introspection without over-doing it, and they were imperfect but lovable. I think one of my favorite relationships was between Marie and Etienne.
Overall, this book doesn’t rank nearly as high as I thought it would on my list of favorite WW2 books because of the disjointed POV and rushed ending, but it was an exciting, well-researched book with well- developed, intentional characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and War
Moderate: Rape
My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This was a sweet, informative and often humorous book about a woman marrying cross culturally and all of the blunders and joys that came with it. I loved hearing from an American perspective on the ways that perhaps other cultures have it right and we have it wrong - in regards to respect for elders, caring for the sick, and even in parenting. While it wasn’t a fast read, I never dreaded picking it up again. I learned much about Mexican culture and laughed out loud a few times.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
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? It's complicated
3.5
I was given this book by my sister for my birthday, and I was excited to read it because 1) I had heard several good things about it and 2) I was definitely in the mood for something light and silly. It was definitely light and silly, so I had no problem flying though it, but overall I still felt like it could have done so much more. It was so predictable, the writing had zero prose to it, and while I actually liked the male main character (rare), the female main character was annoying to me and almost TOO quirky. I knew exactly what was going to happen next every time. The music and book component was fun, and the high school setting wasn’t as cheesy and insufferable as it usually is. I also thought Helena was a great character.
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
If you purely looked at this book as a piece of historical fiction, it was at least interesting. I had never read about the New York City in 1977 and to say that it was chaos is an understatement. Once I actually learned how insane that year was for New York (Son of Sam serial killer, blackout + largest heatwave in history + unemployment at 12%), I was even more disappointed by how the plot failed to capture the unique historical context. I honestly remember so little about the romance and the main character - her friendships were dull, the “I’m so afraid of the serial killer” was annoying, and the domestic violence was just a lot to read about. The writing just tried too hard. Like I said, the only thing that redeemed this book for me was simply that I learned something historical.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
So fun to have read both of the most classic monster stories this year! While Dracula was definitely more eerie and delivered more of the horror aspect, Frankenstein was more enjoyable to me. The setting wasn’t as unsettling and I wish that it was, but the character development was more believable and the whole story was less frustrating and cheesy. There were no plot twists that I didn’t see coming, and I think that was intentional - you almost sit in dread of knowing what’s going to happen. The think I loved the most about this book is the thing I loved the most about Phantom of the Opera - I couldn’t help but sympathize with the monster, and I felt no pity whatsoever for Frankenstein. The writing was beautiful as well - I underlined several quotes that captured the human condition so well, and it really made me think about how quick we are to shun anyone who doesn’t fit into our accepted “norm” in our society. This felt like more than just a monster story with its discussions on loneliness, obsession, duty and guilt/shame, and I appreciated that depth immensely. It was still a little cringy at parts; the wailings of Frankenstein definitely became tiresome - I would have appreciated less of that and more depth to the female characters in the book as well.
Miracles: A Preliminary Study by C.S. Lewis
slow-paced
4.0
On the C.S. Lewis scale, I think this book was my least favorite of his so far. But on the standpoint of Christian literature in general, this was an incredibly meaningful and helpful book. While C. S. Lewis’s tone in this book was certainly familiar, it was a whole new level of detailed, philosophical and mind-bending. The man is a genius, and while he does a very good job for a genius at making his ideas and concepts approachable, this book was a stretch even for me. I was often re-reading paragraphs or even whole chapters to try and synthesize the information and come away with what he was trying to say. I learned a lot, I have already quoted in conversation the ideas he puts forwards several times, but I do feel like I didn’t come away with as much as I should have. In Lewis fashion, he starts from absolute ground zero and works his way up - instead of starting with “does God perform miracles today” (which I think is question that most people pick up this book to find an answer for), he starts with the question - “does God exist?” And goes from there. I loved how much he quoted scripture and how frank he was with the common atheistic and naturalistic complaints against Christianity. It has certainly deepened my understanding of why it’s integral to believe in miracles as a modern-day Christian, and I’m glad I made it through the book (even though it took me months… which is slightly unheard of for me!)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 34%.
Too pointlessly sad, could care less about the characters