kamrynharned's reviews
195 reviews

Just not at all interested

I loved this book. I feel like it’s almost a disappointment that it’s a series, because it is such a perfect stand-alone I don’t want to even know that the story continues. While I feel like there were some minor gaps in Ender’s character development (how he goes from being sympathetic towards the teachers to hating them), he was a wonderful character, as were the rest of the characters in the book. Ender’s siblings were especially fascinating, and I liked that they got their own storylines. For being brilliant, they were still relatable. The plot, however, was the shining point for me.  It was creative, perfectly paced, and had unforeseen twists and turns. Even though this is a book about young children, it is definitely not a children’s book. It is not written in a simple manner and there is actually some mature content, especially when it comes to violence and verbal abuse.  

I’m glad I don’t focus on including plot descriptions in my reviews, because I don’t have the first clue how to describe that book. I am so glad I pushed past the confusion of the vestibules, halls and chambers because this book was absolutely a favorite of this year so far.  To anyone wanting to understand the layout of the house - don’t even try. The most insightful thing for me was looking at images of Piranesi’s Labyrinth. The location is never important - what’s important is the feverish, random, confusing nature of the house, and how detailed Piranesi is in recording it. I love a creative, original book, and that is exactly what this is. It is fresh, exciting, action packed but also takes plenty of time to establish a solid & intricate world. As much as I wanted to see a map of the house, she did such a beautiful job with her setting that it came alive in my mind. The pacing was great, and I loved the ending.  It was satisfying, but still left enough unfinished to provoke thought. Piranesi’s relationship with the House was the most interesting relationship in the book. It caused me to ask the question; is Piranesi’s seemingly symbiotic relationship with the house a result of his madness (i.e. him finding order in something that is inherently orderless), or is there really an undercurrent of that ancient spirit of nature that lives in the house, and only someone removed enough from the real world could sense it?

Reading this right after finishing Demon Copperfield was probably a disservice to this book. While I don’t think it ever would be a 5 star book for me, I think I would have appreciated it more if I hadn’t just read such an incredible coming-of-age novel. A few things that stood out to me: 

I did highlight a few especially beautiful lines, so I think that even though it was a fairly low-rated book for me, I’ll keep it on my shelf for a while longer. 

Didn’t hate it, but mostly disliked it. I didn’t like the narrative tone at all - maybe some people think that the self-awareness of the book is a fun twist to your typical mystery, I felt like the tone was almost condescending and juvenile. The content definitely wasn’t young adult, but that’s what the writing style reminded me of. The characters were easier to keep track of than I thought they would be initially, but I didn’t like any of them. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that I didn’t feel anything about any of them. The plot twist was kind of boring.  The fact that a doctor put an oven mitt on a de-gloved hand made me want to scream. But to try and focus on the positives: I learned that there are ski resorts in Australia! 

The minute I heard the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read it. I love books with a thought-provoking premise, and this one did not disappoint: if you could look at a string and know how much longer you had to live, would you look? What did disappoint, however, was everything else. The book fell flat and didn’t rise up to my imagination. While it did address some of the strings’ effects on society that I might not have thought of, the aspects of society that it chose to focus the most time on didn’t hold my attention (specifically the politics) and while I usually love a focus relationships, none of the relationships, or really any of the characters, came to life for me. I wish there weren’t so many characters, I wish they weren’t all in New York City, and I wish it was taken to a global scale. I loved how all the characters were interwoven by the end, but that’s about all I loved about the characters. Maybe it was simply the writing that didn’t deliver.

I have put writing this review off for two weeks because I don’t even know where to start with this book. To say that this book was “a lot” feels like an understatement - the length of the book was intimidating enough, let alone the contents. To label it as a “coming of age” story feels too shallow. My heart has already been broken by witnessing the hell of substance use disorder in my own community, so reading this story hit closer to home than I imagined it would. I have never been to Appalachia and my knowledge base was extremely limited before reading this book, but the horrors that the Appalachian people live through is not a foreign concept. Demon was an absolutely fantastic character - the book basically gets 4 stars for him alone. I love that we get to see Demon for who he really is, just like Angus does. I loved the first person narrative in this book, and it takes a truly skilled author to write a teenage boy so well without pulling you out of the story.  It was immersive and fantastic.  The rest of the character development was incredible as well - no long tangental backstories were needed to feel like the characters were also your friends and your enemies.  June was such a relatable character to me personally. The book was witty, raw, fierce, and didn’t cut any corners.  While I wish there was less in-depth description about drug use and addiction so that I could recommend it with more freedom, I also recognize that that is part of what makes this book so powerful - it doesn’t dull anything down.  Another thing it doesn’t do is leave you completely devoid of hope. I LOVED the ending - in my opinion, it was utterly perfect. I loved how the book also highlighted the good of their community - the friendliness, resourcefulness, and admiration for nature.  It also recognizes the power one solid, safe family can have in the life of a child - the Peggots gave Demon a beautiful childhood for many years, despite his mom’s brokenness.  While I kept wanting to just insert myself into the story and save Demon, I also had this sense of respect for him - someone who could go through all he went through and remain kind, tender and motivated is someone who is stronger than I think I’ll ever be.  

First graphic novel ever! I probably should have tried something I’d never read before, but the cover of the book absolutely sold me. I loved the style and the way the story was all tied together. Could have been a little more gaudy and illustrious, but they did a great job capturing the essence of the story, along with all the most important quotes. Read it cover to cover in about 45 minutes! 

This book won a few awards in my book.

This book strikes so many nerves for me - honestly, it stuck nerves I didn’t even realized I had. Corruption of innocence, extreme misogyny, horribly long descriptive paragraphs about random artifacts, and the complete lack of accountability for the sins that Gray commits. But here is where my utter confusion about my feelings towards this book rears its head - I loved the ending.  I loved that after all of Dorian’s self-worship and fixation, that he eventually came to ruin by his own hand. He was untouchable by the world, but brought himself to final destruction. In the end, there was justice and reciprocity for his choices - just not in the way you WANT to see. No justice for the people he ruined, but you can’t live an evil life and escape ruin eventually. Idolization is corrupting. Perhaps this book was so upsetting because it was so realistic, because how often do the victims get justice? The evil always fall, but that rarely comes with reparations for those they wronged. I think that’s why we long to see that happen in the stories we read, because we so rarely see it in the world around us. Obviously, I appreciated this book. It made me think, it made me feel (all negative emotions, don’t get me wrong), but I can’t deny it is a masterpiece. My heart wants to give this book a 1 star and my mind wants to give it a 4 star. Therefore, we compromise at a 2.5. I don’t often feel the need to include Brett in my reads, but I couldn’t help but give him a play by play of this entire book, and kept reading aloud quotes to him. 

This book captivated my attention from the get go. It’s been a while since I’ve read 1984, but from what I remember, Bracw New World was richer in character development, plot, world building and storyline. It was interesting beginning to end, and it told such a dramatic story without being to busy. I think the image of the last few sentences of the book will be seared into my mind forever - it takes an incredible story and also an incredible author to make imagery come alive like that. The characters were complex and frustrating, but also relatable in a way I really wouldn’t expect from a dystopian novel. The book was certainly uncomfortable - not only because of the topics it discusses, but because it actually forces you to ask the question all of the main characters in the book are asking. Is freedom, beauty and love worth sacrificing for happiness, health and stability? This book seemed to take a much more unbiased approach than 1984 – while you were certainly meant to sympathize with the savage, you can’t help but notice how twisted and imperfect his upbringing was as well. I thought the book was fascinating, and if it weren’t for the ending, I do think it would’ve been a five star for me.