m4rtt4's reviews
374 reviews

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

The first half? third? was very interesting, then it got more boring and hypothetical towards the end; I love evolutionary history but don't really care about economics
Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

3.5

comfort characters in my comfort universe obviously cannot make a bad story!! but having read heartstopper 5 this felt too repetitive, like a filler episode. (or is the comic repetitive as this novella came out first?)

the few illustrations were a nice touch <3
Sivistynyt ja miellyttävä ihminen by Eeva Turunen

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

4.0

Olenkohan koskaan lukenut teosta, jossa olisi enemmän kielellisiä ansioita kuin tässä Eeva Turusen tarinassa? Todellinen ilo silmälle ja mielelle lukea näin vivahteikasta suomen kieltä <3 pidin paljon myös siitä, miten Turunen käsitteli läheisen menettämistä ja erinäisiä arkkitehdin työhön liittyviä ominaisuuksia, että voivatkin lattialaminaattien sävyerot olla niin kiinnostavia! lienenköhän väärällä alalla...

Teos oli kieltämättä hitaanpuoleinen ja itseään toistava, ja siitä olisi mielestäni voinut karsia toistasataa sivua ilman, että lopputulos olisi kärsinyt — päin vastoin, uskoisin moisen käsittelyn voivan eheyttää kokonaisuutta entisestään. Arvelen kerronnan hitauden peilaavan surun käsittelyn prosessia, mutta valitettavasti tunteiden vankila ei heijastunut omaan lukukokemukseeni toivotulla tavalla, tylsistyin vain. Edellä mainituista syistä vähensin teoksen loppuarviosta yhden tähden, mutta lienee neljäkin tähteä ihan kiitettävä ansio. Turusen kielenkäyttötapa on taidokkuudessaan todella tarttuva, tunnen pakottavaa tarvetta jatkaa traditiota omassa arjessani (ja arviossani)!! Tervetullutta vaihtelua ajoittain kauhistuttavaankin arkikieleen.
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Ennen lähtöä by Leena Lehtolainen

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

3.5

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Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.0

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

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

3.25

Way more boring than I expected. Considering that this is such a well-known classic, I expected it to have more societal commentary, or at the very least have Gregor go out of the house.
Pienen hauen pyydystys by Juhani Karila

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

4.75

Toinen kerta tän teoksen parissa ja se oli just niin hyvä kuin muistelinkin!! Ekalla kerralla luin fyysisen kirjan, tällä kertaa kuuntelin Anna Saksmanin lukeman äänikirjan ja hänen äänensä toi vielä oman ihanan lisämausteensa tälle kaikelle. Ei tätä lukukokemusta voi verrata mihinkään muuhun kirjaan tai aiemmin koettuun, pitää vaan uskaltaa sukeltaa suohon ja luottaa siihen ettei päädy hauen suoleen. Ehdottomasti parasta tässä on hahmojen välinen vuorovaikutus; huumori, ihmissuhdekiemurat, kipeät tunteet ja välittävä vittuilu ja kaikki se, mikä kommunikaatiossa ja kirjoittamisessa on kaunista. 
Paljon melua tyhjästä by William Shakespeare

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funny fast-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? Yes

3.0

Muurahaisia ja dinosauruksia by Cixin Liu

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

3.25

A solid satire — the critique was accurate, but the story itself wasn't that creative. Other Liu's works and the beginning of this story (the ant medicine!!) gave me high expectations, but unfortunately the level of creativity didn't stay that way. The world of ants and dinosaurs was nearly identical to our human one, which made the satire blatantly obvious and boring to read as there was nothing new or original to read about.
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Tuulen puolella by Leena Lehtolainen

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was not necessarily bad, but the thing with series is that the story needs to improve in order for the reader to continue the series... and in many ways this book just felt like a filler episode that relied on shock effects. I won't stop my Maria Kallio audiobook marathon because of this, but I'm seriously hoping that she gets a hold of herself in the upcoming books. It bothered me that underlying alcoholism is related to many male characters, yet Maria's habit of drinking whiskey after every inconvenience is completely ignored?? And why does she fantasize about every conventionally attractive man she meets and takes her husband for granted? Also she is STILL the epitome of "not like other girls" despite being over 30 years old, and her feminism is sooooo white it irks me that she's being called 'feminist' in every other sentence. She gets brownie points by condemning Ström's blatant racism, yet she makes so many subtly racist comments about Anu Wang.. "she was very tall for her race",, well,
1) at 170cm she's tall for Finns as well and
2) you could just say "tall"? :) :) :)

it unfortunately shows that these were written in the 90s. The stories aren't even bad, but Maria Kallio's personality is a huge turn off.
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