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mariacandet's reviews
547 reviews

Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin

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dark emotional reflective slow-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

3.75

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

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

3.5

Helicopter Story by Isabel Fall

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

4.25

A fantastic, challenging short story, with its finger on the pulse of homonationalism, pinkwashing, and the co-optation of queerness by oppressive institutions, and an extremely clever look at gender and dysphoria. It unfortunately can't be separated from its context, and it's difficult to read this and not feel a terrible ache for Isabel Fall and the pile-on she went through because people refuse to be challenged or sincerely engage with what they're reading (or seeing, or hearing). It's sad and shameful to think that the worst parts of the internet have probably robbed us from ever getting more of her writing; it's sadder, still, to think that she has returned to the closet because of it.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

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adventurous challenging reflective 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

3.75

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Misery by Stephen King

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

3.0

My first King—which I've seen isn't considered a good first, but it was exactly what I expected (misogyny and racism included), and I enjoyed myself despite all the things I knew I would hate. Annie Wilkes is a delight; patron saint of crazy fangirls and atypical femme fatales—I love you, Annie.
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

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

4.25

Corps vivante by Julie Delporte

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

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The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A great collection of short stories. Precise, eerie, unsettling. Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, sure, but Enriquez's stories are so specific to Argentina, its history and sociopolitical contexts, that the comparison fails to convey what makes these so compelling and great. Sometimes I wish the stories had gone further; some were more like fragments than something complete (although they always felt purposeful in their incompleteness). 

My favourites were Adela's House, End of Term, The Neighbor's Courtyard, Green Red Orange, and the titular Things We Lost in the Fire.