mcgbreads's reviews
1125 reviews

Blackbird was DISGUSTING. What a concept. It grossed me out so bad! Tomio and Dissection-chan also stood out to me. The rest of the stories were mid.

I had already read like 4 or 6 of these stories in another collection, but overall, this is one of the more solid Junji Ito horror anthologies, they're all 4 to 5 stars to me. My favorites, the ones that get 5 stars from me, are Tombs, Slug Girl, The Window Next Door, Washed Ashore, and Bronze Statues. 

I don't have anything new to say about this. It's adorable and it's nice to see them take the relationship to the next level in living together. Yuki is still childish to me sometimes, though. 

Idk if I missed something in the last volumes, but what the hell is Itsuomi lying about? I hope it's nothing earth-shatteringly bad. Fingers crossed!

Is this a safe space? Can I be honest and vulnerable? This was so boring. I'm sorry, Dostoevsky, sir. 

I appreciate that this is a deep dive into gambling addiction, something I think I've heard Dostoevsky was very familiar with, and there's also some "romance." "Romance" as in "this man is so in love with this woman he offers to kill himself if she asks and also talks about killing her and then killing himself cause he loves her so much" and she's like "okay, cool, I'll take full advantage of that, thanks."

The thing is, I couldn't have cared less about anything. Like, yes, I do see the main character's descent into gambling addiction and madness, and the side character's madness as well. But what else was I supposed to get out of this? It just seems so pointless to me. And it was so dense for what feels like no reason. 

I'm tempted to say "maybe this went over my head," but fuck that. I just didn't like it and found no value in it beyond exploring Dostoevsky's work. And I'll continue to do so, but this one wasn't up my alley.

-

Puedo ser sincera y vulnerable??? Qué aburrido este libro, por Diosss. Mis disculpas, Dostoevsky.

Aprecio que es una inmersión en la adicción al juego y también hay algo de "romance". "Romance" tipo “este hombre está tan enamorado de esta mujer que se ofrece a suicidarse si ella se lo pide y también habla de matarla y luego suicidarse porque la ama tanto” y ella está tipo “chévere, lo aprovecharé al máximo, gracias”.

La cosa es que no podría haberme importado menos nada de lo que pasó. Sí, aprecio el descenso del personaje principal a la adicción al juego y la locura, y la locura de los personaje secundarios también. Pero ajá, y??? Fue todo muy irrelevante para mí y se sintió muy denso por nadaaaa.

Me tienta decir que "tal vez no lo entendí", pero fuck that. Simplemente no me gustó y no le encontré ningún valor más allá de, no sé, explorar el trabajo de Dostoevsky. Y lo seguiré explorando, pero este libro no fue para mí.

My 2014 thoughts:

Not as romantic as I thought it would be but it's a good read.

My 2024 thoughts:

The first time, I read it in English. This time around, I read it in Spanish cause that's the edition I have. I still kind of live my decade-old impressions, lol. I think that the adaptations feel more romantic than the text itself, but that's because the love between Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth is a subtle, quiet kind of love that grows unexpectedly and during a long period of time. A lot of other stuff happens in between, so it's more impactful to watch it happen than to read about it, in my opinion. 

I think enjoyed it way more than when I first read it 10 years ago because this time I could appreciate Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth's character development throughout, which was so compelling. Also, I didn't realize on my first read-through just how funny Mr. Bennet is. That man made me laugh so much with his sarcastic comments, I love him. 

The only reason it doesn't hit 5 stars for me is that I think this is about 100 pages or so too long because certain situations and characters take up more room in the story than they should, at least in my opinion. They were so boring and a drag to get through while also not having a huge impact on the story or on me as a reader. 

That aside, this is a great classic and I loved the sense of humor, the introspection from the characters, and the romance. I also loved the characters cause while some situations they're in are boring and some characters I don't care about or are downright annoying, the characters themselves aren't boring at all cause they're all fully fleshed out, and that's always impressive. 

This was a very interesting read and it felt very unique. The writing is mostly great; I highlighted so many quotes that will stay with me. I liked that it was written as a memoir and that the main character, Dorothy, was unlikable but still very engaging. I also liked that it's very visceral with its descriptions of murder and cannibalism; that's where the horror elements come in and they made me feel a bit nauseous here and there, so that was well done. 

However, it didn't give me that 5-star feeling. Because of the way that it's told, it often made me feel disconnected. It can also be sooo meandering. I found myself glazing over paragraphs or entire pages about shit I didn't care about until I got to the good stuff (her thoughts, her backstory, etc.). Also, I reiterate that this character was (very) unlikable. She was pretentious so the writing is pretentious as well, and she was extremely full of herself. She was very proudly a piece of shit and did I mention she liked to fuck? Cause she certainly does, at least twice every other paragraph. 

My thing is that when you're killing men just because you're a psychopath and want to eat them, you're just as despicable as any man who does depraved shit just because they want to and can. I don't feel like the writing was trying to make me consider her a girl boss and feminist icon, cause she isn't, but I can see why a lot of people did feel that way about her and liked her for it. I think Dorothy manipulates the reader with her feminist quotes, and unapologetic, matter-of-fact attitude about the kind of awful person she is and the fact that she actively chooses to be that way. I don't respect anything about that and don't have any inclination to praise her as a character. She was engaging, though, I give her that. 

If Britney's dad and sister, Jaime Lynn, don't have any haters, I'm dead.

Felix Kurt reached out and sent me his book for an honest review, so that's what I'm bringing to the function. 

Overall, I liked some elements of this and I think it's a decent debut. It's a bit cheesy in a 2000s kind of way, and it has supernatural elements that add a bit of interest to a basic coming-of-age story. It was easy to read and fun, except when homophobia made an appearance cause that's never great, but it's an (unfortunately) real part of the gay experience. 

I agree with one reviewer who said that Felix still has to find his voice a bit more as a writer, though. While some of these characters' feelings and experiences are based on Felix's own, as he tells us in the acknowledgments, the writing lacks the depth I would expect from someone who has been in the shoes of the characters they write about or someone who has a better understanding than most. The writing just felt generic sometimes and there was a lot of telling instead of showing. So I hope Felix has more stories to tell so he can continue working on his craft, cause the potential is there. 

This is also YA and while I like YA, it's not always for me because I can't always connect with the stories. That said, I think this is a good book for 15 to 17-year-olds. I can see young men finding themselves in these pages. Especially if they're still in the closet or if they've grown up in a religious setting that values hypermasculinity and enforces gender roles. I can also see young people finding empathy for their gay peers who are met with bullying for being who they are, so that's valuable.