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mynameismarines's reviews
1076 reviews
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
3.0
3.5 stars
And possibly higher as I let this sit. And perhaps higher still if I ever get around to rereading this one. It's short and plot-light, but still manages to be dense in an idea and words kind of way. For every sentence or two I highlighted for beauty or relateability, I felt like I missed five more. Perhaps not literally, but that's the feeling this story has left me with. I really enjoyed it for its stream of conscious style and the wonderful, skillful writing.
I'm still not sure how it made me feel.
Full review to follow.
And possibly higher as I let this sit. And perhaps higher still if I ever get around to rereading this one. It's short and plot-light, but still manages to be dense in an idea and words kind of way. For every sentence or two I highlighted for beauty or relateability, I felt like I missed five more. Perhaps not literally, but that's the feeling this story has left me with. I really enjoyed it for its stream of conscious style and the wonderful, skillful writing.
I'm still not sure how it made me feel.
Full review to follow.
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Last year for the 10th anniversary of Twilight, I decided to read and recap (with the help of some wonderful people) that first book. This was something that I had already done with the ENTIRE Fifty Shades series, so I was expecting Twilight to honestly present us a chance to laugh more and Hulksmash less.
A lot has been said about this series since its release and success. It was first cool to love it, then cool to hate on it, and currently in the bookish community, I seem to most often find that people find it passe to talk critically or hatefully about this book. I mean, honestly. It's been done. Additionally, lots of people will roll their eyes and say that sure, it isn't the most well-written book series in the world, but it was fast-paced and it got them to read! YAY READING! etc.
Enter New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series. I'm almost 30 years old and I'm reading this all for the first time, though I have seen all of the movies and I've absorbed a lot from pop-culture. From all that, however, I don't think I was fully prepared to encounter what I did in New Moon. I was expecting badly written and kind of silly and all of that, but from the reactions that this book got (and still gets! Scrolling through Goodreads is enough to show that many 4 and 5 star ratings still exist...) I wasn't expecting it to promote racism, abuse and neuronormative ideas.
The entire plot of this book can be summarized this way: after months of dating, a controlling and manipulative boyfriend dumps his girlfriend and relocates his entire family. The girl spends the next few months in something close to a break-up coma. She spends the months after that unable to function because she doesn't have a boyfriend. She finds a boyfriend stand-in and uses him to induce auditory hallucinations of her ex. She tries to commit suicide. Her ex tries to commit suicide. They are reunited and all of their mental health issues are forgotten.
Packaged and sold as romance to my generation when we were teenagers! Wonderful.
1. I don't know Stephenie Meyer and I don't want to presume anything about her, but her book makes her seem like a racist. Let's step past even the crap of her appropriating Quileute legend to make Native Americans the never-good-enough-supporting-characters in her series, okay? We're looking simply at how she describes and presents the Native people in her story. It dripping with racism in a way that comes off as if she didn't mean to include it. It ranges from making sure to describe any Native as NOT WHITE! the second they appear in the scene, characters (including a teenaged Bella...) calling Native teenagers "boy" (probably Google it if you don't know why you shouldn't call any minority "boy"), the entire fact that she has her group of nonwhite characters TURN INTO LITERAL ANIMALS, how she describes the Natives as ALL LOOKING THE SAME and I could go on.
We meet Emily in this book. Let me remind you that vampires, while being described as beautiful over and over and over and over and over again, walk around with purple bags under their eyes and onion-skin and red eyes. But they are white and beautiful, okay? Enter Emily who has scars on her face. Bella describes her as basically ruined, once-beautiful, and calls her scars a deformity. NO. Stop.
Vampires and werewolves smell bad to each other. Alice says the dogs (you know, the nonwhite characters) smell "awful." The vampires? Jacob says they smell "sickly sweet." Hokay.
She describes Natives using every damn stereotype in the book, including having "ancient eyes" and comparing them to crows.
It's awful. It deserves to be called awful.
2. Bella is a terrible, terrible main character. It’s always rough in these situations where bad boys are being emotionally or physically abusive because the last thing we want to do is victim blame, right? Plus, she’s obviously unwell and her mental health is a serious point that should be considered when we look at her behavior. But just apart from anything having to do with Edward, Bella is THE WORST. If she was clueless and kind of bitchy in the first book, she’s genuinely mean-hearted in this book. Cursory worries for Charlie don’t make up for a book in which she gives 0 active craps about anyone except herself and her boy. She’s a useless narrator, either noticing nothing at all or way too much for her limited point of view. And I don’t GET her as a main character or a heroine of a story. She has nothing to offer. This entire book was basically, “my boyfriend is gone so I am literally not even a person any more.” SHE GOES INTO THE WOODS TO DIE AFTER SHE'S BROKEN UP WITH.
WHO WANTS TO READ THAT?
3. Stephenie Meyer wrote the story of someone with mental health issues and I don’t think she meant to. I feel like Meyer might be one of those people who thinks that depression is when you are extra sad. Again, that’s supposing a lot, but that’s the impression I got from her book. It makes me sick to think of the really serious warning signs in all of Bella’s behaviors that are not at all acknowledge beyond “heartbroken” and are immediately FORGOTTEN and brushed away the second Edward is back in the picture. Bella is depressed, inducing hallucinations, she’s got crippling low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts and she’s caught in a controlling and abusive behavior.
Not only is it uncomfortable to see this portrayed but not named or acknowledged, but Bella belittles her own mental health and mental health professionals more than once throughout the book. Plus, the entire idea is that this is TRUE LOVE, so it's okay. The idea is that we see the seriousness and strength of Bella's love for Edward because she wants to die. Because she is nothing without him. Because she doesn't care about another human being on the face of the Earth. Because she will literally support him being a MURDERER because she loves him that much. This is garbage of the worst kind and I truly resent the message that true love is crippling in this way.
I'm not reading into anything here, either. Meyer has written specifically about Bella being a damsel-in-distress:
“Side note: there are those who think Bella is a wuss. There are those who think my stories are misogynistic—the damsel in distress must be rescued by strong hero.
To the first accusation, I can only say that we all handle grief in our own way. Bella’s way is no less valid than any other to my mind. Detractors of her reaction don’t always take into account that I’m talking about true love here, rather than high school infatuation.
I emphatically reject the second accusation. I am all about girl power—look at Alice and Jane if you doubt that. I am not anti-female, I am anti-human.”
DETRACTORS OF HER REACTION DON'T ALWAYS TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT I'M TALKING ABOUT TRUE LOVE HERE, RATHER THAN HIGH SCHOOL INFATUATION.
So, if you've never wanted to commit suicide over a break-up, sorry about your high school love!
I AM ANTI-HUMAN.
WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN.
STEPHENIE, HONEY, YOU ARE A HUMAN? I THINK? WHAT IS HAPPENING?
I don't know. I don't even know what this is. I mean, that's just talking about the problematic messages BEHIND the story. It's overlong for a feather-light plot. It's ridiculous and nonsensical. It's written poorly and we actually took to counting em dashes PER CHAPTER, and it was usually in the high 30s and 40s. The entire climax, from emergency flight to Italy and beyond is so stupid. Edward goes from casually thinking about murdering a bunch of innocent humans in order to get killed by the Volturi to deciding TO SPARKLE IN THE SUN INSTEAD.
Bella is later crying over an actual mass murder and doesn't want to have those emotions anymore because THE TEARS ARE PREVENTING HER FROM GAZING ON EDWARD'S FACE.
Okay, Stephenie. You are anti-human.
Full recaps here.
1.0
Last year for the 10th anniversary of Twilight, I decided to read and recap (with the help of some wonderful people) that first book. This was something that I had already done with the ENTIRE Fifty Shades series, so I was expecting Twilight to honestly present us a chance to laugh more and Hulksmash less.
A lot has been said about this series since its release and success. It was first cool to love it, then cool to hate on it, and currently in the bookish community, I seem to most often find that people find it passe to talk critically or hatefully about this book. I mean, honestly. It's been done. Additionally, lots of people will roll their eyes and say that sure, it isn't the most well-written book series in the world, but it was fast-paced and it got them to read! YAY READING! etc.
Enter New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series. I'm almost 30 years old and I'm reading this all for the first time, though I have seen all of the movies and I've absorbed a lot from pop-culture. From all that, however, I don't think I was fully prepared to encounter what I did in New Moon. I was expecting badly written and kind of silly and all of that, but from the reactions that this book got (and still gets! Scrolling through Goodreads is enough to show that many 4 and 5 star ratings still exist...) I wasn't expecting it to promote racism, abuse and neuronormative ideas.
The entire plot of this book can be summarized this way: after months of dating, a controlling and manipulative boyfriend dumps his girlfriend and relocates his entire family. The girl spends the next few months in something close to a break-up coma. She spends the months after that unable to function because she doesn't have a boyfriend. She finds a boyfriend stand-in and uses him to induce auditory hallucinations of her ex. She tries to commit suicide. Her ex tries to commit suicide. They are reunited and all of their mental health issues are forgotten.
Packaged and sold as romance to my generation when we were teenagers! Wonderful.
1. I don't know Stephenie Meyer and I don't want to presume anything about her, but her book makes her seem like a racist. Let's step past even the crap of her appropriating Quileute legend to make Native Americans the never-good-enough-supporting-characters in her series, okay? We're looking simply at how she describes and presents the Native people in her story. It dripping with racism in a way that comes off as if she didn't mean to include it. It ranges from making sure to describe any Native as NOT WHITE! the second they appear in the scene, characters (including a teenaged Bella...) calling Native teenagers "boy" (probably Google it if you don't know why you shouldn't call any minority "boy"), the entire fact that she has her group of nonwhite characters TURN INTO LITERAL ANIMALS, how she describes the Natives as ALL LOOKING THE SAME and I could go on.
We meet Emily in this book. Let me remind you that vampires, while being described as beautiful over and over and over and over and over again, walk around with purple bags under their eyes and onion-skin and red eyes. But they are white and beautiful, okay? Enter Emily who has scars on her face. Bella describes her as basically ruined, once-beautiful, and calls her scars a deformity. NO. Stop.
Vampires and werewolves smell bad to each other. Alice says the dogs (you know, the nonwhite characters) smell "awful." The vampires? Jacob says they smell "sickly sweet." Hokay.
She describes Natives using every damn stereotype in the book, including having "ancient eyes" and comparing them to crows.
It's awful. It deserves to be called awful.
2. Bella is a terrible, terrible main character. It’s always rough in these situations where bad boys are being emotionally or physically abusive because the last thing we want to do is victim blame, right? Plus, she’s obviously unwell and her mental health is a serious point that should be considered when we look at her behavior. But just apart from anything having to do with Edward, Bella is THE WORST. If she was clueless and kind of bitchy in the first book, she’s genuinely mean-hearted in this book. Cursory worries for Charlie don’t make up for a book in which she gives 0 active craps about anyone except herself and her boy. She’s a useless narrator, either noticing nothing at all or way too much for her limited point of view. And I don’t GET her as a main character or a heroine of a story. She has nothing to offer. This entire book was basically, “my boyfriend is gone so I am literally not even a person any more.” SHE GOES INTO THE WOODS TO DIE AFTER SHE'S BROKEN UP WITH.
WHO WANTS TO READ THAT?
3. Stephenie Meyer wrote the story of someone with mental health issues and I don’t think she meant to. I feel like Meyer might be one of those people who thinks that depression is when you are extra sad. Again, that’s supposing a lot, but that’s the impression I got from her book. It makes me sick to think of the really serious warning signs in all of Bella’s behaviors that are not at all acknowledge beyond “heartbroken” and are immediately FORGOTTEN and brushed away the second Edward is back in the picture. Bella is depressed, inducing hallucinations, she’s got crippling low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts and she’s caught in a controlling and abusive behavior.
Not only is it uncomfortable to see this portrayed but not named or acknowledged, but Bella belittles her own mental health and mental health professionals more than once throughout the book. Plus, the entire idea is that this is TRUE LOVE, so it's okay. The idea is that we see the seriousness and strength of Bella's love for Edward because she wants to die. Because she is nothing without him. Because she doesn't care about another human being on the face of the Earth. Because she will literally support him being a MURDERER because she loves him that much. This is garbage of the worst kind and I truly resent the message that true love is crippling in this way.
I'm not reading into anything here, either. Meyer has written specifically about Bella being a damsel-in-distress:
“Side note: there are those who think Bella is a wuss. There are those who think my stories are misogynistic—the damsel in distress must be rescued by strong hero.
To the first accusation, I can only say that we all handle grief in our own way. Bella’s way is no less valid than any other to my mind. Detractors of her reaction don’t always take into account that I’m talking about true love here, rather than high school infatuation.
I emphatically reject the second accusation. I am all about girl power—look at Alice and Jane if you doubt that. I am not anti-female, I am anti-human.”
DETRACTORS OF HER REACTION DON'T ALWAYS TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT I'M TALKING ABOUT TRUE LOVE HERE, RATHER THAN HIGH SCHOOL INFATUATION.
So, if you've never wanted to commit suicide over a break-up, sorry about your high school love!
I AM ANTI-HUMAN.
WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN.
STEPHENIE, HONEY, YOU ARE A HUMAN? I THINK? WHAT IS HAPPENING?
I don't know. I don't even know what this is. I mean, that's just talking about the problematic messages BEHIND the story. It's overlong for a feather-light plot. It's ridiculous and nonsensical. It's written poorly and we actually took to counting em dashes PER CHAPTER, and it was usually in the high 30s and 40s. The entire climax, from emergency flight to Italy and beyond is so stupid. Edward goes from casually thinking about murdering a bunch of innocent humans in order to get killed by the Volturi to deciding TO SPARKLE IN THE SUN INSTEAD.
Bella is later crying over an actual mass murder and doesn't want to have those emotions anymore because THE TEARS ARE PREVENTING HER FROM GAZING ON EDWARD'S FACE.
Okay, Stephenie. You are anti-human.
Full recaps here.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
5.0
Absolutely enchanting. It's beautifully written, if a little rambling and ambling. It didn't matter to me, though, because even in the way the story spiraled away and then found a way back again, it cemented the mood and atmosphere that was dark and magical and sad and by the end, just the slightest bit hopeful.
Full review to come.
Full review to come.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
4.0
4.5 stars
I thought that I wasn't enjoying this one as much (which is relative, trust me) but after hitting the half-way point, I couldn't stop. I sat down after getting home from work and marathoned that last half in a couple of hours and now my head is swimming with these characters once again.
I don't even know what I want to happen at this point.
The themes of feminism, of marriage, of work and of duty were all really interesting here, even in their more explicit incarnations. I'm going to have to take some time to digest it all.
Full review to come.
I thought that I wasn't enjoying this one as much (which is relative, trust me) but after hitting the half-way point, I couldn't stop. I sat down after getting home from work and marathoned that last half in a couple of hours and now my head is swimming with these characters once again.
I don't even know what I want to happen at this point.
The themes of feminism, of marriage, of work and of duty were all really interesting here, even in their more explicit incarnations. I'm going to have to take some time to digest it all.
Full review to come.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
5.0
Review(ish) to follow because I don't know what there is to say besides that I love this. New, instant favorite. Kvothe is the best forever. Many more gushy feelings to follow.
Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes
Check out my video review of this book!
Unfortunately, the problems that I had in the first book in this series persisted here in Rebel Spring, making the overall reading experience so far one giant shoulder shrug. I cannot work up any amount of caring for these characters whose motivations and actions I feel are shallow and hollow.
Morgan Rhodes tries to lay out an expansive world with lots of political and magical problems but she undermines her own world by talking it to death. Every element of the world is spelled out in so many words and she repeats these explanations over and over again. Her writing is repetitive and plain. She falls into the traps of generic YA fantasy writing, describing almost every person as beautiful, almost every smile as half there and half genuine and we are always aware of what complex emotions are flashing through characters' eyes.
All elements of love here felt very awkward to me. It's not that I care that one character might be interested in more than one person. I'm firmly on team #PickBoth when it comes to love triangles and whatnot, but it seemed here that these tension-filled, longing stares always cropped up when there was more important stuff to be paying attention to.
King Gaius is the main antagonist and he's like one breath away from being cartoonishly evil. He does have power hunger kinds of motivations, but we'll chalk it up to the in-your-face writing again that that gets lost in all his I'M GONNA KILL YOU monologues and the mention of blood any time he is around. (Seriously, almost every time.)
Jonas is an idiot. He spends the entire book hemming and hawing about not wanting to act rashly and then all of a sudden, he thinks running into a room full of people who at least outwardly support the king, to kill him in public is a good idea. And then he actually runs into that room AND MONOLOGUES. It felt sudden, out of character, and doomed to fail. I would summarize Jonas's entire time in this book as doomed to fail.
Magnus is awful. He is not morally gray. He actively chooses to do bad thing and even if he's setting his jaw all hard, that does not make his behavior gray. Just because he force kisses Cleo, but it was a-little-bit-kind-of to save her, doesn't make him a good guy. Just because he hates his father secretly, doesn't soften the blow of his continual decisions to follow along with almost every thing his father says. Neither does it take away from the fact that Magnus' knee jerk reaction is to kill people. He doesn't deal well with rejection. He doesn't see what's right in front of him. Does he change? Who knows. But as of now, I want him to stop forever.
Cleo is probably my "favorite" but she's also sadly underused in this book and all of her scenes become repetitive as well. I honestly have nothing much else to say because I'm not sure what she did for 400 pages. If I had to summarize for her, it would be suffer and fake smile a lot.
Lucia is THE WORST. She's the worst for in and out of story reasons. I feel like Rhodes created this super powerful character that has to be pushed and pulled around a lot and it just reads like she's lacking intelligence. Like, girl. What do you MEAN your father has always treated you well? UM, DOES YOUR RECENT COMA RING A BELL?
In all, this is a collection of pretty good ideas that the author lacks the skill to truly bring to life, at least in any way that I would truly enjoy.
3.0
Check out my video review of this book!
Unfortunately, the problems that I had in the first book in this series persisted here in Rebel Spring, making the overall reading experience so far one giant shoulder shrug. I cannot work up any amount of caring for these characters whose motivations and actions I feel are shallow and hollow.
Morgan Rhodes tries to lay out an expansive world with lots of political and magical problems but she undermines her own world by talking it to death. Every element of the world is spelled out in so many words and she repeats these explanations over and over again. Her writing is repetitive and plain. She falls into the traps of generic YA fantasy writing, describing almost every person as beautiful, almost every smile as half there and half genuine and we are always aware of what complex emotions are flashing through characters' eyes.
All elements of love here felt very awkward to me. It's not that I care that one character might be interested in more than one person. I'm firmly on team #PickBoth when it comes to love triangles and whatnot, but it seemed here that these tension-filled, longing stares always cropped up when there was more important stuff to be paying attention to.
King Gaius is the main antagonist and he's like one breath away from being cartoonishly evil. He does have power hunger kinds of motivations, but we'll chalk it up to the in-your-face writing again that that gets lost in all his I'M GONNA KILL YOU monologues and the mention of blood any time he is around. (Seriously, almost every time.)
Jonas is an idiot. He spends the entire book hemming and hawing about not wanting to act rashly and then all of a sudden, he thinks running into a room full of people who at least outwardly support the king, to kill him in public is a good idea. And then he actually runs into that room AND MONOLOGUES. It felt sudden, out of character, and doomed to fail. I would summarize Jonas's entire time in this book as doomed to fail.
Magnus is awful. He is not morally gray. He actively chooses to do bad thing and even if he's setting his jaw all hard, that does not make his behavior gray. Just because he force kisses Cleo, but it was a-little-bit-kind-of to save her, doesn't make him a good guy. Just because he hates his father secretly, doesn't soften the blow of his continual decisions to follow along with almost every thing his father says. Neither does it take away from the fact that Magnus' knee jerk reaction is to kill people. He doesn't deal well with rejection. He doesn't see what's right in front of him. Does he change? Who knows. But as of now, I want him to stop forever.
Cleo is probably my "favorite" but she's also sadly underused in this book and all of her scenes become repetitive as well. I honestly have nothing much else to say because I'm not sure what she did for 400 pages. If I had to summarize for her, it would be suffer and fake smile a lot.
Lucia is THE WORST. She's the worst for in and out of story reasons. I feel like Rhodes created this super powerful character that has to be pushed and pulled around a lot and it just reads like she's lacking intelligence. Like, girl. What do you MEAN your father has always treated you well? UM, DOES YOUR RECENT COMA RING A BELL?
In all, this is a collection of pretty good ideas that the author lacks the skill to truly bring to life, at least in any way that I would truly enjoy.
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
I talk about this book in this mini reading wrap-up video!
I was following Older on social media before I picked up this book, so I'm going to say that I was predisposed to liking it. I was ready to love this and... I didn't. I think it's almost more disappointing because all of the potential was there, but I just felt like there was a lack of depth, in terms of plot and characters, that kept me at an arm's length from the story overall. I really did like the characters as they were introduced and there were so many things about the community and family that I thought were relatable to me, which is always fun to encounter in fiction. There isn't a ton of character progression, though, and that is felt more keenly on top of a plot that seems a little too patched together.
Again, I liked the premise and the world, but then things started to come apart a little bit from there. It often felt like the next thing that came in the plot was either too convenient or too much out of left field. That's what I mean by "patched together."
One of the best things about this books is perhaps also one of the worst. It was an incredibly quick read and while that certainly makes for an entertaining reading experience, it also served to enhance that feeling I had that this book could've done a little more or gone a little deeper. The main character is great, but it feels like we rush right by ever side-character and every villain. I could tell you the premise of this book, but it would be more difficult to explain what happened on from there, but I'm not entirely sure...
Even with all that, I still found this entertaining, interesting and full of potential. There were moments of magic that were described so wonderfully and vividly that I got lost in the scene completely. I will definitely read more from Older, as I think he's got talent. I hope he gives his other stories or his next story a little more room to grow and breathe.
3.0
I talk about this book in this mini reading wrap-up video!
I was following Older on social media before I picked up this book, so I'm going to say that I was predisposed to liking it. I was ready to love this and... I didn't. I think it's almost more disappointing because all of the potential was there, but I just felt like there was a lack of depth, in terms of plot and characters, that kept me at an arm's length from the story overall. I really did like the characters as they were introduced and there were so many things about the community and family that I thought were relatable to me, which is always fun to encounter in fiction. There isn't a ton of character progression, though, and that is felt more keenly on top of a plot that seems a little too patched together.
Again, I liked the premise and the world, but then things started to come apart a little bit from there. It often felt like the next thing that came in the plot was either too convenient or too much out of left field. That's what I mean by "patched together."
One of the best things about this books is perhaps also one of the worst. It was an incredibly quick read and while that certainly makes for an entertaining reading experience, it also served to enhance that feeling I had that this book could've done a little more or gone a little deeper. The main character is great, but it feels like we rush right by ever side-character and every villain. I could tell you the premise of this book, but it would be more difficult to explain what happened on from there, but I'm not entirely sure...
Even with all that, I still found this entertaining, interesting and full of potential. There were moments of magic that were described so wonderfully and vividly that I got lost in the scene completely. I will definitely read more from Older, as I think he's got talent. I hope he gives his other stories or his next story a little more room to grow and breathe.