nicolleschumacher's reviews
160 reviews

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

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adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed it and was entertained the whole way through. Tom’s psyche was interesting to delve into and all the characters were written well.
However, I feel that he got off too easy on pretty much everything 
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

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mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I found his thoughts incredibly fascinating but at times became frustrated with his repetition of these same ideas over and over. At times I completely disagreed with him but also related to the essence of his message at a deeper level. Truly an enigma 
The True Life by Alain Badiou

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hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

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dark funny reflective fast-paced

4.0

One of the best satires ever, still tragically relevant 
Paradise Lost by John Milton

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

4.0

It is extremely impressive technically speaking but I do think it was actually held back at times because it adheres so strictly to the metre. In its goal to “justify the ways of God to men” it fails on me, as I cannot justify any act of God by any logic presented to me. The story I loved,  and there are many memorable and important lines - Satan was of course the most interesting character. Adam and Eve are both held back by their staunch gender roles (I know this is silly to say) they were most interesting when they reached beyond what was expected of them and questioned God and their own reason for life (which of course they were punished for). 
On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense by Friedrich Nietzsche

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Loved this. My first time reading Nietzsche and found that I loved his style of writing and mostly agreed with his ideas in this essay
Phaedrus by Plato

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funny reflective medium-paced

3.0

I found the parts about human beings limitations in understanding the truth and living for the creative pleasures of our own souls and curating that the most interesting 
The Wild Iris by Louise Glück

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dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.0

A call and response to God. I particularly loved the poem “Retreating Light” where she tells us that God grew tired of telling us stories, and so gave us pen and paper, and abandoned us to misery and suffering so we would have stories of our own to tell