saint_eleanor's reviews
274 reviews

Rouge by Mona Awad

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I loved this book its so signature Mona Awad, extremely magical realism and weird. I loved the themes of youth and race and how personal it seemed and the subplot was sooooo rich. I feel like this would make such an insane movie like it really reminded me of Suspiria or other older cult classics, i love the occult combined with modern internet fads i found it so interesting. There are a couple points still lost on me but this is a late review and tbh i may have forgotten, but the man in the mirror stuff i need some clarification on. Though i have theories!! 
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore

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

4.0

I really should  not have read this when i did i cried a lot... What would you do if your suicidal girlfriend came back to life so she could banter with you for a couple more days? I'm fascinated by the alternate storyline as well and the parallel between 'Jack' the boarder and 'jack' lily's new bf. I would say this book is in the genre 'Death'. 
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This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

eric larocca just bodying another book thats literally like crack to me idk. I think my favorite story collection is still THGWSWLS but this one was sooooo good. I liked all the stories and the one about glass had me on the edge of my seat i want Eric to get a movie deal soooo bad or like produce on AHS or something. 
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The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore

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challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't think I've ever read a book that made me gag as much as this one, it was so stomach-churning. Definitely not for those with a frail constitution. I loved the prose so much and i felt so deeply for the characters. Tarare's story is true even if a lot of the details in this book were made up, the author explains it more at the end. It's also very much about exploitation and medical ignorance, and how we isolate and otherize people who just literally are built different. Highly recommend!!
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One's Company by Ashley Hutson

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

5.0

Okay I took forever to review this but truly this is one of the most interesting books ive read. It's all about people processing trauma in their own weird and twisted ways which I can unfortunately relate to really really hard. The main character is incredibly relatable and just the perfect amount of unlikable, supporting her believability. The book also comes from a very modern lens I feel in our society that demands rights to literally everyone else's business and our inability to put down our camera-phones and leave people alone. Jake Paul in the suicide forest comes to mind. Since the TV show in the book is a real show I'd love to know more about the place the author was in when she wrote it and why she chose 'three's company' for the book. I also felt there was a very strong feminist theme and also the queer undertones and scenes were so well written. Another banger for the girls who have no sanity left!!
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Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future by Gloria Dickie

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dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.5

This book was so incredibly informative I did not realize how much bear information I had been missing! It was quite devastating particularly the chapter about the Vietnamese practice of harvesting moon/sun bear bile for medicine and aphrodisiac, which I had no idea about. As well as the ignorant practices of yellowstone campers, torturing bears into dancing bears in India, and the misconceptions about spectacled bears in Latin America. I also learned that polar bears are the only bears who can smell period blood which confirms that they are the scariest bear lmao. I wanted to know a little bit more about the author while she was writing it but otherwise this was awesome. 
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Sunny, Vol. 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto

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emotional funny relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

A little slow but sooooo enjoyable. Slice of life manga about a bunch of kids in a foster home in rural japan and their lives. Pretty sad but also really funny and the art is amazing and different from Taiyo’s other works, more brushstrokes.
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This was really awesome and well written so im logging it at a 4 but my personal rating is probably 3.5 tbh. A classic mystery novel set on a Lakota reservation in which a local justice enforcer is trying to figure out who is bringing heroin etc into his community.

 It was definitely super addictive and the writing was great and the characters were believable and i feel its a particularly important story to tell, but crime mysteries just arent my thing I’m realizing.
Walking Practice by Dolki Min

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I loved this it was super short and cute and gross. Think american psycho but patrick is a cute alien in Korea named
Mumu
who feeds on human flesh and is really horny all the time. The descriptions were so gorey and visceral and poetic and the text art and illustrations were so cool. I really liked the inner monologue i thought it was rly funny! The author uses a pseudonym and wears a mask too which is interesting, we don’t know their identity 
Hoodwitch by Faylita Hicks

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing slow-paced

5.0

This was such beautiful poetry oh my goodness. I rarely feel like poetry written recently can incorporate  slang / colloquialisms without sounding forced but there was so much of that in this book and it was just so natural and beautiful and i felt like i could hear the poet.
The poems were stunning