i don't ever want to have a relationship with ANYONE, EVER AGAIN, because nothing i actually feel in real life will compare to the things i felt becaui don't ever want to have a relationship with ANYONE, EVER AGAIN, because nothing i actually feel in real life will compare to the things i felt because of this stupid ass book.
i mean. honestly. i wept actual tears of joy by the end. i squealed like a puppy toy, i giggled, and i got so angry at some parts i started absently talking out loud to myself, cursing the day olive smith was born because i could not wrap my mind around the fact someone so STUPID could actually exist.
(she doesn't, thankfully, or she'd probably have ground to sue me for slandering. sorry, ol!)
((although let's be honest: for someone's who's been in the foster system and was emancipated from the state at 16 she was INCREDIBLY naive about most stuff. and very very dumb.))
despite featuring my least favorite trope in the entirety of the universe - (view spoiler)[can we please abolish miscommunication in books that feature characters over the age of 20? PLEASE? (hide spoiler)] - the love hypothesis kept me engrossed and invested in the story from the very beggining. my life has been busy to the brim lately and it's been difficult for me to find a read that pulls me deeply in. i am more than satisfied to say that i've quenched not only my romance thirst, but my Overall Really Good Book thirst.
i did have a hard time disconnecting from the fact that it was originally reylo fanfic and despite me not being a star wars fan in the slightest, i kept picturing all the actors and it was annoying the first time, but then i got used to it and it didn't matter anymore. i adored this beyond words and it made a bleak week quarantining in a hotel room much lighter :)...more
i honestly don't have anything to say about this that hasn't already been said before. it's certainly not a bad book, but it's so desperately trying ti honestly don't have anything to say about this that hasn't already been said before. it's certainly not a bad book, but it's so desperately trying to get you to understand its message that it loses all premise of subtlety and hammers you over the head screaming that DEPRESSION IS NOT THE ANSWER
and like, i get it. but also that makes it so annoying.
i understand that this touches upon a deeply personal topic to the author and can definitely see that the experience of writing it could act as something very cathartic to him. however, as a reader (who has not had personal experience with depression but is, in fact, a praticing clinical psychologist), this story was very predictable and therefore, extremely boring.
it's certainly a good book especially for the people who need it - and i'm sure that it's already helped loads of them. i just wasn't in a place where i could appreciate it better, i guess.
carey mulligan's narration was amazing, though!...more
this was such a lovely little novella, albeit nothing truly memorable. i was enjoying it mostly as a background sound throughout most of my read, b3.5
this was such a lovely little novella, albeit nothing truly memorable. i was enjoying it mostly as a background sound throughout most of my read, but those two final chapters really gutted me. i may or may not have cried over the voice of a cute lil robot saying that he wanted to be a monk's friend....more
i was very close to NOT giving this five stars because i read it on audio and as much as i think melissa broder's writing is absolutely fascinating, hi was very close to NOT giving this five stars because i read it on audio and as much as i think melissa broder's writing is absolutely fascinating, her valley accent was just not it.
but other than that, i'm at a loss for words for how much i loved this.
this was such a harrowing, fantastic read. it was erotic and so deeply melancholic at once. it resonated with so much within me, in my own history as someone's daughter, as a woman with a body. the protagonist rachel is at once a person i felt an urge to loathe and wanted to give a really tight hug, much the same i feel about myself from time to time. reading this was definitely an unforgettable experience....more
i'm aware the reason i didn't enjoy this book is entirely dependant on myself and my reading tastes; i have read A Lot 2.5 stars
this is kinda awkward.
i'm aware the reason i didn't enjoy this book is entirely dependant on myself and my reading tastes; i have read A Lot over the years, especially in the SFF genre, and have come to realize that i'm actually quite particular about what i like in books. this one, unfortunately, was not it - although the premise would've fooled me into thinking it was.
i don't usually concern myself with giving plot synopsis or broad character overviews when talking about books, because goodreads usually will suffice you with something much better than i could write. so just to give you the general gist of it, The Atlas Six is an urban fantasy book set in a world where magic is secretive, but well-engrained into society. after graduating from magical universities, six medeians (who are not witches, and look down upon those, although why exactly is never explained) are invited to join an elite secret society which promises them knowledge; all of it, at the tip of their fingers, if only they manage to get through their initiation proccess. six are invited, five will succeed - and thus we begin.
my problem with this can be boiled down to a single thing: the writing. this is less an adult book, and more an impression of what a young person thinks adult books should read like. the writing is overly concerned with itself, painfully trying so, so hard to come off as philosophical and deep, sacrifing everything in order to achieve it - namely, actual character and world development, of which there's almost none - and yet it still ends up sounding extremely forced, like it was actually hard for the words to arrange themselves in sentences. this book is written mainly in huge paragraphs (often one or two pages long) that told me absolutely nothing. sentences went on and on and on and by the end of it you were no closer to reaching a conclusion than you were before you started reading. it uses a lot of words without actually giving meaning to any of them.
i am someone who enjoys thought discussions and purple prose, often going out of my way to find books that will fulfill this craving of mine. to me, Atlas Six felt a lot more like aesthetic over actual substance. i could a get a feel of where the characters were and what the author was trying so absurdly hard to get me to understand, but the why of it was completely lost amidst so many expendable words. reading, to me, can be defined as a quid pro quo activity: the book has to give me something in order for me to keep reading it. this one failed in doing just that, and i finished it merely because i wanted to see if it would eventually twist itself into something more interesting.
it really didn't.
admitedly, i am someone with a background in psychoanalysis and i found some of the discussions here interesting, from a theoretical point of view; the way they talk about the desire for knowledge can also be understood as a way to discuss desire itself, a very prevalent topic in freud and lacan's writing and also what i wrote my undergrad thesis on. if you had separated the two - the fantasy story and the musings on philosophy - you would've ended up with two half-decent books, a fiction and a non-fiction one. combine the two, however, and it falls short on both sides....more
it started off kinda boring, with the tone of the writing making it seem like another YA high school ~mystery~ book. then the middle part happened andit started off kinda boring, with the tone of the writing making it seem like another YA high school ~mystery~ book. then the middle part happened and it was SO good. i couldn't put it down.
and then the ending is rushed, nothing gets explained or detailed, and we close off with a fast-forward that still didn't answer anything.
so yeah. conceptually, this is very much like a cross between get out and gossip girl. except its worst parts were just like GG, with the teen drama and the unsatisfying ending, and its best being exactly like get out - so much so that i think even comparing the book to the movie is a total spoiler, because if you've seen the movie you'll understand the book from a mile away. so many plotlines were dropped with no explanation i legit wondered if my copy was missing chapters.
it was entertaining but i can't say i'm not disappointed, if anything because the hype has been immense....more
adorei a experiência de ler Porém Bruxa. minha leitura hoje em dia é 99% livros em inglês e eu ando sentindo cada vez mais falta de estar pelo menos adorei a experiência de ler Porém Bruxa. minha leitura hoje em dia é 99% livros em inglês e eu ando sentindo cada vez mais falta de estar pelo menos atenta ao mercado brasileiro e aos novos autores, pq eu me lembro de amar tanta coisa nacional quando era mais nova! decidi que vou explorar um pouco o catalógo brasileiro do kindle unlimited.
então: amei as referências usadas pela autora, amei ler uma fantasia urbana que não era recheada de estrangeirismos, amei as relações entre os personagens. achei o plot bastante cheio de coisa, principalmente no meio da história. o livro começou bem, se enrolou e voltou a ter um sentido mais definido nos últimos 20%.
se fosse um livro sem nenhum tipo de sequência planejada, seria 3.5 estrelas. como eu vi a autora falando que vai sair um segundo livro nesse ano, resolvi aumentar a nota pra 4 porque o tempo todo, principalmente no final do livro, eu só pensava "meu deus eu queria ler mais sobre esse povo" (tem 85% a ver com o romance i mean who am i kidding) então acho que, como primeiro de uma série, fez um trabalho FANTÁSTICO em me deixar com vontade de continuar lendo....more
definitely my favorite grant county novel since the first one! i LOVED the format of this one. so different from the other books in the series, yet evdefinitely my favorite grant county novel since the first one! i LOVED the format of this one. so different from the other books in the series, yet everything that i love about them and that compells me to keep reading was still present in full force here. i loved getting the story of jeffrey and sara's past, because more often than not their present day dynamic made me wonder why the hell they were even attempting to be together anymore - and i particularly enjoyed understanding jeffrey's past better.
as usual, i read this one on audio and the narrator did a fantastic job. karin slaughter is definitely one the greatest thriller authors i've ever read from and i'm just glad she's so prolific i feel like i'll never run out of titles to read....more
this was definitely the best way to end this series. it felt like a perfect counterpart to the first book, the same soft feel-good storytelling of peothis was definitely the best way to end this series. it felt like a perfect counterpart to the first book, the same soft feel-good storytelling of people being nice and warm to each other.
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