bookreviewswithkb's reviews
592 reviews

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

what a debut 😮‍💨

thank you to @simonbooks for the review copy!

this novel has such emotional depth - i could sense the pain and grief and melancholy the main character experiences, through Sundar’s writing of inexplicable emotions. the sensation and experience of not being able to be settled because of the unsettling of grief, and loss. the fractured self we are left with when we do not have security in our own safety

such a strong coming-of-age novel featuring the challenges of immigration, of not being able to find a sense of home, of familial relationships and all the explorations of love. i highly recommend this one

“i just mean that, any good memories from when i was a child are irrelevant. because when i think of them, i know that there is this terrible thing coming. and i want to scream and warn my former self.”

Content Warnings

Burning Butch by R/B Mertz

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad

5.0

“all i needed to do to keep the peace with him was erase myself.”

y’all this book is so under appreciated!!!

the writing is impeccable, the story is everything. it’s an exploration of the ways religion can be oppressive when the message is that you are unlovable for who you are, specifically for holding a queer identity. the fragmentation this creates internally, the way it can make you no longer want to exist in a space where you have to choose between your religion and yourself. the ways we can deny our own humanity when those around us don’t accept us

Mertz is so incredibly vulnerable and honest, they are unflinching in their narrative. this is one beautiful memoir

“In reality, it was just people talking to each other, through centuries—carvings on walls, poems, radio waves, TV signals, and the internet—telling stories to show each other what we can survive, the chorus of survivors, of bad women and queers, of teachers and artists, repeating that same thing over and over in all the different languages: Get up, come out: resurrect yourself.”

Content Warnings

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

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emotional informative reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

“Human remains … What exactly did that mean? Was it a few hard bones and soft tissue? Clothes and accessories? Things solid and compact enough to fit inside a coffin? Or was it rather the intangible – the words we send out into the ether, the dreams we keep to ourselves, the heartbeats we skip beside our lovers, the voids we try to fill and can never adequately articulate – when all was said and done, what was left of an entire life, a human being …”

this is only the second novel i’ve read by Elif Shafak and all i can say is i can’t wait to make my way through her backlist

there is so much love and appreciation of plants, particularly trees, an exposure of their abilities, embedded throughout this novel. there is so much love interrupted by war, an exposure to the impact of remembering but also how much we lose when we try to forget. there is so much love for justice, an exposure to what redemption can be

White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better by Saira Rao, Regina Jackson

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challenging informative fast-paced

5.0

to all my fellow white women seeing this - this is a must read!

the authors dive in deep to the problematic nature of white women, the myriad of ways we inflict harm, and use examples of misogyny to make comparisons that white women can’t deny. our nicety, our perfectionism, our toxic positivity, our silence - the characteristics of white supremacy culture that we embody and expect from others, the way we measure BIPOC against these characteristics to further racism and oppression

also loved hearing Regina Jackson giggling as she read some of the most ridiculous things she’s heard white women say

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

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dark informative tense slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

“they want you to forget. because, when you forget, nothing changes.”

wow this book is a whole ass experience. it’s like reading a book written by your friend who has been so hurt by the world that they use sarcasm and dry humor to make their way through life. i was caught off guard by the descriptions used in this book, the way the paragraph would suddenly become dark but so real and deep and true. Karunatilaka gives us so many witty, absurd, intelligent reflections on war and genocide, on power, on the point of life, on the realities of death, on grief

thanks to @makealongstorycount for encouraging me to pick this up!

Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe

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dark emotional informative reflective

5.0

this is a stunning collection of notes centered around the experience of Black life in both a public and personal way, exploring the effects of the way words are used to talk about Black people using examples of socio-political events, literature and art of the past and present, media, etc. they are individual notes that standalone but also intricately weave together in their connectedness of content and themes. it’s insightful and beautiful and important. Sharpe makes meaning out of ordinary things to illuminate anti-Blackness in its many forms

i want to read it again already. it’s a book you need available on your shelf so you can come back to it over and over

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

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1.5

unpopular opinion ? 🥴

um this was not it for me

i was buying in at first, feeling the words of “anything that challenges what you believe is going to make you feel unsafe” and “we are not good enough for ourselves because we don’t fit with our own image of perfection.”

but i started wavering at “one word can change a life or destroy the lives of millions of people” and really started struggling with “all the sadness and drama you have lived in your life was rooted in making assumptions and taking things personally.” what about grief? or GENOCIDE? all sadness experienced is not at the hands of self-inflicted wounds. i thought many of the ideas presented were problematic and inaccurate, and really oversimplified

i did take away a few gems but ultimately i can’t say it felt super useful for my own growth as a human

Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

3.75

it’s the feeling of being trapped, suffocated. not able to reach the surface. not being able to breathe under the weight of the pressure - the pressure placed upon women at the hands of men to surrender and conform and abandon our sense of self. of the loss that occurs when a man thinks a woman is only theirs and nothing more

this memoir is painful and beautiful and striking

Content Warnings

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

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dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

thank you so much to @netgalley and @algonquinbooks for the early review copy! this comes out April 2nd, 2024

my star ratings are based significantly on the amount of feeling i have while reading the book - this book had me feeeeling and wondering and reflecting. Julia Alvarez is such an incredible writer

this book is about how our stories humanize us, how stories build empathy and connect our sense of humanity together. how the lack of our stories being told leaves us buried beneath the weight of silence, of misunderstanding. the stories of ourselves, of our love, our mistakes, our shame. of our countries, of their love, their mistakes, their shame

“…these were precisely the characters Alma felt drawn to. The silenced ones, their tongues cut off; wives and daughters taking dictation from their husbands or fathers, improving and revising, in fact cowriting the epics, the sonnets, the ballads, with never a credit to their names. Generations of Anons.”

Content Warnings

Jaded by Ela Lee

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

thank you to @simonbooks for the early copy! Jaded is publishing in the u.s. on March 19th, 2024

“i lost time, frustrated that she [mom] didn’t overcome all of her traumas, rather than marveling at her strength of overcoming some of them.”

okay i’m worried i’m going to sound heartless for how my thoughts are coming together on this one but here we go. this book felt like a light breezy read that was about very serious and emotional topics. what i mean is that i read this quickly, i was drawn into the storyline, but it wasn’t filled with depth in the way it was written. that’s not a criticism i’m just trying to explain. i don’t normally like lighter (in writing style, not content) reads filled with plot and dialogue, but this was really good

it’s intelligent and thought-provoking. it’s an exploration of culture and identity, of how we sometimes take for granted the ways our families love us because we want them to love us differently, not understanding our families are doing the best they can with what they have. it’s about relationships between people of different races and ethnicities, virtue signaling and tokenism. and of course it’s about rape and the impact of coming to accept that it occurred

definitely recommend this one!

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bookreviewswithkb's reviews 592 reviews

bookreviewswithkb's reviews
592 reviews