boxcar's reviews
230 reviews

The Emissary by Yōko Tawada

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dark funny reflective medium-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

4.5

really meaningful and funny exploration of our future, in a surrealist way. old people don’t die and are physically fit while the young generations are deformed and unable to eat, walk, do any tasks. the guilt of this generational difference is written so very well. The ending confused me, i think. 
It Would Be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo

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

4.25

wow. crushing. death and doubles and oppression and introspection. Well written and translated (i assume, I haven’t read the spanish…). What is someone willing to give up to live? the very life they’re saving? 
Bibliolepsy by Gina Apostol

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

3.75

wonderfully written, raw and human. Need to read again, because the plot felt nonexistent. Such is not the point of the book, but i feel that there is far more to get out of this book than what I did.
Braised Pork by An Yu

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

4.5

Murakami written by a woman. Wonderful. Need to read and re-read and re read again, because it's confusing. But in that stellar way that the confusion makes sense, no one can understand certain things. Different, subterranian/underwater worlds merge with the normal one, family and characters seemingly unrelated twist into a tangled mess of connections. Family, death, marriage, sadness and trauma, marital abuse and neglect, Beijing, Tibet---really good. 
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Very good. Not as coherent nor compelling compared to "The God of Small Things", but fantastic nonetheless. I found the shifts in perspective and the jumping around of the story extremely disorienting, and it was hard to see it as a cohesive project. This, I think, is highly intentional, in a story about those cast away from family, society and life. I love that this book tracks a trans woman with such boundless compassion. Tragic, hopeful, tragic, hopeful. Not written in absolutes, lives change drastically from one moment to the next. A meaningful insight into what it is to be human. 
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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

4.5

So much to say. A treatise on morality. Murder weighs less on their consciousness than losing a friend. Intricate relationships between a small cast, betrayal, deceit, obsession and murder. Well written (though I got pissed off by some of the double, triple, quadruple negatives used. Or should I say i was not unperturbed by the lack of not writing double negatives). Lotsa twists and turns that seem out of the blue but make perfect sense in retrospect, even obvious. Perfectly deserving of every bit of popularity and praise. One of those books that any number of essays could be written about.
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

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adventurous emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.25

Good book. Surprised me with how eager I was to go to the next page, how hard it was to put down. A unique look at childhood, friendship and expectations. Very interesting relationship between the two girls, and the story of a child prodigy was compelling. Loved the setting of rural France. 
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

fuck.

poetic in all of the most devastating ways. A masterpiece of grief, trauma, inequality and the human condition. Beautifully beautifully beautifully written. I can’t express just how in love I am with the words of this book.

“it is after all so easy to shatter a story. To break a chain of thought. To ruin a fragment of a dream being carried around carefully like a piece of porcelain.”

I was made of porcelain reading this story. I am thoroughly shattered.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

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dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Magnificent. Not often a book of this length feels like a short read. Family saga of staggering beauty, sadness and wealth of emotion. Depth of characters is stunning. Amazing look into Southwest India's culture and history fit for someone (like me) with almost no background knowledge there. 
Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Really enjoyed it, it just felt more drawn out than others of her's. The ending was a punch in the gut.