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dobbsthedog's reviews
1663 reviews
Selamlik by Khaled Alesmael
4.0
Received from NetGalley, thanks!
I had a really difficult time giving this a star rating and went back and forth between 4 and 5 stars. I enjoyed it, found it incredibly interesting, and think it's an important book, which made me want to give it 5 stars, but then I likely won't read it again, so I decided to go with 4.
This is a semi-autobiographical novel about a gay man living in Syria prior to the civil war. It does jump back and forth in time, between his life in Syria (both before and during the war) as well as his new life in Sweden as a refugee with uncertain status. I've read several other books by Syrian refugees, however, they were both refugees to Canada, and it seems like the refugee process is quite different between Canada and Sweden. Or, it could also be the difference between being a refugee the "right way" (submitting your name, waiting for the call, getting on a plane, etc) and being a refugee the "wrong way" (escaping to Greece, taking a boat to Turkiye, using smugglers to get you to another country). I absolutely don't think there is a right or wrong way to be a refugee, but I'm sure that governments think there is.
It was interesting to read about the experience of a gay man in a Muslim country, and how there were these small spaces that he was able to fully be himself. The hammams that he frequented, that despite homosexuality being illegal in Syria, he didn't feel shame and lived as openly as he was able to. And then when he eventually made it to Sweden, where it's not illegal, he still wasn't able to live openly, as he had hoped.
While this is a fictional story, I saw that it is somewhat autobiographical, and it does read more like a biography than a novel. I think this is probably because it is written in first person, and with a few exceptions (Furat, our narrator, has a vivid imagination) it is very realistic.
I definitely recommend this book if you are wanting to read more diversely and outside of a Western lens.
I had a really difficult time giving this a star rating and went back and forth between 4 and 5 stars. I enjoyed it, found it incredibly interesting, and think it's an important book, which made me want to give it 5 stars, but then I likely won't read it again, so I decided to go with 4.
This is a semi-autobiographical novel about a gay man living in Syria prior to the civil war. It does jump back and forth in time, between his life in Syria (both before and during the war) as well as his new life in Sweden as a refugee with uncertain status. I've read several other books by Syrian refugees, however, they were both refugees to Canada, and it seems like the refugee process is quite different between Canada and Sweden. Or, it could also be the difference between being a refugee the "right way" (submitting your name, waiting for the call, getting on a plane, etc) and being a refugee the "wrong way" (escaping to Greece, taking a boat to Turkiye, using smugglers to get you to another country). I absolutely don't think there is a right or wrong way to be a refugee, but I'm sure that governments think there is.
It was interesting to read about the experience of a gay man in a Muslim country, and how there were these small spaces that he was able to fully be himself. The hammams that he frequented, that despite homosexuality being illegal in Syria, he didn't feel shame and lived as openly as he was able to. And then when he eventually made it to Sweden, where it's not illegal, he still wasn't able to live openly, as he had hoped.
While this is a fictional story, I saw that it is somewhat autobiographical, and it does read more like a biography than a novel. I think this is probably because it is written in first person, and with a few exceptions (Furat, our narrator, has a vivid imagination) it is very realistic.
I definitely recommend this book if you are wanting to read more diversely and outside of a Western lens.
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
1.0
This book was fucking terrible. The writing was fine, but the story was boring, racist, misogynist, and not at all funny.
It’s basically the story of a 100 year old man who escapes from his nursing home and ends up on a wild adventure after stealing a suitcase filled with money. Throughout the book it looks back over his 100 year life, where he basically flounced around not giving a shit about anything or anyone and somehow being a part of every significant world political event (a la Forest Gump).
Throughout the entire book there are only 4 female characters, one of which is the horribly nasty woman who runs the nursing home, one is a communist who is threatened with SA for being a communist, and the other two aren’t even called by the actual names. Like, what the actual fuck?
The author repeatedly uses cringy terms for non-white folks, as well as stereotypes as a way to be funny. For example, when our 100 year old man first leaves Sweden in his 20s, he’s excited to see a the-outdated-N-word-not-the-really-bad-N-word (which I’m still not going to type), but then he saw one and he didn’t need to see more. This is the incredibly racist view that folks of other ethnicities all look the same, so if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. The 100 year old man visits many countries over his life and any non-western countries are portrayed as being unintelligent and backward. I don’t know if it’s worse if this author did this intentionally to be funny (which it’s not), or if he legitimately didn’t realize what he was doing…. There are also instances of Islamophobia, which have zero impact on the plot of the book, so could easily have been left out, yet the author chose to write it in there anyway.
Overall, terrible book that I never would have read, and certainly never would have finished if it wasn’t for the book club that I run at work…
It’s basically the story of a 100 year old man who escapes from his nursing home and ends up on a wild adventure after stealing a suitcase filled with money. Throughout the book it looks back over his 100 year life, where he basically flounced around not giving a shit about anything or anyone and somehow being a part of every significant world political event (a la Forest Gump).
Throughout the entire book there are only 4 female characters, one of which is the horribly nasty woman who runs the nursing home, one is a communist who is threatened with SA for being a communist, and the other two aren’t even called by the actual names. Like, what the actual fuck?
The author repeatedly uses cringy terms for non-white folks, as well as stereotypes as a way to be funny. For example, when our 100 year old man first leaves Sweden in his 20s, he’s excited to see a the-outdated-N-word-not-the-really-bad-N-word (which I’m still not going to type), but then he saw one and he didn’t need to see more. This is the incredibly racist view that folks of other ethnicities all look the same, so if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. The 100 year old man visits many countries over his life and any non-western countries are portrayed as being unintelligent and backward. I don’t know if it’s worse if this author did this intentionally to be funny (which it’s not), or if he legitimately didn’t realize what he was doing…. There are also instances of Islamophobia, which have zero impact on the plot of the book, so could easily have been left out, yet the author chose to write it in there anyway.
Overall, terrible book that I never would have read, and certainly never would have finished if it wasn’t for the book club that I run at work…
The Candles Are Burning by Veronica G. Henry
3.0
Another weird, but good read! This one is about death and bargains and maybe a bit of vodou.
Undercover by Tamsyn Muir
4.0
This whole series is so weird, but so good? Like, these stories are just incredibly unique and creative and I’m so glad I’m reading them!
This story, I feel like I can sum up as zombies on the Khetanna (Jabba’s desert sail barge), with mob undertones. A unique, entertaining read.
This story, I feel like I can sum up as zombies on the Khetanna (Jabba’s desert sail barge), with mob undertones. A unique, entertaining read.
What the Dead Know by Nghi Vo
3.0
This book was weird. This whole series is weird, though, so not surprised. I think I liked it? On the whole I have a hard time with Nghi Vo’s stories, they’re just a bit on the too weird side for me. But I’ll keep trying them, because while they are on the slightly too weird side for me, they are very unique and I like pushing myself to read things that I may not normally.
The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow
5.0
OMG, can I give this 10 stars??? I’m not sure that I’ve cried so much reading any other book this year. Wow… 😭😭😭
The Garden by Tomi Adeyemi
4.0
I actually quite enjoyed this, and I seem to be in the minority! It was certainly weird and very short, but I liked the format, with almost poems at the start of each chapter. I also liked the ending, that we are left hanging, without knowing the answers, because that’s kind of what the whole story is leading to, I think.
CROWNED: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora by Kahran Bethencourt, Regis Bethencourt
4.0
This was an interesting read. It is a collection of original, traditional, and reimagined folk and fairytales. It was an easy read, as each story is very short.