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eengland's reviews
200 reviews
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
honestly 7 out of 5 stars, at least
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 12%.
This is some real white people on their shit again - said as a yt ppl. Characters read as inauthentic props. This is a very real history and characters set in its midst deserve far more respect in their development. She tries using a vernacular for her Black characters but it reads so inauthentic that I, a lily-white person who went into reading this blind on my mom's recommendation, could tell the book was written by a White woman within a couple pages. AAVE is a legit dialect and this feels like the author is inserting casual slang and incorrect grammar and calling it the same which, at best, is just rude, inaccurate, lazy, and reads poorly. I was excited for the premise but this execution is terrible and a disservice to history imo. If you're going to profit off a trafficked and exploited people's history, the literal bare minimum least you could do is not caricaturize them.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Friends Disappear: The Battle for Racial Equality in Evanston by Mary Barr
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Riddled with typos but highly informative and decently researched and reflective/introspective but would have liked to see more scholarship by Black academics cited. People have been studying these structural issues for well over a century and I didn't get the feeling that this author read them very deeply, just a few of the catchier white scholars working in the same field.... which kinda makes the work purportedly being done here feel a bit disingenuous. Also it was maybe weird how she called the route that the houseless folks traverse around the Great Lakes in search of beds and aid "the Potawatomi trail". If that's not a racist thing to call it today with those connotations, it could have used a little more elucidation as to why/how so.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Classism
Moderate: Addiction and Drug use
Minor: Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, and Antisemitism
The Bequest by Joanna Margaret
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Excessively painful boy hang-ups for a woman getting her PhD internationally and probably about to solve a murder of international intrigue. Alas.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
adventurous
hopeful
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
4.75
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0