m4rtt4's reviews
327 reviews

Kvinnan som samlade världen by Eva Tind

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adventurous informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

interesting, inspiring, unprecedented and above all, very well written <3 A fictional, novel-like approach to Hammer's biography was a perfect choice, I was very hooked on her story! As a biology student the topic hit really close to home for me.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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

5.0

I'm so glad I have finally finished this thick-ass gigantic masterpiece of a book — once again it reminded me why Adichie was, is, and will be one of my favourite authors. So many important things so creatively and credibly — incredibly — told, and as someone who is neither Black or African or American I learned a lot from reading this. I'd like to give an example quote to convince y'all reading my review to find the courage to grab this book, but honestly I'd have to cite every other sentence (and that alone should convince you :)
Yes, it's thick, serious and emotional, BUT every single page is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY (and I'm craving to read so much more).
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The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

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

3.25

It wasn't bad, but I can't help comparing it to the Cruel Prince trilogy and being let down by my high expectations. I was rather hooked on the story because I wanted to know how things would sort out, only to find that my first ever prediction of the ending turned out to be true — I literally guessed the plot twist far before it happened (which made my reading experience quite boring as well).
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Kai minä halusin tätä by Sisko Savonlahti

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dark reflective slow-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

3.0

Ihan kivaa kuunneltavaa, huumori ja kirjoitustyyli sopivat makuuni. Päähenkilöt pohdinnat parisuhteista ja ylipäätään ihmissuhteista olivat samaistuttavia, kehonkuvan ongelmat onneksi eivät (ainakaan tuossa tasossa). Vaikka sinulla ei olisi ainuttakaan itsetunto-ongelmaa kehostasi, tämän kirjan jälkeen niitä varmasti on :') Tiettyyn pisteeseen asti ulkonäön raastava ruotiminen sopi teoksen teemaan, mutta ei sitä pitkään jaksanut kuunnella. (Tuli oikeasti paha mieli, ihan Savonlahden omaksi parhaaksi toivon itseinhon olleen suuresti liioiteltua :(

Myös julkkisten elämäntarinat ja muut yleiset mediassa kaikkien saatavilla olevat jutut olisi voinut jättää tekstistä pois; ne vain tuntuivat turhalta täytteeltä, aivan kuin kirjailija olisi tuskaillut vaaditun merkkimäärän saavuttamisessa ja heittänyt sekaan ensimmäisen somessa näkemänsä uutisen.

Onneksi en tunne päähenkilön kaltaisia ihmisiä omassa elämässäni, he olisivat todella raskasta seuraa. Hyvin kirjoitettu hahmo sinänsä, mutta ei olisi tuntunut niin karikatyyrimäiseltä, jos itseinhoa olisi hieman karsinut pois.
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Varjossa auringon alla by Agatha Christie

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

I liked the vibes more than the plot itself... which can be great with some other books but not murder mysteries. I read the book in a plane, which was a perfect way to start my own holiday, but I probably would have liked it less in some other setting. Solid Christie quality, the books are never bad, but she is capable of so much more.
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Hobitti by J.R.R. Tolkien

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Such a heart-warming story with an important lesson about greed, happiness and what's important in life. Tragic and sad at times, but overall a cozy experience despite the violence :D

but what did poor Bombur do to be treated like that, other than he was just bigger than everyone else? I felt bad for him :(
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Hämmästys by Richard Powers

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Like Overstory, this book also gave me so much to think about — what is important in life, what even is life? It was also highly emotional and gave an interesting insight on raising a child on the spectrum. This book had so much potential, but it aimed too high. There were so much interesting concepts like decoded neurofeedback and the whole near-future dystopian world with all its catastrophes; it's almost criminal of Powers to create such future scenarios and only mention them in a single sentence, a fleeting moment. I was very intrigued at first, but I lost my interest more and more towards the ending because I knew that I'd never get the explanations I wanted. In that way the story kind of stayed true to itself, though — just like me, we as a society will never know enough about this world and all our answers might be wrong. The ending was lame, it was too dramatic for no reason and the results weren't even properly dealt with.
the death of Robin was so unnecessary and didn't even give the story any emotional value as it was just quietly swept under the carpet — also you just can't end the book by him dying without even telling us the consequences?? just let him live, his death didn't even have the symbolic impact of 'we humans are doomed' as it probably was intended to.
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Kaksintaistelu by Anton Chekhov, Anton Tšehov

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challenging reflective 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

2.75

Hitlerin hevoset by Arthur Brand

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adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

3.75

A very interesting topic, something a bit different from the usual nazi-related history I read. Almost gave this 4 stars, but the ending got quite slow.
Verity by Colleen Hoover

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

3.0

Better than I expected! I decided to read Verity after reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and while there definitely were many similarities, Verity also gladly had so much originality in it that I wouldn't call them the same. The mystery and suspense were rather well built, though the plot was overall very predictable and thus didn't manage to surprise me as much; it also relied too much on shock value when I would have preferred subtlety and reading between the lines.

I definitely prefer this book to Hoover's other books that focus more on the romance, though also in this one I hated the romance the most — I wouldn't call it unnecessary, but definitely unnecessarily detailed and too sex-focused, at least to my (dis)liking. Also are there any CoHo books that are not problematic at all? Just wondering, as Verity also very much lacked in the discussion and presence of consent and protection in sexual acts... also blaming women's clothes for men's uncontrollable arousal (and eventually rape) is soooo last century — could you please stop upkeeping rape culture, especially as a fellow woman?
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