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m4rtt4's reviews
327 reviews
Meat Market by Juno Dawson
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The second half was a lot better, though it sucks that it required traumatic events to make the book interesting. Istg if I read about another YA protagonist who's 'unattractive' because they are so 'skinny and pale' I'll stop reading. Ironic how much the not like other girls protagonist judges stereotypically feminine girls for wearing make up or high heels etc., yet she herself is a fucking super model?? I didn't really like Jana, but at times I couldn't help but feel very sorry for her — the 'meat market' is a brutal industry and so much abuse gets blatantly ignored. In addition to Jana I couldn't really connect with any of the other characters either, they just felt too shallow (and as a 20yo I WAS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE READING ABOUT 16YOS HAVING SEX). It was an okay read, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Transphobia, and Alcohol
Minor: Stalking
Hurskas kurjuus by Frans Emil Sillanpää
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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? Yes
3.0
Nimeään myöten suomalaisen klassikon perikuva — elämää maaseudulla, kurjaa elämää maaseudulla, kuolemaa maaseudulla. Darwinistinen determinismi (kirjallisuuden professorini sanoin) on vahvasti läsnä: kurjuuden kierteestä ei pääse pois, sillä kaikki alkoholismista vaimon kuolemaan tuntuu periytyvän seuraavillekin sukupolville. Kiva, että tähän painokseen sisällytettiin kaksi alkuperäispainoksesta sensuroitua/poistettua lukua; Sillanpään sympatia tuntuu (onneksi) olleen punaisten puolella, vaikka ymmärrettävästi heti sodan jälkeisenä vuonna ei valkoista terroria käsitteleviä tekstejä ole voinut julkaista.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Terminal illness, Violence, and War
Minor: Suicide
Valkoiset hampaat by Zadie Smith
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
slow-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
4.25
Wow. This book was like an endless — mindless even — salad bowl, where the salad is sometimes hard to chew and full of yucky flavour combinations yet it's also good for you and you can't help but dig deeper with your fork. Zadie Smith's writing is unlike anyone else's, I've never come across anything like it, but I'm glad that now I have. It's colourful, witty, compelling, punchy, vivid, impactful, impressive, powerful and so on and so forth. I could hardly relate to any of the characters on a personal level yet I didn't even need to — the story already had so much in it that it had me wrapped around its finger since the very beginning.
Gulliverin retket by Jonathan Swift
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Surprisingly good and funny, though at times it was very difficult to differentiate between satire and Swift's/Gulliver's own opinions, e.g. the sexist and racist stuff. Definitely not a children's book, but one to be read and enjoyed by adults — it really made me think about the concept of humanity, and how so little has changed since the 1700s — some things have even become worse. I really love to read fake scientific texts, with this one being no exception, though Swift could have taken it easy with all the precise numbers and other measurements. So many unnecessarily complicated details along with the old-ish language made the story boring at times, but all in all, it definitely was not a bad read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Colonisation
Mielevä hidalgo Don Quijote manchalainen I by Miguel de Cervantes
adventurous
funny
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
3.5
the original version of 'he plays too much video games'.
In all seriousness, this was actually worth reading despite its length. The story was really funny and clever, and I loved reading about Don Quijote's shenanigans! Being shorter would have made the book better, though — I would delete all the unnecessary character stories that didn't involve Don Quijote (towards the end there were quite a few of these instances).
Obviously this books comes with some misogyny and racism (I mean, what would you expect from 16th-17th century Europe?) but there were some surprisingly modern takes as well; here are my favourite ones:
1. women don't owe men sex or any other kinds of attention
2. prostitution would be safer if it was practiced under legal conditions
3. capitalism is bad
it was a fun ride, but I'm also glad that it's finally over.
In all seriousness, this was actually worth reading despite its length. The story was really funny and clever, and I loved reading about Don Quijote's shenanigans! Being shorter would have made the book better, though — I would delete all the unnecessary character stories that didn't involve Don Quijote (towards the end there were quite a few of these instances).
Obviously this books comes with some misogyny and racism (I mean, what would you expect from 16th-17th century Europe?) but there were some surprisingly modern takes as well; here are my favourite ones:
1. women don't owe men sex or any other kinds of attention
2. prostitution would be safer if it was practiced under legal conditions
3. capitalism is bad
it was a fun ride, but I'm also glad that it's finally over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, and Racism
Minor: Racial slurs
Vuosisadan rakkaustarina by Märta Tikkanen
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Koskettava, laittoi ajattelemaan. Eka osa oli paras. Odotukseni olivat korkealla, joten petyin hieman teoksen kieleen — kaunista se oli silti, mutta välillä lauseita katkottiin turhaan ja sanojen vaikutus olisi ollut sama ilman "runollisuutta lisääviä" säkeenylityksiä.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
SO GOOD!!!
I first read Hamlet in high school 4 years ago and didn't really like it, now I read it again for university and.. wow. I can't believe I missed all those absolutely brilliant parts in my first read (16-yo me was quite dreading it). I've never been this entertained while reading a play, now I really get the gist of Shakespeare's fame.
I first read Hamlet in high school 4 years ago and didn't really like it, now I read it again for university and.. wow. I can't believe I missed all those absolutely brilliant parts in my first read (16-yo me was quite dreading it). I've never been this entertained while reading a play, now I really get the gist of Shakespeare's fame.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny
Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
4.25
A comfort series, but this one was not quite a comforting read — it got very deep and dark, though I feel like it was both a necessary development to the story and more importantly, a safe way to teach young people about mental health issues and bumpy recovery journeys. Heartstopper is one of the most impactful book series I've ever come across, and I just wish these had been around when I was 15-16 myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, and Medical content
Lyhyet vastaukset suuriin kysymyksiin by Stephen Hawking
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
So smart, brilliant, how does one come up with answers like these? Awakening questions is important, and I'm glad he did more of that than giving actual answers — one should challenge their thinking from time to time. It requires great intelligence to be able to describe such complex concepts with simple words, yet still so much stuff about physics flew over my head that I just can't give this a higher rating it probably deserves.
Also I can't believe that despite being so smart he repeatedly ignored the role of Rosalind Franklin in the discovery of DNA's double helix??!!?
Also I can't believe that despite being so smart he repeatedly ignored the role of Rosalind Franklin in the discovery of DNA's double helix??!!?
Content Warnings
Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Valkoinen kirja by Han Kang
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Beautiful.
For me, white has always been one of my least favourite colours, one I've considered dull, empty, sterile and soulless. This book not only made me see white, but also hear and taste it — it was so vivid, as it deserves to be. Because after all, if you add up all the colours — the visible wavelengths of light — you get white.
This book made me feel so many things, it submerged me in melancholy and made me yearn for things I already have (been taking for granted) and as I look outside to the soft fall of February snow, I can't quite see it the same as I used to.
For someone who's lived her entire life in Northern Europe, the endlessly dark winters and heaps of snow are so mundane that Kang's protagonist being in awe of them really took me aback. The winters can be (and will be) depressing, yet they also are a home — something to be appreciated, to be missed — and miss them I would, were I ever to set my foot on a foreign soil.
For me, white has always been one of my least favourite colours, one I've considered dull, empty, sterile and soulless. This book not only made me see white, but also hear and taste it — it was so vivid, as it deserves to be. Because after all, if you add up all the colours — the visible wavelengths of light — you get white.
This book made me feel so many things, it submerged me in melancholy and made me yearn for things I already have (been taking for granted) and as I look outside to the soft fall of February snow, I can't quite see it the same as I used to.
For someone who's lived her entire life in Northern Europe, the endlessly dark winters and heaps of snow are so mundane that Kang's protagonist being in awe of them really took me aback. The winters can be (and will be) depressing, yet they also are a home — something to be appreciated, to be missed — and miss them I would, were I ever to set my foot on a foreign soil.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War