mossybean's reviews
345 reviews

I really wanted to be into this, but I think that blending theory with poetry just didn't work for me in the end. I just wanted all the poetry and memoir, and forget the complicated "word salad" as my aunt would say. 

I always like the Anne books, and this one was no exception. I found it surprisingly heavy in parts, I was unprepared for Anne's adulthood I suppose. I appreciate the slowness of the narrative, and the descriptions of nature. It reminds me to slow down too. 
I felt it was too bad that Gilbert didn't feature more in this one, as he was absent in the previous book as well, and though they were living together this time, we didn't see much of him. I missed Green Gables too, but Anne has grown and moved away now, it makes sense. Her little house of dreams was lovely to visit. 
Leslie's story arc was compelling, and I was happy with how it resolved, though that kind of story could never have happened now. 
Miss Cornelia was quite the character, she made me laugh quite a bit. I wasn't so sure about how her arc came to an end, maybe Montgomery didn't know what to do with her. I think she was writing a lesbian and she just didn't know it. 

It didn’t grab me, and the premise was weird. The main character didn’t feel real. 

This was my first Novel by Toni Morrison. And wow, it was pretty amazing. I've been meaning to read her for a long time, but I was saving her for a moment when I could handle a hard story, because that's just sort of what her stories are like. I found the tumbling narrative sucked me in, and though it was confusing at times to sus out who was talking, I didn't mind. Her writing is magnificent, so many lines or turns of phrase or ways of describing things made me pause and turn back to read them again. I have surely not seen everything there is to see here, and will read it again I'm sure. 

This was a solid book, but it wasn’t exactly what I expected when I saw “queer memoir” it was kind of like “this is what it’s like to be queer and trans and facing the world and all the people’s reactions to it” and it didn’t feel like it was really made for me. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good book, I just think that because of how mostly impersonal the story was, it’s better suited as an educational book for people looking to learn more about what life can be like as a trans or queer person. 

I’m conflicted about this one, there were quite a few things I liked- some of the characters were very compelling and wacky, and the use of tarot throughout was unique and interesting. I’ve never seen tarot used in this way, interspersed between every chapter is a blurb about a major arcana card. It related to the story and made a story out of the cards. I also found the main character quite irritating at times, and the plot felt a little too standard.

untrusting main character learns to trust again, finds out something that makes her lose trust, blows up, then finally comes back together and it’s happier ever after. Boring.

The way the main character was attracted to the love interests felt a little too obsessive to root for. And the “reveal” at the end came too soon, with not long enough to resolve in my opinion. Not after building up the mystery and tension the whole book.