Scan barcode
readingadventures's reviews
593 reviews
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
5.0
Absolutely soul crushing in many ways.
I have to say that I was expecting a happier, sillier, goofier story. For some reason I had forgotten that I have read a couple of other books by this author and they have never been happy, goofy, and silly for more than a paragraph. Nevertheless, I adored this book. It was so genuine in its depiction of adolescence and it humanized even the most nasty of characters. I felt heartbroken for the hardships the characters had to endure and yet hopeful they would find a way to heal.
As I am writing this I realize I still wish, in some ways, this book had been what my expectations described because for me, there is nothing harder than seeing plausible reality portrayed as fiction. But I am in no way disappointed that this book is what it is. In fact, I think I needed this book to destroy me in the way the saddest of books does, where the sadness is so profound there is no room for crying, and I wish more people would understand what it feels like to know what people you love and care for are capable of even as you cannot stop loving them.
A gem.
(I still don't know if I will be reading the sequels)
I have to say that I was expecting a happier, sillier, goofier story. For some reason I had forgotten that I have read a couple of other books by this author and they have never been happy, goofy, and silly for more than a paragraph. Nevertheless, I adored this book. It was so genuine in its depiction of adolescence and it humanized even the most nasty of characters. I felt heartbroken for the hardships the characters had to endure and yet hopeful they would find a way to heal.
As I am writing this I realize I still wish, in some ways, this book had been what my expectations described because for me, there is nothing harder than seeing plausible reality portrayed as fiction. But I am in no way disappointed that this book is what it is. In fact, I think I needed this book to destroy me in the way the saddest of books does, where the sadness is so profound there is no room for crying, and I wish more people would understand what it feels like to know what people you love and care for are capable of even as you cannot stop loving them.
A gem.
(I still don't know if I will be reading the sequels)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
dark
mysterious
tense
5.0
I loved this book. It was intense, dark, and kept me interested the whole way through. I was also glad by the ending because I was expecting to be sad and disappointed but I truly was not. This book was so fun!
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
5.0
I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this. I think it was sometimes difficult to connect with each story and the characters as they were only passing ships for the story of humanity as a whole. However, I still had to go on reading, and every time I read I found at least something in each story worth sticking around for. My Favourite chapters were City of Laughter, Speak fetch say I love you, Pig son, and probably a gallery a century a cry and millennium.
This book is very sad and slightly unhinged in how it handles human sadness. I still don't know how to feel about that.
Update: I think I decided that I feel like this book deserves 5 star. I was just so deeply strange and wonderful.
This book is very sad and slightly unhinged in how it handles human sadness. I still don't know how to feel about that.
Update: I think I decided that I feel like this book deserves 5 star. I was just so deeply strange and wonderful.