bartlebies's reviews
466 reviews

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

On the surface, this book was absolutely written for me, but execution left me wanting. This book didn’t fully commit to being either the introspective emotional piece on relationships OR the meta cosmic horror it wanted to be. In both areas it was lacking and that’s a huge bummer. 
The Outsider by Stephen King

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I would die for Holly. 
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After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

About half of these stories simply weren’t my cup of tea and the other hit hard. But most of those just left me wanting more! 
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

the story itself was fun, but the format left me feeling detached from the events and characters. cool concept, but not done well enough. 
Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kids book did NOT pull punches back in the day 
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

3.5

Boy howdy the narrator for the audiobook was awful. Can we ban white people doing bad accents when there is literally no reason to do them?? christ. 

The book itself was okay, but I felt like it lacked any deeper meaning beyond “i had this rare disorder and it sucked for everyone and now i’m better” which is unfortunate since she’s a reporter/writer who you would think would be a better writer. 
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Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a sort of “dead dove do not open” moment because I thought it would be more about the plot but i truly was all character based. And none of these people are particularly interesting or even that nice. There were some interesting bits about end of the world psychology but otherwise it was just a study of people being generally weird and awful when faced with a crisis. It was a fast paced read overall, though, so it didn’t feel like too much of a slog. 
The Savage Kind: A Mystery by John Copenhaver

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

3.5

I feel partly incapable of giving a really succinct review because it took me so long to read. The story didn’t lack for a thrilling plot, it was entirely a question of my not having the time. That said, my only real qualm with the book was the ending. Tying up loose ends is one thing, but it felt like there were 400 loose ends and they were all being tied up at once in rapid succession without really dwelling on any particular one, in spite of what revelations they inspired. I did like the letter at the end, with Philippa giving more insight into just how unreliable our narrator was. But again, these revelations weren’t dwelt on and I feel they deserved more time and exploration in regards to how they deeply affect the characters and how the audience sees those characters. 

All that said, it was a thrilling plot with interesting characters who kept me guessing the whole way through. Fascinating how in retrospect Judy is still the most elusive and secretive character even knowing she’s the narrator. The author is an excellent writer and has a knack for tone and setting that really set the theme for the novel. 
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