bookishfaye's reviews
618 reviews

This felt very comparable to Pride and Prejudice in a lot of ways?? 

Positives:
- I really did enjoy the affair between Anna & Vronsky and all of their passion and toxicity; especially earlier in their first meetings, the tension was palpable
- I was very surprised at all of the feminism (there were a lot of Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women adaption-coded feminist monologues that went hard) & critiques of the marriage market, religion, the Russian dynasty, treatment of women/their place in society, high society in general, capitalism, the rich elite, & a lot of advocacy for the working class/the poor that were soooooo good for how old this book is 
- I do think this book was very vivid 

Negatives:
- it was simply too long and rambly & it hit a point where I was really over it during the last third-ish & just wanted it to end. There were a lot of side characters undergoing their own courtly high society drama that I cared about earlier in the novel, but in the end I was very over it.
- even though this was ahead of it’s time I feel in relation to it’s feminism it was still out of pocket very misogynistic at times which was a vibe kill & quite contradictory 
- the racism near the end 🙄

Also made me cry at work

Adorable and intersectional and accessible and made my heart happy 

This made me cry really hard at work

Such a perfect picture book with kids who are coping with grief/loss/death or have questions about it; stunning artwork and beautiful quotes

Very cute and whimsical and the art reminded me of where the wild things are

Dnf 55% in & no one is more shocked than me….

This is definitely not bad & I was enjoying it, it just feels like a story I’ve read a million times and I also feel the set up is quite predictable as to where this series is headed?? 

I loved the Star Wars x The Hunger Games x The Roman Empire vibes & the character dynamics/plot/politics were all actually written quite well.

It really boils down to nothing really grabbing me and holding my interest??? I’m very devastated about this tbh. 

What a mindfuck of a read….? 

- the first half of this I teetered on dnfing it to be super real (I just really hate when for a majority of a book I am confused and have to be comfortable with not knowing what’s going on.)
- then as the reveals started I really thought I knew exactly what was going on, just to look at goodreads reviews/tiktok breakdowns after finishing and discover literally every perception of what people think this book is about is different??? I find that really interesting & the idea that there isn’t exactly a wrong answer per se & this book showcases a house where the viewer takes from it what they maybe needed?? Or percieved it however they ended up perceiving it??

I truly don’t know how to rate this because on one hand I think it’s just way too smart and abstract for me, and on the other it took me so long to wrap my head around what I thought was going on and then I’ve only found one other individual who viewed it the same as me so I’m even more confused the more I look into video essays & Susanna Clarke’s intentions

‼️SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MY PERCEPTION OF THIS BOOK ‼️

- for me, this book felt like an allegory for trauma and more specifically D.I.D, & an individuals journey both towards and away from themselves and their alters. “Number 16” I felt was positioned as a figure attempting to draw potentially a dormant alter or the the whole body (uncertain) back into the “real world,” though I fear it questionably borders on Copaganda in the end??

But hey, what do I know!! I don’t even really understand what I read, & maybe I’m lacking media literacy ??

A very cute a cozy whimsical little fairytale retelling with absolutely stunning artwork!! The story felt a tad flat for me in the end, but I still enjoyed it!!

Dnf like 10% in, I just am not vibing with the writing style