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finnx2's reviews
1414 reviews
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
5.0
5/5
tw: self harm, suicide
"You shouldn’t have broken that mirror. Then maybe they’d have let you stay."
But of course I knew the mirror had nothing to do with it.
Depression, College, Psychological
Societal Conventions, Women v. Male Oppressors
Plath permeates a frightening tour of the medical world with glimpses at madness and mental breakdown. The immersive (mirror) quality coupled with the established mood carries you like a shadow following Esther until left alone, used at the novel’s close. Still, The Bell Jar creates one of the more horrific exposures of patriarchy, female perfectionism, and the struggle for self-identity that I’ve read.
tw: self harm, suicide
"You shouldn’t have broken that mirror. Then maybe they’d have let you stay."
But of course I knew the mirror had nothing to do with it.
Depression, College, Psychological
Societal Conventions, Women v. Male Oppressors
Plath permeates a frightening tour of the medical world with glimpses at madness and mental breakdown. The immersive (mirror) quality coupled with the established mood carries you like a shadow following Esther until left alone, used at the novel’s close. Still, The Bell Jar creates one of the more horrific exposures of patriarchy, female perfectionism, and the struggle for self-identity that I’ve read.
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
3.0
2.5/5
tw: self harm, suicide
“A small prickle ran through Victor when he spotted her, the voyeuristic thrill of seeing someone before they see you, of being able to simply watch. ”
Anti-Hero, Superhuman, Third-Person
I already knew I didn’t enjoy most superhero genres, but I figured I’d give it a go as it sounded promising enough! While pleasantly surprised early, the continual back-and-forth flashbacks made my head whirl. Most annoyingly, there was zero character depth. They simply did things because ‘evil’ or ‘god’.
tw: self harm, suicide
“A small prickle ran through Victor when he spotted her, the voyeuristic thrill of seeing someone before they see you, of being able to simply watch. ”
Anti-Hero, Superhuman, Third-Person
I already knew I didn’t enjoy most superhero genres, but I figured I’d give it a go as it sounded promising enough! While pleasantly surprised early, the continual back-and-forth flashbacks made my head whirl. Most annoyingly, there was zero character depth. They simply did things because ‘evil’ or ‘god’.
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.0
4/5
In Medias Res, Obsession, Arrogance, Existentialism
“Now she would suddenly start to draw me to her; a trusting smile wandered across her face; and then suddenly she would push me away and once again take to peering at me with a darkened look.”
I loved the dramatization of reality under the guise of gambling, as well as the intricacy of emotional (seesawing) characters. The way Dostoyevsky interlaces existentialist subtext under Polina’s obsessive yet fatuous love of Alexei and Mr. Astely is excellent.
In Medias Res, Obsession, Arrogance, Existentialism
“Now she would suddenly start to draw me to her; a trusting smile wandered across her face; and then suddenly she would push me away and once again take to peering at me with a darkened look.”
I loved the dramatization of reality under the guise of gambling, as well as the intricacy of emotional (seesawing) characters. The way Dostoyevsky interlaces existentialist subtext under Polina’s obsessive yet fatuous love of Alexei and Mr. Astely is excellent.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
5.0
4.75/5
Victorian-Morality, Violence, Decline
“The band of silver paleness along the east horizon made even the distant parts of the Great Plain appear dark and near; and the whole enormous landscape bore that impress of reserve, taciturnity, and hesitation which is usual just before day. The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, and the great flame-shaped Sun-stone beyond them; and the Stone of Sacrifice midway. Presently the night wind died out, and the quivering little pools in the cup-like hollows of the stones lay still.”
Overall: This was a multilayered and extremely dense blend of anti-romantic and bleak tragedy enclosed within the historical and symbolist representation of human misery. Hardy consistently weaves descriptions of rural life during the Victorian era and the eerie forebodings of disasters in the plot. Tess, the haunting heroine, full of paradoxes, appears to disown her unflinching fate. And yet, despite the pessimism, there is an ecstatic beauty that radiates from the lyrical style that is as nuanced as it is sensitive.
Victorian-Morality, Violence, Decline
“The band of silver paleness along the east horizon made even the distant parts of the Great Plain appear dark and near; and the whole enormous landscape bore that impress of reserve, taciturnity, and hesitation which is usual just before day. The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light, and the great flame-shaped Sun-stone beyond them; and the Stone of Sacrifice midway. Presently the night wind died out, and the quivering little pools in the cup-like hollows of the stones lay still.”
Overall: This was a multilayered and extremely dense blend of anti-romantic and bleak tragedy enclosed within the historical and symbolist representation of human misery. Hardy consistently weaves descriptions of rural life during the Victorian era and the eerie forebodings of disasters in the plot. Tess, the haunting heroine, full of paradoxes, appears to disown her unflinching fate. And yet, despite the pessimism, there is an ecstatic beauty that radiates from the lyrical style that is as nuanced as it is sensitive.
The Princess Casamassima by Henry James
4.0
4/5
Revolution, Love, Art
“There is nothing original about me at all. I am very young and very ignorant; it’s only a few months since I began to talk of the possibility of a social revolution with men who have considered the whole ground much more than I have done. I’m a mere particle in the immensity of the people. All I pretend to is my good faith, and a great desire that justice shall be done”
Overall: It’s great, you should read it—it’s really all about the 1960s!
Revolution, Love, Art
“There is nothing original about me at all. I am very young and very ignorant; it’s only a few months since I began to talk of the possibility of a social revolution with men who have considered the whole ground much more than I have done. I’m a mere particle in the immensity of the people. All I pretend to is my good faith, and a great desire that justice shall be done”
Overall: It’s great, you should read it—it’s really all about the 1960s!
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
4.0
3.5/5
Victorian Preformance, Gender, Sexuality
“The room was bitter cold - so cold it seemed an outrage to take our dresses off and bare our flesh; but an outrage, too, to some more urgent instinct to keep them on. I had been clumsy in the change-room of the theatre, but I was not clumsy now. I stripped quickly to my drawers and chemise, then heard Kitty cursing over the buttons of her gown, and stepped to help her.”
Victorian Preformance, Gender, Sexuality
“The room was bitter cold - so cold it seemed an outrage to take our dresses off and bare our flesh; but an outrage, too, to some more urgent instinct to keep them on. I had been clumsy in the change-room of the theatre, but I was not clumsy now. I stripped quickly to my drawers and chemise, then heard Kitty cursing over the buttons of her gown, and stepped to help her.”