issyd23's reviews
141 reviews

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

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

3.0

Monty Kipps and Howard Beasley deserve to be in jail! 3🖼️

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Consent Laid Bare: sex, entitlement & the distortion of desire by Chanel Contos

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Fuck yeah Chanel!!! 

Insightful read for those with limited knowledge on gender, sex and feminism or with an honours degree in the subject.

Contos knows her shit and has done her research, she even name checks one of my fave feminist scholars Raewyn Connell! 

Thanks for making the world a safer place 5👏

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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective 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

4.0

What I would give for a read The Last Front fanfic written by a white woman! The most petty obnoxious protagonist; enjoyed every minute of it 4🥞

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Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

4.0

Beautiful, moving, heartbreaking: ‘Time is a motherfucker’. 

Highlights include: Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker. 

‘In my language, the one I recall now only by closing my eyes, the word for love is Yêu.
And the word for weakness is Yếu.’ 4⏳

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Brutes by Dizz Tate

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Use of second person voice was compelling, story too slow 2👯‍♀️

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The Girls by Emma Cline

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

4.0

Like a more interesting version of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 4⭐️

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

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

5.0

Holy fucking shit this nocked my socks off! The prose are phenomenal & moving. Not bad for a virgin with no friends who died at 30 from TB 5🪦

Joanne Froggatt also fucking slayed the audiobook 5🪦

NB Nelly doesn’t get paid enough to deal with all the BS from the Lintons + Earnshaws - get a better employer girl! 

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Adult Drama by Natalie Beach

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

2.0

Boring & bland. Wanted to love this & Natalie but couldn’t. Impatiently awaiting Caroline’s book/version of events 2🐬

None of the essays are better or more compelling than the one she wrote on Calloway in the Cut. 
What a shame that the most interesting thing about her is her fractured friendship to Calloway 10+ years prior. 

To people that don’t know the background on the Calloway-Beach drama it’s basically My Brilliant Friend but with WASPs and Instagram.

I have so many Qs after reading including:
  • why was she disinvited to Elaine’s wedding?
  • why is she no longer on speaking terms with her group of close friends from her early 20s?

Ahhhh! 

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Emma by Jane Austen

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

4.0

Cute but weird he’s often referred to as a ‘brother’ + is 16 years her senior + was in love with her since she was 13??! 4🕯️

NB Mrs Bates vs Mrs Norris talk off - who would win? 🥊

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Circe by Madeline Miller

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Welcome to Αἰαία, see the pigs transform from humans. Welcome to Αἰαία, hope you like Circe you ain’t leaving. Caroline Polachek would love it here 4🏝️

I love how intricate names in Greek mythology are: Helios, Pasiphaë, Minos, Aeëtes & then there’s literally Jason!💀

NB Fuck, marry, kill: Odysseus, Achilles, Paris (in that order) 🏛️

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