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mariambeldiii's reviews
50 reviews
Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi
4.0
“To live, it’s not enough to be alive.”
trigger warning for suicide, suicidal thoughts and ideation.
marjane satrapi you have bloody done it again! So brilliant and in form of illustration. Literature in painting is such a great form of art!!!
I loved Ali’s and Irane’s story - Ali couldn’t forget Irane even after 4 children, a wife and grandchildren, and that ended up killing him.
“A true love story” as his master told him. So sad :(
trigger warning for suicide, suicidal thoughts and ideation.
marjane satrapi you have bloody done it again! So brilliant and in form of illustration. Literature in painting is such a great form of art!!!
I loved Ali’s and Irane’s story - Ali couldn’t forget Irane even after 4 children, a wife and grandchildren, and that ended up killing him.
“A true love story” as his master told him. So sad :(
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5.0
“They smashed up things and creatures and retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would!!!
Absolutely brilliant - So many themes to touch on, I can’t get them all out - Love, fake? love, old-money and new-money, capitalism, the rich americans, yearning, YEARNING!! possession, infatuation, limerence - just ugh!!!
I LOOOVED Daisy’s and Gatsby’s story, I loved their complexities, I loved their fakeness and insincerity, i loved their passionate and all-consuming love!!
I loved Gatsby’s yearning, reaching for something that he will never get to have, and perhaps when he did he would not want it anymore!!
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would!!!
Absolutely brilliant - So many themes to touch on, I can’t get them all out - Love, fake? love, old-money and new-money, capitalism, the rich americans, yearning, YEARNING!! possession, infatuation, limerence - just ugh!!!
I LOOOVED Daisy’s and Gatsby’s story, I loved their complexities, I loved their fakeness and insincerity, i loved their passionate and all-consuming love!!
I loved Gatsby’s yearning, reaching for something that he will never get to have, and perhaps when he did he would not want it anymore!!
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
4.0
“As I passed below the haloes of the green and red traffic signals, I was taken by this strange view of the evening, the city streets full of people— people waiting, the people they were waiting for, people out to eat together, people going somewhere together, people heading home together. I allowed my thoughts to settle on the brightness filling their hearts and lungs, squinting as I walked along and counted all the players of this game I would never play.”
What a mindfuck to finish this book and see Mitski on the same day (her performance was very fitting to the vibes of this book)
Kawakami is something else entirely! Her manner of writing is so brilliant to me. Much like Breast & Eggs, the main character is involved with books as a career, which i think she likes to incorporate because of her own life, and much like Heaven, theres a single, unnecessarily extra sexual moment in the book that comes really out of the blue.
One thing though - the representation of alcoholism was a tad unrealistic. The way Fuyoko fell INTO the addiction is realistic, but her way of thinking and the way she comes out of it is not realistic at all - i’m not sure if the depression at the end was meant to be part withdrawal symptoms, but no clear mention was made of her alcohol issue after she quit “for” Matsusuke.
Obviously the ending was literally so shocking and heartbreaking for the poor girl. Hijiri is also a twat at the end but I loved her development from someone Fuyoko idolised to someone she disagreed with, but I can see where Hijiri symphasisers come from.
Also, how come Matsusuke knows so much about physics and the light if he wasnt really a physics teacher? Also, why lie? Why the scar? So many unaswered questions - but still, really good! Those things arent the main point anyway!
What a mindfuck to finish this book and see Mitski on the same day (her performance was very fitting to the vibes of this book)
Kawakami is something else entirely! Her manner of writing is so brilliant to me. Much like Breast & Eggs, the main character is involved with books as a career, which i think she likes to incorporate because of her own life, and much like Heaven, theres a single, unnecessarily extra sexual moment in the book that comes really out of the blue.
One thing though - the representation of alcoholism was a tad unrealistic. The way Fuyoko fell INTO the addiction is realistic, but her way of thinking and the way she comes out of it is not realistic at all - i’m not sure if the depression at the end was meant to be part withdrawal symptoms, but no clear mention was made of her alcohol issue after she quit “for” Matsusuke.
Obviously the ending was literally so shocking and heartbreaking for the poor girl. Hijiri is also a twat at the end but I loved her development from someone Fuyoko idolised to someone she disagreed with, but I can see where Hijiri symphasisers come from.
Also, how come Matsusuke knows so much about physics and the light if he wasnt really a physics teacher? Also, why lie? Why the scar? So many unaswered questions - but still, really good! Those things arent the main point anyway!
A Spy In the House of Love by Anaïs Nin
5.0
“I slept with war, all night I slept with war once. I received deep war wounds into my body, as you never did, a feat of arms for which I will never be decorated.”
Brilliance in book form. The way Nin writes about sex is unparralleled - she manages to capture the intimacy and vulnerability of it, as well as the actually animalistic and erotic part of it, without making it sexy or sexual. She writes about sex as if it was art!!
The title of the book is also one of the best i’ve ever heard of - It applies so well, yet it sounds a tad old-fashioned at first
Child of the night theme was really nice. Overall the prose and writing style is one of the most beautiful
Brilliance in book form. The way Nin writes about sex is unparralleled - she manages to capture the intimacy and vulnerability of it, as well as the actually animalistic and erotic part of it, without making it sexy or sexual. She writes about sex as if it was art!!
The title of the book is also one of the best i’ve ever heard of - It applies so well, yet it sounds a tad old-fashioned at first
Child of the night theme was really nice. Overall the prose and writing style is one of the most beautiful
A Boring Story by Anton Chekhov
3.0
I personally loved this one - lovely to read from a professors point of view.
I love how often the themes of medicine and doctors and medical school come up in Chekhovs stories - shows his university days :)
I love how often the themes of medicine and doctors and medical school come up in Chekhovs stories - shows his university days :)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5.0
Even reading this book is quite controversial but I dont think books should be disregarded purely because of what is written inside them is disgusting and taboo.
No one claims that this book is good because of what its written about, but it certainly is one of the most beautiful writing that I’ve seen, to the extent that it accomplishes what it wants to convey. Humbert is unreliable, psycho, disgusting and the way he conveys Dolores to be some sort of temptress when she is purely a child is chilling. Nabokov wrote the unreliable narrator very very well
Regardless of the fact that its such a hard topic to read about, the book is disgustingly and horrifyingly good. Nabokovs way of writing so beautifully about something so disgusting is an entrancing juxtaposition and were it not for the constant breaks I had to take to even read this, I’m sure I would have finished sooner.
I’m fairly certain some sickos out there will use it to ease their urges/temptations which is what makes me particularly queasy and nervous to be rating it a five star, but objectively speaking the book is written well.
No one claims that this book is good because of what its written about, but it certainly is one of the most beautiful writing that I’ve seen, to the extent that it accomplishes what it wants to convey. Humbert is unreliable, psycho, disgusting and the way he conveys Dolores to be some sort of temptress when she is purely a child is chilling. Nabokov wrote the unreliable narrator very very well
Regardless of the fact that its such a hard topic to read about, the book is disgustingly and horrifyingly good. Nabokovs way of writing so beautifully about something so disgusting is an entrancing juxtaposition and were it not for the constant breaks I had to take to even read this, I’m sure I would have finished sooner.
I’m fairly certain some sickos out there will use it to ease their urges/temptations which is what makes me particularly queasy and nervous to be rating it a five star, but objectively speaking the book is written well.
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
1.0
One or two poems that I liked (out of like 150) but everything else is just observation or statements broken up in random parts of the sentence to make “poetry.”
They’re impactful for sure but this isn’t poetry (dont tell me everything is poetry bc thats not what i mean rn)
They’re impactful for sure but this isn’t poetry (dont tell me everything is poetry bc thats not what i mean rn)
The Judgement by Franz Kafka
3.0
a boy at the library asked me for my number whilst reading this so i will be purchasing another Kafka book after this for good luck
for F(
for F(
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
3.0
Picked it up in a charity shop purely because its Orwells work and a really nice find!
The constant complaining about the money and society and how women are towards those without money is really touching and interesting. Its a shame that Gordons character is so evil and indulging whereas the things he are saying are technically right.
I did enjoy the fact that he sold out - it shows that Ravelstons warnings with his speech about how you cant survive in a system that hasn’t changed were true.
Those who wish to fight against Capitalism can barely live like people if they don’t indulge in it somehow whilst the system is in place and its bitter but its true
Anywhooo really nice book! Nicely written and I like the slight passion v art dilemma going on with Gordon and his poems but I trruuuuly despised his character and the way he treated Julia. Rosemary deserves better!
The constant complaining about the money and society and how women are towards those without money is really touching and interesting. Its a shame that Gordons character is so evil and indulging whereas the things he are saying are technically right.
I did enjoy the fact that he sold out - it shows that Ravelstons warnings with his speech about how you cant survive in a system that hasn’t changed were true.
Those who wish to fight against Capitalism can barely live like people if they don’t indulge in it somehow whilst the system is in place and its bitter but its true
Anywhooo really nice book! Nicely written and I like the slight passion v art dilemma going on with Gordon and his poems but I trruuuuly despised his character and the way he treated Julia. Rosemary deserves better!