pkc's reviews
392 reviews

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Circe by Madeline Miller

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

3.5

This book contained multitudes within its deceptively short length. It was such an epic story that sweeping was sometimes necessary to chart the fullest breadth of life possible. The true star of this novel was Circe. A more strong, benevolent, loveable goddess-witch you couldn’t hope to spend 300 odd pages with! 
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
Too heavy for now - I’ll come back to it (maybe paired with an audiobook!)
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

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

4.0

I stuck this one in just before Halloween came to a reluctant end and it was TERRIFYING. Definitely the most out and out scary of Hendrix’s books that I’ve read and so tense. I tore through it all the same. This has the Hendrix balance of scary monster plot mixed with more human elements and I ate it up. Amy was a great protagonist whose journey from reluctant participant to leader (both in life and in her situation) was fully realised in the relatively short story. Also, kudos to the ingenious design of this book. It’s very much a play on Ikea and capitalistic/homemaker philosophies but Hendrix (and I’m sure, the publishers) want you to know that Orsk is DEFINITELY NOT Ikea in any way.
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The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

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dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Part slasher, part study in trauma, this book is as empowering and emotional as it is grisly! I really didn’t like the protagonist for the first 100 odd pages, but she grew into her skin. I don’t think it had the balance of horror and reality that Hendrix’s other books that I’ve read had, but I enjoyed it all the same. I’d have scored higher if not for the slower start.
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Girl Walks into a Bar . . .: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle by Rachel Dratch

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emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

It was fascinating to hear Rachel’s story and have some context about aspects of her career. It was fascinating to hear about her treatment by Hollywood and the archetypes she fills. I also loved hearing her talk about her son and the situation with her son’s father. It had the makings of a gloriously alt romcom. There were times listening when I was so moved by what she was saying that I had tears in my eyes. All in, this is a surprisingly touching and laugh out loud funny memoir from a brilliant comic mind and talent.
Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

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

3.5

I went into this looking for spooks and tension. While I found an embarrassment of tense riches, I didn’t get spooks so much as existential philosophical horror. Brutal, bloody, barbaric and sad, this was maybe too much for me, purely because of the questions raised and feelings produced. I enjoyed it overall and the middle was so strong, but by the end I wanted it to finish. My misgivings are driven by my own tastes - otherwise, really enjoyable and I see why people love this so much!
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I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Terrifying. Genius. Other superlatives I can’t gather right now. 
The Outsider by Stephen King

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.
Stephen King’s later pace is so hard to get into if you’re not in exactly the right mood. I fell foul AGAIN
Fraternity by Andy Mientus

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

5.0

I thought this might be a spooky witchy occult book, which it was in lots of ways, but it was also a gorgeous found family queer story set at a time when such found families were looked up derisively. The book is set in 1991, while America and the world still reels from the impact of AIDS at Blackfriars School for boys in the fictional town of Adders Lair in Massachusetts. It was a book that was shocking, scary, joyful, funny, sexy. Any superlative you can think of probably applies here.
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