sarah2438's reviews
1046 reviews

I've only read one novel by Alice Hoffman before (The Foretelling) and that was way back in high school. I really enjoyed this one! The pacing was good, despite this being such a short novel with so much to cover. My only complaint is that the ending was very abrupt and felt rushed. I think Hoffman was trying to go for an open ending but really it just felt incomplete, like I was missing the last 30 pages. I don't mind an open ending but there has to be something poignant and deliberate about it that gives the reader something to go off of. Overall, I still recommend and I'll be looking into more Alice Hoffman!

After how much the Barbie movie blew up, I was curious to read about the history of the doll. I believe this was originally published in 1994 but is now being re-released with some changes. It seems to be a pretty comprehensive look at the history of Barbie and the way she has both influenced, and been influenced by, society over the years. Naturally not every aspect of that history is going to appeal to everyone-- I found the financial history of Matel particularly dull, and the talk of collectors and conventions wasn't interesting either. But I think there are some interesting insights into Barbie's intersection with feminism, for example the idea that mothers' reactions to Barbie have affected young girls' body images more than just Barbie herself. One thing I need to comment on though is that the actual Barbie movie was mentioned maybe one time in the introduction. It seems there's been a whole resurgence in Barbie's popularity that can be attributed to that movie, hence the re-release of even this book, so not including a discussion of that felt a bit like taking the easy way out of not wanting to comment on something current. I'm not quite sure what the point of this re-release is, if not to add commentary over a huge development.
**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced audio copy!**

I'm almost a quarter in and I don't care about a single character. All of the 5(?) friends are either very unlikeable or just NPCs there to add filler. And it's annoying to give two MCs (who are also married) the same name. 

I hate giving negative reviews of ARCs but I really, really did not like this one. It's not quite a one-star for me, but it's close-- I would give it 1.5, and that's only because I was intrigued at the start and saw glimpses of good writing. Granted I understand this is a novella, but the worldbuilding felt very poorly done considering how important it was to the plot. Eveen just drove me nuts with her one-dimensional "I'm a badass, look how tough I am" persona. When all of the assassins started coming after them, it almost reminded me of Scooby Doo or something-- "oh no, not HIM! How am I gonna get out of this???" *gets out of it easily* "oh no this person is EVEN WORSE! How am I gonna get out of this?" *gets out of it easily*-- and this was just on loop. This book takes place over the course of about a day but the pacing dragged so much, it just felt endless. Also, I think catchphrases are really only appropriate in bad TV shows, never books. The phrase "Aeril's fiery tits!" occurs SIXTEEN TIMES in this 200-page novela. That's ridiculous, it was so obnoxious. Also, the use of "Edgelords" as a group was SO cringe, even if that was the intention, I couldn't stand it. There were other similar moments where the author was trying to be funny or clever and I just couldn't stand it, especially as the book went on and it became more frequent. Another example is when the borderline-incomprehensible deities use the word "mansplain". I'm so disappointed because I've heard great things about this author but this has put me off their work and I don't think I will be revisiting it. Very curious to see what others think, especially because other early reviews seem to be very positive.

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!**

So cute and punny, a nice break after a heavier read!

So interesting, I loved learning more about deaf culture and their history! I also loved the variety of story tellers and their experiences in the community. It's interesting that this focuses on the lives of young adults but I wouldn't actually consider it a young adult novel, so makes me consider again what the YA genre really is. Highly recommend.

**Following my tradition of only rating a memoir when I genuinely believe it's 4 or 5 stars**
The things that prevent me from giving this a higher rating are 100% on me and my personal reactions to the content, which are due to my dysfunctional relationship with my mother-- no need to get into that here. I had never heard of Michelle before this book started getting all of this critical acclaim, so I had basically no context going into this. 

I can see the potential in the author's writing but oh my lord this book was BORING. A lot of this is on me for blind picking a book off my shelves-- I basically went into it blind and I thought it would be more sci-fi. But it's just lit fic about a Ponzi scheme.

Such an awesome concept, and executed beautifully. The author thought of so many ways the strings would permeate our society and it made me think of different theories as well. It got pretty depressing but I think the end was ultimately uplifting. There's some romance, but it's definitely a secondary plot. It's interesting to see how everyone becomes interconnected. The ending may have been a bit cliche and predictable but I think it was needed.

SPOILERS BELOW

Rachel was dumb and whiny but this was sometimes fun. Mostly very cliche. Also the daughter is entirely a plot device and Rachel never really spends time with her-- it pretty quickly turns into the neighbors babysitting 24/7 so she and Mason can hook up and live the dream. It's pretty awkward when the 3rd act breakup is about her ex trying to get 50/50 custody and Rachel whining about how she's done everything. The most time Rachel spent with her kid was the road trip, aside from that the neighbor or her mom did all of the childcare.