zorhose's reviews
74 reviews

I couldn't put this down until I finished it and I was constantly disturbed throughout. 

The writing is so good and realistic that I had to catch myself throughout wondering if this was based on the actual real life experience of the author, despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the book claiming it wasn't. 
I'm glad the audiobook I listened to included an interview with the author which provided more context and I know that society loves to treat female authors like the only way they could come up with complex stories is if they are autobiographical and I don't want to discredit Russell in that way.

She weaves so many different elements together with ease and creates a story about abuse without seeming preachy, but without sympathizing with the abuser. Vanessa is one of the best written characters I've read about in a while. She feels like someone I could run into on the street.

I enjoy memoirs and admire anyone who has the bravery to open up about their most vunerable moments and Roxane Gay definitely did this here. However, this just fell short for me... nothing about the writing really stood  out and stuck with me and while I do think she brings awareness to some important topics, i personally don't feel like she opened me to a new perspective. I sound harsh and I don't mean to say this book isn't worth a read, but head the content warnings and maybe adjust your expectations.

A short story that's set at Christmas, but is about much more than that.

Historically, the book is interesting, because as a Christmas market enjoyer, it's fun to see how many of the traditions remain.

However most of the book deals with generational trauma, class/poverty, faith, and many other topics. While it doesn't go into depth of a lot of the issues due to the structure of the story, the author still makes many observations and apt remarks, that are sadly proven as quite timeless even today.

Many quotes stood out to me and if I were someone who could highlight while reading without it disrupting my flow I would've certainly done that a lot in this book. Maybe upon a reread.

It did get quite didactic and became more unrealistic towards the end which is why I only gave it 3 stars, but it is a short book, so if you can read German and are looking for an accessible classic to read (especially during Christmas) I would still recommend it.

P. S.: The Insel-Bücherei version (which is probably the most widely available version of the book currently) os accompanied by some lovely illustrations, which really elevate the story and make the book into a cute gift idea as well.

This has been on my shelf for years and I would've picked it up earlier if I had known how quickly it would hook me.

The atmosphere is beautiful and the setting is practically tailored to me as somebody who loves to hang out on graveyards.

Bod and the other characters really connected to me immediately and I think he's a fantastic children's book protagonist.

The episodic nature of the book made it a little slow at times, but the overarching threat and mystery was enough to keep me engaged. Finding out that this book was also at least partially inspired by The Jungle Book made sense and recontextualized some of the stylistic choices to me.

Overall, if I'm crying at the end of a book I think you must have done at least some things right. I would definitely recommend this to middle graders or even as a bed time story for parents with older children (maybe 8+).

This is sweet. Their relationship develops quickly, but in the way that just sometimes naturally occurs. The story itself also doesn't spend a lot of time on exposition, but dives right in, which I don't mind but I would like some more content of their relationship. Luckily the series has two more volumes.

It's a cute lesbian love story and I would definitely recommend it for as something feel good~

This was so boring. I could get into all the ways that this was a poor execution of an interesting concept, but that was the worst. I would've preferred to be offended...

One of the reviews for this book says "Dieser Hitler ist keine Witzfigur", but although he definitely is, the book still isn't funny.

I guess it was a satisfying ending to the mystery, but David went off the rails and not in a good way more in the 🚩🚩🚩🚩 way.

Honestly, should've known from the start that the murderer was the guy with the funko pop collection... but it was kinda annoying to me that he just died, even the confrontation scene was cut pretty short imo

 

This just wasn't for me. Both of our main two characters as well as the plot they find themselves in is unrealistic yet also predictable. Especially the one boy annoyed me. He had a "why does nobody ever care about what happens to me" thing going on, even when it was highly inappropriate (like you can't expect someone to stay stuck in a shitty job just to teach you dancing on her free time, dude)...