bookedbymadeline's reviews
907 reviews

Thank you to netgalley and Little A for the eARC!

The novel is told through two POVs and timelines, Dore in 1929 and Mallory in 2020. Both women’s stories take place on Floreana, which is a small island on the southern end of the Galapagos archipelago.

I liked Dore’s chapters the best because I could relate to her struggle through infertility, and her chapters were the most compelling! Mallory is in Floreana to escape her life back in Boston and to help with building nests to try and increase/protect the Penguin populations. Her chapters were more difficult to feel engaged with because they were more telling over showing, which I personally don’t enjoy.

The middle slumped a bit as it became slower paced and mundane in its details. But I appreciated the atmospheric setting descriptions and learning about animals/conservation efforts! I was also intrigued to find out this was based loosely on a true story 🤯

One of the secrets revealed was predictable from the start, but the rest of them were well executed surprises. This was an emotional read exploring grief, motherhood, environmental issues, and what it means to be human!

A recollection of Truth’s speeches, as recorded and remember by others. There’s also a few essays from other feminists at the time.

An important work of feminist and abolitionist speeches/writings!

Slow start but by a third of the way through I was hooked, reading 100+ pages a day 🤭

It was so atmospheric and adventurous! I loved being in this world and getting to know Scottish folklore. It can be really dark at times because of the violence but overall I enjoyed it just as much as the show. I’ll eventually check out book 2 but I’m in no rush seeing as my library doesn’t have it (and I have so many other-shorter-series to still finish)! 

It’s sooo boring 😭 go on Lynn give us nothing for pages at a time! And after reading reviews I’d rather not push through for some more internalized misogyny “he kidnapped me but I love him now” bullshit

I was honestly just bored and not engaged. It’s not anything new so far that I haven’t already learned so unfortunately the book is already a bit dated and surface level compared to other sources. Which I fear may be the case for a lot of the Pluto Press books I picked up (and still have to read) back in 2021/2022

 Discusses history of diet culture, media’s influence, how to overcome your own issues around body image, and is also part memoir as Light shared her own experiences around body image and eating disorders.

I liked that it’s inclusive in addressing the racism rooted in fatphobia as well as classism of labeling food as “good” or “bad” and issues like food deserts. I will say as someone with health problems, i had a more difficult time with the “view your body as a vessel and how it functions rather than an object” when for me and maybe many others who are disabled or chronically ill can feel angry at our bodies sometimes for not “functioning or being healthy” like others. But the author said herself she is coming to this from a perspective of being straight, cis, and able bodied so she mostly touches on that experience since she can’t speak accurately on others.

Overall it’s a good starter book if you’re new to this journey! I’ve read other books on the subject, one of which she quotes from, so most of this information wasn’t new to me. It’s good to serve as a reminder/refresher though and I’d recommend if you’re starting your recovery journey and not ready to read a heavier/more niche book (like ones that focus exclusively on intuitive eating, fatphobia culture, etc) just yet🩷

Author shares stories of his time as a border patrol agent. He says he joined to work outside and try to “understand the border.” Although he doesn’t shy away from the inhumane actions of BP agents, he detaches himself from it sort of like saying “this is what happens and what other agents do BUT NOT ME” 🙃

Disjointed with bouncing between facts/history, Cantù’s personal stories, and his dreams with no transitions or chapter breaks. 

This man worked here for years to uphold the system instead of question or challenge it, which goes to prove that no matter your good intentions you’ll only become part of the unjust system. He had a college degree studying the border but felt like he had to work the field to “better understand it” as if studying it doesn’t already teach you about the inhumane policies that you’ll be enforcing…anyways fuck border patrol

Author details her experience in Occupied France under Germany and the collaborationist Vichy government, as a Polish Jewish woman. First chapter felt rushed and had a lot of info dumping. I would’ve loved to take more time getting to learn about the bookshop and how Frenkel’s work was affected during the 1930s. This often read like a novel, moving quickly and holding my attention for long periods of time after I got through the hump of the first chapter.

It was strangely never discussed but she had a husband the whole time?! They got separated and he ended up being killed in one of the camps but he was never mentioned in the book which felt sad and confusing, especially since she made a comment to a friend about needing to marry for French citizenship when she was apparently already married.

The book mainly focused on how Frenkel had to escape Paris and went into hiding, moving around France, for much of WW2. Overall an emotional, moving story about her escape and the kindness of those that helped her! It feels like a very important book to remember that community and organizing together can make a difference 🩷

I’d highly recommend if you want a short memoir!

Thank you netgalley and The New Press for the eARC!

As someone who studied both sociology and political science, I was really excited to read this. It was very readable and easily accessible, sometimes reading like a novel.

Hochschild interviews residents across different backgrounds- white, Black, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, middle aged, elderly, youth, republicans, liberal, moderates-across Kentucky’s 5th Congressional district, namely Pikeville. KY-5 is the second poorest and whitest district in the USA.

As she interviews people from all backgrounds to get a full picture, it also meant she interviewed neo nazis like the leader of the March. It was difficult to read his sections because of all the hate he had and denial of things like slavery and the Holocaust.

In 2017 a neo nazi group marched in Pikeville before the infamous Charlottesville March. The area has seen loss of jobs as the coal mines close as well as an increase in opioid drug use/overdoses. Hochschild looks at the residents from 2016-2023 and how they went from Democrats to Republicans so rapidly, while also looking at the history/culture of the region.

This book offers an empathetic view of why many rural residents, specifically in this district, have voted republican. Trying to bridge the gap of republicans and democrats, to approach a conversation and understand each other. Where many interviewees have expressed their feelings of shame and blame from liberals calling them names and stereotyping them as “hillbillies” as well as using ableist language as insults towards them. Hochschild offers a view into their lives to explore the culture and community of eastern Kentucky and how the pride paradox has caused a rift in the US political landscape.

One of the most interesting concepts was the “Pride paradox”- where they blame themselves for failures and have the ‘pick yourself up by the bootstraps mentality’ (Protestant Ethic) and the pride of being hard working, wanting the American dream, and hometown pride as most of the residents have been there all their lives. Essentially “if I succeed it’s because of me, and if I fail it’s my fault.”

I learned a lot of Kentucky and their politics, such as how the state gerrymanders the number of reps they get in the House by including prisoners while still excluding their eligibility to vote which was infuriating. 

Author and subjects look at issues around race, social class, and privilege. One person talked about his feeling shame and anger at stereotypes about being racist because he’s white, poor, and rural and he doesn’t feel heard by any politicians because of his social class (“republicans are rich and racist and democrats don’t seem to care about anything except race, gender, and sexual identity”). He also discussed the idea of privilege and how he feels he has more in common with poor black people than other white people of varying social classes, but because he’s white, people assume he doesn’t know what it’s like to struggle. For this it’s easy to understand because of course he has white privilege compared to POC but he doesn’t have privilege when it comes to social class, but if you just say “privilege” not everyone understands the varying levels and how different it can be even within your own race. Many in the area associate privilege with having an easy “hoity toity” life and they haven’t as many worked hard labor, suffered through addiction, lost jobs, etc.

Some interviewees even discussed how they feel like they have more in common with blue collar Black people and immigrants because of their shared class and economic struggles. But they still vote for trump because he wasn’t like other politicians. It’s a confusing paradox to be sure but it also makes some sense in a way because if your region is hard hit and politicians have been ignoring you/abandoning their constituents until election season, why wouldn’t you take a chance on someone outside of politics? 

As much as I personally disagree with Trump and will never understand how people can ignore how racist, sexist, homophobic he is and still vote for him, I can empathize with their feelings of isolation and hopelessness. Many had lost their jobs, living in poverty, and felt alienated by the Democratic Party as the candidates pushed for things like clean energy whereas these people dedicated their entire lives for generations to coal.

I’d highly recommend if you want to understand the politics and culture of Eastern Kentucky, specifically the Appalachian hollers,  and the shift they had from blue to red. 

TW/CW: racism, holocaust (and holocaust deniers), slavery, child abuse, violence, drug abuse, classism, alcoholism, addiction, suicide, domestic violence, death 

I love art history and was very excited to learn more about John Singer Sargent and his relationship/work with the Wertheimers! Unfortunately this did not work for me. The author clearly did a lot of research but at times it felt completely unnecessary to tell the story, causing the book to be slow, with dry academic writing. At times it felt like I was reading a textbook and I can appreciate the effort to create a full picture of the time period but then why discuss the parents of these figures and their familial history? Too much information led to the main “meat” of the story to be bogged down. I’d recommend if you have a background in art history either via a degree or it’s your career field, but as a casual enthusiast of art history this will not be an enjoyable read