historyofjess's reviews
2097 reviews

Ooof. This was a slog. It’s very overwritten and, for a memoir, often seems far more interested in the thoughts and lives of others than her own. Occasionally it seemed liked there were actual nuggets of something interesting in here but the writing and the jumbled format made any real sense of purpose utterly incoherent. 

This book started out really interesting, but as it expanded into the other character's stories, it lost me a bit. Erin's story did a good job of exposing you to the world, as well as the tone of the story, but the other two characters weren't nearly as engaging to me and the expansion of the world, from their perspective just didn't work as well.

I really liked returning to this world and these characters. However, this volume seemed a bit drawn out to me. I liked the shape of the story and the journey the central characters went on but the pace felt a bit off, especially in the first half of the book. It's still a good big, I just wish it had been a bit tighter in the execution.

For some reason this was implanted in me as a book I "should have" read when I was younger. I can't tell you why except that I liked to read a lot of fantasy. It's possible I might have liked this more if I had read it younger, but the more I slogged through this, I don't think I would've enjoyed it a lot. Part chosen one story, part war story, there just wasn't a lot in here that got me interested and excited about what was going to happen next. I never felt particularly attached to any of the characters (maybe Constance, but even she was pretty thinly drawn). There was just a lot of, "oh, this again."

I'm of two minds about this adaptation. It's been awhile since I've read this series and the TV series is a little more fresh in my mind. I'm not entirely certain that audio is the best format for this story. It's such a visually imaginative work that I feel like a lot is lost in just describing some of the visuals rather than being able to see them either in artwork or cinematically. And, of course, it's a bit rough to hear Gaiman's voice narrate this given all the gross stories that have arisen about him.

Woof. I know that Jaws is often talked about as one of those books wherein the movie is way better than the novel. Still, I somehow made the decision to read it and, yes, I can confirm that this sentiment is very true. There are actually some interesting seeds of what makes the film brilliant in here—in particular, the opening, which I think Spielberg adapted to match the feel of what happens in the book very well. But there so much extra crap in here that does not add to the man vs. nature element of this story.

I'll break down some of what drove me batty about this book. I'm not going to spoiler tag, so proceed at your own risk.

1. I remember hearing about the affair between Brody's wife and Hooper when hearing about the sub-par nature of this book, but as awful as that sounds, the execution of it is much more atrocious. Benchley doesn't write women well at all and there's a bit of a dirty old man streak running through several parts of this book and it really hits its peak when, in trying to flirt with Hooper during lunch at a restaurant, Ellen starts talking about her rape fantasies. It was incredibly cringe-inducing even before it got a little racist.

2. For some reason, there's a side plot line between Brody's buddy and town official (he's kind of the Mayor character from the movie, but a lot less compelling) who got mixed up with mob debt and so he keeps pushing Brody to open the beaches because his and the mob's money are all tied up in Amity real estate. It's needlessly complicated and resolves in a very "huh, so I guess that happened" way. And, if you've seen the film and lived in America, you know that it doesn't take some giant land scheme to manipulate town officials into this kind of action. It's even more strange because the book harps on even more about how much Amity depends on summer revenue and that everyone in the town will be on welfare by winter if the beach money doesn't come through. It's completely pointless and boring storyline.

3. The real issue is that none of these characters are remotely likable. Brody bears no resemblance to the affable Roy Scheider. He's hot-tempered, jealous (not without reason, his wife is cheating on him) and he doesn't have that fresh-on-the-island fear of the ocean to make him relatable (which means there's no "it's only an island if you look at it from the water"). Hooper doesn't get that giddy excitement about the shark until way late in the book and before then he's rich cad who doesn't have any of the charm Dreyfuss added to the character...he's also painted as something of a lady's man that all the Amity women are swooning over, which just feels weird. Quint doesn't show up until very late in the book and while there might be more similarities to his film character than the other two, it's still missing any of the charm.

And part of the reason the charm is missing from all three of these dudes is that they all absolutely hate each other. You don't get the scar swapping scene. You don't get Quint's monologue about the USS Indianapolis. They just bicker about the right way to catch and kill the shark until all but one of them are dead and the book abruptly ends.

If anything, I'm kind of amazed at that they spun such a compelling film and such iconic film characters out of this thing because it has nothing like the heart and soul at the center of the movie. But I guess that's why Spielberg is one of the most well-regarded filmmakers of his time and Peter Benchley is known for...writing a book that was worse than the movie it was based on.

This was a perfectly fine book for what it is. I've followed John August's career for awhile, and I'm always impressed by the different forms of writing that he tackles. If he hadn't written this, I probably wouldn't have even bothered because I don't read a ton of middle grade books. It's an interesting setting with a lot of intrigue and fun supernatural elements. I can't say I was super invested in any of the kid characters, though. They're camaraderie was compelling, but on an individual basis, they mostly just seemed to slot into the archetypes that often make up this type of book. I found myself much more intrigued by the older characters in the story, who seemed to have a lot more going on that they were hiding from Arlo, either for his own good or for theirs.

Not sure if I'll bother picking up the subsequent books in the series, but I'm a tiny bit curious about some of the elements resolve, so we'll see if I change my mind about that at some point.

Hell, yes! When I started looking into learning more about perimenopause, I quickly found that I was side-stepping a lot of the minefields that come with tackling any "women's" subject matter and this book jumped out like a diamond in the rough. No, not just because of the title or the catchy flames on the cover, but the prospect of a book about peri written by a queer person that did not identify as a woman, sounded like the exact angle that hadn't been addressed by all the myriad of volumes touting the same old advice that people with vaginas deal with regardless of what stage of life they or their bodies are at.

Corinna tackles peri and all its accompanying uncomfortable aspects as not only a nonbinary person, but also as a person with a disability, a neurodivergent person, a feminist and someone for whom peri has been extra. And they manage to do all that with a bit of a sense of humor, as well. To top it off, they have many years of being a sex educator behind them, so they know how to talk about the female sex organs in a no nonsense way and are very prepared to give you advice on how sex and sexuality may be altered during peri and after menopause.

I was also heartened that Corinna just seems to know and listen to all the right people. Throughout the book, they quote and reference folks that I've looked up to in the feminist, disability justice and fat activist spaces, not to mention the owner of my favorite sex toy shop in Chicago.

This is just a really refreshing book that I can't recommend enough and I know I'll be returning to it as my own journey through peri continues.

This was a fascinating and quick read that I would recommend to anybody. Kincaid does in incredible job of expressing love for her home country, while also seething with anger over the way it has been treated by colonizers, tourists and criminals that have used it for their own ends without any care for the people that actually live there. It's a beautiful essay filled with so much emotion and I'm so thankful it exists.

This kind of felt like a cheeky version of America Ferrara's monologue in Barbie...but longer...and not as funny as I expected it to be. The audiobook included a small gathering of articles that Cooper wrote very much in this style for publications and I can understand how this type of humor can inspire chuckles in a brief, pithy format, but in the context of a full-length book, it kind of felt like the same joke was being made over and over again and I got bored with it really fast.