katokaitlyn's reviews
78 reviews

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Man I devoured this book. While sometimes the word choice was peculiar and the writing style distracting, overall this was a super immersive and stunningly written story about collaboration, work, friendship, and (my fave!) the old school game industry. As a vintage game streamer, I was so excited to see the Laura Bow series and Grim Fandango mentioned. It’s a book that clearly loves gaming and that made it specially beautiful to me.
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

Go to review page

dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I didn’t love it as much as Mellors’s debut, but this book ends in a beautiful and heart wrenching gut punch. It has a well formulated beginning, a strangely paced middle (that at times gets confusing and time jumps in unintuitive ways), and a stunning and emotionally startling ending. If you like Mellors, read it.
Educated by Tara Westover

Go to review page

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Truly one of the best books—and certainly one of the most compelling memoirs—I’ve read to date. Parts of this I understood viscerally as someone who survived fundamentalism; other parts gripped and shook me to my core. It’s a must read.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Go to review page

informative medium-paced

3.75

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Genuinely amazing book and a reminder of what I love about Zadie Smith. However!!! A bit slow at parts and while I could see what she wanted to do in terms of pacing for the last act, it didn’t feel super well developed.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Go to review page

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

3.5

It’s so close to being a book I loved but the build up between Mattie and Ethan is confusingly nonexistent in that Mattie’s motivations seem poorly drawn (likely just a weakness of the narrative style—maybe?) but otherwise I really enjoyed this. I think it was a very solid introduction to Wharton’s work before trying out House of Mirth
Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi

Go to review page

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

2.75

Man, I wanted to love this book because I love Oyeyemi’s work. And there are moments where this book really sparkles with the same life as her earlier works but it somewhat loses itself in the chaos of the mythical Prague and in its own messaging about literature and our personal experiences with the literary. I wanted to love it and I found it dragging endlessly like a poorly done The Master and Margarita.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I am obsessed with this book. A friend recommended it while I was deep in a reading slump and I’m so so so glad she did. It was everything.
My Husband by Maud Ventura

Go to review page

emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

Look, it’s fine. I liked the first book better, mainly because this one dragged on a little bit. Also, for some reason, the plot was a bit confused + merry and it was difficult to care TONS about characters I had cared about in Ninth House. Super weird. But the book is an ok sequel.