loischanel's reviews
312 reviews

An American Marriage was such an emotionally stirring read that reflects a much bigger societal issue that still threatens ethnic minorities, particularly in the deep South of the United states. I felt very moved by this book and would encourage all to read it.

I loved the writing which seems to take on several different styles, e.g. epistolary, POV, monologue, etc.. and as I listened to the audiobook it made the experience feel more authentic as I listened to the vernacular and other cultural references that personified these characters.

Explosive, hilarious and uniquely captivating in its portrayal of the magical fantasy genre. Little Witch Academia is about a young girl called Akko Kagari who has dreamt of going to a secret school for Witches called Luna Nova so she can become like her idol, Shiny Chariot. She is a typical protagonist with a big heart, a big mouth and a determination which when coupled with her big heart and her big mouth almost always finds her in some sort of trouble.

I loved the sense of magical adventurism in this manga and the unique spin it puts on the genre. I love those Luna Nova uniforms!

The Mastery Of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz is a good vibes only spiritualistic self-help book by a so-called Toltec who refer to themselves as 'Naguals' or artists of love and spirit, whose teachings are steeped in finding freedom and happiness by expressing love.
This book is so exhaustingly flowery that I feel the overwhelming need to be blunt about it, by contrast. I do accept and appreciate the larger meaning being expanded upon in what is otherwise an over-glorified and convoluted structural mess. That's not to say this book is a total flop, there are some isolated moments of pure gold!

the sun and her flowers is filled with empowering, seductive and heartfelt poetry. I love the free flowing emjambement style of these free verse poems and I didn't feel like the concepts were positioned in so abstract a way that I felt completely lost. I can hardly fault this book except for a few poems that felt less like artistry and more like a repetition of truisms and facts (almost like a newspaper article..ok that's a bit harsh). In any case Rupi kuar makes poignant expressions on such things as immigration, female voice and empowerment, self-love, mental health etc and she does so beautifully with language that is both sparse yet vibrant.

In this novel all about motherhood, Etsuko is an older woman, originally from Japan but now living in rural England. She receives a visit from her daughter, Nikki, causing her to reminisce about her first daughter, Keiko who committed suicide many years ago. Etsuko is also reminded of a former time back in Nagasaki in the aftermath of the second world war of an old friend named Sachiko whose relationship with her daughter, Mariko suddenly seems startlingly familiar to her own with Keiko.

This novel has all the quiet muted tones of a simplistic narrative that is also very powerful. The significance of the poetic irony wasn't lost on me though I for the most part found the novel to be wholly disinteresting.

I also think that certain things could've done with better development, such as the path that finally lead to Keiko's suicide, which we learn next to nothing about. I get that Keiko's troubled youth is somewhat mirrored in Mariko, especially when you consider the fact that the narrative sometimes switches between referring to Mariko by her name and "the little girl."

I believe Ishiguro's novel was powerfully written but for some reason it failed to have any lasting impact on me, probably because too much of the story was implied and left much to supposition.

The Kite Runner is about one man's journey into reconciling with past against the backdrop of the adversities faced by Afghanis as a result of both the Soviet occupation in the late seventies and the Taliban dictatorship twenty years later.

Amir and Hassan are like brothers. They both love stories, pulling mischief and kites, both flying them and running them down. Except for the fact that Amir is the privileged superior one and Hassan the humble and poor slave of little means. Hassan is extremely virtuous and loyal to Amir which Amir sometimes exploits until his actions finally lead him down a guilty path from which he seeks redemption.

After reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, of course I had to pick up this book with all its critical acclaim and it did not disappoint! The Kite Runner is deeply stirring and I loved it! The writing is effortless and visual perfectly setting the scene and resonates with the reader in its reflections of more the upsetting themes.

I expected to rate this book 5 stars especially given how invested and how close I felt to some of the characters and the well of emotions it uncapped in me, but reading some passages felt a bit laboured. Also though the internal conflict and search for redemption does give Amir's character depth, I didn't find him to be very likeable as a protagonist until well into the story.

All in all, this book warrants an easy recommendation!

Milkman is about an 18-year-old girl whose rumoured but ultimately imagined affair with the mysterious and widely disliked Milkman, shines a light of the severity of the political "troubles" prevalent in Northen Ireland during the seventies.

Middle sister, the protagonist, is from a small town with a small community that likes to gossip about and shun those who don't conform to traditional and widely accepted cultural norms. And so she finds herself at the mercy of her community when a "Milkman" a so-called Renouncer of the state, suddenly takes an interest to her, which together with her 'perverse' habit of reading whilst walking has the community talking and more dangerous figures watching..

I listened to the Milkman audiobook, published by Clipper Audio Books and narrated by Brid Brennan. Unfortunately the audiobook was a trial trialsome, cumbersome listen that I wanted to DNF on more than one occasion. After listening to this book, I've come to the conclusion that reading it as opposed to listening to it would've produced a better impression as I do feel like the writing was cleverly and wittily composed. However, this book takes every expression, every word uttered, every hand gesture, practically every item (animate or inanimate) and puts it under a massive political microscope that is dissected so thoroughly so that all possible angles are examined to the point where I found it hard to maintain focus or interest.

Love Hina is about a young man, Keitaro Urashima who keeps trying and failing to get into the prestigious Tokyo U university to fulfil a childhood promise he made. He decides to visit his grandmother at the Hinata Hotel which she owns and study to retake the entrance exam, but upon arriving at the hotel, he finds that his grandmother is gone off on a world tour and the hotel converted into a girls dorm, run by his Aunt.

The only reason why I didn't award this manga one star is because of the comedy factor where there were isolated moments of humour that I found quite funny and it's a very short read which I finished very quickly.

However I found it extremely difficult to reconcile the flagrant abuse levelled at Keitaro by the girls in the dorm with the simultaneously incongruous harem factor. It almost seems that this manga is the manifestation of the main character of the artist's subconscious need to be abused because of some deep rooted childhood trauma involving their mothers. For example, when Keitaro learned that he was to become the landlord of the dorm, the girls set about making his life miserable by forcing him to do a great many chores, all of which he does not realizing that the girls have put him up to it.

I did like some moments of the comedy but overall this manga just wasn't for me not even as a guilty pleasure graphic novel, it was unfortunately a badly translated, reverse misandrist mess.

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love is a collection of short stories all set in New York during the early sixties. A very lyrical, poetic and fiery set of stories. Conversely, the meaning of some stories felt utterly lost on me and felt altogether forgettable and vague.