notesofacrocodile's reviews
235 reviews

i really love that jewelle gomez created such a creative and unique take on vampire fiction; if more vampire fiction was inspired from this one i definitely would have delved more into this subgenre. she incorporates black & indigenous people and their struggles into the narrative, exploring racism, misogyny, queerness, & the concept of community, particularly among queer people. i find it so cool that she inverted the popular perception of vampires as being selfish/draining into a state of growth and learning instead. i just want to give gilda and her friends a big, huge hug.

sally rooney has literally never disappointed me.

i always get taken aback when i find out just how closely and deeply personally she knows her characters in her writing. each character picks at a thought and sits with it and thinks about it and every intricacy of the act of doing so is just expressed in such an impossibly intimate manner. absolutely crazy.

i honestly thought that this was a biography of ayyankali with a special focus on his mobilisation and resistance efforts, but only the the third and final chapter actually talked about him ! however, to credit the authors they do mention this in the introduction so that is fine + the first two chapters detail the sociopolitical environment which gave rise to dalit resistance movements, which is very important in order to understand the nature of caste brutality within the specific context.

i really feel like this would translate well into a movie or a tv series.

i knew that this was a horror novel, but i was not prepared for it to be so achingly sad. there was a lot to think about while reading the haunting of hill house; the resounding lifelong effect of an abusive childhood, the empty loneliness of a young woman unsure of who she is and where she belongs, a house with a history of leading its inhabitants into great misery and misfortune, and so on. 

i do think that if anyone goes into this expecting it to be like the netflix show, then they are going to be extremely disappointed because it has nearly nothing in common with the show, with the exception of some names, perhaps. this book is a work of its own, and will be staying on in my mind for a good long while.

i am so devastated right now. one of my most favourite contemporary novels featuring grief as a major theme, i think. i still feel a bit hazy, to be honest. there is so much to ponder over, so much that still remains concealed under layers of mystery. by the end of this novel though, i was near tears.

this is probably not a book for readers who are searching for something fast-paced. but be assured, i don't think the slow pace is detrimental to the story; it complements it perfectly, there is this sense of slowly settling and absorbing into a quiet, swelling grief. i had a bit of a difficulty settling into the pace at the beginning (the last thing i read was a fast-paced novella) but once i managed to settle in, i just could not tear myself away from it. the prose is also gorgeous, perfect for literary descriptions of the sea. i am looking forward to reading more from julia armfield, for sure.

i wanted a fast-paced horror and i got that with this one; an interesting twist on the horror trope of possession. looks into themes of colonisation, religion, and young working class womanhood.