ramonaleanna's reviews
104 reviews

David's Story by Zoë Wicomb

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challenging slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

i picked this up because i absolutely loved Wicomb's You Can't Get Lost In Cape Town. this one was a lot tougher to follow (for me at least)!

it is a postmodern text that seems to be aware of the strain it puts on the reader--its nonlinear structure mirrors the narrator's own confusion with David's retelling of his story, and the voices and characters all seem to flow into each other with very little distinction, making it hard to tell who is speaking and when. i know this was done intentionally to reflect the subject matter, but nonetheless it was difficult to get through and i consistently had to reread passages to reacclimate myself to what was going on upon picking the book back up. this all being said, there were some moments and musings i did enjoy.
Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The Great Short Stories Of De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have to say I really enjoyed the majority of this collection. I find his writing style lovely, and it was refreshing to see a variety in length and theme—some were short and witty, others haunting, and a few sagas containing multiple parts (none failing to capture my complete interest throughout)!
On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry

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challenging hopeful reflective

3.0

I enjoyed this in part because of all it made me consider although her arguments felt a bit convoluted at times. Huge leaps were made, tangents committed to,  and in a way it felt like more of a stream-of-consciousness with beauty and justice as the starting points—too much academic jargon to be a letter to a friend, yet highly personal (I read a review that said it felt dramatic, maybe even overwrought, and I can see the merit in that opinion as well). Not something I’m likely to revisit but glad I gave it a try!
Collected Stories by Gabriel García Márquez

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town by Zoë Wicomb

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challenging emotional reflective
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Fault Lines: A Memoir by Meena Alexander

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

Bits of this were challenging for me because of how poetic her prose is - its not a genre I'm usually into - but that's part of what I appreciated about it so much. It was so uniquely her, style and structure-wise, that it felt refreshing to read while giving me a lot to consider about language, identity, gender, culture, I could go on. A lot of people have written about these things but she did it in a way that didn't feel redundant, and was personal yet inclusive. 
Gabriel Garcia Marquez 3 volume set: Strange Pilgrims, Love in the Time of Cholera, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

4.0

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