swordvampire's reviews
54 reviews

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man....

The Encounter is a disorientating haze of memory and nostalgia associated with leaving home. Written in many different POVs, completely different styles, and hopping between reports and prose, the novel is purposely confusing.

The English summary does a poor job of selling the book, but in its essence, it is about a professor—Traian Manu—who had defected from the Romanian communist regime and is invited back to his country of birth. Although I think a bare understanding of Romanian history is a must for this, I really think Adameșteanu captures an evocative feel of confusion, nostalgia, and, ultimately, the sense of having no home to return to.

I truly was impacted by this read, and the emotional value of it makes it a no-brainer 5 stars from me.

I got my copy through the library :)

I have thoughts....

Where to start with this one?

I think In Europe’s Shadow does a good job of providing an outsider perspective to the communist regime of Romania that a lot of people outside the country have little understanding of. As a Romanian-American myself, I was raised with my parents and their friends' stories of communism from their childhood, and was looking for another angle and deep-dive into those experiences to better understand. I think Kaplan provides another (not better, per se) perspective on Romania and pulls in a lot of history and anecdotes to make the dauntingly complicated history more approachable for people unfamiliar with the country and its history.

However, this is clearly written by a journalist, full of anecdotes of his travels, and a lot of his biases come through. I would say this is a good entry point to starting your journey to understand Romanian history, but as someone already with an understanding of Romanian history, I was able to discern where the bias was prominent and what actually was useful. Undeniably, the more approachable language is what makes this digestible for an audience looking to learn but aren’t quite historians or academics by nature, but I would dig into the bibliography for a more dry-cut, more objective understanding of communism in Romania.

Alex bait!!!! literalllllly written for ME

Disclaimer: I received an eArc from the author.

Morgan Dante delivers yet another cleverly crafted romance that, despite its dark journey, encourages an earnest hope and desire to survive. King of Hell follows the vampire—Laurențiu—and King of Hell—Paimon—in a dystopian future on a mission of revenge against Laurențiu’s ex-lover. Sure, it’s a road trip, but it's also an expert physical manifestation of a quickly-paced romance, and it works so well.

Dante’s character work was such a delight. The softer moments contrasted with the absurdity of the violence, the delightful amount of tension that tied the characters together, and just every small detail to build them out all cumulated in a story worth devouring. Despite the potential of clutter, with so many things happening, the novel feels grounded, balanced out by the character moments that allow the plot to breathe and continue forward.

As a Romanian-American myself, it was truly a delight to follow along a sarcastic and hopeless vampire that moved beyond the cliche and leaned into the cultural background. Although it would be a little insincere to act like I’m shocked, since I personally helped Dante craft the character, it still meant a lot to me to have such a complex queer Romanian-American character.

And, my beloved Paimon. A capricious, sensitive, violent creature who says the most absurd things. I was utterly delighted by him. I never laughed out loud as much as I did reading his POV and off-hand comments. He worked to balance out Laurențiu’s more somber energy, bringing out the humor underneath the depressing silence. The two worked so well and had some fantastic banter.

A perfect spooky read for all your Halloween needs, I implore every reader with a taste of vampires, and even those without, to pick up this delicious bite of a read.

I am terribly baffled by the popularity of this book.

I got a copy of the book after engaging with parts of the book in my introduction to writing courses, and I am incredibly disappointed. Lamott utilizes an overabundance of ableist and racist anecdotes to convey a sort of dismal expectation of writing, offering advice that is either rather terrible or quite literally taken from a better-known writer.

It is frustrating to see such a Christian approach to writing, and what it means to be a writer is required reading at many academic institutions. It is overbearing and offers very little to a reader, except for the author to feel like she is speaking to something profound. A lot of this novel was Lamott simply speaking in circular ways to justify her poor behavior and general unlikeability.

Quite honestly, I would be concerned about putting this in the hands of new writers because it feels discouraging. I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone read this with the wide array of writing novels available to read.

An absolute must-read for anyone working in visual communication or creative fields.