book review: the vegetarian

content | misogyny such as: domestic violence, sexual assault, parent to child abuse where the child is an adult; in my opinion restrictive eating and mental illness are used as devices; implications of ableism

my interpretation | I’ve noticed through other reviews and my memory of when this book was big on BookTube, that readers do not agree about the content of this novel, so I feel the need to explain how I interpreted it. For me, this story is some combo of unfunny satire, horror, and literary fiction. I took this story as a showcase of misogyny from the points of view of two men and one woman within a broader culture of misogyny. For me, Yeong-hye’s choice to become a vegetarian being wildly disrespected by everyone around her to the point that she is psychiatrically hospitalized and diagnosed with Schizophrenia and Anorexia is a metaphor for how this and most other societies do not abide by women having any ideological freedom. Add to that the ways she is raped, beaten, objectified, and imprisoned showing her absence of physical freedom as well.

visibility & plot | At first I thought it was too obvious and too simple, and I walked away from Part I thinking it’s another story I’ve read before, only to realize it’s not so much that the story is common but that this story is mine. Whether or not I’ve read this metaphor or allegory or whatever before doesn’t matter because this is what it feels like in this world for people labeled “woman”. The gaslighting of and male gazing upon Young-hye felt so familiar to me that I could have bet I’ve read this story before, only to reflect for days after reading that this story feels like home when your home is a haunted house, when the trappings of your perceived gender are that haunted house. I believe the story wasn’t in Young-hye’s perspective because the only way the narrative works is to objectify her. This works in an especially interesting way in her sister’s POV, the last one of the novel, which shows what it’s like to try to exist (survive?) in a misogynistic world.

I can’t speak to any of the portrayals of Korean culture, though I have a feeling there is a lot more in that regard to unpack and I’m looking forward to finding some reviews which I’ll link back here when I do.

reader health | I believe Young-hye’s diagnoses of Schizophrenia and Anorexia are meant as devices to show the reader how women who think outside the box are classified as disordered. I think the author is challenging us to consider why the world around Young-hye is quick to want to change, punish, or “treat” her. There is even a moment when Young-hye makes some pretty “adult” decisions, and I’m being vague here to avoid spoilers, to which another adult responds by basically saying “she’s crazy, she can’t make these decisions”, taking away her autonomy once again if she ever had it to begin with. This book is a challenging experience, which triggered me and haunted me for weeks, but I believe this is all done intentionally and skillfully by the author. I believe the trauma of reading this novel is the same as the trauma of experiencing everyday life as a person labeled “woman”.

education | Judging by the many reviews of this book I’ve read recently, I’m struggling between feeling disappointed that some folks didn’t understand it and feeling significantly less disappointed that the author didn’t make it more clear. Ultimately, I believe this is the kind of work it would be excellent to dissect in a classroom or for a project. It doesn’t tell you what to think, but it sure gives you a ton of information to work with.

characters | Yeong-hye is wildly important to me. I’ve read some reviews saying they wish the novel was written from her point of view and while I relate to the love there, I don’t think the messages could be delivered that way.

writing style | This was up my alley entirely because of the satire-esque and literary horror elements. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

entertainment/pleasure | Again, I was a little bored in the beginning, until my brain caught up. This work is more enjoyable to read in the way other interesting and challenging works are. I imagine I’ll read it again and take thorough notes next time.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?

book review: the house in the cerulean sea

visibility | The three main adults in the novel, including the protagonist, are either gay or queer. Gender is mildly played with as for example one of the girl characters has a beard.

reader health | List of elements the author discusses well: body image, fat positivity, trauma responses, child abuse, systemic isms, ignorance and prejudice, adolescent masturbation, social change.

education | It has a well known moral about “not judging books by covers”.

characters | To say the kids in this book were lovable would be putting it almost offensively and not just lightly. They are bright beautiful little stars and do a great job of warming our hearts. I loved everyone single primary character.

writing style, plot, & entertainment/pleasure | I struggled very much with getting into it, for about the first 3 chapters, because there wasn’t a sense of where the story was taking us. This changed, thank goodness, in chapter 4. The narrative voice is mildly sarcastic, akin to comedy like The Hitchhiker’s Guide, which is a parody-adjacent voice I very much enjoy. After chapter 4, I was completely pulled in and could not put it down. It is truly worth the hype and I’m glad I listened to everyone who recommended it to me.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?

webtoon review: lore olympus

note | My review is of chapters/episodes 1-115, which make up the entirety of Season 1.

content | on the page rape, other sexual abuse, child abuse, domestic violence

visibility | Trauma responses and other mental health symptoms are shown well. Eros is queer coded.

reader health | I think the author handles intense topics well so far. I don’t have any complaints except for how much it hurts me to see Hera mistreated and almost everything having to do with Apollo breaks my heart. I will say the author excels at showing the differences between healthy and unhealthy behaviors.

education | N/A

characters | If you’re a lover of retellings or a lover of the Greek mythology or pantheon, you might enjoy this. I’m a Hellenic witch so sometimes it’s hard for me to read these kinds of retellings, but the author depicts Hera with love which I strongly appreciate. Each character is distinctly different from the others and each one has depth, believability, and humor to them. I have issues with some of the characterizations, but mostly because they hurt me in the way only a well-written story can. Lastly, the romance is excellent in that Hades and Persephone are constantly checking in on each other emotionally, being genuinely good friends to one another, having intimate conversations of the painful and concrete varieties, and are both enjoyable to witness and good enough models of behavior for readers.

story-telling style | The author does a fun thing where they go back and show the same time frame from multiple characters’ POV; they don’t do this often but it’s something that stands out for me and entertains me. The artwork deserves a mention aside from being beautiful it’s also fluid and creative, perfect to depict deities.

plot & entertainment/pleasure | It’s deeply engaging, exciting, romantic, medium-paced without banking on plot devices like misunderstandings. It’s as jolly a good time as something that has tons of PTSD and IPV can be.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?

learnings: fanservice, male gaze, female gaze, and framing

I spend a lot of time reading up on and watching various analyses about the difference between catering to women and catering to men in fiction and one of my favorite tips is to judge the framing.

If the woman in the shot is framed as an object, where the panel or the shot on screen are literally “framing” her as something to be played with, looked at, or purchased, then it’s a problem. In my opinion, women who have been objectified will even feel an instinctual response to recoil when seeing this framing. Whereas framing the woman as the subject will typically focus on inner beauty, dialogue, expression, or anything visual that shows us the woman’s personality or interests, even if the woman is obviously gorgeous. It focuses on the action that’s occurring or about to occur.

The best examples of this are Megan Fox’s character in the Transformers movies is wildly framed as an object, almost always entering a scene from the bottom up in slow motion or in ridiculous sexualized poses etc. Source: Framing Megan Fox: Feminist Theory Part 3 | The Whole Plate: Episode 7

A great example of differences is Harley Quinn in the first Suicide Squad movie vs. in Birds of Prey. There’s an introduction of Harley from the ground up both times, but in one she’s wearing stilettos and the camera lingers slowly on her legs and pans away from her so we feel like we’re observing her (object), while in BoP she’s wearing stylish and clunky heels, we walk directly behind her as if with her (subject), and the camera spends minimal time on her legs before panning to where the action is going to be, in the conversation between her and the person she’s walking to. Source: Unpacking the Male Gaze: Birds of Prey vs. Suicide Squad

So what this means for fiction, including manga and anime, in my opinion can best be seen in shounen and seinen written by women, like Yamada-kun and the 7 Witches and The Ancient Magus’ Bride. There are plenty of moments of either showing bras/panties or other sexy or swoony elements, but the framing of the characters doesn’t take away their power. You can be attracted to them while respecting them because of the framing.

book review: circe

author: Madeline Miller

note | I read this for a group read on a discord server; otherwise this would not have struck my interest as I attempted to read Song of Achilles and couldn’t get into it.

content | on the page rape in chapter 14, bullying, family rejection, threats of harm, bestiality, brutal childbirth twice

visibility | Bi/pansexuality appears to be the common sexual orientation, though the label is never used.

reader health | The absence of misogyny is clear in the author’s narrative and in Circe’s wisdom itself. Circe is revealed to be clever and observant, though the author is careful to make clear she is not all-knowing and the chapter about her sister is beautiful regarding this. It’s deeply validating to watch her address misogyny often and prevail.

education | Those of you who are mild nerds about the Greek gods will probably love the mentions like I did.

characters | Circe is a wonderful character to spend an entire book with. She is an underdog, underappreciated and rejected, and she grows before our eyes from child to so much more. Some of my favorite spiritual figures are mentioned, like Prometheus and Hera, and some of my favorite fictional characters like Medea, so I was giddy throughout. All of the characters are brilliantly written, full of kaleidoscopes of personality traits and behavioral strengths and mistakes. I loved experiencing them through Circe’s eyes.

writing style, plot, & entertainment/pleasure | If I may be so bold, this was an epic. At first it reads like a formula: Circe is in the middle of something, conflict ensures, Circe suffers; but after a bit of that the story expands as we see Circe grow from her experiences. There were some sentences in here that are life-changing, as fit for a book about a goddess. I enjoyed every moment of it and dreaded its ending, though I appreciate the way the author handled that as well.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?

thoughts about: cemetery boys

what worked for me personally	what didn’t work for me personally
Santa Muerte being mentioned in a popular YA novel, especially since she is a goddess who looks out for queer people and this is a novel containing several of them	Santa Muerte, a deity I know about through various intersectional occult and witchcraft communities I am personally a part of, being a fictional character in a popular YA fantasy novel.
I enjoyed the slow burn of Yadriel and Julian’s relationship.
I think the author did a great job depicting a wholesome and common group of teens.	I prefer reading about less wholesome teens who are more like how I and my friends were like in high school.
Maritza’s constant presence in Yadriel’s daily life was a subtle but deeply normalizing and realistic depiction of what many lives of teenagers are like.
I love magical realism, fabulism, fantasy lite, and all of the genres that mix magic or magick with contemporary life, so this was in the exact correct subgenre combo for me.	It seemed extremely slow with a lot of build-up to an ending that felt suddenly fantastical after pages of contemporary.
I just love, love, love reading stories about queer people that are meant for rep, visibility, validation, as well as lessons in empathy and understanding.
I think the author did a brilliant job combining Yadriel’s external and internal struggles about gender and magic identity and I love how the author laced that together with the romance by having Julian challenge Yadriel’s thoughts in healthy ways.
I learned a bit about the Latinx community as a whole, whereas prior I had only known things about individual Latinx cultures.
I appreciated how the author showed us complete acceptance of Yadriel’s transness through his relationship with his mother, to ensure the reader is aware that just because Yadriel feels or even might be rejected by the rest of his family, that behavior is not correct, and Yadriel’s mother showed us early on that Yadriel’s gender identity is valid.
I appreciated the way the author challenged readers’ prejudices against Latinx kids by showing a spectrum of different kids, lives, and experiences, but also normalized that, yes, some Latinx kids might happen to reflect a stereotype, and that’s okay but it’s not the absolute norm.
	I found it hard to follow information about Yadriel’s family and was extremely confused about the event with the first uncle.
I love that we get told Yadriel and Julian’s sun signs! I love that even though Yadriel doesn’t believe in astrology, the author basically verified astrology by making Maritza’s guess about Julian’s sign correct. 😏	I cringed so hard when Yadriel talked shit on astrology, but my cringe was in a playful way.

I’m giving it ⭐⭐⭐⭐. Add it to your TBR?

book review: then she was gone

note | I read this for a group read on a discord server; otherwise this would not have struck my interest.

spoilery content warnings for the novel | On the page kidnapping and imprisonment, off the page animal deaths, off the page nonconsensual insemination, off the page murder, off the page starvation, on the page suicide, and probably others I can’t recall

visibility | Gay women are technically visible and accepted with love, though they are extremely minor characters.

representation & reader health | I’m concerned about the antagonist being described as mentally ill. I wish the antagonist’s decision-making process was made more clear to the audience as involving conscious choices unrelated to any neurological or mental concerns. I think they’re a fascinating character, but I have a hard time stomaching when antagonists are boiled down to “well this person was crazy” because “crazy” isn’t why they did what they did. People who are mentally ill usually respond to perceived threats with the only choices they feel like they have, and that’s not fully supported by this narrative. And if the antagonist was antisocial enough not to view other people as living beings but as objects, I think we all would have benefitted from seeing that in the narrative.

education | I have a better understanding now of what the word “smart” means in British English regarding clothing choices, lmao.

characters | Most of the characters were fleshed out and interesting, especially as we learn about them through the biased opinions of the protagonist and then also get tidbits about who the people actually might be when the protagonist keeps an open mind. Ellie and Poppy were an Archetype that I’m just not entertained by. I also found Floyd’s relationship with Poppy’s mother extremely unbelievable.

writing style, plot, & entertainment/pleasure | I personally don’t enjoy the constant wondering and anxiety that happens in mystery/thrillers, but I liked how this author tried to trip us up at every turn. The details in the narrative that ended up not being part of the end reveals but which were still input to taunt us were, in my opinion, fun and exciting. I think this author could make a really interesting horror novel, if they decided to go in that direction, because so much of this bordered on horror for me. Also, I found the ending refreshing.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐.5 and I wouldn’t tell you not to read it; add to tbr?

book review: not a drop to drink

note | McGinnis is one of my favorite authors so of course I had to go back and read one of her older works.

content warning for this review | Constant mention of rape and misogyny.

content warnings for the novel | Rape is never mentioned by name; rape does not occur on the page; several instances of rape are referred to throughout the narrative; gun violence on the page; injury, illness, and starvation on the page though not detailed; stillbirth on the page; antagonist-animal deaths on the page; pet death off the page; and probably more but honestly I’m shocked that there’s so much of these instances because it didn’t feel as terrifying as it sounds.

representation & visibility | McGinnis maintains the same atmosphere in her novels and that is about what it’s like to be treated as a woman by men, specifically in terms of being seen as property, object, or otherwise less than. Rape culture is not only a concept but a setting in her novels, and especially here where while the girl protagonist doesn’t know anything about sex or rape, the reader is aware of what is happening to the women around the protagonist. I can see some readers calling this too basic, but I think it’s exactly basic enough to contain valuable information while still being an entertaining work of fiction. I didn’t catch any other rep/visibility except one of the most important characters had an injury which didn’t set, causing him to limp throughout the novel, though there is mention of having the injury reset near the end.

reader health | McGinnis’ focus on misogyny can feel a bit bleak, though personally I find it validating. There is one moment when we learn about someone and they’re both described as mentally ill but also as a bad person and there is a bit too much overlap in that description for me to feel comfortable, as though the characters and author are saying this individual is a bad person therefore he must be mentally ill because only someone mentally ill can be this level of “bad”. This didn’t sit right with me, but not enough to impact my general love for the book and author.

education | McGinnis writes survival stories so well that I feel like I’m learning throughout, even if I’m basically being entertained.

writing style, plot, story-telling, & entertainment/pleasure | What didn’t work for me the first time I read it and also didn’t work for me this time, is how I didn’t have anything to anticipate. This can work well for readers who just like to enter a story with no expectations or stakes and process it altogether at the end, but for readers like myself who need to follow some sort of general path, it can feel aimless. That aside, I thought all of the plot decisions were the perfect mix of believable and entertaining, while focusing heavily on writing outside of the box.

characters | If it were a movie, it would be like everything is from the focus of the protagonist and gauging by how close the protagonist’s feelings are for another character, the more in-focus we see that character on the screen. Basically we feel close to who she feels close to. We acknowledge who she acknowledges. It all feels like a magnificent portrayal of trauma dissociation, perfect for the apocalyptic/dystopian/survival story McGinnis created here.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ; add to tbr?

book review: written in the stars

representation & visibility | The protagonists are a bisexual woman and a gay woman. An important secondary character, who is the protagonist of the next book in the companion series, is pansexual. One of the protagonists’ brothers is gay and has a furbaby and a husband. My review is #ownvoices.

reader health | The author is able to write conflicts which are both believable and healthy, which impressed me throughout the novel. There wasn’t anything harmful I noticed in any of the narrative.

education | Astrology is treated with the utmost respect.

writing style | It’s a solid novel, written in an accessible way which keeps the reader’s attention and keeps the reader focused easily on the story.

plot & characters | The characterization is, again, believable and impressive. Darcy’s childhood and last relationship haunt her and she makes decisions inspired by those events, but also based on her values as a person. Elle turns out to be much more than the reader bargained for, uncoiling herself for us slowly and smoothly. My favorite contemporary elements of family, friendships, interests, etc. are all included. The retelling elements from Pride and Prejudice make for such a close retelling while also being a completely different story. It was truly worth the read.

entertainment/pleasure | I loved every moment of it and appreciate exactly how long it was and how many things happened.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?

book review: well met

representation & visibility | None that I noticed, unless we want to say grief is shown through [redacted spoiler], distressing relationships are shown through Emily, and recovering from an accident and having PTSD symptoms are shown through April.

reader health | I couldn’t relate to the way the protagonist, in my opinion, objectified men. Other than that, I didn’t pick up on anything else harmful. The author has a great understanding and portrayal of the protagonist’s previous relationship and how it currently impacts not just her relationships but how she views the world around her and herself.

education | Other than the bare minimum about how maybe to run a renaissance faire or a book store, no.

writing style & plot | The writing was accessible and concise, definitely one of the strengths of the author. The contemporary elements were strong in that everything and everyone was believable. The protagonist’s inner and outer worlds were full. Her family, friendships, self-image, goals, and dreams were explored. She learned and grew in front of us. The downside of this for me was that reading the romance and sex scenes was like reading a friend’s text messages: cute but made me cringe. Another downside is the book is full of misunderstandings and I felt the entire time like I knew so much more than the protagonist, and not in the fun unreliable narrator way, though I guess Emily can be considered an unreliable narrator.

characters | I very much like every character, though Simon is my least favorite of the bunch. I’m really happy to see that all of the characters get a book of their own in the series!

entertainment/pleasure | I enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading the next in the series.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?