fourshadowing

I've all but abandoned every other monthly goal except for this one so fingers crossed

April Book Reviews

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (HP Lovecraft)

6/10 GODDAMN this was hard to get through. Not necessarily because it was bad, but just the dated tone combined with his own writing style made it difficult to process all the information. This was the first book this year that I had to renew to be able to finish it. Overall, because most of his stories are first hand accounts of events that happened in the past, the tense over the protagonists' survival is pretty much lost. A lot of the horror still feels informed, like it might we that we're too used to images of Cthulhu but reading about characters freaking out and tripping balls then having it described as a squid dragon...doesn't really have the intended effect. My favorite parts are the world building and the horror of humanity rather than the unknown. My least favorite is the dumb curiosity killed the cat characters and, you know, the racism. But I'm gonna get my library card's worth and review every single goddamn eldritch story. (italics are my reccs)
Dagon: Unremarkable, the usual Lovecraft setup, only notable in a footnote that informs us how much Lovecraft hated the smell of fish. 4/10
The Statement of Randolph Carter: I actually really liked the stinger line at the end, that was pretty great. 6/10
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family: Again, the ending was kinda cool, but the intro took way too long to get there. 4.5/10
Celephais: Interesting in that the horror element is missing, had some cool world building in this one but not much plot. 4.5/10
Nyarlathotep: I didn't know dude was Egyptian. 3/10
The Picture in the House: I just find it funny how he writes the 'reveal twist' sentence in italics every time like it's meant to surprise us but we've already seen it coming a mile away. 3/10
The Outsider: A different concept, even if it is, again, one we saw coming. 4.5/10
Herbert West-Reanimator: A longer story of connected events and it pays off. Even if you question why at the end of each story the narrator reaffirms how aghast he is, he keeps showing up in the next one - like get out man. 7.5/10
The Hound: Another story about how white man's inability to resist shiny things destroys us all. 4/10
The Rats in the Walls: An actual bit of ghoulishness in the reveal (because of course, people are the real monsters) and a great ending. 7/10
The Festival: All I can think of is people riding crocodiles. 3/10
He: That sure is him alright. Unremarkable aside from all the racism, which at this point is overt in enough of his stories that it too is pretty much unremarkable. 4/10
Cool Air: While it was pretty obvious from the start, it was decent and at least memorable for the different concept it used. 5/10
The Call of Cthulhu: The titular story and while it didn't blow my mind, it was solid. It also has my favorite line: "The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of innocent sailors had done by accident." 7/10
The Color Out of Space: An overall enjoyable read, and I liked that there wasn't too much description of the eldritch horror in this one but did drag on a bit. 5/10
The Whisperer in Darkness: It was good but I felt like it had potential to be greater. First of all, hard to take monsters seriously when you start describing them as crabs. Second of all, protagonist is dumb af and seriously is so blind to any sense of horror convention that it could only be a middle class white guy. Third, the concept of monsters mimicking humans and having human allies is pretty unique among his stories but I felt like it didn't take full advantage of it. Still, 7/10
The Shadow Over Innsmouth: A scene with actual tension takes place in this one, incredible. The origin story was pretty interesting to read too. 6/10
The Haunter of the Dark: Unremarkable, typical Lovecraft set up, typical white guy screwing over everyone else because he has too much free time on his hands.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)

7.5/10 A solid, fun mystery novel!  The main character can sometimes be a little annoying as a precocious pre-teen brat, but the brilliance is that that's exactly what she is! An 11 year old written so that she really feels like one, aside from her prodigious interest in chemistry. She makes mistakes and takes actions that feel expected from an 11 year old. The story and plot, especially with a subject as seemingly dull as stamps, kept things rolling and made me invested in what happens next. The ending was a little predictable, but what led up to it was fun to follow as the protagonist connected the dots between all the clues we were given in the beginning.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Rachel Joyce)

7/10 I have the feeling that this is a 'good' book but it's not really for me. The main character is an old man who reflects on his life as he walks on the titular pilgrimage. There are themes of regret, the passing of time, missed opportunities, different kinds of love and how they change. It's well written, but I feel that these are things that you can really appreciate a lot more if you've gone through lots of experiences already. I enjoyed how they wrote the point of view from the wife's perspective a lot. Overall, it's not a book that changed my life but it's one I can see changing others'.

Homegoing (Yaa Gyasi)

9.5/10 What an experience to read this. The book begins with two sisters separated by colonialism, one who stayed in her home in Ghana and one sold into slavery. As they continue to follow generations of that split, it takes us through decades of history on two different continents. Although the main character of each generation only takes the spotlight for the length of a short story, you can really feel that each of them has a story to tell worth listening to. Not every story has a happy ending or really even an ending, but that's what makes it feel like the stories of real people. Even with those brief looks, the impacts of colonialism, history of slavery and institutional racism on two different continents are brilliantly portrayed. It's not something that you feel the book is preaching to you either, rather, like real life, it's something in the background that you only connect to those issues if you have an understanding of them. Above all, the constant theme of family both ancestral and domestic is something anyone can relate to. This novel was a journey in very sense of the word and one I recommend anyone to take.

Educated (Tara Westover)

7.5/10 This was a fairly interesting book to read in many ways. I compared it a lot with Hillbilly Elegy as both books are focused on children growing up in isolated, rural areas who go on to higher education at prestigious schools. There are lots of differences of course, especially religion and upbringing, but I did end up enjoying this one more. Although there were some points where I wanted more empirical explanations or scientific studies of economics and mental illnesses like the ones in Hillbilly Elegy, I realized that by not having them made the story seem more human. Most of all I liked that the book didn't even slightly try to generalize her story and it was much more emotional and introspective. It also benefited from not being solely centered on the American culture & experience like Hillbilly was. Still, I think this book is better served if treated like a fiction novel rather than a nonfiction memoir, as it loses its realism for its humanity. It also suffers from parts that seem to repeat and events that are similar to each other but don't seem to have too much of an impact. Of course the repetitive and disjointed events are reflective of memories, and we feel manage to feel the progress or lack of it that much more because of it. It's not quite a streamlined narrative to be a fully fleshed out fiction but too full of logical holes to be a satisfying nonfiction. But again, a world that seems so far removed from the norm is a pretty fascinating read and I enjoyed it.

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Summer Book Reviews (a.k.a that time on a two day train ride without internet)

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

7/10 I don't really know what to tell you. I mean, I guess I can tell why it's super famous and literary but it's not exactly a book that fills me with enthusiasm. It was easy to read and intensely heavy-handed with the communism metaphor. Like it could not be more transparent if it tried. Like 'oooh I wonder what subtle meaning is behind these pigs trying to seize the means of production'. It ain't that deep fam. But I gotta admit, the ending scene *SPOILER ALERT I guess? Who cares??* where the animals can't distinguish between the pigs and the humans & the scene where the crow reads the commandments was pretty good. 7/10 for its re-readability but 10/10 would make high schoolers write essays on.

At the Mountains of Madness (HP Lovecraft)

6/10 I gotta say, for my first HP Lovecraft novel, it kind of let me down. I mean, Lovecraft's name is pretty much synonymous with horror but at no point did I feel scared reading this book. I've read creepypastas that left me with deeper impressions. I mean part of it could be the way I read. It's written in a fairly dry and almost scientific tone with lots of long descriptions that usually lose me. It's one of those books you need to pay attention to so you can fully visualize the full imagery and effect. I enjoyed the eventual 'twist' but I thought most of the horror seemed informed, like the narrator keeps telling us how scary it is and how his tale is meant to warn people never to go there but tbh I'm like it sounds pretty cool. It ain't an Antarctica tour until you see some six foot tall albino blind penguins.

The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins)

4.5/10 "Beautiful sunshine, cloudless skies, no one to play with, nothing to do. Living like this, the way I'm living at the moment, is harder in the summer when there is so much daylight, so little cover of darkness, when everyone is out and about, being flagrantly, aggressively, happy." Honestly, for such a popular book, I really didn't enjoy it all that much. Sure there was some tension and mystery but it mostly stemmed from the unreliable narrator. And I did not like the narrator. Her lives, and the other lives of the other characters in the story didn't interest me all too much. Neither one of the POV characters captured my attention with their various issues with their marriages. The only thing that was memorable and that I enjoyed was the brief moment of understanding between the two women that came at the very end. But although the ending was alright, the rest of the book was not worth the slog through to get to it.

The Handmaiden's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

6.5/10 I'm not a huge fan of dystopia settings but this book did a pretty good job of the set up. It had an interesting premise and solid world building. But that's pretty much it. I felt like most of its appeal comes from the idea of it rather than what little plot actually happened in the book. Also I always appreciate metaphors for women supporting women and taking control of their bodies and their lives. I also enjoyed the faux academic epilogue and the flashback mixed with present style narration.

Appointment with Death (Agatha Christie)

3/10 My main draw towards Christie's works is that they're usually short and contained, like a completed meal made by a solid English housekeeper (as a person who's read lots of her books but is a terrible writer might say). But this book just dragged on and on. I felt like I was the one getting heat stroke in the desert heat instead of the characters. I really stopped caring who was the murderer halfway through. The ending was cute though, as happy endings usually are or it could've been my relief at it finally ending.

At Bertram's Hotel (Agatha Christie)

4/10 You can't just say it's a Miss Marple mystery and just have her play a role that amounts to a cameo. She wasn't even a secondary character, more like a third. Also a story that dragged on and the lack of my favourite elderly detective just made it worse. I ultimately liked the whole web connecting the various mysteries but I didn't really care about each mystery enough to do anything other than just wait for the solution to be presented to me.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Agatha Christie)

3/10 I'll be honest, I don't like any of her Tommy and Tuppence mysteries. The only reason why I even read it was because I'm working through her entire bibliography. I...don't even remember what happened in this one. I'm just giving it a rating to seem kind. I'm sorry I'm the worst reader.

Points and Lines (Seicho Matsumoto)

5/10 A decent mystery novel and by decent I truly mean it. It was so standard decent mystery novel that it could've been used as an example of mystery novels in an encyclopedia. A smug suspect, an 'airtight' alibi, the determined detective, the one weak point, the real murderer - THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUTH!! I might of liked it more if the alibi didn't depend entirely on the schedules of the Japanese subway system. If Victim A left the Atami station at 8:34 and Suspect A got on at the Keirinjo-Mae station at 9:27 and it only takes 8 minutes and 14 seconds to travel to Shizuoka then using non-linear algebra calculate WHO WAS PHONE?? Did I say this novel could be in an encyclopedia? I lied. This is the weirdest math book I've ever read.

To the Sky Kingdom (Tang Qi)

6.5/10 I'm so weak for shoujo sometimes. I read it because I enjoyed the Chinese drama (Three Lives, Three Worlds: Ten Miles Peach Blossoms) based off the book a lot. But I'm the first to admit even the drama wasn't exactly a masterpiece. This ain't no Nirvana in Fire. But it is sugary, typical, fantasy shoujo with the standard power-ups, villainous side ladies, misunderstandings and true loves. I gotta say, I enjoyed the drama more because they added a lot more filler to the MC's time in the mortal world. Normally filler is the devil's work and it's the worst part of any series and this was even true in this drama towards the ending. But! The exception is her life as a mortal because it was hands down my favourite part of the entire series. I just love that angst so much. Unfortunately the original work kept that part relatively short compared to the rest. On the plus side, they also didn't have the entire filler relationship between two side characters that started out okay and just........Anyway, a relatively easy read.

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