My Goodreads reviews

author: Anuradha Roy
name: Kim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
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author: Danielle Prescod
name: Kim
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/06
date added: 2025/03/06
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A satisfying read marred by the need for a happy ending (kinda’)

It is a sign of where we are still at in this racist and intolerant world that the fact of having the book’s subject being a rich man who is black makes it more interesting. But so be it, and the author does a great job of giving us a plausible glimpse into an utterly dysfunctional and unhappy family. The story stretches credulity at times, but it’s an entertaining and good yarn, sadly marred by the author’s (or perhaps the publisher’s) need to add a ‘meaningful’ epilogue after what would otherwise have been a perfect ending, making the point everyone has a price…

author: Martin MacInnes
name: Kim
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/24
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author: Joseph Conrad
name: Kim
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1899
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/20
date added: 2025/01/20
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author: R.F. Kuang
name: Kim
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/08
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A stunningly clever book – Amitav Ghosh meets JK Rowling

It’s hard to explain how clever this book is. The intermingling of realism and magic is made possible by a narrative weaved perfectly into colonial history, with each character playing their parts and making it more plausible than the reality of the times the story describes. It will stay with me for a long time.

author: John Boyne
name: Kim
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
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author: John Boyne
name: Kim
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
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author: John Boyne
name: Kim
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/01
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Boyne at his haunting best

A story of hurt, despair, betrayal and the most horrible abuse, well told and entirely plausible. Boyne is brave to tell the story from the point of view of a woman. A couple of times I wondered if a woman “would do that” or “wouldn’t she be more guarded?” But overall he pulls it off with his straightforward prose, teasing out the story step by step as only few writers can do so well. A novella of more weight and poignancy than most novels three times as long.

author: Samantha Harvey
name: Kim
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
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Short on story, long on listicles

My expectations were high after all the accolades, but although I enjoyed learning lots of what being on a space station is like, and many of Harvey’s reflections on life and the universe were poignant, I was left disappointed. I found the author’s relentless use of listicles to describe everything from brushing teeth to the deepest emotions and the most stunning vistas in space too repetitive and a bit boring in the end. Still, an original book worth reading.

author: Henrik H. Langeland
name: Kim
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/13
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author: Erich Maria Remarque
name: Kim
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/07
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author: Amitav Ghosh
name: Kim
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/22
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author: R.F. Kuang
name: Kim
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/10
date added: 2024/10/10
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A clever story well told

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most clever, and this one works a treat. It’s mostly believable, told with much wit and insight, but stretched a bit beyond the plausible towards the end.

author: Heather Rose
name: Kim
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/28
date added: 2024/08/28
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Beautiful, gut wrenching, unexpected

Heather Rose is a superb writer, and this is such a well crafted book. It made me wonder, it made me laugh and it made me cry. Just read it…

author: Gabrielle Bergan
name: Kim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
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author: Jack London
name: Kim
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1904
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/20
date added: 2024/07/20
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author: Michael Vatikiotis
name: Kim
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/07/13
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author: Upton Sinclair
name: Kim
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1940
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/07/13
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