capyval's reviews
285 reviews

Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth LaPensée

adventurous fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

I can't rate this comic, because it was written for kids, and I am not one. If I had to, I would probably give it 2 stars, because I didn't enjoy it much.

The political message of the story is too strong, making it sound just like plain propaganda. It's not that I don't agree with it, it's that I don't think it's enjoyable to read in this context. Also concerning the narrative, things happen too fast, without much explanation.

At some point the white rabbit appears in a bigger body, and I couldn't understand if it was the same rabbit that changed, or a new character.

The drawings are good, but they include fatphobia, as the only curvy character is actually evil.

I'm quite disappointed with this comic, I couldn't recommend it.

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.

DNF

The small fatphobic comments here and there were making me very uncomfortable, the plot was not that interesting, nor the characters. I came to check here, and I see many have included fatphobia as a CW of this book, which doesn't even have a fat protagonist... I will never find out, but I guess the fatphobic comments only get worse in the rest of the book, and seem to come from the author's negative ideas about fatness.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I like the way this book was written, but sometimes it sounded too melodramatic. Still, I think Levithan's writing is superb and a pleasure to read.

One big warning, though, if you are sensitive to descriptions of homophobia you will have a hard time with this book, and the same goes if AIDS is something that triggers you. Approach this book cautiously, because it has a lot of positive things on it, but also many sad parts 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman

funny

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

At first, I was not liking this book much, but I kept listening to it and at some point I started to liked it. Still, it felt just like one more YA queer book, nothing special, not a book to re-visit in the future.

My favourite thing of this book is the def representation, and my least favourite was all the attention the main character gave to the physical appearance of his love interest (who didn't want to be seen as a hot guy, yet the author decided the protagonist cared about that fact a lot).

Also, I'm not sure how the printed book is, but in the audiobook the narrator would say "Scratch it" very often when Jackson wanted to correct himself, and I found it very annoying.

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

The story is getting better.

My favourite part was a conversation between Nova and Wonder Boy.

This book has the perfect amount of romance for an sci-fi book, and it's well presented.

I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook, and I can't wait for the next one 💜

Boys Run the Riot, Volume 1 by Keito Gaku

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

You Are Not a Before Picture: How to Finally Make Peace with Your Body, for Good by Alex Light

3.25

An OK read if you are really struggling with the way you see your body, and if you know next to nothing about fatphobia and body neutrality. This is not my case, so the book was often boring, and I don't think I learned anything from it.

In fact, I disagreed with the book often, for example saying fat men don't suffer much discrimination from being fat, unlike women. The author even mentions Homer Simpson as an example of positive representation of a fat man! Do I need to explain that Homer Simpson is a very fatphobic character? He is dumb and uncultured, exactly the popular representation of fat people.

Then, the author proposes that we shouldn't use the words "overweight" and "obese", and apparently you can only call yourself fat if you are what now is considered "obese", meaning, people that struggle a lot in life because of the size of their bodies (for example: not being able to buy clothes in most shops, or not fitting in aeroplane seats). I don't agree with this, and I do see sense in saying "overweight" for people over the weight that is currently accepted by the majority as "healthy" or "beautiful" (or whatever nonsense the majority thinks), fat is for the ones of us much far away from this, but that we still can manage a life without many issues/discrimination, and obese is for people much further from that, who face discrimination practically daily, and constantly struggle in living their life because things are not made with them in mind.

The fact the author then considers herself thin also made me uncomfortable. She made me think that, after all, she does have a problem with saying she is overweight or fat. I decided to read this book after googling her and seeing her body was not thin, and hence I was not going to be lectured by a person that doesn't even know what is to live as a fat person.... But because according to her fat people are only the ones that can't fit in the clothes of your shop next door, then she is not fat, and I am not fat... and she made me feel confused and even angry. She does end up saying she was treated as a fat person many times, and that it was often a critique for her (from doctors to random men mentioning her body was bigger than what they saw as healthy or beautiful), so I don't know what is the point to say: no, no, no, I am thin. I do agree in an ideal world people shouldn't be so categorised by their body size, but in the world we live now, we are obviously judged and the more your body doesn't fit in a certain size, the more discrimination you suffer, so let's use more words to describe all that, not less.

I also had issues with the format of the book, and the tone of the author in general. I'm not a person who loves social media (I find it boring), I don't pay attention to models, singers, or celebrities in general... I felt the author was being too personal in the bad way, talking too much about her personal case, using often a tone of anger, as if she were venting through her book, and repeating again and again the same ideas, and the same examples... And using a format for the book which was clearly the one of a magazine, with full pages highlighting a short quote in big font. The book is much shorter than it seems, and could be shorter if you edit it so it would be less repetitive, and also a bit less personal.

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

Almost 50 pages in, and I had to drop the book before even finishing the chapter I was reading because I'm so bored.

So far none of the characters are likeable, or interesting. The concept of the app is terrible stupid. The writing style is plain yet confusing.

So I just read the few reviews with leas than 3 stars and yeap, I'm totally sure this book is not for me. Thank you to the people that made it to the end l, despite not liking this book, you confirmed my suspicions 💖

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0