fawzul's reviews
144 reviews

The Golden Raven by Nora Sakavic

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
let the verdict be known that i would lay down in traffic for jean and jeremy 
Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna

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

3.75

evenings and weekends explores the absurdity and grief that comes with crisis, our desire to be profound and eloquent, even with the dismissal of what feels true and our need to  latch onto anything to make sense of it all. each character is tethered to one another through kin, friendship or love and it was joyous and stressful and wonderful to sit with all of them. i enjoyed the read. 
Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic

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adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

nora sakavic you’ve done it AGAIN… i missed my children… jean moreau there is nothing i wouldnt do to protect you 
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

what does it mean to be a child? a mother? a father? how do you love something monstrous, even if it’s through your own doing? monstrilio is a tender exploration of grief, of being and of letting go. 
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

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adventurous reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i knew fifty pages in that this would be one of my fav reads this year and i wasn’t wrong. poetic and damning, numbing in the most beautiful ways. akbar’s pen is to die for. 
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“There is a logic to organizing. Everything has its place, even the tiniest scrap fits in a closed ecosystem. There is no excess, the mosquito is as essential as the chimney, the tea bag will be reborn an eagle. Even the shekel is a native of this earth, mined from the depths of Chile or Utah. Sorting brought me comfort, order is relief.”

reminiscent of han kang’s the vegetarian, the novel takes us through a descent of gradual madness and decline in the heart of new york city. the coin explores an obsession of cleanliness and glamour, filth and  wilderness, through a luxury bag heist to an eclectic classroom and an apartment submerged in dirt. what does it mean to have a body that is yours in a body that isn’t? i enjoyed this read more than i thought i would. 
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

a perfect read if you’re looking for something fun and light to read and have you kicking your feet (which is exactly what i was looking for). 

wished it was drawn a bit more though, because once we got comfortable with the characters, things moved a little too fast. 

but i really enjoyed the whimsy of it, of love being challenged through time and trial and a reminder that to love is a conscious act and it is something we do. 
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

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reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i’m convinced sally rooney is one of the few writers who inspires equal rage and admiration with every release and intermezzo feels no different (i’m also def biased)

the story follows brothers peter and ivan who learn to walk through the world in the death of their father. the novel examines grief for all its complexities; to grieve as a son, a brother and as a child. as always, rooney's novels are also less seemingly about its characters on their own and what they mean to one another. a complicated relationship or two unravels in intermezzo as the brothers learn to understand love for what it is, grief for what it can be and what they have always meant to one another. 
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

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challenging reflective tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0