Justin Monisit > Recent Status Updates

Read this as a "joke" on account of Thanksgiving hitting a slow spot and just wanted to read something light that I could tolerate with noise in the background.

This was 10x better than I expected it to be. It's charming, sweet, but also really dark at times and doesn't hold back from being a solid story. Pleasantly surprised

This book makes me feel like a perv and I want to punch this narrator in the face for being such a cocky douche.

But I can't stop reading this; the prose is excellent and the protagonist is likable despite him being a predatory monster.

Fun fact: the author wrote this book in his second language with a mastery that is seldom achieved by those who have it as their primary.

Nothing like cleansing my wholesome pallet of Dickens with a book about a pedophile to ruin the holiday spirit.

So far the book is pretty good: disgusting and depraved maybe, but also so well written.

Okay I didn't finish it in a day - but I finished it in three sittings (the last one a very long one) after a long drive home from college, which counts in my book.

I enjoyed the story though not as much as I thought I would. Scrooge was a bit passive as a character which drains a bit of the drama, plus there is a LOT of melodrama here that it borders on comedy. But still, it's an enjoyable read.

The paragraphs are so large and dense with information that I have to reread passages occasionally, but it's still good, only slightly dampened with my knowledge.

Trying to read this in a single day (24 hours), otherwise I'll be really disappointed with myself. Trying to read ahead for my book club.

Yes, I know every single story beat like the back of my hand but it's still interesting to see it written as it is - helped by Dickens' lemony prose.

Definitely enjoyed it - but wish it stuck with its first half more (not to say that the latter half was bad, just different). Don't have much else to say that wouldn't spoil it already, but this is definitely one of the best novels I've read in a while.

The book is starting to suffer in the latter half - which apparently is a common complaint by its dissenters so at least I'm not alone. It was much stronger when the book was critiquing society and seeing Esther deal with its shortcomings.

The book is still great and nothing will tarnish that, but I just wish it had more of what made it unique.

71/154

Same old stuff, some great sonnets to hang on my wall and some others that I'll better be off forgetting. Would really wish Shakespeare would write more stuff that's not primarily about a woman's beauty, the poems besides that are usually the highlights here.

...so that's what they meant by this book being depressing - it's such a brutal, unfiltered take on suicidal ideation and depression, and how cruel and apathetic the world can be in response; and how cruel your mind can be because of that.

Plath writes this as if it was no big deal at all. It's a subtle natural inevitably that her psyche breaks down to this point. I only barely noticed it. Brilliant writing.

I am really loving this book so far and I really can't explain why; nothing is happening and it isn't exactly "exciting", but it is interesting peering into her mind as she subtly becomes more disillusioned with the world around her.

The prose is so simple but in that simplicity it packs so much content in-between those lines, revealing more about Esther herself with what she withholds.

63/154 - Shakespeare has a weird fixation on being completely subservient to a woman he loves. Not the best message to be sending.

Again, varies wildly in quality, but there are some excellent sonnets in here among the not-so-great ones. Especially the ones where he is not talking about a woman - time and mortality especially - are great.

Reading through a single sonnet takes a lot longer than I anticipated.

Okay now we are easing into the depressing part now...oh my.

I'm so used to the minimalist plot up to now that I'm kind of worried that the book will lose its best characteristic, but I have hope it will continue to be as great.

I could only understand a couple of these poems, and the ones I could - were great.

But I just don't get poetry - even as ones as honest as this. Or at least this kind, where it's not lyrical. I just simply don't get it.

I've been reading this forever ago and am deciding to finish it on account of The Bell Jar and just on a poetry binge.

Unfortunately the reason I stopped was because I just didn't get a lot of the poems. Some of them were good but a lot of them I left confused. Probably won't have a rating for this on account of my ignorance. I am trying to find enjoyment out of this but really struggling.

Sonnet 49/154.

Oh boy do we cherry pick the best sonnets from this collection; there are some excellent sonnets here, but there are plenty of bad and forgettable ones that outnumber them.

I didn't expect all of them to be great but not so many of them to be just...boring. I thought there would be a trend of the early ones being bad but there is straight up no consistency.

It's the White Album of poetry.

Read up to Sonnet 20 out of 154. Kind of slow when he talks about why women should be mothers, but once Sonnets 15-20 come around it becomes amazing - like I read the sonnets twice because I was so impressed with the ways a woman's beauty can be described.

Reading this for fun since I haven't had much exposure to poetry aside from Plath (Ariel) and Poe. So far The Bard is becoming my favorite thus far.

Man this book is beautifully written. I really am getting where Plath is coming from. What should be happy and exciting moments in her life are just shrugged off because to her - it won't mean much.

I can get a sense of where this book is headed - but I know fully well that even though I'm ahead of the story, it won't have an impact on how I feel about it.

All this time I was wondering why I was reading so slow but it had to do with the small font size I had to "save time". Enlarge your font size when using an e-reader.

As for the book - for some reason I feel like I should find this boring, but it is interesting. I find Esther especially interesting even though she doesn't reveal much. Still waiting for me to be emotionally destroyed.

This really reminds me of Catcher in the Rye where not much happens at all but it still is engaging. Something about this book really pulls me in. Esther does unfortunately come across as prejudice, but other than that, she is also genuine and faulty.

Still waiting for the emotional bomb to hit, and so far nothing has been setting up for that...yet.

Starting a novel immediately after another one is fun (hopefully it's thematically similar).

The prose (or lack thereof) was certainly off-putting considering her background, but for some reason it really draws you in with how succinct it is. Though, could use less of the (unexpected) racism.

Doesn't start off with a bang, but it's certainly an interesting first act. I'm ready to be emotionally destroyed.

The foundation for a good story is here but I feel as if the story is too short to really give the emotional weight the story wants it to have. The characters are not as fleshed out as they should be, especially the main relationship where it doesn't really give insight into either of them. The prose is strong, the plot points are there, it's just that it felt a little too rushed to make it satisfying.

The penultimate chapter was quite an emotional doozy. Really wish I liked it more, but it's either personal preference or something that bars me from really investing myself in this.

Still solid, but would have been an even greater emotional gut punch if I liked the antecedent chapters as much.

Starting to feel like melodrama. Shame it started off so well. Baldwin's prose is still great, but the story isn't up to par many other classic romantic tragedies. It still is good - but I really expected something great after that first chapter.

This book isn't bad but it's just not the masterpiece I expected.

It just occurred to me that this could be a relationship between a man and a woman and the general story could be the same; it could be any marital affair.

Really reminds me of David Lean's film Brief Encounter the more I think about it.

I can sense the tragedy part looming in the next two chapters. I am ready to have my heart ripped out.

Not maintaining the quality as the first chapter, but still a sweet, pleasant chapter that was - even if it was a bit morally ambiguous. I'm really digging their relationship - which has a lot more depth than I would have anticipated.

The plot is actually starting so it doesn't exactly grip me as the first did, but whatever still really solid. Baldwin really manages to have you experience the gamut of emotions that David goes through here - his confusion and shame, but that initial excitement as well. You can feel the flirtation between the two men between the lines - it's really effective storytelling.

Let's just say that if this book keeps the quality it has in the first chapter alone - it has the potential to be one of my favorite books of all time.

Almost immediately you understand David's reluctance to love another man - you understand the passion, but also the guilt he feels in feeling it. The prose effortlessly goes from one time period to the next. This book is already a masterpiece.

Still doing short stories to keep myself occupied in college.

Surprisingly, the eponymous short story was really disappointing. It tapped into one of my worst fears but it just wasn't written that well. Didn't leave frightened, was kind of annoyed with how forced the message was at the beginning. The concepts weren't fleshed out enough.

Hopefully it picks up. 6/10