By Mia Hanuska
In case you’ve missed it, I’m back to being a reader now. Last issue I pledged to read at least two books per month (inspired by Kathryn Tanaka!) and I’m back yet again to spread my cents about my monthly reading. With an incredibly busy March due to relentless robotics meetings on top of reading Hamlet for AP English Literature and endless AP U.S. Government chapters, I may or may not have procrastinated until the last second to do my reading…
[One Penny Deposited]
Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth About Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All by Laura Bates
★★★☆☆ – 3/5 stars (so far)
Laura Bates’ book, Men Who Hate Women, focuses on criticizing the harmful groups of men, both online and in person, who target women simply for living their lives. She talks about the “manosphere” and how it involves incels, pickup artists, and Men’s Rights Activists’ and their negative and violent perceptions of women. A large portion of each section also brings to light the heavy racism often involved in sexist behavior, where groups of men will not only single out women by their gender, but also by their race.
Unfortunately, the hecticness of March impacted my reading of this book the most, and I was only able to complete the first two of the ten chapters in the book (around 100 out of 343 pages). Due to the seriousness and difficult nature of the topic, I often found it hard to sit and read for multiple hours without needing a break for something more light-hearted. Bates includes many real, unredacted quotes from the time she spent undercover in online incel spaces, many of which are incredibly violent and derogatory towards women. I found it crazy that there are actual, live people out there who truly believe the things mentioned in this book—how does one fully believe these lies?? I do plan on finishing this book as part of my April reading (on top of the new books I’ll be reading in April), so more thoughts to come. For now, Bates does an incredible job navigating the nuances of this topic and I appreciated her thoughtful commentary!
[One Penny Deposited]
A Long Winter by Colm Tóibín
★★★☆☆ – 3/5 stars
A Long Winter, a novella by Colm Tóibín, follows Miquel, a young man in Catalonia, Spain, after he returns from military service. Soon after his return, Jordi, his younger brother, leaves for his military service, and just a few weeks later, Miquel notices new behavior in his mother. On their weekend trip to the market, Miquel discovers that in his absence, his mother had become an alcoholic, spending a large portion of the family’s food funds on purchasing large bottles of wine. When his mother goes missing, Miquel and his father must mend their relationships with their neighbors to try and find her.
While I appreciate the message and storyline of this novella, I found it difficult to become attached to the characters. The mother leaves very soon into the story, and for me, it takes some time to become truly empathetic to characters in a book. However, I did enjoy the book, as it introduced me to the culture of an area of the world I was not very familiar with. I also liked the sneaky (maybe not-so-sneaky?) queer relationship Miquel begins forming with his adopted brother/housemaid.
[One Penny Deposited]
The Naturals and Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
★★★★☆ – 4/5 stars and ★★★☆☆ – 3/5 stars
Both The Naturals and Killer Instinct accompany 17-year-old Cassandra “Cassie” Hobbes as she discovers she has a natural superhuman ability to interpret peoples’ behavior. Recruited by the FBI into a program with four other “Naturals” at different aspects of reading people, she works alongside her newfound friends to solve cold cases for the FBI. That is, until they discover active killers with ties to some of The Naturals’ parents.
What my elementary school teachers would probably deem a “dessert book,” The Naturals brought me back to some of my childhood books, just with quite a bit more gore and death. Barnes’ signature romantic subplot of having the protagonist juggle between two love interests is definitely prevalent here, but I can’t say I’m complaining. The storyline has many twists and turns that I truly could not have guessed, and the reader is left in the dark just as much as Cassie is. Despite being what I would consider a “dessert book,” I did catch multiple allusions, namely to Hobbes and Locke (thank you, AP World History) and their contrasting views of human nature, but I even spotted a couple Hamlet references too (thanks, Andy Evans!)! I can’t wait to read the last two books in the series and see what happens next.
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