The Steady Read

Your home for book reviews, recommendations, and more

Category: Book Reviews

  • Review: Mr Salary by Sally Rooney

    Review: Mr Salary by Sally Rooney

    A very short but impactful read, and my first experience with Sally Rooney’s writing that has left me interested in cracking open my untouched copy of Normal People. Across its short span of less than fifty pages, Mr Salary details the complex and sexually tense relationship between twenty-four-year-old Sukie and her significantly older—as well as…

  • Review: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold

    Review: A Mother’s Reckoning by Sue Klebold

    I’ve been trying to dabble in non-fiction a bit more, and I’ve always had an interest in notable crimes and their aftermath. Regarding school-related crimes and shootings, none is more noteworthy than the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre (often referred to simply as ‘Columbine’). In A Mother’s Reckoning, Sue Klebold, mother of co-shooter Dylan Klebold,…

  • Review: Patriotism by Mishima Yukio

    Review: Patriotism by Mishima Yukio

    Perhaps one of the most tense and disturbing short stories I have ever read, leaving me unsure whether to praise it or regret having ever read it. The story itself follows the suicide of a young Japanese lieutenant, and his even younger wife, at the tail end of February 1936. The premise sounds simple and…

  • Review: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

    Review: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

    A novel with an attitude, or that’s how it comes across to most readers. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is widely recognised as a novel that wants to pick apart the superficiality of twentieth century society, but I feel that undermines its appeal. Societal critique is a common facet of many novels, so that’s…

  • Review: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Review: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    Adichie is an author I have a great admiration for, yet I always take an incredible amount of time to get through each of her works. Her talent and slow narratives daunt and bore me at first, but I always come away wishing I had really engaged with the novel and digested it more consistently….

  • Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell

    Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell

    A novella that many people like to reference, Animal Farm is a suitable criticism of capitalism, greed, and the nature of how we humans—or perhaps any being—inevitably take advantage of the power afforded to us. Whilst not as deep or as clever as some claim it to be, Orwell’s relatively compact story works as a…

  • Review: All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

    Review: All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

    The last in Mieko Kawakami’s main trio of works—All the Lovers in the Night evokes much of the same emotions and motifs found within her acclaimed debut Breast and Eggs, whilst also successfully mixing in the emotional messiness of her much shorter work Heaven. The story follows Fuyoko Irie, a freelance proofreader who has always…

  • Review: South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

    Review: South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

    An excellent display of all of Murakami’s talents, bundled nicely into a much shorter package than that of his hit novel Norwegian Wood. South of the Border, West of the Sun follows Hajime, a flawed but very honest portrayal of a man who has had plenty of luck and success across his life, yet is…

  • Review: Behind the Prison by Kafū Nagai

    Review: Behind the Prison by Kafū Nagai

    A short story about a Japanese man, one who descended from a very well-off lineage, finding himself quite at odds once he returns home to his family’s large estate in Tokyo. Unsure of how to deal with his emotions and thoughts about the current state of Japan, he writes a lengthy letter to his Excellency….

  • Review: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

    Review: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

    You may notice my reoccurring fondness for Japanese fiction, and quirky novels like Convenience Store Woman are exactly why my fondness persists year upon year. Despite being a funny, not-too-serious story about an oddball woman who has dedicated herself to working part-time at a convenience store since she was eighteen, Murata is a surprisingly talented…