Amanda Stone > Recent Status Updates

loved this book, important topics that don’t get enough attention and so nice to have so many NZ perspectives. the one issue i had was so many people talking about overpopulation and climate change as a reason to not have kids - that kind of thinking has been shown long ago to be so problematic when a few companies and billionaires are the real cause of climate change, not ordinary people. other than that fantastic

this whole book had me in fight or flight ngl. didn’t love the start writing style-wise, felt like we leapt straight into things without a compelling intro but i was completely gripped and couldn’t put it down towards the end. a truly horrifying portrayal of leaving domestic abuse, a really powerful telling of that story. sobbed a lot.

hmmm not sure about this one - probs unpopular opinion but the language is kinda old fashioned and at times unhelpful (ie talking about “lies” when she mostly meant people not really listening to themselves/being honest with themselves), reads as very preachy, and is kinda giving common sense nothing new? idk if i will persist

okay so this was a fascinating concept and lowkey read like a slow burn horror at some parts, but wow the first 300 pages kinda sucked. i had to see where it was going but the buildup made the plot twists predictable (and i am not usually one to see things coming) and it just took so long to get to the point. the last 80 or so pages were better but damn that story was so grim!!

stunning, beautiful, gorgeous, astoundingly easy to read for a non fiction. for anyone who loved braided sweetgrass, this is for you. love the blend of poetry and essays and memoir, not many people do the cross-discipline writing in a way i enjoy but nadine has nailed it. definitely will read again.

didn’t love this - was compelling and hard to put down, but thought it fell into a lot of tropes and the relationship they had with their parents needed more detail and fleshing out for me. compared to The Names, this book really focused on everything going wrong - i wanted more time on the mending and rebuilding, the ending. also described a character as Black but left us to assume everyone else was white - weird

lovedddd this book! at first thought i wasn’t going to - it’s about domestic violence, pretty grim, very sickening, but it’s so beautifully told and written i was hooked and kept going and im so glad i did. i love books where you get to see the characters life over so much time, to see how things end up in the long run, very satisfying. cried lots.

pretty depressing to read from the perspective of a homophobic mother. there were some glimmers of insight and hope but really felt like the mother was a one dimensional character, which seemed like a missed opportunity given that it’s told from her point of view. also grim view of aged care work. also felt like i missed a lot because it’s a translation, maybe the original was better

really enjoyed this!! def fits in the beach read category, not high brow or mind blowing, just extremely readable and intriguing enough to keep me going (all 500 pages!). loveeee how this author leaves so many leads and then ties all the threads together at the end (she also wrote big little lies) extremely satisfying

i’m DNFing this book it’s boring as hell, 60 pages in and literally nothing has happened and it’s mostly her inner monologue which is very unexciting

this was pretty dull with a nice heartening ending. at least it was a quick read! i feel quite gloomy after but not sure if that is the book or being in my childhood home.

literally cackled at this book, i’ve never read something that made me laugh out loud so much!! the last quarter was unfortunately quite boring, it dragged a bit towards the end, but otherwise loved it. got a bit confused sometimes - i didn’t realise she had brothers at all until over halfway through the book lol could have done with some context but otherwise fab, especially for non fiction

so completely devastating. extremely immersive writing style that had me feeling so anxious i felt sick for the last half of the book. one of the most infuriating yet completely understandable main characters ever. how many queer lives have been lost to how she lived!! i’m so glad it ended when it did rather than her ending up ancient and repressed. couldn’t sleep had to finish the book.

emotionally DESTROYED by this one. spent the whole day reading instead of working from home, i was hooked from the start. stunningly beautiful view of the classic grandmother/mother/daughter combo, devastating to see all the things they haven’t told each other and how much it affects their relationships. sobbed so much.

EXTREMELY anger inducing, i was livid at all the men in her life, this book fuelled my misandry and devastated me. however it was weirdly written and didn’t have enough detail to centre it in place - the covid allegory was weird and unconvincing, and sometimes it went too far and was blatantly just talking about covid not a volcano. also there was too much poetry that i feel like i didn’t really get

horrifying (as it should be), fantastically written, the use of little vignettes and second person perspective to relive the trauma is really powerful, don’t know how the fuck she wrote that tbh i hope it was cathartic. 4.5 stars when will goodreads ever let me do a half

just so gorgeously written, really sparse but every sentence is so important and worthwhile. loving this series which i didn’t really expect! although (i think because it’s so sparse) i can’t seem to shake reading it in a british accent in my head even though it’s so so american

such a gorgeous book and even more special to have met Lois in person and imagine her writing it. was a bit dry at first to be honest but the second half was way easier to read. i’m honestly quite jealous of the lesbian community in the 80s and 90s in welly, they had so many bars and clubs and magazines and cool things that we’ve just lost now and replaced with the internet :,)

not sure how i felt about this one - basically like the 10pm question (ie from the perspective of a young, very neurodivergent child who has a chaotic family life) but a less enjoyable read. a little bit dystopian but only in ways that made the plot a bit harder to follow rather than making the story more interesting imo

tore through it - i don’t usually like short stories, and this isn’t really short stories as much as connected vignettes, but i really enjoyed this - the way it all connected from the first book in the series to this, kind of is trauma porn but very readable

so gorgeous!!! incredibly sapphic, the love letters blew my mind with how lesbian they are. devastatingly loving, and a surprisingly happy ending

holy fuck this was beautiful. just outstanding. i’m lost for words. every twist took me completely by surprise. what a reflection on being queer, being a daughter and a mother, being pregnant. sobbed, and i hardly ever cry at books

a startling depiction of mother daughter relationships, quite harrowing, sparse, didn’t say too much just enough. it’s astounding how a good well written ending can really bring a book together and change my whole opinion of the thing, a really good read

outstanding! i tore through this, loved the layers of perception and thinking about how our actions are perceived, ownership of narratives, and colonisations constant influence of everything. horrifying to understand where the narrator is coming from, but i think this is what the author wanted

beautiful and beautifully written but a really challenging read, always tough for me to read from a mentally unwell woman’s perspective. spooky, almost felt so personal that i shouldn’t be reading it.

wasn’t crazy about this book - the writing style was interesting and cool but quite slow moving - found the first 200 pages dull and depressing, just screamed of pākehā loneliness and isolation and not dealing with emotions (which was good scene setting but like i know how this goes) and then the last 100 pages were really good and beautiful about how grieving people found a way to come back together

so easy to read, nice and conversationally written. really interesting to learn how autistic brains are scientifically and measurably different, really interesting to learn about how my autistic friends brains work

okay this was a tough read, SO dense and academically written - ironically inaccessible!! but once through the boring and kinda pointless first half, the second half is actually pretty damn good. wish the whole book was about that part, glad i read it glad im done reading it

GORGEOUS STUNNING DEVASTATING WOW. had me convinced it was a certain kind of book, surface-ish level, for the first three quarters - then a sudden gut wrenching change and i was truly blown away, feel i have a richer understanding of the world which i think only the best fiction books can give

been listening to the audiobook but ran out of time, it got returned. so so powerful and so important and needed to be written - also incredibly depressing and horrible, the descriptions of her birth made me almost vomit at the bus stop, but this book is full of stuff that i wish all the mothers i know knew before having kids, i want everyone i know to read it