Month: February 2025

Book Review | The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

Posted February 2, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker).

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father’s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity and succeeds in “drawing us closer to the bleak heart of the Holocaust” (The New York Times).

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek’s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century’s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.


For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #26: More than a million copies sold)


The Reason

It’s been on my TBR a while, I’d heard so much about it and was curious.

My Thoughts

I didn’t expect it to be so because it’s a graphic novel of mice, but I feel like this is one of the most important books about WW2 that I’ve read. One, because it’s a true story from Art’s father who actually lived through it and not the many WW2 fiction that’s available, and two, because the MC, Vladek, isn’t the most likeable person.

There’s a reminder here that it really didn’t matter if you were a good or bad person, rich or poor, strong or weak, male or female, young or old… if you were a Jew, you could die at the whims of a Nazi, or you could be one of the “lucky” ones who survived. It chills me to think about it. As I’ve said, I really don’t like Vladek very much. He’s stingy, difficult, and a racist, and yet, I respect his survival instincts and his resourcefulness. I still don’t like him, but no matter what, no one deserves what the Nazis did to the Jews. I love that Art told his father’s story while also showing the process of being told the story; I think it brought a whole new element to the story to show that someone can go through something as vile as the Holocaust and yet still hold racist beliefs, and it also helps to show that Art doesn’t agree with his father’s beliefs.

In fact, one of the things I find most interesting is the relationship dynamics between Art and his father. He shows that Vladek is a difficult person to be around, to reason with, to change, and even from the beginning we see that he doesn’t spend a lot of time with his father and doesn’t want to spend a lot of time with him. It’s so relatable to both want to honor your father’s history and tell his story but not want to subject yourself to his idiosyncrasies.

I really respect the vulnerability and authenticity that Art puts into this story, and also the comic that he wrote about his mother that he included in the book. I don’t know if I could ever do that but I’m inspired by his demonstration.

In regards to the art, I think it was amazing – so detailed and very obviously thoughtful. One of the common questions asked is why use animals instead of humans to depict the characters, and I can’t say why for sure, but the deeper I got into the book, the more I wonder if using the mice to represent Jews is because of how resourceful mice are. People see mice as pests and often want to exterminate them, but they persist and they thrive despite hardships. They are incredibly smart, solving puzzles and looking for loopholes, they are survivors. I don’t know if this was Art’s intent, but it was my takeaway. This book has been on my radar for a long time, I’m so glad I finally read it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , , ,


Book Review | Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson

Posted February 2, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson

The Menu meets Ready of Not in this dark tale of opulent luxury and shocking violence from the New York Times bestselling author of Bloom.

Thrift fashionista Dez Lane doesn’t want to date Patrick Ruskin; she just wants to meet his mother, the editor-in-chief of Nouveau magazine. When he invites her to his family’s big Easter reunion at their lake retreat, she’s certain she can put up with his arrogance and fend off his advances long enough to ask Marie Caulfield-Ruskin for an internship someone with her pedigree could never nab through the regular submission route.

When they arrive at the enormous mansion on an island in the center of a Georgia lake, Dez is floored―she’s never witnessed how the 1% lives before in all their ridiculous, unnecessary luxury. But once all the family members are on the island and the ferry has departed, shit gets real. For decades, the Ruskins have made their servants sign contracts that are basically indentured servitude, and with nothing to lose, the servants have decided their only route to freedom is to get rid of the Ruskins for good…


For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #23: Title is ten characters or less)


The Reason

It was a buddy read and I heard good things about a previous buddy read by the same author.

My Thoughts

If this book was to be made into a movie, it would be the kind of fun comedy-horror that I would be all over. I’m not a fan of most horror movies in general, but I love comedy-horror and I think this would be a really good one.

This book is brutal, gory, sadistic, but so campy and ridiculous that I can’t take it too seriously. I loved that it was fast-paced and that you get so much satisfaction out of most everything that happens. It’s a little psychotic to think that way once you read the book and realize what I’m talking about, but as I’ve said, I don’t think this book is meant to be taken very seriously so I’m perfectly fine enjoying all the psychotic things that happen.

Is this the greatest novel ever written? Of course not, but it was a fun read, and a short one, and very much worth reading if you like comedy horror set on page.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

Tags: , , , ,


Monthly Wrap Up | January 2025

Posted February 2, 2025 by Haze in Monthly Wrap Up / 0 Comments

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

January 2025 Wrap Up

Hello, my friends! What even is this new year! A month has gone by and I feel like I haven’t found my feet yet. I’m still so frazzled and disorganized it’s not even funny! 😭

I’m doing the bare minimum, but of course, “bad habits” like reading are hard to get rid of, so I’m always reading even as I’m drowning in my disorganization. You could say that it’s partly because of my reading that everything is disorganized, I’m sticking my head in books to avoid handling stuff I need to do. 😅 Ah well, they’ll get done eventually.

My January 2025 TBR Intentions

I didn’t do very well with my TBR intentions even though the list isn’t very long, but 50% isn’t too bad.

  1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  2. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  3. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
  4. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  5. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  6. Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Books Read in January 2025

  1. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
  2. The Measure by Nikki Erlick
  3. ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
  4. NPCs by Drew Hayes
  5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  6. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
  7. Joyland by Stephen King
  8. Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson
  9. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
  10. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Notable Books This Month

Two Stephen King books this month! One was a reread (‘Salem’s Lot) and the other (Joyland) is a new read. I loved them both, as if there could be any doubt!

Killers of the Flower Moon was really good; infuriating and emotional, but also educational, and we ended up watching the movie too.

I also finally read Shark Heart. It’s been on my TBR since last year but not prioritized because I thought it was a light-hearted magical realism story. It ended up being so much more emotional and heartfelt than I expected and I had a lot of great discussions come out of it.

Guillotine and Maus were also really good, but I haven’t written my reviews yet. They’ll be coming soon!

Reading Challenges

I’ve read a few books that fit into The 52 Book Club 2025 Reading Challenge and The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge already, but I haven’t done a proper tally and I still haven’t decided on the other challenges I actually want to take on. My focus has been all over the place!

I will try to figure things out before this month is over!

February 2025 TBR Intentions

So many books to read, the TBR never ends! There are some I’m looking forward to this month though.

  1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
  2. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  3. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  4. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
  5. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

How was your month in January? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful February with lots of great books!

Tags: , , , ,