reviews slash adjacent!

Name	Creator	Published	Type of thing	Summary	Personal comments	/5
Foster	Claire Keegan	2010	Book	a young girl goes to live in the very rural countryside over the summer while her family at home are managing their problems. though she is scared initially, the old couple and country life are much better than her life at home, meaning the eventual need for her to leave is a deeply upsetting event. there's also a side thing about how the couples' son drowned in a well, which the main character also almost does.	i liked the presentation of the pastroal in this, it was a lot less idealised than in a lot of Romantic pastoral stuff, instead Keegan creates a more realistic (though still somewhat romanticised) depiction of country life; of how it is legitimately hard work but that there is very clearly a sense of community and safety at least in this specific place.	3ish?
Small Prophets	Mackenzie Crook	2026	TV series	a man (Michael Sleep) is struggling to cope following the disappearance of his partner almost 7 years ago, as well as the fact that he is branded a killer/certainly some kind of dodgy guy, his dad is in a care home, and his partner's brother wants to take his house. shit gets a bit crazier when his dad tells him how to create homunculi which can answer any question (such as: is his partner alive), and so he does that, making friends with his coworker (Kacey) along the way.	it's a really unique show, both in the premise and also just the general tone contrasts silly comedy with really really tender moments in a way that you don't see very often, particularly the importance of the friendship between Michael and Kacey is such a unique dynamic its very endearing. i could probably do with rewatching the show to properly take it all in because i was a bit distracted but i did still enjoy it a lot. i don't really get how there could be a second series though...? but i shall have to see	4/5
WE'RE ALL DOOMED!	Daniel Howell	2024	recording of a live show	hit youtuber Dan Howell aka danisnotonfire examines his feelings of deep existential dread about the state of the world at large, as well as his own personal problems. comedy apart from when its not	overall this was very good, it speaks to my same brand of Fear and Anxiety which is what i was looking for so yayyyy no i liked how he really accurately showed how easy it is to kind of spiral into apathy and doom, and to then point out that it's still worth trying because there are still so many good things in the world... i don't think it's a Perfect by any means, the segment on AI is already so kind of out date which moreso is just terrifying in itself, but i think its well made through both script writing and stage design, Dan and everyone else involved are all so talented . i didn't cry loads while watching it but i did sob for about an hour not long afterwards which wasn't entirely related but yeagh	4/5
Chainsaw Man	Tatsuki Fujimoto	2018-2026	Manga	the world is filled with Devils of varying levels of strength which pose fairly significant and constant threat to human society. denji, who is forced into devil hunting in order to repay his fathers debts, is killed by devils, but then by forming a contract with his "dog"/devil Puchita, his heart is replaced by Puchita and he becomes Chainsaw Man . . shenanigans ensue	i read the first arc and what was at the time released of the second arc of CSM years ago now, i remember enjoying it decently at the time though I wasn't like, Crazy about it, and now that i've read the full thing i'd say the same thing applies tbh. its certainly not bad, I like a lot of what Fujimoto does and i think the world building in general is really interesting, i also love how anti-USA he is throughout the entire manga. i think? i preferred the first arc to the second, as it just felt a bit more grounded and certain of what was happening in the plot, but equally i love Asa in part 2 and i think that there's a lot of interesting elements in it. i agree with a lot of criticism that i've seen of the ending that it was fairly rushed but i don't think thats the Worst Thing Ever, i don't even hate the ending itself (though i also don't love it, i'm conflicted which i think is the whole point) but i do think it just kind of Happened very quickly. but overall, i enjoyed reading it, i think it probably is better reading it as it was originally serialised or certainly spacing it out a bit more rather than reading it all over the span of i think three days like i did	3.5/5
Hamnet	Maggie O'Farrell	2020	Book	historical fiction concerning the death of Shakespeare's son Hamnet, exploring the lives of all those involved. O'Farrell subverts what may be expected and puts the majority of her focus on everyone that isn't shakespeare, going so far as to not explicitly name him within the entire novel	goddd this was SAD. its done a lot for developing my interest for wanting to do more of my own research, since obviously this is a fictionalised account and some artistic liberties have been taken, which O'Farrell does note herself. because i'd already heard that the focus wasn't completely on Shakespeare the guy, i was surprised when his perspective was still included? but equally i think it did help to develop how multiple perspectives are explored (which she does very well, it does differ from some other things ive read where different characters will have much more distinctive narrative voices, even in third person, but its still good), i think this is most notable after Hamnet's death, as we get to see how Agnes and her family are completely justified to be frustrated with William, his absence, and how he acts, but equally we can sympathise with William rather than just seeing him as some kind of abhorent monster. thats what i call NUANCE which i love to see. uhhhh yeah it really is Sad theres some cute moments but its a tenderly miserable book, in a good way	3.75/5