diff --git a/src/DataFrame/IO/Parquet/Binary.hs b/src/DataFrame/IO/Parquet/Binary.hs
index 5697d44..4f366df 100644
--- a/src/DataFrame/IO/Parquet/Binary.hs
+++ b/src/DataFrame/IO/Parquet/Binary.hs
@@ -3,12 +3,17 @@
 module DataFrame.IO.Parquet.Binary where
 
 import Control.Monad
+import Control.Exception (bracketOnError)
 import Data.Bits
 import qualified Data.ByteString as BS
 import Data.Char
 import Data.IORef
 import Data.Int
 import Data.Word
+import qualified Foreign.Ptr            as Foreign
+import qualified Foreign.Storable       as Foreign
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Unsafe as BSU
+import qualified Foreign.Marshal.Alloc  as Foreign
 
 littleEndianWord32 :: BS.ByteString -> Word32
 littleEndianWord32 bytes
@@ -124,7 +129,7 @@ readInt32FromBuffer buf bufferPos = do
 readString :: BS.ByteString -> IORef Int -> IO String
 readString buf pos = do
     nameSize <- readVarIntFromBuffer @Int buf pos
-    map (chr . fromIntegral) <$> replicateM nameSize (readAndAdvance pos buf)
+    replicateM nameSize (chr . fromIntegral <$> readAndAdvance pos buf)
 
 readByteStringFromBytes :: BS.ByteString -> (BS.ByteString, BS.ByteString)
 readByteStringFromBytes xs =
@@ -136,10 +141,28 @@ readByteStringFromBytes xs =
 readByteString :: BS.ByteString -> IORef Int -> IO BS.ByteString
 readByteString buf pos = do
     size <- readVarIntFromBuffer @Int buf pos
-    BS.pack <$> replicateM size (readAndAdvance pos buf)
+    fillByteStringByWord8 size (\_ -> readAndAdvance pos buf)
 
 readByteString' :: BS.ByteString -> Int64 -> IO BS.ByteString
-readByteString' buf size = BS.pack <$> mapM (`readSingleByte` buf) [0 .. (size - 1)]
+readByteString' buf size =
+    fillByteStringByWord8 (fromIntegral size) ((`readSingleByte` buf) . fromIntegral)
+
+-- | Allocate a fixed-size buffer, repeat the action on each index.
+-- Fill it into the buffer to get a ByteString.
+fillByteStringByWord8 :: Int -> (Int -> IO Word8) -> IO BS.ByteString
+fillByteStringByWord8 size getByte = do
+    bracketOnError
+        (Foreign.mallocBytes size :: IO (Foreign.Ptr Word8))
+        Foreign.free
+        -- ^ ensures p is freed if (IO Word8) throws.
+        (\p -> do
+            fill 0 p
+            BSU.unsafePackCStringFinalizer p size (Foreign.free p)
+        )
+    where fill i p
+            | i >= size = pure ()
+            | otherwise = getByte i >>= Foreign.pokeByteOff p i >> fill (i+1) p
+{-# INLINE fillByteStringByWord8 #-}
 
 readSingleByte :: Int64 -> BS.ByteString -> IO Word8
 readSingleByte pos buffer = return $ BS.index buffer (fromIntegral pos)