for a long time i thought i'd already read this book, and then i remembered thokay. the hype is warranted.
review to come / 3.5 or 4 stars
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for a long time i thought i'd already read this book, and then i remembered that i had simply borne witness to a play version of it that was being performed in the acting elective i took in my freshman year of high school.
"Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinso it turns out i want magical fantasy ONLY.
review to come / 3ish stars
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"Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant."
so...do you think Piranesi is looking for roommates?...more
This book did not do it for me, and in fact I actively did not enjoy reading it, but that may be my fault. ThereIt's possible I am simply very stupid.
This book did not do it for me, and in fact I actively did not enjoy reading it, but that may be my fault. There may have been the greatest thematic undertone in the world going on behind the scenes and it simply went right over my head due to my own dullness. It wouldn't be shocking.
But whatever it is (and probably it's me), I did not like this. At all.
This is for 3 main reasons: 1) My ignorance. CLEARLY there is supposed to be something I should've been getting here but it just...did...not...work. I enjoy analyzing books and trying to squeeze the literary meaning out of them but this metaphorical orange was giving me NOTHING. And most oranges give very little juice, if you think about it, so that says a lot. 2) It's rushed??? Why is this so short? I didn't feel any of the sort of creepiness or trapped-ness or impending doom-ness I was clearly intended to because this entire book is pamphlet-length. Why must we suffer? I am always Team Short Book so if I'm saying it needed to be longer you KNOW it's true. 3) It feels really ableist. Our protagonist gets into a car accident at the beginning of the book that leaves him paralyzed and bed-/wheelchair-bound, and the way this is talked about just did not sit right with me!! And not only from the characters that are intended to be cruel - just in general.
Plus this is icky and very dark and unpleasant, but none of those things are things that bug me when they're done right. Those are paragons of modern literary fiction right there.
Bottom line: It's not you, it's me! (But actually I think it's you.) (You here is the book, not the innocent person reading this.) (Or probably semi-innocent, realistically.)
------------------- pre-review
oh.............it's a no from me. but regretfully.
review to come / 2 ish :(
------------------- currently-reading updates
conquering new frontiers. TWO SIMULTANEOUS BUDDY READS WITH LILY...more
I have to do the most dreaded thing I ever do...figure out how I "feel" about something.
EvenAll right. I've procrastinated all I can.
The time is come.
I have to do the most dreaded thing I ever do...figure out how I "feel" about something.
Even though I am someone who reviews every book she writes, and even though I read hundreds of books a year, I try to think about feelings as infrequently as possible. I go with a gut rating, I often change it when I actually write the review, and that's it.
But then...once in a while...Nightmare. Chaos. Destruction. A book like this comes along, with an intense and confusing reading experience, and I am unable to rate it.
And then I wait days and weeks and a month if I can swing it so I do not have to do any sort of emotional reflection of any kind. But I've put this off all I can.
This book is weird.
It has some of the dark-academia vibes of books I love, but way more violent and twisty and confusing. The writing is pretty, if sometimes a bit purple for my taste (okay fine you got me I just like using the word "purple" to describe prose too much).
I just kind of like...don't know how I feel about it? But it's a vaguely positive kind of not knowing. So I think...3.5.
The rating of indecisive nice people everywhere. (I'm rebranding to nice.)
These characters are unlikable, but that's the point. The plot, if it exists, winds in fits and starts, but that's the point. It kind of walks the line between literary fiction and thriller, but that's the point. Everything that could take away from it feels intentional, which makes deducting anything seem willfully basic.
What else to say? I'll add this: When I'm reading physical books, I never eat, because I only have two hands and I don't understand the energy distribution that would take. Am I turning pages with one hand and holding my ice cream sandwich in the other? Am I taking bites of salad without turning my eyes to it for optimal forkfuls? How does this work? But on the other hand (buh dum ch), all I do while eating (because I can't be alone with my thoughts) is read on my laptop. And I had a library ebook copy of this book, so boom. Laptop.
But it's such an oddly consuming story, such a disruptively disturbing and gripping and occasionally shockingly violent narrative, that I was often unable to eat. And I lost my appetite if I tried.
Do with that what you will.
Bottom line: Weird! But good? But mostly weird.
---------------- pre-review
what the hell?
review and rating to come
---------------- tbr review
put the word "dark" next to the word "academia" and i am IN...more
honestly scared of what i'll become when i've read everything by shirley jacksonhonestly scared of what i'll become when i've read everything by shirley jackson...more
Once upon a time, there was me. The aforementioned me (hereafter referred to as I for the sake of grammar) was walking through an airport, wearing twoOnce upon a time, there was me. The aforementioned me (hereafter referred to as I for the sake of grammar) was walking through an airport, wearing two masks and holding hand sanitizer, when I was stopped dead in my tracks.
I had thought that all airport bookstores were relegated to the likes of the dreaded Hudson Booksellers, where books are treated with equal regard to lidded plastic cups of mixed nuts and those weird containers of hard-boiled eggs. (I would ask who buys those, but I have the WORST travel karma and know I would end up seated next to the answer to that question on my next flight if I did.)
And yes, like any self-respecting bookworm, I stop into every Hudson Booksellers I pass (approx 4 per flight) to gaze lovingly at the books. But I never buy them, because they cost like $48 and if I'm paying out the nose I'll be supporting an indie, thank you very much.
But then. Like a glorious mirage. I saw it.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKSTORES...INSIDE THE AIRPORT.
So I went in, nearly burst into tears, bought this book, started it within 15 minutes, and finished it in a sitting. (I love reading on flights. I always start and finish a book, no matter how long it is, like magic.)
There is nothing more I would like to do then leave my pre-review of this as a full review, but my review has caused much confusion, so I cannot.
Here There is nothing more I would like to do then leave my pre-review of this as a full review, but my review has caused much confusion, so I cannot.
Here is a longer, hopefully less discombobulating version: 1) This is a gripping and well-written account of a then-unsolved serial killer case, and one brilliant woman's fixation with it. 2) This book is very sad to me, for two reasons: a) Michelle McNamara died suddenly in her sleep, very young, and only months before the case she dedicated her life to would be solved. Many people yelled at me in the comments to tag this as a spoiler, which I won't do, because that's dumb. This is nonfiction. The author is not a character who dies. It's addressed in the synopsis, in the marketing, and in real life everywhere because it really truly happened. The ending of this book, which addresses her untimely passing, is beautiful and so sad. b) This was a fairly perfect true crime read for me until one point, toward the end, when McNamara bemoans the refusal of DNA testing companies to work with police departments. This is illegal, an infringement on privacy, and a gross thing to even consider. So that sucked. (Hopefully there is no confusion on what my stance on this idea is, but to clear things up if there is: NO. NONONONONONO. NO. DO NOT. NEVER. EVER. NO.)
That's about it.
Bottom line: We have all been deprived of a brilliant career from a brilliant woman, and this book is a sad and excellent reminder of that.
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reasons this book made me very sad: 1) i decided i love michelle mcnamara just in time for the very sad ending of the book, where her very sad and untimely passing is addressed (note: this is not a spoiler, it's an actual thing that happened in real life); 2) and i thought this was a fairly perfect true crime story until suddenly, at the end, the as-of-right-now reticence of DNA companies to illegally cooperate with police was treated as a bad thing. uh...what?
but full review to come / 4 stars anyway
----------- tbr review
my ideal story will always be a true crime mystery that has gone unsolved for decades and is neatly tied up for good at the end.
in case you somehow missed both parts one and two, here's the situation: i have decided to become a genius.
to accmy becoming-a-genius project, part 3!
in case you somehow missed both parts one and two, here's the situation: i have decided to become a genius.
to accomplish this, i'm going to work my way through the collected stories of various authors, reading + reviewing 1 story every day until i get bored / lose every single follower / am struck down by a vengeful deity.
i am very excited for this one, which i have unhauled (put into a donate pile in my closet) and rehauled (added to goodreads yet again) at least 4 times.
DAY 1: THE BLACK CAT it's actually very funny and 19th-century-horror to be like "the Beast...the Wick'd Creature of Nightmare Itself..." and then you're describing a cat. not scary, also kind of disturbing, but funny for sure. rating: 3
DAY 2: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER being alive is amazing. there is literally nothing stopping you from reading this horror story from the 1800s and pretending it's about early 2000s performing artist Usher. but this is good stuff either way. rating: 4.25
DAY 3: THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH rich people are the worst and this story is the best. rating: 4.5
DAY 4: THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR gross out horror! gross out horror! gross out horror!!! i've always been more of a standard Ghosts n Spooks Horror girl myself, but this is a better than usual example. rating: 3.5
DAY 5: THE PREMATURE BURIAL reading this story in Modern Times, when the entire point of it is like "ah, man, if only there were a way we could tell if people are dead...maybe then we wouldn't have to bury dozens of people alive...but there isn't so oh well! sucks for them"...well, it's weird as hell. rating: 2
DAY 6: MS FOUND IN A BOTTLE took a day off because i am actually...not enjoying this very much? poe is not my favorite. who knew. rating: 2.5
DAY 7: A TALE OF THE RAGGED MOUNTAINS took another day off because again, not feelin this. poe sure showed me, because this one was really good. rating: 4.5
DAY 8: THE SPHINX this has the funniest plot twist of any story i've ever read. rating: 3.5
DAY 9: THE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE arthur conan doyle should give edgar allan poe a hundred bucks and a kiss on the forehead because holy smokes does this read just like sherlock holmes. anyway, this is worth the read for the description of (view spoiler)[an orangutan shaving (hide spoiler)] alone. rating: 3.5
DAY 10: THE TELL-TALE HEART well, we all know this one is iconic. rating: 4.5
DAY 11: THE GOLD-BUG for the first time in my life, i'm DNFing a short story. this one is pretty long and, as it turns out, Poe's not being from the South doesn't prevent him from writing racist stories about Southern slaves and their masters!! hard pass. rating: none
DAY 12: THE SYSTEM OF DR. TARR AND PROF. FETHER not the greatest depiction of people with mental illness, but i have to admit that the structure of this story is fun as hell. also, it was 18whatever. rating: 3.5
DAY 13: THE MAN THAT WAS USED UP i find this very amusing: "But although men so absolutely fine-looking are neither as plenty as reasons or blackberries, still I could not bring myself to believe that the remarkable something to which I alluded just now,- that the odd air of je ne sais quoi which hung about my new acquaintance,- lay altogether, or indeed at all, in the supreme excellence of his bodily endowments." both me and poe are really trying to find something to like in a handsome dude other than his handsomeness, am i right? anyway this was complete nonsense. rating: 2
DAY 14: THE BALLOON-HOAX i do love a good prank, and convincing a bunch of old-timey bozos that someone crossed the whole damn ocean in a balloon in under 4 days is for sure a good prank. rating: 3.75
DAY 15: A DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM snooze city. rating: 1.5 or 2
DAY 16: THE PURLOINED LETTER what i wouldn't give to be the fat rich 1800s style editor of this story. smoking a cigar. drinking whiskey, which tastes good to me for some reason. drawing huge X's over the part where poe inexplicably spends half the story explaining the relationship between poets, mathematicians, logic, and reason. rating: 3.25
DAY 17: THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM personally, if i were in a gross-out rat-filled dungeon being confronted with a series of horribly logical means to enact my death sentence, i would have given up immediately. rating: 4
DAY 18: THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO i see you, acclaimed actor Vincent Price, editor of this book. i see you ending with one of Poe's best stories and attempting to trick me into thinking i liked this more than i did using your shared spooky charm. I'M NOT FALLING FOR IT!! rating: 4.25
OVERALL i like Poe fine. don't love him. creepy little dude, really. weird guy. big variance in quality imo. the technically-least-successful entry in my genius project! rating: 3.5...more
I am the one who eats all the cookies, for example, preventing myself from having cookies to eat. I am the one who accidentalI am my own worst enemy.
I am the one who eats all the cookies, for example, preventing myself from having cookies to eat. I am the one who accidentally stays up until the wee hours of the morning because I suddenly need to research that mass-hysteria-in-medieval-France thing where no one could stop laughing.
And most pertinently, I am the one who said “review and rating to come” on this book, assuming future me would have figured out my feelings.
Spoiler alert: Future me has not figured out anything.
So here we are. Hoping to write ourselves into an opinion.
Here’s what I’ve got: - this is very weird. - But a good kind of weird, where it makes you think, and you notice things you otherwise may not have because you’re like “truly what is going on I have to figure this out.” - Once you start doing that, this is incredibly thematically rich. - Here are some themes I noticed and liked: - Parallels between vegetarianism and sexual assault - Relatedly, misogyny and the treatment of women, tied to nature and animals - The perception of what is ordinary versus what is extraordinary - Wife swap!!!
I’ve been in very much a quantity over quality mood lately when it comes to reading, prioritizing getting to a book a day over reading books that will slow down and make me think.
And this was very refreshing.
Bottom line: I have decided - four stars!!!
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i will need to reflect on this book for 3-5 months before i say a single word about it.
review to come / WHO KNOWS THE RATING
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don't mind me, just doing some chill, relaxed reading by picking up a book people have called "terrifying" and "unhinged"...more
in case you somehow missed parts one and two and three clogging your feed for the past 2 months, here's the situamy becoming-a-genius project, part 4!
in case you somehow missed parts one and two and three clogging your feed for the past 2 months, here's the situation: i have decided to become a genius.
to accomplish this, i'm going to work my way through the collected stories of various authors, reading + reviewing 1 story every day until i get bored / lose every single follower / am struck down by a vengeful deity.
this one, by my creepy queen shirley jackson, is one i have been worryingly excited about. also i want to give her a hug (both because i love her writing and because she seems like she needs one)
DAY 1: THE INTOXICATED it is honestly and truly the scariest thing in the world that this story was written in the 1940s, when it not only could have been written now but believably happened today. rating: 4.5
DAY 2: THE DAEMON LOVER the real monsters, scarier than those in any horror story, are among us every day. Straight Men rating: 4
DAY 3: LIKE MOTHER USED TO MAKE there is something so SCARY about this story...i am rattled. count me rattled. i need a hug and a kiss on the forehead and also to give the main character of this a hug and a kiss on the forehead. rating: 4.5
DAY 4: TRIAL BY COMBAT i regret to inform you the rumors are true: i did spill an entire cup of water on my nightstand while trying to shut off my alarm this morning, wreaking havoc on my floor, the corner of my mattress, the edge of my laptop, and, most significantly and unfortunately, this book. so this was an unusually damp but still pleasant reading experience. rating: 4.25
DAY 5: THE VILLAGER i gotta tell ya, this book has been the gift that keeps on giving. thematically apt for christmas. rating: 4.25
DAY 6: MY LIFE WITH R.H. MACY took the weekend off because i forgot how to read. another genuinely and yet inexplicably spooky one. rating: 4
DAY 7: THE WITCH shirley jackson is amazing. this is so scary. also i want a lollipop. rating: 4.5
DAY 8: THE RENEGADE "Feeling like this at nine-thirty in the morning, she thought, it's a feeling that belongs with eleven o'clock at night." eek. rating: 4
DAY 9: AFTER YOU, MY DEAR ALPHONSE this is a pretty cool story about how racial stereotypes aren't often true, until you consider that this whole collection is made up of things that are supposed to be subtly unsettling. then it's less cool. rating: 3
DAY 10: CHARLES kids are scary as hell. rating: 3.75
DAY 11: AFTERNOON IN LINEN this started out with an Alice reference, which obviously is the best way any story can start for me, but it was kind of meh from there. kids really are scary as hell, though. rating: 3.25
DAY 12: FLOWER GARDEN really it's still day 11, but i skipped two days earlier and was in the mood to keep reading and...i don't have to justify myself to you, person i'm imagining reading this! all i have to say is that Mrs Maclane is a queen and i can't figure out whether this story is on her side or not. rating: ?
DAY 13: DOROTHY AND MY GRANDMOTHER AND THE SAILORS it's weird to read stories like this that just...what is this even? like that john mulaney bit about when your grandmother starts telling stories about playing marbles at the soda fountain and you're like NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU IDIOT! except i would never call shirley jackson an idiot. rating: 3
DAY 14: COLLOQUY treating myself to another two-story day! this one is possibly the most relatable 2.5 pages of all time. rating: 4.25
DAY 15: ELIZABETH this one just made me sad. rating: 3
DAY 16: A FINE OLD FIRM how does shirley jackson make the most innocuous interaction seem spooky!!! rating: 3.5
DAY 17: THE DUMMY dating a ventriloquist who makes his dummy talk to me is the worst fate i can imagine, so needless to say this story scared the living daylights out of me. rating: 4
DAY 18: SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY this is set in a bookstore (dreamy) and is about how people are the worst (true). rating: 3.75
DAY 19: COME DANCE WITH ME IN IRELAND just some classic irish shenanigans here rating: 3
DAY 20: OF COURSE people are weirdddddd. always have been, always will be. trying, also, not to realize that these stories have taken a significant downturn in quality for me. (increased by half a star on day 21 for title reasons.) rating: 3.5
DAY 21: PILLAR OF SALT as a city person this didn't quite do it for me. rating: 3
DAY 22: MEN WITH THEIR BIG SHOES this is a fun one. and i do love a good grifter. a scheme. a scam. rating: 4
DAY 23: THE TOOTH this is scary beyond reason. rating: 4.75 or 5
DAY 24: GOT A LETTER FROM JIMMY "Sometimes, she thought, stacking the dishes in the kitchen, sometimes I wonder if men are quite sane, any of them. Maybe they're all just crazy and every other woman knows it but me, and my mother never told me and my roommate just didn't mention it and all the other wives think I know..." one of the great story openers of all time, probably. rating: 4
DAY 25: THE LOTTERY nothing will ever beat this story, which is so creepy and f*cked up that hundreds of New Yorker readers (already creepy and f*cked up individuals) literally sat down to write shirley jackson actual, physical hate mail. unparalleled. rating: 5
OVERALL this collection definitely dipped in quality for me for what felt like a hundred years, but overall i love Shirley Jackson very much and i think she should be granted immortality - for reasons of talent, spookiness, and my love for her. rating: 4.25...more
in case you missed the first one, here's the description: i have decided to become a genius.
to accomplish this, i'm going to work my way through the collected stories of various authors, reading + reviewing 1 story every day until i get bored / lose every single follower / am struck down by a vengeful deity.
and yes, i chose this one due in no small part to miss phoebe bridgers.
DAY 1: THE HUSBAND STITCH this is truly one of the raddest pieces of writing i have ever read. i don't even know what to say. lovely writing, gorgeous allusions, wonderful style, brilliant structure, fantastic ending, genius title. a pitch-perfect retelling. i can't even deal. rating: 5
DAY 2: INVENTORY a story about sexual encounters during a pandemic quarantine is hitting a bit too close to home for me right now. rating: 3.75
DAY 3: MOTHERS you know that feeling when you start a short story and you're working at full attention to figure out where you are and who you're with and what's going on because you'll only have a few pages to both know and appreciate it? that feeling stuck around until the very last with this one. in a good way. rating: 4.5
DAY 4: ESPECIALLY HEINOUS hey so Carmen Maria Machado is f*cking amazing. this is brilliant. rating: 5
DAY 5: REAL WOMEN HAVE BODIES i keep waiting for a dud of a story and it just...won't come. genius end to end. rating: 4.5
DAY 6: EIGHT BITES okay ouch, carmen!!!!! this is starting to hurt!!!! rating: 4.5
DAY 7: THE RESIDENT so maybe this one actually scared me!!! what about it???? rating: 4.5
DAY 8: DIFFICULT AT PARTIES not my favorite. actually probably my least favorite. rating: 3.5
OVERALL this is a brilliant work by a brilliant author, and it's greater than the sum of its parts. i didn't miss a single day (despite having work and holidays and cross-country flights in that time), and not only that, but i looked forward to my time with this every day.
This can be read either a scathing indictment of the dumbassery within these pages or a pat on the back for myself since I Always trust your judgment.
This can be read either a scathing indictment of the dumbassery within these pages or a pat on the back for myself since I knew I wouldn't enjoy this.
Pick your poison.
I've only read one other Riley Sager book, an ARC of Final Girls, and all I'll say is that that review is one of the ones I get worried when I get comment notifications on. Let's leave it at that.
(Also, can we talk about how Riley Sager was a faceless pseudonym writing female protagonists for a while and then was unveiled to be a dude? Not my favorite.)
My reading experience with this one probably wasn't as unpleasant, but it felt like a whole lot of nothing. No excitement, no investment in the characters, no admiration for the storyline/writing/setting/whatever.
Some of that comes from the fact that I spoiled myself for it (I have an unbelievable tendency to do that - I have seen 2 seasons of Love Island, for example, and learned who won before I even reached the halfway point), but more of that comes from this just...not working for me.
Bummer. But...I think I'll live.
Bottom line: Please remind me next time I go to pick up a Riley Sager book that past me, wise and all-knowing, said not to.
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from time to time everyone should read a book they're pretty sure they're not going to like. for character development...more
As an allegory for colonization and its impact on the colonized, this is stunning and gorgeous and I enjoy analyzing it in spare moments, like when I'As an allegory for colonization and its impact on the colonized, this is stunning and gorgeous and I enjoy analyzing it in spare moments, like when I'm tired of working or am eating a cookie that is not so delicious as to require my full attention or am in the shower.
As a story in and of itself, I did not enjoy it. But who cares.
The writing style of this was pretty stilted, in my opinion (and I kept catching myself doing that nightmarish thing where I feel obligated to rewrite awkward sentences), but again - basically beside the point.
Weird that in many ways this was absolutely not my cup of tea, and yet there's no way I'd even consider giving it under four stars.
Bottom line: I love a text I can really think about!!
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spooky season spooky season spooky season spooky season spooky season spooky season...more
Honestly, all you need to know about my reading experience with this book is the following: - I never (EVER!!!!) get scared of books. - My least favoritHonestly, all you need to know about my reading experience with this book is the following: - I never (EVER!!!!) get scared of books. - My least favorite genre of movie is horror, because they're not scary and are therefore just ~boring~. - I am obsessed with ghost stories but they are never satisfying to me. - This book made me so frightened, in broad daylight, at 10 am with my roommate in the next room and a cat on my lap, that I had to put it down. - BROAD DAYLIGHT I TELL YOU!!!
This book is The Blueprint.
Also I felt a huge affection for the characters, I loved the writing, I felt the spirals and the rollercoasters alongside our protagonist, and the ending was...chef's kiss.
Already raised this from a 4 to a 4.5...now wondering if I should raise it higher.
Bottom line: Just remembered I drunkenly lent my copy of this to my neighbor. DON'T LET DRUNK ME NEAR MY BOOKS EVER AGAIN.
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yes i DID finish reading this in the wee hours of Halloween night under a full moon. thank you for asking.
review to come / 4.5 stars
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feel like i'm legally obligated to read this in october...more
Who's the better detective: Sherlock Holmes, or me when I'm trying to figure out someone's entire moral compass based solely on who they're following Who's the better detective: Sherlock Holmes, or me when I'm trying to figure out someone's entire moral compass based solely on who they're following on Instagram?
Like, sure, Holmesy might use the power of observation more effectively than any other fictional detective in history, but does he even know which usernames are red flags?
Doubtful.
This is one of the better mysteries, like, ever, but in terms of pacing it still manages to be a total nightmare. Stopping the entire narrative at the climax in order to inexplicably launch into a bone-dry description of Mormonism for seemingly 800 pages...brave. Bold. Unparalleled.
(I actually Wikipedia'd this book to make sure something wasn't wrong with the ebook I borrowed from the library. That's how much of a mindf*ck that switch-up was.)
Still, though, Sherlock Holmes rules and is very fun to read about, even if I have some association of his name with Benedict Cumberbatch and therefore have to occasionally feel fear strike my very heart when I think of his face while reading.
We take the wins with the losses in this life.
Similarly, I was browsing in a used bookstore recently and a cute boy started chatting me up about Sherlock Holmes, and then when I left to buy my book and a coffee he didn't chase me across the store / fall in love with me / hold a boombox playing In Your Eyes over his head.
Honestly, I had more fun thinking about me and my sisters forming an elite team of serial killers than I did reading this.
I will never understand bookHonestly, I had more fun thinking about me and my sisters forming an elite team of serial killers than I did reading this.
I will never understand books that have extremely fun-sounding plots and then are boring. It feels like this story spent more time on the main character's unrequited crush on a doctor (boring, sad) than it did on having a SISTER who KILLS all her BOYFRIENDS (rad, dreamy, exciting, and so on).
In other words this book sounded like my dream and turned into my nightmare.
Really it was just an unremarkable read for me. I won't remember much about these characters or this writing style or this narrative.
Bottom line: The murder of my hopes and dreams at the hands of this book was the most consequential murder of all.
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if she won't clean up the corpses of your sh*tty boyfriends, is she even your sister?
review to come / 2.5 stars
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i am spending this month reading books by Black authors. please join me!
I expected to be SPOOKED. I was ready to be SCARED. I prepared myself for the FRIGHT of a LIFETIME.
And instead I got...this. I was handed hundreds of I expected to be SPOOKED. I was ready to be SCARED. I prepared myself for the FRIGHT of a LIFETIME.
And instead I got...this. I was handed hundreds of pages’ worth of filler and some seriously mixed messages about the cycle of abuse and sent on my merry way.
It’s never a good sign when you start a thriller and you’re like “huh I wonder when this will get interesting,” and then you hit the halfway point and you’re still like pondering the idea of if the plot will get started anytime soon, and then you’re almost done and you can tell the book hit its very belated climax and you are still not surprised or scared or any exciting adjective beginning with S.
Not a good sign at all.
This was so boring that I had to force myself through it from page one.
There were just SO. MANY. SUBPLOTS. I DID NOT CARE ABOUT. A widower falling in love again. A weird kid starting over at a new school. A series of neighborhood weirdos minding their business. A cop who was not the main character cop but pops up many times like she is.
This felt so discombobulated and plotless that I don’t even know how to explain it in a way that makes sense. It is so noncohesive that I can’t even gather it up into something cohesive enough to allow you to understand how noncohesive it is, because that would require grouping and summarizing and generally treating this blob like the narrative it is not.
Things just...happen. Unrelatedly. And without any sense of building towards something or any stakes at all.
But back to those mixed messages about abuse I teased earlier.
(view spoiler)[Within the span of ten pages at the end of this book, one cycle of abuse is ended and another is perpetuated and these are treated, without a drop of self awareness, like a happy ending.
Our main character is a dad who struggles to have a relationship with his son because his father was an alcoholic who left his family. At the end of the book, this main character (can you tell I don’t remember his name?) reconciles with his son and forgives his dad and everything is happy-happy-joy-joy.
There is also a serial killer who murdered little boys and horrifically abused his son. This son then becomes a killer who follows literally in his father’s footsteps, and the end of the book sees the son in jail with his father. The happily-ever-after of this story is, in addition to the end of the cycle above, the perpetuation of this one, with the son screaming in fear because his father is going to abuse him again. (hide spoiler)]
To put it simply: WHAT THE F*CK.
Oh and also I guess this qualifies as magical realism because ghosts are real. To add to the clusterf*ck.
Bottom line: I don’t know what the hell was going on here, but I know I did NOT care for it.
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things that sound scarier to me than this book:
- when you see a spider and you go to catch it but then it disappears and you feel phantom creepy crawlies on you as if the spider and all its friends are having a web-building party all over you - ??? - that's it...more
The coolest, most impressive, rarest, most coveted thing a book can be is a thriller that's actually good.
Thrillers are like horror movies: They rely The coolest, most impressive, rarest, most coveted thing a book can be is a thriller that's actually good.
Thrillers are like horror movies: They rely so much on the clichés and tropes and snooze stuff of the genre that they end up not only not being unique or a good work of art, they are not even FUN. Or scary. Or mysterious. Or all three, or a unicorn, or whatever it is they're trying to be.
This one is The VVitch or Midsommar or whatever, in this metaphor. (I haven't seen enough horror movies to speak on this with a lot of confidence so be nice.) (Yes, I realize I am speaking on it anyway, but I've already written 2.5 paragraphs of this review and there's NO way I'm starting over.) It relies on the familiar structures enough to be a satisfying entrant into the genre, while being unique enough to be good.
I had fun with it.
For once.
It's far from a perfect book, but there is that!
Bottom line: Cool!
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miracles DO happen...i just read + enjoyed a thriller???
review to come / 3.5 stars i think
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better late than never is true, right?
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not going to lie, i'm feeling PRETTY special for receiving an advance copy of this
(okay yes i haven't read The Whisper Man but still)...more
I can't believe it took me this long to read a book by Celeste Ng.
This book, as the saying goes, has EVERYTHING. Mysterious deaths. Family drama. HisI can't believe it took me this long to read a book by Celeste Ng.
This book, as the saying goes, has EVERYTHING. Mysterious deaths. Family drama. History. Clandestine relationships. Secrets. It's #OwnVoices and it's literary fiction, which have been the two categories I can't get enough of so far this year. It's somehow captivating and unputdownable while being quiet and real.
It is, in short, extremely good and an all around dreamy read to me.
Ms. Ng, I am so sorry that I have wronged you by waiting so long.
Bottom line: Don't make my mistakes!!! Read this. Now. (In case you somehow haven't yet.)...more
Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down inMerricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!
I don’t really have a good reason to begin with that quote, other than the fact that I’m obsessed with it. It’s up there with the Boggis, Bunce, & Bean poem from Fantastic Mr. Fox in the global rankings of Creepy Rhymes Chanted By Neighborhood Children In Reference To Nearby Monster-People.
The difference between this book and Fantastic Mr. Fox, besides the hundreds of obvious ones, is that our heroes ARE those monster-people. And not, you know, a group of talking animals so adorable and charming it was legally mandated Wes Anderson had to adapt it into a movie.
Or something.
A similarity between this book and Fantastic Mr. Fox - likely the only one other than the above rhyme - is that both are wonderful.
This is so creepy, and atmospheric, and beautifully written. Reading this is an intense experience, often uncomfortable, oddly addictive, and counterintuitively I felt sad when it was over.
I love Merricat and Constance and Uncle Julian, and their strange rituals and old house and manners of speaking.
Shirley Jackson really said men are trash and that’s that on that.
Relatedly, I have made up my mind to read every Shirley Jackson book I can get my hands on.
Also this cover is gorgeous.
Bottom line: This is very much my aesthetic. (No one correct me on my grammatically incorrect use of the word “aesthetic” - I’m using it in the hip cool slang way. Thank you.)
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this book is fantastic.
review to come / 4.5 stars
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the rumors are true: i did whisper-shout YES to myself when i found a copy of this in a used bookstore...more
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