"In the novelist's proffesion, as far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as winning or losing...What's crucial is whether your writing attains th"In the novelist's proffesion, as far as I'm concerned, there's no such thing as winning or losing...What's crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you've set for yourself."
"I'm the type of person who doesn't find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring. I've had this tendency ever since I was young, when, given a choice, I much preferred reading books on my own or concentrating on listening to music over being with someone else. I could always think of things to do by myself."
"The thoughts that occur to me while I'm running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky as always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky. The sky both exists and doesn't exist. It has substance and at the same time doesn't. And we merely accept that vast expanse and drink it in."
"it's precisely because people are different from others that they're able to create their own independent selves."
"Emotional hurt is the price a person has to pay in order to be independent."
"As long as you have running shoes and a good road you can run to your heart's content."
"let's face it: Life is basically unfair. But even in a situation that's unfair, I think it's possible to seek out a kind of fairness. Of course, that might take time and effort. And maybe it won't seem to be wort all that. It's up to each individual to decide whether or not it is."
"The most important thing we ever learn at school is the fact that the most important things can't be learned at school."
"Talent has a mind of its own and wells up when it wants to, and once it dries up, that's it."
"After focus, the next important thing for a novelist is, hands down, endurance...What's needed for a writer of fiction - at least one who hopes to write a novel - is the energy to focus every day for half a year, or a year, two years."
"If concentration is the process of just holding your breath, endurance is the art of slowly, quietly breathing at the same time you're storing air in your lungs."
"This is my body, with all its limits and quirks. Just as with my face, even if I don't like it it's the only one I get, so I've got to make do."
"If something's worth doing, it's worth giving it your best - or in some cases beyond your best."
"My idea of literature is something more spontaneous, more cohesive, something with a kind of natural, positive vitality. For me, writing a novel is like climbing a steep mountain, struggling up the face of a cliff, reaching the summit after a long and arduous ordeal. You overcome your limitations, or you don'ts, one or the other."...more
“Before judging others, pause for a moment and ask: am I finding fault in order to distract myself or others from my own insecurities? Am I projecting“Before judging others, pause for a moment and ask: am I finding fault in order to distract myself or others from my own insecurities? Am I projecting my own weakness onto them? And even if I’m doing neither of those things, am I any better than the person I’m criticizing? I can’t say what the answers to the first two questions will be in every case, but the answer to the third question is always no.”
This is one of the most enlightening and empowering books I have ever read. One read isn’t enough, and I’ve just ordered a physical copy so I can revisit it with a pen at hand. Jay reveals how to overcome negative thoughts and habits and access the calm and purpose that lie within all of us - if there was ever a time to read this book, it’s now. ...more
In Ghosts, we meet Nina, a successful food writer, on her 32nd birthday and the start of “the strangest” year of her life. What follows is 365 days ofIn Ghosts, we meet Nina, a successful food writer, on her 32nd birthday and the start of “the strangest” year of her life. What follows is 365 days of ghosts in every metaphorical sense: the online ghosts who profess their love and then vanish; the ghost of her father as he succumbs to dementia; the ghost of her twenties; and the ghosts of past female friendships as those around her fall into motherhood and marriage.
Ghosts is a timely novel that taps into the zeitgeist of modern dating. Until a couple of months ago, I had managed to resist the lure of dating apps. That being so, I felt Nina’s struggle as she endeavoured to navigate the digital dating world. Over the two weeks that I read this, it was uncanny how my life mirrored hers. I swiped as Nina swiped, I dated as Nina did, and…the whole being ghosted thing. Dolly’s words struck a chord with me as I’m sure they will for every other millennial woman.
I will never understand ghosting. How easily silence can make women feel like they are losing their minds and that they have “scared them off”. It leaves you in a void of uncertainty. Your eyes habitually flicker towards your phone. Your heart hammers when new notifications ping through, only to feel dejected when they still leave you in the lurch. Alternatively, if a man professes his love or is more forward with you, it’s romantic. Dolly depicts this frustrating modern reality and more with brutal honesty, astuteness, and tenderness.
“Real human people can’t be deleted. We are not living in dystopian science fiction.”
Although Ghosts is at times sad and realistic about the disappointments of life, it isn’t without its laughs or tender moments. For instance, the commentary on the struggles of being ‘the single friend’, the four-hour wait between reading and replying to text messages, and dating app clichés – from napping dog lovers and world travellers to the pineapple on pizza controversialists. Alternatively, any fan of Dolly Alderton will recognise snippets of her in this book – musical references, classic British food, her signature one-liners.
Finally, Dolly’s attentive descriptions and ability to bring humour into the mundane are what I adore most about her writing. The minute details and quirks incorporated within her sugar-sweet prose are evocative, often nostalgic, and only render her novel more relatable.
Overall, Ghosts is a moving and clever debut with a host of charming characters and brutally amusing social commentary — I’m already excited to reread this one over the years.
Thank you, Penguin, for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
People From My Neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawakami was the perfect collection of micro-fiction to end Women in Translation Month. Despite its slow, rathePeople From My Neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawakami was the perfect collection of micro-fiction to end Women in Translation Month. Despite its slow, rather mundane, start, these short stories gradually venture off into some strange places. Kawakami employs magical realism to present the neighbourhood’s bizarre occurrences in the most unassuming way; as if a white dove transforming into a young man or a day without gravity wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. What’s more, most stories are only a few pages long meaning there’s little room for an explanation for what we’re seeing in this unconventional little neighbourhood. I’d highly recommend this collection to anyone looking to explore some quirky contemporary Japanese fiction!
Thank you, Trandem Collective and Granta for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!...more
Confession time, despite having A Man Called Ove and Beartown on my TBR for the longest time, Anxious People was my gateway to Fredrik Backman's weirdConfession time, despite having A Man Called Ove and Beartown on my TBR for the longest time, Anxious People was my gateway to Fredrik Backman's weird and wonderful work. This wholesome, hilarious tear-jerker has me questioning why I left it so long. Viewing an apartment doesn’t normally turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths. There’s an over-enthusiastic real estate agent, two bitter Ikea addicts, a heavily pregnant woman, a suicidal multimillionaire, and a man wearing a rabbit's head. Eventually, the robber releases this eclectic bunch, but when the police storm into the apartment, it’s empty… It took me a while to catch the rhythm of this book. At first, I found it choppy and, while I love a meandering novel, there wasn’t enough clarity for me to latch onto. However, I soon realised that this was intentional and necessary. Backman lets the mystery unfold by cross-cutting between the omniscient narrator's deductions and the series of dysfunctional witness interviews. Desperation can lead to many unwise decisions, and that is, in part, what this story is about. Yet, beneath the surface of this puzzling mystery lies a deep examination of human nature. While still interspersing his novel with punchy, dark humour, Backman explores the various ways individuals deal with their grief, anxiety, frustration or a guilty conscience. While the hostages are isolated in the apartment, they are eventually forced to face not only each other but also themselves. In this light, I found this wonderfully bizarre novel to serve as a much-needed reminder in this current climate that everybody has a story, everybody hurts, and everybody is grappling with their own anxieties. Sometimes all it takes is a helping hand to let someone know that they matter. Listening to one another is a powerful weapon against the kind of pain that leads to destruction. Thank you, @michaeljbooks for my advanced copy ...more
Frying Plantain is a vibrant collection of twelve interrelated short stories about a Jamaican-Canadian girl coming of age in Toronto. Given that Reid-Frying Plantain is a vibrant collection of twelve interrelated short stories about a Jamaican-Canadian girl coming of age in Toronto. Given that Reid-Benta’s debut progresses chronologically from childhood to adolescence into young adulthood, it reads more like a collection of vignettes than discrete stories. Nevertheless, each progressive glimpse into Kara's life is touching, poignant, and I blissfully read the entire collection in one sitting.
At the core of Frying Plantain simmers the radiant heat of the complicated love between mother and daughter. Kara must navigate her single mother’s demands alongside socio-cultural expectations in downtown Toronto. Reid-Benta demonstrates how much control there is in love and how it is expressed through grandmother’s good food and sharp words, or subtle acts and late-night drives. Most notably, the words left unsaid speak volumes.
Reid-Benta also grapples with cultural and class differences between neighbourhoods in Toronto. I was most moved by her nuanced depictions of how Kara and her friends—all from this melting-pot neighbourhood of Caribbean culture—clashed with each other over who was the “most authentic” in their group. And yet, although we see Kara grapple with a split cultural identity and shouldering the impossibly high expectations of her Jamaican mother and grandmother, there was still something so beautifully universal in this collection. I can’t wait to read more work from this author!...more
Clara Dupont-Monod has gifted us with a short, beautifully written retelling of the story of the formidable and majestic Eleanor of Aquitaine; Queen oClara Dupont-Monod has gifted us with a short, beautifully written retelling of the story of the formidable and majestic Eleanor of Aquitaine; Queen of England and Duchess of Aquitaine. Enamoured by the ideas of freedom and independence, and as a cultured and learned lady, Eleanor maintained a lavish court in which her troubadours and poets occupied a privileged place. Through the eyes of her son, Richard the Lionheart, the reader discovers the eventful fate of this queen who made the Church tremble by not hesitating to revolt against the tyrannical authority of her second husband, Henry Plantagenet, the King of England. Contrary to what the back cover suggests, this inspired novel is as much about Richard as it is about Eleanor. Even if the latter is still present in the background as his puppet master, we follow the tribulations of this beloved son to the borders of the East where he tries to take back Jerusalem. We thus discover a complex character, animated by unconditional love for his mother and his true country, Aquitaine, and endowed with a strong character in whom light and darkness are engaged in a fierce struggle. The Revolt brims with lovely and lyrical writing, and Clara Dupont-Monod infuses the historical tale with a touch of modernity to tell an engaging fictional narrative. Ruth Diver’s translation is also exquisite from cover to cover, bestowing the reader with some of the most beautiful metaphors and imagery you’ll have read this year. With richly detailed characters, clever manipulation of language, and boldly feminist themes, The Revolt is a pleasure from beginning to end. ...more
True Story is a cleverly written and timely novel about rumoured sexual assault, misunderstandings, and how it shapes the lives of those involved. ITrue Story is a cleverly written and timely novel about rumoured sexual assault, misunderstandings, and how it shapes the lives of those involved. It all begins when a couple of teenage boys drive Alice home from one of their ‘legendary’ parties as she lies blindly drunk in the back of their car. Afterwards, they brag to their friends about assaulting her, only to later claim that they made the whole thing up. Meanwhile, horror-story-aficionada Alice doesn’t remember a thing; which version of the story is true? Nevertheless, the events of that night haunt her. Structured through college application drafts, film scripts, emails, and interview transcripts, we follow Alice as the rumoured assault defines her sense of self for years to come. True Story also follows Nick Brothers, a friend and fellow lacrosse teammate of the two boys. Through his eyes, we witness the devastating effects of alcoholism, extant male privilege, and discover how his and Alice’s lives intertwine in interesting and unexpected ways. The tension is thick as we barrel toward the truth of what really happened that night. My only criticism is that, at times, it had a YA feel; the characters seem just as immature when they’re in their thirties as when they were naïve, gossiping high schoolers. Like My Dark Vanessa, True Story explores how the ramifications of sexual assault can scar a person: how such an experience shapes Alice’s adulthood, following her like a shadow in the dark. True Story is about a chaotic situation told in a deceivingly chaotic way that will surprise yet delight you with how tidily it all resolves....more
On the surface, 74-year-old Antiguan immigrant Barrington “Barry” Walker may seem like a bad guy. His devout wife, Carmel, for one, thinks he4.5 stars
On the surface, 74-year-old Antiguan immigrant Barrington “Barry” Walker may seem like a bad guy. His devout wife, Carmel, for one, thinks he’s a gallivanting womanizer with how frequent he's away from home. Little does she know that her husband and his colourful suits have been cheating on her with his lover and soulmate of over 50 years, Morris. When Carmel travels back to Antigua for her father’s funeral, it’s Barry’s last chance to live it up as a bachelor and pluck up the courage to tell his wife the truth.
“God a-damn me the day I chose to enter this hellish so-called marriage instead of following my Morris-loving, sweet-loving, full-blooded, hot-blooded, pumping-rumping, throbbing organ of an uncontainable, unrestrainable, undetainable man-loving heart.”
Barry isn’t a conventional hero: he’s a heavy drinker and harbours some old-fashioned views. However, he’s witty and full of wisdom, and his unfamiliarity with current trends only makes his caustic commentary on contemporary society more amusing. He's also a lexicomane who skillfully alternates between patios and Shakespearean quotes at the click of a finger. Carmel has chapters of her own too, but these are rendered almost poetically with Evaristo's now-trademark hybrid style recognisable in Girl, Woman, Other. Here, we discover that Carmel is harbouring some secrets of her own and is equally determined to live a more authentic life. Two seventy-somethings trapped inside a lonely marriage, deceiving one another and themselves. With their walls built up high around them, Evaristo explores what it is to embrace sexuality in old age and, in Barry's case, the regret of hiding, solely capturing stolen moments behind closed doors.
Evaristo strikes a perfect balance between social commentary and humour. She employs the main plot device as a catalyst to explore the rampant homophobia in Caribbean culture, what it's like to navigate multiple intersectional identities, and the fear of being perceived as non-masculine: this is very much a novel concerned with perception. On the other hand, she isn’t afraid to poke fun at traditional mores and offers us a host of glittering characters, each with their quirks and unique charm. ...more
A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom isn’t so much of a book as it is an experience, an experience that spans 2000 years, 47 countries, and legions of hA Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom isn’t so much of a book as it is an experience, an experience that spans 2000 years, 47 countries, and legions of historical events.
The story begins in Palestine in A.D. 1 with King Herod’s ordered infanticide. Here we met a father, a mother, and two sons. One with his father’s violence in his blood. One who lives his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. The story then jumps to Turkey, A. D. 41, followed by Romania, A.D. 105, and so the chronicle continues. Touring across time, we follow our unnamed traveller as he recounts his history of love, loss, grief, and revenge. While the world mutates and modernises around him, his destiny remains the same. It is written.
Thoughts A novel of ambitious storytelling, I admit to initially feeling doubtful. However, I quickly shrugged off my apprehension, grasped hold of the intertwining themes that weave the narrative together, and let Boyne sweep me away on an epic, strangely hypnotic adventure. As we advance through time and traverse nations, we witness the universal terrors and horrors of man’s inhumanity, familial relationships, the subjugation of women, and more. Boyne explores the unchanging nature of human emotions through time, while simultaneously speaking to us about the turbulence of contemporary society.
Challenging yet captivating, this is not a book to race through. It brims with intricate details, graphic events, and Boyne’s signature thought-provoking dialogue. I may be making it sound more daunting than it is, but I will be surprised if any review could truly do this book justice. It’s impossible to string together the words to evoke Boyne’s masterful accomplishment. I can only imagine the extensive writing process and amount of research that this marvel of a novel must have required.
John Boyne has reaffirmed his place among my all-time favourite authors. Each book I have read by him has been original, inspired, often heart-breaking, and impressive to the extent that he always leaves me stunned. This book achieves this and more.
A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom is an experience; an experience that you will only truly understand by undertaking the sweeping adventure for yourself. I doubt you will have read anything quite like it.
★★★★★
Thank you, Doubleday and Patsy, for sending me an advanced copy in an exchange for an honest review, I’m beyond grateful for being among the first to have read this masterpiece....more
Dirty, funny, messy, wild, I tore through this bold and brutal debut in a delirious 24 hours, and it was brilliant.
Tall, beautiful, and intriguing, evDirty, funny, messy, wild, I tore through this bold and brutal debut in a delirious 24 hours, and it was brilliant.
Tall, beautiful, and intriguing, everyone wants to either please Irina or sleep with her. And oh, does it get draining. As her obsessive best friend Flo writes not-so-secretive blog posts on the pain of unrequited love and timid Tesco checkout boy Eddie gets clingy, Irina attempts to expunge the leeches the only way she knows how: by being awful.
Irina fascinated me immediately. She’s a slippery narrator, frankly terrible at times, but you can’t look away. Accessing her psyche was like being swept up by a vortex of terrible force and self-destruction. She flips gender roles on their head, pushes the boundaries of consent beyond their limit, and everything seems unstable. You come out of the other end repulsed, a little disorientated, but amazed all the same.
“I could do that, if I wanted, you know? I could train a camera on a man and look at him like a man looks at a woman; boys, too, could be objects of desire.”
What’s more, Clark doesn’t waste a word in dismantling trends of modern life in Britain. She expertly exposes the gruesome contemporary horror show in which we live. Boy Parts’ hilarious satirical commentary married with its graphically violent scenes makes you scream and wonder how someone with such razor-sharp relatable observations about modern society could do the things she does. That being so, you breeze through the interspersed text talk, emails, and blog posts for answers and head towards a hallucinatory ending.
Boy Parts made me laugh from the dedication: ‘For my mother and father. Please don’t read this.’ But I’d also let that be your warning — darkness permeates every page in Clark’s incendiary debut. Celebrate Northern literary talent, pick up this book, and let the kaleidoscopic vortex sweep you away....more
Can you believe this is my first time reading Cassandra Clare? This first book has received mixed reviews, but I listened to the audiobook, and, I didCan you believe this is my first time reading Cassandra Clare? This first book has received mixed reviews, but I listened to the audiobook, and, I didn't hate it? It was cringeworthy at times, yes, but considering many readers have said the first few books are the worst in The Shadowhunter Chronicles franchise, I'm excited to see what's next. Full review to come!
Mexican Gothic is a mesmerising feminist re-imagining of Gothic fantasy, in which a young socialite discovers the haunting secrets of a beautiful old Mexican Gothic is a mesmerising feminist re-imagining of Gothic fantasy, in which a young socialite discovers the haunting secrets of a beautiful old mansion in 1950s Mexico. High Place can be found nestled in the mountains and mysteriously possesses a mind of its own. Now, this in and of itself is enough to spook the reader. However, its odd inhabitants, strict rules, and dark secrets make this enigmatic house even more peculiar. Noemí, at once spellbound yet horrified, gradually unearths the long-buried secrets of High Place. After roaming the long hallways, encountering ghostly apparitions, and detecting disconcerting sounds, what she eventually discovers goes above and beyond our imagination.
Reminiscent of Wuthering Heights, Mexican Gothic comprises everything you want from a Gothic suspense novel: vivid nightmares, fits of delirium, and a damsel in distress. And yet, what stood out to me is that while Noemí at times resembles the submissive female characters typical of Gothic literature, she has a resilient quality that transcends the genre’s conventions.
What’s more, Moreno-Garcia combines her novel’s eeriness with themes of eugenics, colonialism, and class. These ideas, along with the plot, unravel slowly, but I was frantically turning the pages to discover how they all came together. Moreno-Garcia blurs the line between reality and fiction with her hallucinatory, haunting imagery. Some moments were so morbid that I can’t remember the last time a book made my skin crawl to the extent that this book did.
Brimming with suspense, twists and turns, you’ll spend hours trapped within the eerie walls of High Place, lost to Moreno-Garcia’s beautiful and unnerving storytelling.
Thank you, @quercusbooks and @NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!...more
What makes a home a home? The bones, the grass, the sky bleached white as its edges from heat – familiar and yet not, as if, flipping through an old b
What makes a home a home? The bones, the grass, the sky bleached white as its edges from heat – familiar and yet not, as if, flipping through an old book read once upon a time, they find the pages disordered, the colours melted down by sun and years, the story misremembered.
How Much of These Hills Is Gold is a powerful work of historical fiction woven with Asian folklore. With lyrical prose and evocative imagery, I can call that this book will be everywhere in a few months; topping the prize lists and starring in scores of ‘books of the year' roundups.
Set against the twilight of the American gold rush, Zhang opens the novels with the death of Ba, the father of two Chinese-American siblings who have already lost their mother. Now alone, the siblings are on the run in an unforgiving landscape, trying not just to survive but to find a home.
What follows is a stunning, original novel whose poetic sentences left me wanting more. Through hypnotising imagery of the American Midwest, C Pam Zhang brings to life all the beauty yet ravished land the siblings encounter. Yet, Lucy and Sam don’t only traverse the Midwest but also their parents’ history. We see the past, present, and future of this family as the siblings, Lucy, in particular, grapple with what it means to be a daughter, a sister, a survivor.
This novel does a lot. It tackles issues that transcend your typical western genre: belonging, yearning, racism, and exploitation. But more than anything it’s a story about identity. While Lucy – the older of the two – was never close with her father, Sam identifies as a male due to the toxic upbringing of their father who so desperately wanted a son. Sam may well be a girl in terms of gender, but as far as she is concerned, she identifies as a boy, and she wants a different future than the one Lucy desires. This may be a work of historical fiction, but it brings diversity to the forefront and fresh perspectives into an age-old genre.
How Much of These Hills is Gold brings light to an era that history tends to gloss over. It may have taken me some time to catch the rhythm of its unique prose, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend! ...more
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