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| 024151570X
| 9780241515709
| unknown
| 4.26
| 31
| Jun 03, 2021
| Jun 03, 2021
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / “I feel. Of course I do./ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / “I feel. Of course I do. So blinded I was by the 'for fans of Raven Leilani' that I did notice the 'and Jenny Offill' that followed. And it's just my luck but style-wise Assembly shares far more with the latter than the former. I struggled my way through Assembly, trying to understand what was going and who was saying what. It was like reading something by Offill + Rachel Cusk with a dash of Zadie Smith. That is to say, Assembly was not for me. I found this book confusing for the sake of being confusing, abstract to the point of distraction, and the lack of quotation marks was inconsistent (a few lines here and there have them...and these lines don't really bear any more weight that other lines of dialogue so, why do they get quotation mark?) and a clear attempt at using an 'in' style (I blame Rooney for making this a trend again), the weird way in which characters would be addressed made it hard for me to figure out who was talking about who or who the protagonist was referring to, and the constant scene-shifting was so a-n-n-o-y-i-n-g. There were things that I appreciated. The tone for one: the unnamed young Black woman narrating this book is by turns angry and exhausted by the hypocritical behaviour of her white acquaintances and colleagues, by many white British people's denial of racism in the UK (the kind of people who usually accuse others of being racist for acknowledging the existence of institutional racism in their country), by Brexit and slogans such as 'Britain for the British', by the knowledge that no matter what she will achieve there will always be someone ready to dismiss her accomplishments or hard-work by crying 'diversity token'. The snatches of dialogues I did manage to follow rang true to life and I could sadly too easily envision people who say things such as 'I'm all for diversity but [insert inane complaint here]' or someone who attempts to equate their experience of being a white woman or growing up in a white working class family to being a person of color in a predominantly white country (on the lines of 'I too am oppressed'). There isn't a story as such. Some passages were set in our narrator's workplace (I would call her character but she is not really a character) after she's received a promotion, in other passages, a doctor is talking to her about 'options' and 'treatments', and we have passages in which she is thinking about or in the vicinity of her rich white boyfriend who is never fleshed out but a mere abstraction of a person. The author often approached these scenes through rather odd angles, so that my reading experience was marked by a sense of disorientation. There was the odd clever line or piercing observation but these were drowned by the author's stylised prose which flirted with narrative modes such as stream of consciousness. The author's style lacks subtlety, nuance. Perhaps if I'd never read anything by Danzy Senna I would have found Assembly to be subversive and sharp but I just found it trying. This book really wants to be clever and different but it misses the mark. Many of the paragraphs seemed just struck me as contrived and not particularly inventive. Sometimes less is more: “Her jaw grinds rhythmically, bulging and elongating; tendons, emerging taut, flicker up past her ear into greying wisps of hair. By her temple, a bone or cartilage or some other hard aspect of her bobs and strains against the stretched-white skin. The entire side of her face is engaged in this elaborate mechanical action until, climactically, the soft-hung skin of her neck contracts familiar and the ground-down-mushed-up toast, saliva and butter, worked into a paste, squeezes down; is forced through the pulsing oesophagus, is swallowed.” What next? Are we going to dedicate a whole paragraph to the act of excreting? Ma daje... Look, I could sort of see what this was trying to do (it will make readers feel a sense of discomfort, maybe even abjection) but Natasha Brown lays it on a bit too thick (a line would have sufficed). While Assembly certainly touches on important and topical issues, what could have been an astute and fervent commentary on race, gender, and class in Britain, ends up sacrificing substance for style. I'm just glad I did not actually pay to read this as I will probably forget all about it in a few weeks (whereas I still think of Leilani's Luster). In spite of my sentiments towards this novel—that it is too abstract, flashy, the book equivalent of a Pollock painting—I recognise that Brown is actually a good writer. Personally however I think I could only appreciate her work if it was nonfiction. If you are a fan of Offill, Cusk, Smith or even Jo Hamya's Three Rooms, you should probably give Assembly a try. If you are looking for the next Luster my advice is this, keep on looking because Assembly sure isn't it. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 02, 2021
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Apr 02, 2021
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Mar 24, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1250196140
| 9781250196149
| 3.74
| 13,875
| Jul 07, 2020
| Jul 07, 2020
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / 2 ½ stars Although I am no longer an avid YA reader, I do like to now and again pick up a YA title, especially / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / 2 ½ stars Although I am no longer an avid YA reader, I do like to now and again pick up a YA title, especially if, like in the case of Girl, Serpent, Thorn, it promises to be sapphic. While Melissa Bashardoust's prose is readable enough, even if it does occasionally veer into purple territories, her story and characters left a bit to be desired. The novel invests far too much time in a character that is not all that interesting and our protagonist spends most of her time in self-pity or playing the blame game. Girl, Serpent, Thorn follows Soraya a princess who was cursed with a deathly touch (which reminded me of Rogue aka Anna Marie aka my all-time favourite Marvel character). Soraya's curse is kept a secret from her family's kingdom, and she has spent most of her days secluded from others. Around the time her brother's wedding is announced two strangers arrive at the palace. One is a handsome young man who seems unperturbed by Soraya's curse, and the other is a prisoner, a demon by the name of Pavenah. I obviously approached this under the wrong impression as the first half of the story is centred upon the relationship between Soraya and this young man. The world is barely sketched out, the palace too remains largely undescribed, and the characters' motivations weren't always rendered in a convincing way. The romance(s) felt rushed and I would have much preferred the narrative to have a slow-burn romance between Soraya and Pavenah...but things don't exactly pan out that way. Soraya spends the latter half of the story being plonked here and there, all the while going on about how she can't trust the ones around her or having basic thoughts about who the real monster is...and I just...urgh. I did not like it. I found it repetitive and predictable. I am also so over the villain who tells the protagonist to "join them" because "together" they would be "unstoppable" and all. N-O. The story took itself and its characters too seriously at times. The villain is cartoonish, Soraya is no antiheroine, merely an impulsive air-head, and Pavenah...well, she could have been interesting but her presence is relegated to the latter half of the novel and by then I was sort of done with it all. And there are all these "betrayals" that had no real weight and the sheer abundance of them reminded me a bit of House of Flying Daggers. All in all, this book was not for me. I doubt I would have finished it if it hadn't been for the narrator of the audiobook version (she was great). But, I also recognise that maybe this is because I am no longer part of this book's target demographic. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 26, 2021
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Mar 28, 2021
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Mar 20, 2021
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| 1542005205
| 9781542005203
| 3.87
| 119
| Apr 08, 2016
| Apr 15, 2021
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / Although At the End of the Matinee shares stylistic and thematic similarities with Keiichirō Hirano's A Man, it / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / Although At the End of the Matinee shares stylistic and thematic similarities with Keiichirō Hirano's A Man, it makes for a far less intriguing read. At the End of the Matinee lacks the psychological edge that made A Man into such a compelling read. The story and characters of At the End of the Matinee have little depth, and, as the narrative progresses and the storyline veers into melodrama, I found myself growing increasingly frustrated by what I was reading (and disappointed too, considering that—abrupt ending aside—I found A Man to be a well-written and engaging read). The opening pages of At the End of the Matinee are very reminiscent of the ones from A Man. Readers are informed that the story they are about to read is real and that to "protected their privacy" this unnamed author has "altered" certain details (such as their names). Yet, whereas this 'fiction posing as true story' device fitted A Man (given that the novel adopts a story within a story structure) here it just seemed a half-hearted attempt to make Satoshi and Yoko's story more interesting to the reader. This prologue, after all, has no real impact on the remainder of the narrative. Set in the mid to late 2000s At the End of the Matinee recounts the love story between Makino, a classic guitarist who as of late has become a wee bit disillusioned by his playing and performances, and Yoko, a journalist daughter of a Japanese mother and a Croatian father, who happens to be a renowned film director. The two are introduced after one of Makino's performances through a friend of Yoko and immediately hit it off. Yoko is however engaged to a generic American man. Despite the distance between them—Makino is in Japan or on tours that take him all over the world while Yoko, who is based in France, is for a period reporting from Iraq— the two begin an email correspondence. Their connection to and feelings for one another are intensified by their virtual exchanges. Makino believes they are meant to be together so decides to visit Yoko once she is back in France. Their reunion is 'complicated' by Jalila, who was forced to leave Baghdad and is now staying with Yoko. Yoko, who is also dealing with PTSD from her experiences in Iraq, is unwilling to leave Jalila by herself so her relationship with Makino is postponed. It became quite clear that Yoko cared very little for her American fiancée, and he merely functions as a plot device to make Yoko 'unavailable. Makino is also going through a musical crisis of sorts, he feels like he is no longer a musical prodigy and that he does not compare to up-and-coming young musicians. The guy was bland, he is the kind of male protagonist you could expect in a work by Murakami. Yoko, instead, is the kind of female character that was clearly written by a man. Her love for Makino makes her all the "more beautiful" and she "ached to give herself to [him] with total abandon, to dissolve in his arms". After Makino declares himself to her she immediately wants "to marry him and have his child". And we are supposed to believe that a female journalist in the 2000s has never been confronted by an arrogant and or condescending man. Yeah, two days ago a British man, who knew full well that I am Italian, felt the need to tell me about how the rest of Italy views Rome. Half-way through the novel reaches sky-high levels of miscommunication and I hated how things unfolded. I just did not buy into any of it. It also seemed far too easy to make certain characters into 'bad' eggs make Yoko and Makino's behaviour seem just. And, I am so sick of this kind of clichéd portrayal of women (Yoko with her "unself-conscious beauty", the 'other woman' is vapid and big breasted—a trollop clearly—and the 'jealous' woman whose jealousy knows no bounds). The story is brimming with platitudes ("Happiness was having someone with whom to share all the everyday experiences") and spirals into soap-opera levels of melodrama. There are attempts to make Makino and Yoko Not Like Other People™ because they talk extensively of literature but I found their comparison to Death In Venice to be both contrived and ill-fitting (also, they do not seem to feel the need to point out that Aschenbach's obsession with Tadzio is...problematic to say the least). At the End of the Matinee was a vexing read. The story is clichéd, the characters lack depth, the obstacles that keep Yoko and Makino apart were overdone, and I found myself annoyed by almost every single thing I was reading (like having Yoko and Makino be Jalila's 'saviours'....bah!). If you have not read anything by this author I suggest you pick up A Man instead. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Mar 23, 2021
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Mar 25, 2021
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Mar 10, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 0307265838
| 9780307265838
| 3.71
| 117,746
| 2004
| May 08, 2007
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / Having heard a lot about the genius of Murakami over the years I was excepting something a bit more out of Aft / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / Having heard a lot about the genius of Murakami over the years I was excepting something a bit more out of After Dark, a novel which, at the risk of incurring the wrath of Murakami aficionados, failed to captivate me. Credit where credit's due, Murakami certainly knows how to create and maintain a certain ambience. Set in Tokyo, this slight novel takes place over the course of a single night, rotating between four characters: we have Mari Asai, who is Not Like Other Girls™, who is spending her night reading at Denny's, a restaurant chain, Takahashi Tetsuya, trombone player who is as dull as a brick and prone to spouting sexist comments (A girl is reading? A girl knows what a trombone is? MADNESS!), Eri, Mari's beautiful sister who seems trapped in a realm between dreams and reality, and Shirakawa, a man who beats up a Chinese prostitute in a love hotel nearby Mari. Takahashi recognises Mari and approaches her, the two talk about fake-deep things. Takahashi goes on to play at some club or whatnot and Mari, who is studying Chinese, ends up helping the Chinese prostitute beaten by Shirakawa. Eri meanwhile is sleeping, but her sleep is disturbed by an ominous presence. Murakami seems under the belief that women are obsessed by their own breasts (if you think you are dreaming wouldn't you pinch yourself? Slap yourself? Apparently, if you are a woman, you would likely grab your breasts). I disliked the way Murakami portrayed Mari and Eri is opposites of each other. Mari is intelligent and overlooked, Eri is beautiful and beloved by everyone (yet her beauty is also, alas, a curse). Characters chat about Jazz, Mari complains about her sister, Takahashi says dull things, Shirakawa is emotionless, and the clock ticks away. The novel ends with an incestuous scenes that exist only because Mari and Eri are girls. This novel was surprisingly forgettable and having now read some articles and Reddit posts about the way Murakami portrays women...well, I am unsure whether I hate myself enough to read more of sexist stuff. ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Mar 09, 2021
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Mar 10, 2021
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Mar 09, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1911547542
| 9781911547549
| 3.71
| 1,897
| Aug 19, 2016
| Feb 20, 2020
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “Oozing winter and fish, Sokcho waited. That was Sokcho, always waiting, for tourists, boats, men, spring.” I / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “Oozing winter and fish, Sokcho waited. That was Sokcho, always waiting, for tourists, boats, men, spring.” I have once again a bone to pick with the person responsible for the blurb of a novel. Elisa Shua Dusapin is a Franco-Korean female author so that means she will be compared to a French author (Marguerite Duras) and to an author from East Asia (Sayaka Murata). Just like an an author from Latin America will be inevitably be compared to Isabel Allende and Gabriel García Márquez (often regardless of whether they have even written a magical realist work) or an Italian author will be pitched as being the new Elena Ferrante. This is so LAZY. Case in point, stylistically and tone-wise Winter in Sokcho shares little in common Murata and Duras. If anything, the protagonist's somewhat detached narration brought to mind Sally Rooney and Naoise Dolan. Okay, now that I have gotten that out of my chest...onto the actual review. As the title suggests Winter in Sokcho takes place during the winter in Sokcho a town in South Korea near the country's border to North Korea. Our nameless narrator, a listless young woman, works at a guesthouse as a receptionist. She has a boyfriend she does particularly care for and seem to have no ambitions. Other than the fact that he is French, our protagonist knows little about her father's identity. Her mother, alongside others, thinks that she should go to Seoul and seem to believe that our mc's life would be easier if she underwent some cosmetic surgery. Our protagonist's rather unenthusiastic daily-routine is interrupted by the arrival of a French cartoonist who is staying at her guesthouse. The two speak little but our narrator is shown to feel a certain lure towards him. While I can see that for some this novella will be alluring, I found it boring and clichéd. The story lacked an 'edge', be it a biting humour or a more subversive protagonist. Nothing much happens and most pages seem dedicated to our narrator's navel-gazing. There are also some odd description and word choices, such as when our protagonist notes that her "breasts tightened". Wtf? And, no, she is not a bodybuilder. If she is aroused, wouldn't have made more sense for her nipples to harden? Not only did I find the protagonist to be bland but her rapport with the French guy came across as flat. Yet, I am meant to believe that they 'share' a connection... I found this novella to be very much style over substance, which I am sure works for many other readers, I am just not one of them. ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Mar 15, 2021
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Mar 16, 2021
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Feb 27, 2021
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Paperback
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| 0358572096
| 9780358572091
| 4.04
| 25
| unknown
| Aug 31, 2021
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “I was no longer sure what I was allowed to want. Everything I had been raised to desire, had, at some point,/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “I was no longer sure what I was allowed to want. Everything I had been raised to desire, had, at some point, become passé, but no one had told me. There was a chasm between my expectations and the reality I had to exist in which no one else seemed to grasp.” In theory, Three Rooms should have been my kind of read. Like the novel's unnamed protagonist I have a The novel is very much style over character, something that may very well appeal to fans of Rachel Cusk, Deborah Levy, or Zadie Smith (which I happen not to be). The novel's nameless narrator is a twenty-something Oxford-graduate woman of color. Lacking a name, a personality, and an appearance our protagonist is a generic millennial. I had a hard time sympathizing with her given that she first works at Oxford University as a teaching assistant and once the school year is over she finds a temporary gig as a copyeditor for a high-society magazine. The only two characters who remind her that she is far more privileged than many other people her age are white and or middle-class women, and their comment is just meant to show how hypocritical they are. The writing is dense. There are no quotation marks (quelle surprise) and the paragraphs have few if any breaks. The conversations our narrator has with others punctuate her inner-monologue in an often unclear way (was someone saying that to her? Was she thinking it herself?). The specialized language and abundance of intellectual references and academic theories embedded in the narrative made reading this novel almost a chore. I doubt I would have finished it if it weren't for the fact that it was an advance copy from netgalley. As I pointed out with Patricia Lockwood's No One Is Talking About This if you write too specifically about the internet, social media, apps, and the likes, much of what you write of will feel dated within a few months. Hamya's debut novel is set in 2018, so there were many sections in her story that felt like 'old news'. The protagonist allegedly cares a lot about politics, she is passionately against Brexit and Boris Johnson, and yet, she was also too 'busy' moving to vote. Really? Once again millennials are being portrayed as all talk no action. They go on and on about social issues and social justice but they are often too self-involved to make an actual stand or difference when given an opportunity. Our narrator is too occupied overanalyzing everything around her. Her navel-gazing mostly consists of platitudes about social media and other topical subjects: how it is affecting our self-perception, the performance of authenticity and the self, the commodification of feminism...As with Rooney's not-so-normal main characters from NP, this protagonist is not like the people around her. There are a few instances in which she just happens to be the only 'voice of reason', while everyone is too busy following the herd. Yet, while she is quick to judge others for being snobs or privileged she is blind to her own fortunate circumstances. Yes, she has a brief stint sleeping on someone's couch but 1) she is not on the verge of homelessness or destitutions as her parents have told her that she can stay with them whenever 2) she has experience working as a research assistant at OXFORD and also as a copyeditor. Most of the people I know who like me have graduated in humanities now work minimum wage customer service jobs (often with 0 hours contracts). How could I believe that Hamya's protagonist was more 'woke' than others when she actually asks a cleaner "what's the plan after cleaning?". In spite of the novel's premise and title the story takes place in 'two rooms'. We never learn much about our protagonist or her relationship to her parent(s)/hometown. We also never learn much about her jobs. The novel goes and on about Brexit, something I wish had never happened and certainly not something I would want to read extensively about. Three Rooms gives novels like My Year of Rest and Relaxation a nod, but in a way that seemed to almost poking fun at this 'alienated women' trend....which—I'm not sure why—annoyed me. While reading about Hamya's narrator talking about Moshfegh’s novel I actually found myself wishing I was reading that instead. The unnamed protagonist here is not half as witty or cutting as Moshfegh's one. Lastly, reading this novel reminded me of everything that is wrong with the academic world and it also made me realize how much I hate the existence of elite universities. Just because Hamya's novel 'rubbed' me the wrong way does not mean that you should not give it a try, especially if you happen to like this brand of satire, which is both stylized and intellectual. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Feb 25, 2021
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Feb 28, 2021
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Feb 17, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1838953736
| 9781838953737
| 3.97
| 158
| Jul 06, 2021
| Jul 08, 2021
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / 2 ½ stars (rounded up to 3) Sadly Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead doesn't bring anything new to the / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / 2 ½ stars (rounded up to 3) Sadly Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead doesn't bring anything new to the directionless-young-woman-spends-all-her-time-navel-gazing-under-the-torpor-of-ennui subgenre. At times, Austin's brand of cringe comedy tried too hard to be cringey, so much so that I ended up not buying into a certain scene or character. Gilda, a recently unemployed twenty-something lesbian, is obsessed with death. Her preoccupation with death is such that she thinks of it all the time. For instance, when sitting on a chair she wonders whether the people who sat on it before are dead. She envisions terrible scenarios, in which she or someone else dies. At times she suffers from panic attacks which lead her to make frequent visits to her hospital. No one seems to notice how disconnected Gilda is from her everyday life. As with all the other alienated millennial women populating these novels, Gilda seems unable to perform even the most basic of tasks. She's too depressed to wash herself or the dishes, she often forgets to reply to her maybe girlfriend and seems painfully unaware of the world around her. She has many surreal conversations with others, who often seem blind to Gilda's depression and anxiety. Gilda unintentionally lands herself a job as a receptionist at Catholic church where she discovers that her predecessor died. Gilda, being death-obsessed, tries to learn more about this woman. This novel cemented my dislike for 1st person present tense narratives. Every seemingly mundane action Gilda makes has to be mentioned, so that we have many lines such as these: I drink, I get up, I put the cup on the counter, I move my hand, I walk, I sit, I blink, I look down/up. The way the story is presented on the page also really grated me. On one page there could be three separate paragraphs, each one focusing on a different conversation/moment of Gilda's life. We then end up with one simple dialogue, say between Gilda and that Giuseppe guy, dragging on for pages, and being interrupted by Gilda's conversations with the people from the church or her family. I just found this style choppy and artificial, better suited to a tv show than a book. Speaking of tv shows, this novel tries really hard to be something in the realms of Fleabag, but whereas that show does a fantastic job in making absurd conversations or OTT characters seem believable, here, I just did not buy into what I was reading. For instance, that whole Giuseppe thing was just unnecessary. The guy is the classic fitness-crazed wannabe guru that is a dime a dozen on YouTube and social media. And he speaks in this very contrived way, 24/7. Austin's character lacked nuance, finesse, whatever you wanted it to call it. Giuseppe could have been funny but Austin is too heavy-handed, and the result is an unfunny caricature. Gilda's parents are also painfully one-dimensional. They get barely any page-time and even when they appeared they remained amorphous. Gilda's mother is relegated to the role of mom, and her father is just a generic dad. The scenes they were included in were just there to show how unfair they are to Gilda. While I could believe that some parents would wrongly blame one child instead of the actual guilty child, the way this played out here was just incredibly unrealistic (I am talking about that 'get out' scene). It was so unbelievable that it really pulled me out of the story. The maybe girlfriend is just as generic as Gilda's parents. She makes very few if any appearances and mostly sends texts to our mc asking what she's up to or whatnot. A character that had the potential was Gilda's brother, but, ultimately I didn't like how the story handles him (how delusional is Gilda to think that leaving him a message like that could magically cure his alcoholism and, as Giuseppe would say, 'live his truth'). The people at the church where Gilda works were uninteresting. They are old and think that the internet is a magical and mysterious place. Because they are old you see. Old people don't know anything about the internet as Austin reminds us so many times. Gilda herself was just exhausting and I cared little for her. She overanalysis everything around her, and while at times her observations could amusing or feel authentic, for the most part, it was just boring being in her head (for instance when she goes on about she's had her hands for her whole life and that they fed her everything she has ever eaten so far). Rather incongruously the author seemed to be rying to make Gilda ultra-relatable by making her think or say these trivial things while at the same time emphasizing how different Gilda is from those around her. The setting of this story is so generic that I could not tell you where it takes place. America? Canada? Australia? Maybe this was mentioned once somewhere in the novel but the author doesn't really depict Gilda's environment. A counterargument to this could be that Gilda is too wrapped up in her own head to observe her surroundings, but, what about My Year of Rest and Relaxation? The narrator there is decidedly inward-looking and spends most of the book in the confines of her apartment and yet the author there manages to really give us an impression of the place (New York) and time (2000-20001) the story is taking place in. There were moments now and again that made me smile or that felt particularly spot-on, such as when Gilda gives us a brief rundown of her experience on dating apps. But these genuinely funny were rare. All in all, I found this novel to be more of a flop than a hit. Maybe I have read too many books that feature aimless alienated women in their twenties but, in comparison to My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Luster, and Pretend I'm Dead, Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead is quite forgettable. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 16, 2021
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Mar 18, 2021
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Feb 02, 2021
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1409193721
| 9781409193722
| 4.41
| 39
| unknown
| Mar 04, 2021
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / Who's Loving You? is a wonderfully inclusive collection that sadly falls into the common pitfalls of short sto / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / Who's Loving You? is a wonderfully inclusive collection that sadly falls into the common pitfalls of short story collections: some stories are good, others not so much. Each story in Who's Loving You? was written and focuses on women of colour (most of them British). You could definitely tell that many of the authors included in this collection are relatively new to the writing scene, and, while that is not necessarily a negative thing, their stories definitely bore the signs of their inexperience (I do not feel 'nice' writing this but I prefer honesty to fake praise). The writing was stilted, the dialogues choppy, and the characters came across as relatively one-dimensional. I just have very little patience for clichéd phrases such as someone 'letting out a breath they didn't they were holding'. Dio mio! When will this phrase cease to exist? And, while we do get two wlw love stories and one between a cis man and a transwoman, every other story is uber heteronormative in the most insta-love/boy meets girl way possible. It seems every character in this novel fell in love at first sight and we get some questionable comments about men being so handsome that no one woman in her right mind would decline to have sex with him (urgh). Some of the love stories had questionable premises, such as the ones for 'The Waves Will Carry Us Back' (to be fair, a short story by Edwidge Danticat follows a similar scenario but under her pen, I 'bought' into it) and for 'Motherland' (which I ended up kind of liking to be fair but still...). There were stories I liked, such as 'The Watchers' (which had a vague star-crossed lovers/soul mates feel to it), 'Rain...Doubtful', and 'Rani' (even if the story went to great lengths to make the mc seem 'awkward'). There was one story I actually loved, and that was 'Long Distance' by Varaidzo (which was, surprise surprise, hella sapphic, and bittersweet). Some of these stories were set in the near future, one of which was post-covid, while others had vague pre-pandemic settings, and I guess that made things more interesting than having all of the stories share the same backdrop. However, the tonal shift between each story was sometimes jarring, especially with Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's 'No One Is Lonely'...that story felt very out of place in this collection. Prospective readers should not let my less-than-stellar review dissuade them from picking this collection up. It was amazing to read a collection that focused on women of colour falling in and out of love, even if I was not personally taken by its stories. Before making up your mind I reccomend you check out some more positive reviews, especially ones from #ownvoices reviewers. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 05, 2021
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Mar 06, 2021
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Jan 13, 2021
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Hardcover
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| 1609455878
| 9781609455873
| 3.85
| 7,674
| Jul 11, 2019
| Apr 07, 2020
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / disclaimer: this is less a review that a cathartic rant. If you want to read this book I recommend you check o / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / disclaimer: this is less a review that a cathartic rant. If you want to read this book I recommend you check out other reviews instead. Breasts and Eggs was an exceedingly frustrating and overlong novel. My interest in this novel was piqued by its title and the buzz around it. While the first three or four chapters were relatively entertaining, I soon became weary of its critique of gender. If you find it fulfilling to write poems about your menstrual blood maybe you will appreciate Kawakami's brand of feminism. The first half of Breasts and Eggs is concerned with 'breasts'. The novel is narrated by Natsuko, a woman in her thirties who lives in Tokyo and who aspires to be a writer. In this first section of the novel, Natsuko's 1st person narration is interrupted now and again by her niece's diary entries. Midoriko is twelve (possibly thirteen? who knows) and she is feeling very angsty about puberty. She has stopped talking to her mother Makiko, Natsuko's sister, who works as a hostess and is determined to get breast enhancement surgery. Midoriko and Makiko visit Natsuko in Tokyo, and they spend a few days together. Around the 40% mark, the story jumps in time. Natsuko, now in her late thirties, is a respectable author who is considering artificial insemination in order to have a child. Midoriko and Makiko have short cameos towards the end of the novel but for the most part, this section of the novel focuses on Natsuko wanting to have a child, interacting with colleagues and friends, attending events (related to her work and or to parenting/artificial insemination). I do not have many positives things to say (or write) about this book. What I did appreciate was the novel's sense of place. It was especially interesting to read about the differences between Osaka and Tokyo (the dialect etc.). There was also a scene that was pure absurd humor (when Natsuko meets that sperm donor). I kept reading hoping that the story (if we can call it such) wouldn't unfold the way it did...but I was sadly proven right. Here is a list of things that I did not like about Breasts and Eggs: 1) Sort of feminist...? Maybe if your name happens to be J. K. Rowling you will find Kawakami's feminist vision to be to your liking. I really thought that the title was challenging the idea that women are 'breast and eggs'. But...it doesn't. The first section makes it seem as if Natsuko, who makes it clear she does not like sex, does not want a partner or a child. Good for her, right? No. Of course not. When the biological clock strikes Natsuko decides that she wants a child because of 'reasons' (she keeps insisting that she wants a child so she can 'meet' them...wtf?). While there are many single-mothers in this book, who are shown to do their best for their child, women over the age of 30 who do not have children are either A) miserable or B) traumatized. Type A chose her career over marriage and children, now she’s lonely and sad. When Natsuko tells her that she is planning to have a child A is bitter because she feels ‘betrayed’. Type B is the classic type who was sexually abused and believes that “life is pain” (that is an actual quote) and that being born is traumatic, and that the world is hell, and that you should not bring more children into it. To say that I am tired of these kinds of caricatures would be an understatement. The story implies that if you are a woman and you choose not to have children you will be lonely (as if not having children means that you cannot have friends or you can only be friends with people who are childless) and pathetic or traumatized. I really thought that the story would eventually introduce us to a woman who is happy and does not have children but nay. Midoriko’s diary entries were so ridiculous. She goes on about periods and vaginas...was this necessary? Her entries were far from revelatory unless you happen to be someone who knows nothing about those things. And, can I say, it really annoyed me by the way the narrative would go on and on about menstruations. Not all women have them. Due to an ED I had a few period-free years. Did that make me less of a woman? By the way, the author seems to elevate menstruations and I did not care for it. Midoriko’s diary was banal, it seemed a clumsy attempt to convey the hormonal mind of a soon to be teenage girl…in the second half of the novel Midoriko is no longer the focus of the story (thank God) but Natsuko informs of the following: “Midoriko was cute, but she didn’t care much for makeup or fashion. She was not your average girl, as if that wasn’t clear enough from her strong personality.” Pfft. In other words, Midoriko is Not Like Other Girls.™ Now onto more dodgy things...There is a scene in which our MC misgenders someone. And you might argue that my feathers were ruffled because I do not understand that not all cultures are as woke as Britain or the US...but hey, I actually come from a not very LGBTQ+ friendly country so I could have looked past this scene...but one thing is using the wrong pronouns, one thing is having your protagonist be fascinated with the genitals of the person she misgenders (“I tried seeing what the tomboy had between her legs”). Was this whole scene necessary? No. And the whole policing bathrooms just stinks of J. K. Rowling. The story is also very on the nose when it comes to the imbalance between wife and husband. An unhappy friend of Natsuko describes being a wife as “Free labor with a pussy.” Such feminism! 2) The story = Fake deep navel-gazing Every person Natsuko encounters tells her their life story or philosophy. Apparently, this is because Natsuko worked in a bar and people just naturally confide in her. Okay, whatever, I’ll believe that. But, the things the people speak to her about are so...unbelievable? They will say fake deep shit and then the narrative will go along with it? Rather than pointing out how trite they are being. A lot of the characters will say things along the lines of ‘What is the point in life? / What does it mean to be alive? / Is love a human construct?’. Painful stuff I tell you. I rolled my eyes one too many times. Natsuko’s inner monologue was mostly navel-gazing. Yet, her thoughts are presented in a way that suggests they ought to be taken seriously (“ Life is hard, no matter the circumstances.” Geez. Wow. Such insight into human existence. So deep. Much wow). Her observations about marriage and parenting are also puddle-deep: “Think of all the husbands and wives trying to have kids, and all the couples having sex who could wind up having a baby. Could all of them look each other in the eye and say they really, truly knew each other?” Can anyone claim they know anyone? Mind-blowing. When Natsuko is thinking of the reason why she wants to have a child she thinks the following: “What did it even mean to “meet” someone? I”. Uuuuugh. 3) Repetition / Boring Breasts and Eggs was originally published in 2008 as a novella, and only, later on, did Kawakami expand it to a length novel. This is maybe the reason why she repeats the same information again and again. Trust your readers for goodness’ sake! Natsuko repeats the same information in the same way time and again (she tells us that she hasn’t published a book in a while, and then, a few pages later, she tells us that she hasn’t published a book in a while). This novel could have easily been 100 even 200 pages shorter. All those scenes about Natsuko meeting up with inconsequential people or looking stuff up about artificial insemination...they could have been cut down. 4) The body is abject We get it the human body sucks (“My complexion was horrendous, and my face was lifeless. I reminded myself of pickled eggplant. Not the skin, but the greenish flesh inside”) and ugly (I swear the book was obsessed with uberly skinny women: “Her legs stuck out from her coat like poles,” / “her collarbones were so pronounced you could’ve hooked your finger on them.”). Being alive is painful, occupying a body is painful, yadda yadda yadda. Existence is agony. It seems that the author had to make a point of reminding us of every aspect of the human body and bodily fluids (we are told about Natsuko’s eyeballs, lungs, throat, spit, bile, oily skin, and pee)...and I just did not care for any of it. 5) What was the point? Really, what was the point? The book equates women to breasts and eggs. The feminism in this novel is dusty, the story drags, the characters are caricatures, our main character is a self-pitying wishy-washy forgettable narrator...the half-hearted examination of parenthood/motherhood hardly makes up for the rest. ...more |
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1
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Jan 11, 2021
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Jan 14, 2021
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Jan 11, 2021
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Hardcover
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| B085MW27CD
| 4.52
| 3,650
| Mar 16, 2021
| Mar 16, 2021
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liked it
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2½ stars (rounded up as this is a debut) I would have enjoyed this more if it hadn't been for Daunis being the definition of Not Like Other Girls. Nanc 2½ stars (rounded up as this is a debut) I would have enjoyed this more if it hadn't been for Daunis being the definition of Not Like Other Girls. Nancy Drew meets Winter Counts in this YA debut. The cover (look at that BEAUTY), the premise, the overwhelmingly positive reception, all lead me to believe that I too would love this. Fifteen-year-old me probably would have (loved it that is) but I am now at a point in my life where I am tired of reading books that elevate girls who are Not Like Other Girls and shame Other Girls. Firekeeper's Daughter follows eighteen-year-old Daunis, the daughter to a white mother, who happens to belong to one of the most 'powerful' families in her town, and an Ojibwe father. Understandably Daunis has always felt like an outsider as she is not an enrolled tribal member. Daunis feels deeply invested in her Native heritage and throughout the novel, we see her observing many Ojibwe customs and beliefs. Time and again she has to reconcile herself with the knowledge that white people such as her maternal grandparents see her Ojibwe side as "a flaw or burden to overcome". There are also those within the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe who view her as white, not truly part of their community. After witnessing a murder Daunis becomes entangled in an FBI investigation. Daunis agrees to help their investigation hoping to put an end to prevent drug-related deaths. A coming-of-age tale meets a slow-burn mystery-thriller that touches upon many serious and relevant issues while also including a Before I move on to what I didn't like in this novel I will mention a few of the things that did in my opinion work. Angeline Boulley does a stellar job in bringing to life both Sault Sainte Marie and Sugar Island to life. Throughout the course of the story, Boulley celebrates Native, specifically Ojibwe, practices, beliefs, and history. Daunis is clearly proud of her Ojibwe heritage and this is wonderfully reflected in her narration. There are a lot of terms and expressions in Ojibwemowin, and that made Daunis' world all the more vivid. I also appreciated that the story doesn't shy away from showing the ramifications of colonialism, the everyday injustices faced by indigenous individuals and communities, the consequences of substance abuse (without wholly demonising drug abusers), how harmful stereotypes about indigenous cultures and peoples are, and how disrespectful cultural appropriation is. Through the mystery-thriller storyline, the narrative also explores drug trafficking and violence against indigenous women. Additionally, the story had a nice body-positive message which is always a nice surprise. And Granny June. She was cool, probably the only character I liked. DISCLAIMER: If you are thinking of reading this novel I recommend you check out what the majority of GR users think of this novel as I am unfortunately in the minority. I didn't hate it but I would be lying if I said that it didn't really, really, really frustrate me (because it did). I will take a leaf from Daunis (who is list-obsessed, because like all sciencey people she likes facts & logic) and make list my various criticisms ( SPOILERS BELOW ): 1. Daunis being Not Like Other Girls. She excels at science, loves sports (BIG BOY sports like hockey, none of that girly bullshit), hates lipstick and makeup, doesn't wear skirts (puh-lease, she isn't one of Those Girls). Daunis is also FLAWLESS. You read that right. And please don't @ me saying that she makes some mistakes in her investigation. She is not a bloody detective. She's 18. No one expects her to be Hercule-bloody-Poirot. If she makes any injudicious choices these are nullified by the fact that she is ‘always' acting from a good place. She cares TOO much (about her community, her loved ones) and wants to protect those around her. How is that a flaw? So she doesn't trust the two undercover FBI agents and begins running her own investigation. I mean, how is not trusting the law enforcement a flaw? She's a bit quirky but that makes her all the more special (here we have the love interest saying to her: "I love how you see the world" *bleargh*). Curiously enough while the story tries to show how harmful misogynistic and sexist attitudes/mentalities are we have our female lead either slut-shaming Other Girls or making incredibly judgmental comments about them. She calls Other Girls, for example, the girlfriends of hockey players 'parasitic': "I won't be a wannabe anglerfish, trying to latch on to a guy who is already taken.". Other Girls are vain, they care about their looks, they go after guys who already have girlfriends, they have fake friendships with each other (not like Daunis and Lily), they are catty, superficial, stupid, girly, you name they are it. And at first, I genuinely thought that this would be Daunis' 'flaw'. The storyline would have her realise along the way that she is acting just like those men she dislikes so much...but no. Ah. As if. Daunis was right all along, time and again Other Girls are shown indeed to be horrible (we have the basic white girl who tattoos with her inappropriate dreamcatcher tattoo or cruel Macy). And why does Daunis always blame Other Girls instead of the guys who actually do the cheating? Because her dad cheated on her mum? Give me a break. The same happened to me but I am certainly not out there whining about 'anglerfishes'. Grow up Daunis. The only person who points this out is a Bad Guy so his comment is moot. How convenient. Worst of all, for all her specialness (Daunis is sciencey and sporty and look now she is involved in an undercover case and falling in love with a handsome and mysterious stranger) she was just such a dull character. 2. The jarring dissonance between the tone of Daunis’ narration (which makes her come across as being 14 rather than 18) and the story’s content (which include murder, drug abuse and trafficking, sexual assault, kidnapping, and many other clearly YA and up things). On the one hand, we have Daunis’ referring to anything related to her role in the FBI’s investigation as Secret Squirrel (the first Secret Squirrel lesson #1 was actually funny, “I am not paranoid, but the men listening to me are”). Secret Squirrel appears 36 times in the book. One too many if you ask me. Anyway, we have this silly squirrel nonsense that seems more suited to a Middle-Grade novel and then we have a rape scene. And don’t even get me started with the Guy Lies. Bah! Sometimes juxtaposing a cutesy protagonist with a story that has mature/serious content can work (I’m thinking of Harley Quinn) but here...it just did not work for me. Daunis’ childish language brought me out of the story. 3. The thriller storyline. It is Riverdale-levels of overblown. And yet also incredibly predictable. Who would have thunk it, the golden boy is not so golden! I am shook. This is the third book I can think of that does a similar not so shocking reveal. The baddies are so cartoonish it was just plain ridiculous. They had their villainous monologues in which they gloat as they explain their scheming to our heroes. Come on. Most of the ‘twists’ were either entirely predictable (Levi) or just OTT (the coach is also involved!). 4. The romance is low-key questionable. Yeah, she’s 18 but the guy, Jamie or whatever his name is, is 22. And an FBI agent. Working on this drug trafficking case. His main quality is that he is hot. He’s got abs, which our Daunis checks him out all of the time (a tad creepy if you ask me), he has a handsome face but no wait, he has a facial scar. Wow. Doesn’t that lend him an air of mystery?! He also pinches the bridge of his nose, all of the time. Their chemistry...wasn’t there. It seemed way too quick, insta-love sort of speed. Daunis acts like she doesn’t like him or trust him but she never shuts up about him or the feelings he makes her feel (butterflies and all that). To be fair, I liked the note the author ended their romance on (Daunis calling out Jamie for ‘needing’ her when the guy clearly needs some alone time). Jamie was boring, a generic YA male love interest (✓ mysterious past ✓ hot ✓ Not Like Other Boys). 5. The teenage lingo. Look, I wasn’t a teenager in 2004 nor am I Canadian/American so what do I know but jaysus the whole ‘snagging’ and ‘goons’ just made this group of 17-18 year old sound like they were 12 or from a teen show directed, produced, and written by 50-year-olds. Daunis’ parents are very...undefined. The mother is sad and sometimes talks to herself (revealing SECRETS). And yeah, the father is dead by the start of the story but it would have been nice to know his character, really know him. 6. The amount of repetition. Stuff happens and two seconds later we have Daunis recapitulating everything that just happened or making Captain Obvious statements. Trust you readers Boulley ! But no, everything had to be explained, there is 0 room for interpretation in this novel. Nada. Zilch. Daunis' view of things is the only one true view of things. And she will just go on explaining things that don't need explaining. We can reach her conclusion without her having to spell out everything. 7. The dynamics between secondary characters were vague. Don't Daunis and Levi share an auntie? Yet Levi and this auntie two never seem to mention each other or have scenes together (and if they do they certainly don't give us an impression of their relationship). 8. The time period...why was this story set in 2004? I still don’t get it. A way out of having characters use the internet? Search me. 9. Chapters ending in cheesy cliffhangers. 10. The lists. 11. The only gay character is dead. O-k-a-y. If you liked this novel, great. To be honest, I wish I'd liked it. But much about it just did not work for me. I don't think that this author's style is for me so I might steer clear of her future work. ...more |
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1
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Apr 09, 2021
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Apr 11, 2021
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Jan 08, 2021
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Kindle Edition
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| 1250758831
| 9781250758835
| 4.08
| 4,055
| Feb 02, 2021
| Feb 02, 2021
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disclaimer: I did not finish this book so if you are thinking of reading this book I recommend you check out reviews from other readers. DNF 45% Teen disclaimer: I did not finish this book so if you are thinking of reading this book I recommend you check out reviews from other readers. DNF 45% Teenage me would have probably liked this. Alas, as I am no longer a teenager, I find the fanfic-y vibes of this novel to be a wee bit cheesy. The two main gain have very generic personalities (one is the fun-extrovert and the other guy is an introvert). I also guessed a 'reveal' within the very few pages...the way the narrative portrays trauma feels very scripted (to me). The sci-fi is merely a backdrop and I guess I prefer more detailed and less generic world-building. The interaction between the characters, the tone of the story, the relationship between the two main characters....they all reminded me of fanfiction (which I used to enjoy reading but no longer). I'm sure many readers will love this (I can already see lots of glowing reviews) and I wish the author the best but I am just not 'vibing' with Winter's Orbit. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
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Jan 06, 2021
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| 0593357175
| 9780593357170
| 4.08
| 36
| unknown
| Aug 03, 2021
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disclaimer: I did not fish reading The Mismatch I recommend you check reviews from readers who have actually finished it. DNF 10% Die-hard fans of romc disclaimer: I did not fish reading The Mismatch I recommend you check reviews from readers who have actually finished it. DNF 10% Die-hard fans of romcoms will likely find The Mismatch to be an entertaining or sweet read but alas within a few pages of starting this book I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. As I had really high hopes for this book I can't help but be disappointed by what I have read of it. What immediately stood out was the writing...which struck me as kind of clumsy (remember: this is my opinion so chances are you will disagree). For instance, "a glimmer of a smile traced his lips"...shouldn't it be 'a glimmer of a smile in his eyes' or 'a hint of a smile traced his lips'? The first on page interaction between our MC and her LI happens around the 7% mark. And, of course, our MC "couldn't help but notice now how broad his shoulder were under the graduation gown" and his nose which "bent ever so slightly to the left, and was crooked in a different way from hers. She imagined this quirk only made him more attractive to girls, gave a bit of an edge to his otherwise perfect physique". [image] Then we get this: "He was a popular rugby player, and she was a quiet nobody" [image] And this, to establish that our MC isn't as 'conventionally' beautiful as another female character (in this case her sister Parvin): Parvin, who is wearing a "figure-hugging dress", is "blessed with a flat stomach, big bottom and tiny waist". I don't know...everything about the start of this novel is not working for me (remember: I am merely expressing my honest and entirely subjective opinion). This whole setup has a strong 'not like other girls' whiff which I find to be deeply irksome. The prose needs some work, the conflict seemed contrived (such as that first scene featuring the LI), the dialogues are not so great, and we have a character who I fear will function as the Bitchy Gay Sidekick™ (the kind of representation I except from a late 2000s tv show). I will stop now as I do not wish to be excessively mean/critical. As I said above, I did not fish this book so chances are the writing improves down the road (I am just not patient enough to keep going). I wish the author and her book the best. I'm sure that many readers—possibly those who are not grinches like moi—will be able to fall in love with The Mismatch. ...more |
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Dec 21, 2020
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Paperback
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| 1933633778
| 9781933633770
| 3.53
| 8,609
| Dec 01, 2005
| May 03, 2011
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / 2 ½ stars The Lake is narrated by the quintessential Banana Yoshimoto protagonist. While Yoshimoto's sparse y / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / 2 ½ stars The Lake is narrated by the quintessential Banana Yoshimoto protagonist. While Yoshimoto's sparse yet dreamy makes for an easy reading experience this is definitely not one of her ‘strongest’ novels. Chihiro, daughter of an 'unconventional' couple, moves to Tokyo in order to pursue a career graphic artist. She's still grieving her mother's death and spends most of her time on her own. One day, as she is staring out of her window, she sees a young man staring back from a window across the street. The two quickly form a bond and begin to spend their spare time together. Nakajima, who has also lost his mother, is somewhat unwilling to discuss his past with Chihiro and when their relationship becomes more of a romance it becomes clear to her that he must have experience some childhood trauma. This short novel is definitely not plot-oriented as the narrative mainly consists in Chihiro either navel-gazing or pronouncing two-bit aphorisms. While Yoshimoto does evoke the places and sensations Chihiro visits/experiences, The Lake lacked the atmosphere and feeling of Kitchen an Umi no Futa (which I believe has yet to be translated in English). And whereas I usually enjoy how nostalgic ambience of her work, The Lake just came across as dated. Chihiro seems almost to relish the idea that Nakajima may be deeply traumatised and we also have a side-character who is affected by a mysterious illness and bed bound yet she is also omniscient and able to speak through others... Overall, this was definitely one of Yoshimoto's more banal stories as it lacked that vital zing which usually makes her books such zesty reads. ...more |
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Nov 21, 2020
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Nov 22, 2020
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Nov 21, 2020
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Hardcover
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| 031654275X
| 9780316542753
| 4.05
| 693
| Mar 23, 2021
| Mar 23, 2021
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DNF p. 150 I really really really wanted to love this but this just is not 'clicking' with me. I'm sure more patient readers who love military fantas DNF p. 150 I really really really wanted to love this but this just is not 'clicking' with me. I'm sure more patient readers who love military fantasy or tales of political intrigue will be able to appreciate The Unbroken more than I was. The writing was okay but the characters, pacing, and world-building did very little for me. Not only could I not picture Touraine nor Luca but their personalities seemed very one-note. Most of the secondary characters seemed very stereotypical of the genre (Cantic with who is as hard and cold as her 'blue eyes', Rogan is the classic villainous bully, Touraine's lover, Pruett, and Tibeau, seemed to exist merely as fodder to Touraine's temperament). While I 100% agree with N.K. Jemisin when she said that creating fantasy worlds is challenging as you are inevitably influenced by "real (if bygone) cultures" I was hoping for a more unique setting. We have the colonialist evil empire Balladaire that is basically France while Briga and Qazal seem to be heavily inspired by Morocco and Algeria. Maybe later in the novel the author expands on this world a bit more but so far the only 'innovative' thing about it is that there seems to be no gender inequality and that same-sex relationships are viewed in the same way as heterosexual ones. These two things are wins in my books given that I am a queer woman and I am tired of reading fantasy novels in which women and LGBTQ+ folx are oppressed. What did not sit well with me was the choice to address female characters in positions of power with male titles (Touraine and Cantic are addressed as 'Sir' while the governor of Qazal City, who is a woman, is addressed as 'Lord Governor'). This might have worked if there were no female titles but they are also used only not when describing those who have authoritative positions. This leads me to speculate that even in this world female equivalents of 'Sir' and 'Lord' are not seen as conveying the same authority as the male ones. But why would that be the case given that in this world where there seems to be no gender inequality? Sure, in our world, 'Master' has connotations of power and control whereas 'Mistress' is used to describe teachers and women who engage in relationships with married individuals. But in the world of The Unbroken men and women are seen as the same (I am not including other genders because up to the point I have read there were no enby characters), why would women in positions of power have to be addressed with male titles? It would have been more interesting if the author could have created titles that could have been applied to all genders. My third issue was the pacing which kind of dragged. There were a few scenes that seem very reminiscent of other fantasy books (such as Luca getting her rapier) or Touraine being recognized by an old man. While the story might in the long run develop the characters more and or provide a more detailed world-building I don't feel compelled to continue. If you are thinking of reading this I recommend you check out some more positive reviews. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
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Nov 20, 2020
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| 075158018X
| 9780751580181
| 3.39
| 1,127
| Feb 11, 2021
| Feb 11, 2021
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Nov 14, 2020
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| B08HLNFK9K
| 4.05
| 61
| May 11, 2021
| May 11, 2021
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DNF 50% I usually avoid DNFing books past the 30% mark but Son of the Storm and I...we aren't vibing (one of those it's not you it's me cases). That is DNF 50% I usually avoid DNFing books past the 30% mark but Son of the Storm and I...we aren't vibing (one of those it's not you it's me cases). That is not me saying this book is bad, far from it. The author's writing is pretty solid and the setting is vividly rendered. Alas, the book is not so great when it comes to the world-building, story, and characters. I need to feel something (positive or negative) for the characters in order to be invested in a story. And here, well I didn't feel much of anything. The main guy is bland and kind of dumb (two other characters point this out but the fact remains: the boy is thick), then we have a female BadAss-BossBitch who reminded me of a character I absolutely did not care from An Ember in the Ashes, and a few generic side characters (the big silent guy, the girl on a mission for her people). I just wasn't feeling anything and I'd rather not give this book a low rating. If you are interested in reading this I recommend you checkout more positive reviews (such as Daniel Greene's review). ...more |
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| 0063012197
| 9780063012196
| 3.24
| 2,376
| Jan 19, 2021
| Jan 19, 2021
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DNF 20% Now tell me if you have heard of this kind of story before: in the prologue, someone dies, years later our narrator for some reason looks back DNF 20% Now tell me if you have heard of this kind of story before: in the prologue, someone dies, years later our narrator for some reason looks back to the past and this 'death'. I kind of blame TSH for this 'trend'. Eaton's novel reads a lot like an amalgamation The Secret Place, The Lightness, Good Girls Lie, and All Girls. This kind of setup can be great if done right but I am afraid that in Eaton's hands it ends being a bland, and not nearly sapphic enough, affair. I am so tired of the narrator with a "mousy" appearance and a boring personality. The writing too, in my opinion, of course, was pretty dire ("my nipples mutinous in the cold and hard as bullets. I enjoy looking at my wide, milky colored bottom"). Also, this book intend audience is an 'adult' one so why in the world does Eaton feel the need to remind her readers as if were three-year-olds, that when our narrator, who is clearly a grown woman in the 'now', is talking about her time as a pupil at this fancy school, this was in the pre-internet days ("This was preinternet remember; no one could google anyone"). Lastly, and this is something that quite a few English authors do when you have a character whose first language is not English, there is no need to throw in dozens of expressions (italicized of course) in their native tongue. Our narrator (whose name is Sephine....) is married to a guy who happens to be Austrian. While I know from my own personal experiences that sometimes some words might come to you in your mother tongue and you do not the English equivalent but here the guy is clearly fluent yet he says "Nein" and "Ja" and "Mein Gott". Come on, we get it, the guy is Austrian! This novel offers very little to the clique/private school/someone dies subgenre. While I usually end up DNF reviews by saying that I'm sure others will enjoy this', here, I would advise readers to check out its overall score (tis' low for a reason) before committing to this. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
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Oct 19, 2020
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| 3.51
| 29,235
| 2000
| Jan 16, 2001
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “I had always understood, of course, that the task of rooting out evil in its most devious forms, often just/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “I had always understood, of course, that the task of rooting out evil in its most devious forms, often just when it is about to go unchecked, is a crucial and solemn undertaking.” As much as it pains me to admit this...I didn’t particularly care for this novel. While it is written in Kazuo Ishiguro’s trademark prose, which is both eloquent and introspective, the more I read and the less invested I felt in the story and in particular in Christopher Banks, our narrator and protagonist. It saddens me not to have enjoyed When We Were Orphans as I consider Ishiguro to be an excellent writer and certainly a favourite of mine. Then again, Ishiguro himself said that “It's not my best book". Still, while I wasn't expecting When We Were Orphans to be as poignant as The Remains of Day or Never Let Me Go, I hoped that I would at least find it to be an engaging read. At first I was intrigued by the narrative. Although Christopher is a famous detective his investigations are only alluded to. This itself is very unusual and it subverts the reader's expectations. Usually, when a book revolves around a detective chances are that whatever case(s) they are working on will be a central part of the story. Here instead Christopher’s job is treated like any other job. It is Christopher himself who is a mystery. Ishiguro introduces us to certain aspects of his life, for example at first we read many scenes in which he is socialising at glitzy parties or events. The story begins in the 1930s England and Christopher is slowly making a name for himself. We learn that he is an orphan and that he grew up in the International Settlement of Shanghai. As with other novels by Ishiguro our narrator finds himself recollecting a certain period of his life, in this case is childhood. He reconsiders figures and scenes from his past, scrutinizing and questioning his own memories, re-experiencing specific episodes both through the uncomprehending eyes of a child and through his newly acquired adult perspective. Scenes from his past are interspersed throughout Christopher’s narrative. In the present he meets Sarah, a young woman who also happens to be an orphan. Sarah seems intent on upward social mobility or so we can assume given that she expresses a wish to marry someone of importance. We also learn more of Christopher’s circumstances. Throughout his careful examination of his past Christopher remains a somewhat remote and cautious narrator. Usually I find cold or detached narrators to be right up my street (such as with Brontë and Kincaid’s Lucys) but Christopher’s opaqueness seemed a bit contrived at times. He remains a half-formed thing for much of his narrative. For instance, when he is thinking of childhood it is Akira who steals ‘the sh0w’. Child-Christopher remains an amorphous figure, who possesses no discernible traits. Still, I appreciated the way he considers the limitations of memory, how certain events are coloured by later ones, how some incidents will always remain unclear. What seems to drive his remembrance is the loss of his parents (the exact nature of which we learn quite late in the narrative). The second half of the novel sees Christopher back in Shanghai and here things take on a hazy quality. While in the first half there are many time skips, I never felt that I was missing out on any vital scene. Once Christopher is Shanghai however I started to feel mildly annoyed by how many things happened off page. Nothing is explained to us, we are simply made to go along with Christopher and his outlandish plans. He finds himself in the midst of the Second Sino-Japanese War and kind of loses his marbles. He makes foolish decisions and behaves in an abhorrent fashion. I could not for the life of me believe that he felt any particular strong feelings for Sarah. During his earlier reminiscence I did not feel his grief or anguish when he considered his parents. And yet, all of a sudden, it seems imperative for him to uncover the truth. The more ill-behaved he became the more antipathy I felt for him and the book as a whole. This character change was abrupt and doubtful. While Christopher never struck me as a particularly likeable or kind person he seemed a level-headed and sensible person. And then he just becomes this increasingly tyrannical, inconsiderate, and impudent man. The mystery was anti-climatic and the story lacked a cohesive structure or at least a rewarding storyline. Christopher remains undeveloped and uninteresting, while the secondary character seemed mere devices. Take Akira for example...his role in the story is disappointing. At the end especially he just ‘puffs’, vanishes, disappears. Christopher doesn’t think of him or their last encounter. Nevertheless Ishiguro’s prose is certainly refined and, to begin with, thoughtful. His dialogues always ring true, from the words they use to express themselves to the vernaculars they use, even when the motivations of his characters don’t. He certainly succeeds in evoking the society in which Christopher moves, as well as the cultural differences between England and China. While I didn't particularly enjoy this novel I still consider Ishiguro to be one of the best writers 'out there'. ...more |
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Oct 18, 2020
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Oct 21, 2020
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Oct 07, 2020
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Kindle Edition
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| 1529118646
| 9781529118643
| 4.18
| 613
| Jan 21, 2021
| Jan 28, 2021
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / We Are All Birds of Uganda is a debut novel that inspired rather conflicting feelings in me. At first, I enjoy / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / We Are All Birds of Uganda is a debut novel that inspired rather conflicting feelings in me. At first, I enjoyed Hafsa Zayyan's ability to render her protagonist's environment. I was not surprised to discover that Zayyan is like her protagonist Sameer a lawyer based in London. Zayyan captures the stressful atmosphere of Sameer's office, the toll played by his long hours, the benefits of his high wage (he can afford a studio apartment in London), the ambition driving him. Things take a downturn when Sameer, who is possibly in his late twenties, begins to work under Chris. In spite of having been recognized as one of the most promising lawyers of his practice and that he will be part of the team to set up a new office in Singapore, Chris treats him like poorly. Chris takes issue with Sameer fasting on Ramadan and seems to go out of his way to bully Sameer. When Sameer's colleague, and until then friend, also begins to make remarks about 'tokenism' (implying that Sameer only got the Singapore gig because he is South Asian) Sameer feels justly alienated. When someone close to him is the victim of a racially motivated attack Sammer feels all the more lost. In spite of his success as a lawyer his own family refuse to cheer him on his career, wanting him instead to work for the family business. A confused Sameer makes a spur-of-the-moment decision and flies to Uganda, the country his own father and grandfather were forced to flee during the 1970s expulsion of Asians from Uganda. Between Sameer's chapters are excerpts from letters written by his grandfather to his deceased first wife. I actually enjoyed the first section of this novel, when the story is focused on Sameer and his life in London. I liked the dynamic he has with his two friends and his experiences at the office felt realistic and believable. I wish that his relationship with his immediate family (particularly his father) had been explored more. As the child of immigrants, Sameer feels not only the pressure to make his family proud but he also wants to fit in with his British peers. The clash between personal freedom and familial obligations was interesting. Alas, his story takes a downward turn when he makes the sudden and kind of out-of-character choice to go to Uganda. Here the story turns into one that would have been better suited to a movie. Clichè after clichè. Sameer falls in love (of course) with a woman his parents will never approve of (of course). Maybe I would have believed in their romance more if he hadn't been so rushed. He sees her...and that's that. The beauty of insta-love! She's not like other women, he actually doesn't want to jump in her pants, he loves talking with her, she's smart, empathetic, and kind (which begs the question, why ever would she go for Sameer?). We even have a scene where she is wearing white and gets wet and he sees her nipples and dio mio! Really? The thing is, as much as I loved the author's description of Uganda (from its culture to its landscapes) her storyline lost all of its initial originality and authenticity. Sameer's behavior towards and thoughts about women made my skin crawl. The guy is a creep. And that the narrative has to compound his feelings about this woman by making him decline the flirtations of another one..? And of course, this other girl is portrayed as promiscuous and a flirt. He thinks about fucking her but his feelings for the woman he loves are so pure that he decides not to. Wow. How noble. The grandfather's chapters were a wasted opportunity. They gave us information about Uganda and the 1970s expulsion of Asians but this information could have been imparted differently. Later on, Sameer comes across his grandfather's letters and learns more about Ugandan history, so why not insert here those facts that appeared in the grandfather's chapters? He certainly did not necessitate so many chapters! I never believed in his voice, and couldn't really visualize him or his relationship with the other characters. His letters were there only for us to be able to learn more about Uganda, which I appreciate but as I said I think this information could have been presented to us in a different way. I understand that family sagas have to have two timelines, but here one of the timelines was limited by its format (that of a letter to a dead person). Also, the grandfather seems to recount a few months and at times years in the span of one letter...which didn't really make sense. Does he write a letter to his dead wife every couple of years? Filling her in with all that happened since his last letter? And why would he give her information she would have already known? The more I read the more my enthusiasm for this novel died out. I ended up hating Sameer and the predictable storyline. The relationship between parents/son and brother/sister were sadly undeveloped, sidetracked in favor of a clichèd romance. All in all, I am quite disappointed by this one. The ending too was really grating (it reminded me of The Saint of Incipient Insanities and The Secret of the Grain) and made me want to scream: what was the point of it all?! ...more |
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Jan 21, 2021
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Jan 24, 2021
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Oct 06, 2020
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Hardcover
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| Cho, Zen
*
| 0425283437
| 9780425283431
| 4.08
| 52
| May 11, 2021
| May 11, 2021
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / small side note: I wrote a review for this book and ended up deleting it by mistake / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / small side note: I wrote a review for this book and ended up deleting it by mistake ...more |
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Mar 07, 2021
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Mar 10, 2021
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Sep 24, 2020
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| 1945814616
| 9781945814617
| 3.73
| 372
| Oct 09, 2018
| Oct 09, 2018
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did not like it
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Readers who enjoy the works of Zadie Smith or Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar may find White Dancing Elephants to have some merit. If you are thinking of rea
Readers who enjoy the works of Zadie Smith or Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar may find White Dancing Elephants to have some merit. If you are thinking of reading this collection I recommend you read some of the more positives reviews as my one is alas a negative one. For those who liked or loved it, I hope you will not feel the need to leave comments on the lines of 'your opinion are invalid because I disagree with you'. Anyhow, moving onto my actual review: this is, in my opinion, an execrable collection of short stories. These stories are poorly written, populated by boilerplate characters, deeply vitriolic and exceedingly vexing. White Dancing Elephants follows the usual 'short stories collection' formula, so that we have a few stories experimenting, with not so great results, with perspective (of course, a story is told through a 2nd pov because that is what every other collection out there is doing so might as well follow their lead), a story about miscarriage (bursting with metaphors about 'brokeness'), a story about a character grappling with mental illness, and a story that earns this collection the LGBTQ+ badge (*ahem* not all queer representation is good representation). If you've read any collections of short stories published in the last 3 years, you have already read stories like these ones. There was nothing subversive or unique about White Dancing Elephants. Attempts at 'edginess' came across as insensitive, for example, the author's treatment of mental health was, to use a trendy word, deeply problematic. What irked me the most however was how unclear these stories were. The author seemed unable or unwilling to stick to a certain perspective, so that it would be unclear who was telling the story. And, these stories managed to be confusing, which is impressive given how short they were. This is probably due to the nebulous povs and the amount of info-dumping we would at the start of each story (informing us of a character's heritage, their parents backgrounds, their friends' genetic makeup or whatnot). Knowing who these characters were related to, most of the time at least, added absolutely nothing to each respective story as 'family' never seemed to be the plot's real focus. Instead, each story seemed set on being as impressionistic as possible, so that we have ripe metaphors are intent on being 'visceral' but seem like mere writing exercises, and a plethora of 'shock-value' scenes. Personally I was unimpressed by the author's language. We have oddly phrased things, such as “it gave her flickers of amusement” (while I get that you can observe on someone's face a 'flicker of amusement' the 'gave her' in that sentence brings me pause), clichés such as “smiling the smile”, “smiling her gorgeous smile”, “my father a stranger until his death”, “ Nothing has changed since. Everything has changed.” (UGH! Give me a break). A lot of the stories start with very eye-grabbing statements, that tease some dramatic event that once explained or explored will feel deeply anticlimactic. Also, I could not help but be offended by the author's garish depictions of rape and its aftereffects. And don't even get me started on the role that same-sex attraction has in two of these stories. Puh-lease. There is a lot of women-hating-women, which can happen...but in nearly every story? (and WHY do we always have to get women making snidey remarks about other women's stomachs?). Last but not least, I did not appreciate that the one story where a black man actually plays some sort of role, ends up portraying him as a racist and a predator. The author's prose (if we can call it such), the derogatory tone, the detestable and showy characters, the uninspired stories...they all did nothing for me. To be perfectly frank the only thing that surprised about this collection was that it managed to get published in the first place. Collections I can recommend that explore similar themes: Milk Blood Heat and Sarbina & Corina: Stories. Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads ...more |
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Sep 22, 2020
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Sep 24, 2020
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Sep 22, 2020
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Paperback
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| 0374211892
| 9780374211899
| 3.52
| 242
| Mar 2019
| Mar 16, 2021
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DNF 20% If the first few chapters of a book make you roll your eyes more than say ten times...maybe tis best to call things off. Mona tries really hard DNF 20% If the first few chapters of a book make you roll your eyes more than say ten times...maybe tis best to call things off. Mona tries really hard to be funny and subversive. The novel's attempts to be 'gritty' or 'edgy' fall painfully short. Mona, our titular main character, is not like other girls. She's a Peruvian writer who is lives in California. When she's applying for her PhD to various universities she claims to have indigenous ancestry, because...reasons? When her ethnicity seems to offer her "the opportunity to advance her career" she realises that "it would have been ever more advantageous to add on some kind of physical disability—a slight but evident defect". Isn't she just so edgy? #notlikeotherprotagonists The writing left a lot to be desired: ➜"Maybe the pain was a pupa inside of her, Mona thought: an amorphous substance awaiting the formation of a new exoskeleton" ➜"her toes lined up like a sinister family of faceless dwarves" ➜"Dicks were radars of attention, erotic antennae made for detecting every contour of desire in their surroundings". ➜"Mona inserted her earbuds and slid her phone, snakelike, to the front of her leggings, so that the little hole for the charger was perpendicular to her clit" (WTF? Why be so specific? Knowing that the hole of her phone is perpendicular to her clit adds nothing to that scene.) Also, it seems that the only way to establish that your character is sex positive is to make her constantly think of dicks, force a security guard to pat her crotch, and give a virtual blow job to a guy (all of this happens within the first two chapters....). Lastly, we have this Italian guy who says "Vieni più vicino al cazzo"...and it just doesn't right (it has a vague google translator feel to it). And of course, because he is Italian and he is getting virtual head he has to recite Italian verses (Guido Cavalcanti). And we get this assessment about him: "Franco was the kind of Italian you could only find in the United States, or really anywhere outside of Italy. Or, as Franco more succinctly put it: he was tall. The fundamental axis of his existence was to prove that, no, Italians are not all warm, friendly, or sweet. Or maybe they are, but only when they're low to the ground and have even lower self-esteem". Boy, I must be a walking and talking contradiction then. The narrative's attempt at humour are not really doing anything for me. I'm sure that there are plenty of other readers who are willing to read this novel but I ain't one of them. ...more |
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Sep 22, 2020
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Hardcover
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| 1459746880
| 9781459746886
| 3.50
| 26
| unknown
| Jul 13, 2021
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it was ok
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / 2 ½ stars This is one of those rare cases where I genuinely feel bad for not liking a book. The more I read Th / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / 2 ½ stars This is one of those rare cases where I genuinely feel bad for not liking a book. The more I read The Rebellious Tide, the less I liked it. Yet, I really tried to pretend otherwise. Having loved Eddy Boudel Tan's debut novel (it moved me to tears, something that does not happen often to grinches like moi) I had high expectations for his sophomore novel and I can't help but be disappointment by it. If you are thinking of reading this novel I recommend you check out some positive reviews out as this review won't be particularly 'rosy'. The Rebellious Tide follows Sebastien, a young man who is grieving the death of his mother. He resents his hometown as he believes that the townspeople have always treated him and his mother like outsiders (his mother was originally from Singapore). We learn of his on-off again relationship with Sophie and of his hatred towards his father, a Greek man who allegedly abandoned his mother when she was pregnant with Sebastien. So, naturally, Sebastien decides to take revenge on his father. Lucky for him, he manages to get himself hired as a photographer on a luxury cruise ship monstrosity (as a former Venetian I abhor cruises) which happens to captained by his father. He makes fast friends with two other members of staff and decides to make inquiries about his father, wanting to learn what kind of person he is. Soon Sebastien realises how rigid the hierarchy among staff members is, and his resentment towards his father makes him start a 'rebellion'. There were elements of the story that I liked, such as the cruise as microcosm of society. The 'confined' setting augmented the already brewing tension between the ship's crew and the staff (who are deemed 'inferior' or 'expandable'). But...I just could not believe in any of it. I couldn't suspend my sense of disbelief, and I never bought into any of it. The characters were painfully one-dimensional, the female ones especially, and yet the storyline tried for this serious tone which...I don't know, it just didn't work for me. As I said, I wanted to like this so bad but the more I read the less I liked what I was reading. The story is very on the nose. The 'Greek myth' connection was jarring and out-of-place. While I could have bought the whole 'lower decks=Hades', 'passageway in the lower decks=Styx', okay...we get it, lots of Greeks work on this ship. But the whole thing between Sebastien and his supposed 'love interest' where they call each other Achilles and Patroclus? Come on! The two men barely know each other, their relationship struck me (and yes, this is once again my personal opinion) as just sexual. And there is nothing wrong with that! But why present it as a tragic love story? Bah! The characters did not sound like real people, the dialogues were clunky, and the writing...I don't know, I guess I preferred the author's prose in After Elliot because it was in the 1st person (making the whole thing much more 'intimate') whereas here we have a perspective that is all over the place and yet it doesn't really delve beyond a character's surface level. And the whole storyline is so damn cheesy and gave me some strong soap opera vibes. Convenient coincidences and clichés abound! And don't get me started on Sebastien's father (and that done to death line, "you remind me of myself when I was your age"). As I said (or wrote) I do hate myself a little bit for not liking this novel. While I am of the opinion that this novel is in desperate need of an overhaul, I hope that it will find its audience and that readers will connect to Sebastien in a way that I was not able to. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
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Dec 21, 2020
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Dec 23, 2020
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Sep 17, 2020
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ebook
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| 1982604611
| 9781982604615
| 3.82
| 194
| Sep 22, 2020
| Sep 22, 2020
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DNF 40% While I don't mind reading about creepy characters or characters who exhibit disturbing behaviour, I'm not a fan of narratives that try to pres DNF 40% While I don't mind reading about creepy characters or characters who exhibit disturbing behaviour, I'm not a fan of narratives that try to present these kind of characters as 'heroes'. When we first meet our protagonist Fulgencio Ramirez, we are told that he was 'wronged', and because of this he was unable to marry his sweetheart (who married his 'nemesis' instead). We jump back to thirty years prior, when Fulgencio first sees Carolina Mendelssohn. He sees her and that's it, he decides that they are meant to be and will eventually get married. In order to get closer to her he asks her father, a pharmacist, to offer him a job. He begins working out so he can have a 'body' that will catch Carolina's attention...which fair enough, self-improvement is good...but, the thing is that he loves Carolina because she's beautiful. That's the reason he thinks HE is the one for her. Like, wtf? He likes her 'golden' hair, her 'fair' skin, her 'angelic' face. After some time goes by, she seems interested in him only because he helps her with her Spanish homework (and also because she finds him 'exotic'...which, yikes). His behaviour is stalker-y and cocky, not a great combination. And yet, his feelings are made to seem 'pure', their love 'fated'. There is this scene in which she falls from a ladder or something and he catches her in his 'strong' arms as Carolina is just like a 'feather' (insert headache-inducing eye-roll here). You can dismiss me as a snowflake all you like but this is the kind of novel I would be more forgiving of if it had been written in the 80s. But it wasn't. ...more |
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Sep 16, 2020
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| 0062936050
| 9780062936059
| 4.55
| 2,281
| Feb 19, 2021
| Apr 20, 2021
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / This basically was The Breakfast Club but with aliens. Die-hard fans of the Wayfarers series will probably appr / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / This basically was The Breakfast Club but with aliens. Die-hard fans of the Wayfarers series will probably appreciate The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. While I loved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet I was not as taken by its sequel nor by this rather anticlimactic conclusion. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within follows a somewhat basic premise: a bunch of strangers from vastly differentiating backgrounds are forced into close quarters due to circumstances out of their control. Over the course of a few days, they bond and discover that they are not so different and they learn to push aside their prejudices and preconceived notions of 'Others'. The fact that they belong to different species does give this scenario a fresh new angle but ultimately Chambers incorporated the same kind of simplified discussions about social & cultural differences. Chambers often dumbs down potentially interesting arguments so that many of the discussions arising around relevant social issues lack nuance. The story follows Pei, an Aeluon, Speaker, an Akarak, and Roveg, a Quelin. They all end up grounded at the Five-Hop One-Stop which is run by Ouloo, a Laru. They have all lead distinctive lives and they also necessitate differentiating things given that they belong to a different species. Oxygen, for example, would be lethal to Speaker. At first, they view the others as mere aliens but the more time they spend together—picnics and get-togethers—the more they begin to see the others as individuals in their own right. There is some conflict due to Akarak not being considered a sapient species and therefore they are not part of the GC. They were colonized by another species and are now regarded with distrust. Pei is fighting for the Aeluons against the Rosk (whom, if I record correctly, they had previously colonized). While Chambers can be creative when it comes to language (they all happen to mention untranslatable words that are emblematic of their species' culture) the gender angle is a bit more tired. In fact, it does not hold a candle to some species from our animal kingdom. It was a bit weird that so many alien species had a gender and I found myself wishing for some genderless aliens. Ouloo's child uses xyr/xe pronouns but after puberty, xe will be either female or male....which, why not have a species that is exclusively not gendered (as opposed to having species where you can be female, male, and or agender)? Similarly, it seemed weird to me that all of the characters' thoughts and felt in similar way (even if Aeluons express themselves through the colors in their cheeks). Why do they all feel the same type of emotions? That they all spoke as if they were therapists made them blur together in spite of their alleged differences. Most of the scenes included in the narrative seemed to try hard to be cute or sweet or heartwarming but I found them unbearably cheesy. And on the topic of cheese, that whole discussion about how weird cheese is was so necessary, the same goes for that discussion on shoes (they are like clothes for feet, ahah, so funny). Given that they have all interacted with or have knowledge of other species it seemed weird that they would go on about cheese and shoes as if these are flabbergasting concepts. Although I appreciated Chambers inclusion of diverse languages it would have been interesting to learn whether contact between so many different species and the predominance of Klip as a spoken language, had resulted in language death for certain species. At one point the narrative seems to imply that Laru is spoken no longer but later on (if I remember correctly) this information is contradicted. The story is slow and consists of these characters bonding and widening their mindsets. Explorations of serious and potentially topical issues, such as reproductive rights, are approached with simplicity ("Because I didn't want to. And when it comes to a person's body, that is all the reason there ever needs to be,"). Similarly, the whole Pei/Speaker confrontation results in both making 'valid' points. The most interesting thing about this novel is the fact that it concerns non-humans but, to be honest, their experiences, desires, fears, and arcs felt a bit too 'human'. I'm sure that Chamers aficionados will be able to love this in a way that I wasn't but if I had to be completely honest with myself, reading it felt like a waste of my time. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
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Feb 10, 2021
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Feb 13, 2021
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Sep 05, 2020
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ebook
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| 9781526630728
| 3.76
| 1,098
| Feb 09, 2021
| Feb 09, 2021
|
liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “How long does it take to fall in love with someone—hours, days, years?” This was okay but I was kind of expe / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / “How long does it take to fall in love with someone—hours, days, years?” This was okay but I was kind of expecting something different. At times As Far as You'll Take Me follows a bit too closely in the footsteps of other YA coming-of-age books. There also seems to be a rising trend for YA stories featuring American kids who travel/run away to Europe, where they make friends, fall in love, and realize that you cannot run away from your problems. As Far as You'll Take Me is narrated by Marty who is nearly 18 and gay. Although his parents know they refuse to acknowledge his sexuality as they belong to a deeply conservative Christian sect. He decides that the only way he can be himself is by leaving his small Kentucky town behind and crafts a lie about having been accepted for a music summer program at a prestigious school in order to fly to London. Here he will stay with his cousin, who is also gay, and his aunt (who is largely absent due to work). Marty doesn't have clear plans, other than wanting to play his oboe. He falls for Pierce, a friend of his cousin, who is also a musician and happens to have a not-so-great reputation when it comes to love. There is a lot of busking, some traveling (to Wales and Italy), and quite a lot of angst. Marty's social anxiety turns seemingly ordinary exchanges and interactions into unsurmountable hurdles. He also begins to reconsider his relationship with Megan, his American best friend, who has always pushed him around, made fun of his insecurities, and who since his departure from the US has become even crueler towards him. I appreciated that Stamper portrayed a less than ideal friendship and romance. Those looking for a feel-good YA romance might want to steer clear of this book. In addition to toxic relationships and anxiety, this book also touches on eating disorders. Personally, I think that this subject matter could have been explored with more depth as it came across as being a bit too lightly addressed and resolved. Many of the relationships Marty forms in the UK also struck me as having formed far too quickly. Not only is there the insta-love with Pierce but his friendship with Sophie also felt very rushed. While there was an attempt in making Megan into more than a horrible person, ultimately, she comes off as cartoonishly bad. Similarly to another book featuring a gay teen who runs away to Europe to escape his conservative parents' disapproval, As Far as You'll Take Me is not very concerned with addressing Marty's own relationship to his religion. There are one or two passages that give the impression that he no longer believes due to the fact that his being gay is not compatible with his God but these merely scratched the surface of what could have been a more detailed discussion on self-acceptance and religion. Interspersed throughout the narrative are some unnecessary snippets from a 'project diary' relating Marty's previous summer in which his parents learned of his sexuality. These sections were totally unnecessary as they are so brief that they do not give us a real glimpse into Marty's relationship with his parents, who, remain a mystery for the whole of the book. He thinks of them now and again but we never learn much about them or of their life up to that point. All in all, I can't say that I particularly liked this book. I appreciate the issues the author touches upon but the narrative felt too rushed and somewhat formulaic. Maybe die-hard fans of YA novels will be able to relate to this more than I was. ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Feb 13, 2021
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Feb 15, 2021
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Sep 02, 2020
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Paperback
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| unknown
| 3.60
| 5,228
| Feb 02, 2021
| Feb 02, 2021
|
it was ok
|
/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / (heads up: this review contains mentions of eating disorders and body dysmorphia as well as explicit language) / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / / (heads up: this review contains mentions of eating disorders and body dysmorphia as well as explicit language) 2 ½ stars While I doubt that Milk Fed will win many awards, I sure hope that it wins the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. It 100% deserves to. “Was it real freedom? Unlikely. But my rituals kept me skinny, and if happiness could be relegated to one thing alone, skinniness, then one might say I was, in a way, happy.” Milk Fed follows in the steps of novels such as My Year of Rest and Relaxation (or to name a few others: Pizza Girl, Luster, Exciting Times, Severance, Hysteria, The New Me...and no, this is by no means a comprehensive list). As I've said before in my review for Luster, these books are a hit or miss for me. And at first I thought that Milk Fed was a definite hit but after the 30% mark the novel became increasingly repetitive, annoyingly self-indulgent, and ludicrously sensationalistic. To me, Milk Fed reads like a less compelling version of You Exist Too Much. Both novels focus on young bisexual women who have a rather toxic relationship with their mother. They both suffer at one point or another from an eating disorder. They are self-destructive and directionless. Their attempts to seek therapeutic help do not go all that well. The narrator of You Exist Too Much does some fucked up things but ultimately I cared for and sympathised with her. It helped that I found her caustic wit to be genuinely funny. Milk Fed is all style and no substance. Perhaps those who can enjoy this kind of turgid prose may be able to find this novel amusing or insightful but it just reminded of all the reasons why I did not like Susan Choi’s My Education. Also, fyi, I had an eating disorder. However, I would never describe myself as a ‘survivor’ nor do I believe that you can’t write a dark comedy about eating disorders. I like satire and cringe comedy (Succession and Fleabag are favourites of mine) but I am certainly not a fan of narratives that are solely intent on being as garish and gratuitous as possible. Our narrator, Rachel, is an aimless twenty-something who in the very opening of the novel informs us that “It didn't matter where I worked: one Hollywood bullshit factory was equal to any other. All that mattered was what I ate, when I ate, and how I ate it”. Rachel thinks about food 24/7. She obsesses about calories, follows seemingly arbitrary eating rituals, exercises everyday not in order to get stronger or leaner but to burn as many calories as possible. She seems to view her troubling relationship to food and her body as preferable to ‘the alternatieve’ (not being ‘skinny’). She goes to therapy, “hoping to alleviate the suffering related to both my food issues and my mother, but without having to make any actual life changes in either area”. During one of these sessions her therapist recommends that Rachel should take a “communication detox” from her mother (suggesting at least 90 days of no contact). “Do you want to be chubby or do you want boys to like you?” We learn through brief flashbacks and Rachel’s recounting that one of the reasons why developed an eating disorder is her mother. As a child Rachel’s mother would shame her for eating things she believed were ‘unhealthy’ or ‘bad’ and imposed strict diets on Rachel. Rachel began to binge-eat (in secret), which made her gain weight. To ‘make up’ for it Rachel begins to eat less and less, which sees her becoming anorexic (when she confesses to her mother that she thinks she may be anorexic her mother dismiss this by saying something on the lines of her not being ‘skinny enough’ to be truly anorexic). Rachel’s mother is horrible and she gives the mother from You Exist Too Much a run for her money...but, unlike You Exist Too Much, here we only told bad things about Rachel’s mother. Because of Rachel’s ‘detoxing’ from her, she never makes an appearance in the actual story. Her presence certainly haunts Rachel but I wish she had not been portrayed in such a skewed way. Making someone embody only negative traits is a very easy way of making them unlikable or into the ‘bad guy’. Rachel doesn’t care about her job ( I cannot precisely remember what she does other than it has to do with ‘Hollywood’) nor does she have any friends or hobbies (unless you count obsessing about food as a hobby). She is desperate for validation, which is perhaps why once a week she does stand up comedy for a night show called ‘This Show Sucks’. This thread of her life often felt unexplored and out of place. You could probably cut out the scenes she spends at this show and the story would be much the same (by the end this show’s main purpose seems to be that of a meeting place). At work she has sort of bonded with an older woman who she sees both as a mother-figure of sorts and as an object of desire. This leads to some predictably gross incestuous fantasies that have a very Freudian feel to them as they exist mainly to indicate Rachel’s state of mind (and they have the added bonus of grossing the reader out). During one of these sexual fantasies, which goes on and on for quite a few pages, Rachel imagines being ‘mothered’ by this older female colleague. Later, when she begins bingeing again, she imagines having sex with this same colleague, only this time she is the one who is in doing the ‘dominating’. Rachel’s first meets Miriam at the frozen yogurt shop where she usually gets a plain yogurt from (part of her eating routine). Miriam, who works at this shop, insists on giving Rachel a bigger portion of yogurt. Because of this Rachel is annoyed by Miriam. Added to that is Rachel repulsion towards Miriam’s body (she describes Miriam as being “medically obese”). However, Miriam’s nonchalance towards food and her body soon catch Rachel’s attention. Her initial repulsion gives way to lust, and the two women seem to ‘bond’ over the fact that they are both Jewish (Miriam however, unlike Rachel who does not seem to practice any Jewish rituals and does not believe in God, is Orthodox). Miriam invites Rachel to her house and Rachel idealises her family and home-life. They all enjoy eating and cooking food, and their meals together are happy occasions. Rachel believes that Miriam reciprocates her feelings and the two being a very one-way sexual relationship. Things, of course, do not go as planned. Rachel’s ups and downs with food, her self-hatred, her unresolved mummy issues, they all contribute to her self-destructive behaviour. I probably wouldn’t have minded the book’s switch of focus (from Rachel’s ED to Rachel feelings for Miriam) if the relationship between Rachel and Miriam had not been wholly superficial. Miriam is reduced to the role of sex object. There are many instances were Rachel, and the readers, could have learnt more of her—what kind of person she is, her feelings towards Rachel, the way she sees herself, her future & desires, etc.—but we do not. What we get instead are many scenes about Rachel wanting to have sex with Miriam, obsessing over Miriam’s body, masturbating while thinking of Miriam or that her colleague, having sex with Miriam...the list goes on. The way Rachel’s thinks about Miriam’s body raised a few red flags and her attraction towards her sometimes verged on fetishising. She doesn’t think of Miriam but merely of Miriam’s body. Many of the metaphors used when the two are having sex or when Rachel is fantasising about her are food related (Rachel describes Miriam’s moles as “chocolate drops”, her tongue as a “fat piece of liver she was king enough to feed me”). She also loves watching her eat and is aroused when Miriam “slurp[s] dumplings”. Miriam’s “rolls of fat” are like “pussies” to Rachel. I don’t know...these descriptions were probably meant to be funny and weird but they mostly struck me as affected and cheap. Most of the sex scenes in this novel were awful. They tried hard to be gritty and real but ended being the opposite: when watching a film with Audrey Hepburn Rachel imagines Audrey’s “concave thighs” and sticking her “mouth in her little pussy”; when she is holding Miriam’s hand she views this as an act of sexual intercourse, her finger is a “a cock, a penetrating object”; some of her fantasies included phrases such as “I activated Frankencock” or “It was like nipples were two clits”; when she is having sex with Miriam she smells “the faintest waft of shit coming up from underneath her. It smelled like fertile heaven: peat moss, soil, sod, loam”. Later in the novel she brags about fingering a guy to that older female colleague in order to impress her, feeling remorse in doing so. She never confronts her mother or this colleague, nor does she feel challenged or inspired by her relationship with Miriam. Yes, the more time she spends with Miriam, the less she restricts but throughout the course of the narrative she maintains an obsessive relationship with food and keeps assigning moralistic values to food. I never believed that she cared for Miriam, nor do I think that the relationship helped her somehow. Miriam...she did not strike me as a fully fleshed character. While her body is described in minute detail, her personality remains largely absent. Often, it seemed that Rachel viewed Miriam’s body as representing her ‘essence’. She likes going to the cinema, she’s Jewish, she seems to care for her family...other than that? Who knows! Because this is a satire most of the characters exist in order to make fun of a certain type of person: we have Rachel’s manager, a woke ‘dude bro’, her older female colleague who is thin, mean, and enjoys belittling other people’s appearance etc., the famous actor who is kind of full of himself, the not very helpful therapist who sees fake deep things… The narrative also had a thread involving a golem (Rachel creates it out of putty during one of her therapy sessions) and a series of dreams with Judah Loew ben Bezalel, and, to be perfectly honest, these were my favourite elements of Rachel’s story. Sadly however they do not play a huge role in the plot, and most of the narrative is dedicated to Rachel having sex or thinking about her ‘pussy’. Seriously, there were times when this book brought to mind WAP cause there are a few situations in which Rachel and Miriam would benefit from using a mop. I would not recommend this to those who have been affected by an ED. Although the author initially seemed to have captured many sentiments that resonated with me, Rachel’s ED is ultimately used as a source of humour. There are many grotesque scenes that serve very little purpose other than ridiculing her. And I’m very over books or films that feature characters who offhandedly remark ‘I tried to go bulimic once but like it didn’t work’ (then again, I had bulimia so I am a bit touchy on that particular front). Anyway, this novel tries to be outrageous and subversive but it succeeds only in being gratuitous. This is the kind of satire that is all bark, no bite. The author’s commentary on modern work culture, eating disorders, contemporary society, religion, the Palestinian-Israel conflict ...is lacking. Also, I find it hard to believe that Rachel, our supposedly shrewd girl, and this famous actor would get Frankenstein and Frankenstein's creature confused. Nevertheless, just because I found Melissa Broder's story to be superficial and ultimately unfunny, does not mean that you should not give this novel a try (bear in mind however that this books has some pretty yucky and incest-y content). Here is a snippet which I did not enjoy but might very well appeal to other types of readers: “Her hair was the color of cream soda, or papyrus scrolls streaked with night light. Her eyebrows were the color of lions, lazy ones, dozing in sunlight or eating butter at night with their paws by lantern. Her eyes: icebergs for shipwrecking. Lashes: smoke and platinum. Her skin was the Virgin Mary, also very baby. Her nose: adorable, breathing. Upper lip: pink peony. Lower lip: rose. The teeth were trickier, but her inner mouth was easy–Valentine hearts and hell.”...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Nov 05, 2020
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Nov 07, 2020
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Aug 27, 2020
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| 1250776686
| 9781250776686
| 3.79
| 1,930
| Mar 30, 2021
| Mar 30, 2021
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liked it
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/ / / Read more reviews on my blog / / However distressing, I appreciated the realities, issues, and themes Gabriela Garcia explores throughout her nov / / / Read more reviews on my blog / / However distressing, I appreciated the realities, issues, and themes Gabriela Garcia explores throughout her novel. Sadly, the author's execution and writing style lessened my overall reading experience. I know that interconnected narratives can work well, and some of my favourite novels employ this technique (The Travelers and Travellers), but I would have probably preferred for Of Women and Salt to either be a series of short stories or to stick to two or three timelines/perspectives—such as Margaret Wilkerson Sexton does in A Kind of Freedom. Take one of the firsts chapters, the one set in Cuba during the 19th-century in a cigar factory. That chapter bears no real weight on the novel, and it would have fitted a lot more in a family saga authored by Isabel Allende. The other chapters are mainly set in the present day and offer readers rushed glimpses into the lives of Latinx women living in America. Some of them are undocumented, and we see how vulnerable a position that leaves them in (there is the risk deportation, being forced to accept jobs that pay badly or are exploitative, no health insurance, racism, prejudice...the list goes on). We read of the horrifying realities and treatments undocumented individuals are exposed to daily. Garcia returns time and again to themes of motherhood and resilience. Garcia also shows us how devastating addiction is, both on the addict and on their loved ones. A lot of the time I was unable to truly familiarise myself with a character or their situation because I found the author's prose almost distracting. There were certain staccato sentences or oddly phrased phrases that brought to mind Joyce Carol Oates' most recent work and I for one am not a fan of this style. I'm sure many other readers will find it a lot more rewarding than I did but I alas found it a bit contrived at times. I wish the story could have exclusively focused on Jeanette and Carmen. Their fraught relationship was compelling. I could sadly relate to some of Jeanette's experiences, and I am grateful to Garcia for the way she discusses sexual assault. We do have a tendency of dismissing groping or other forms of sexual assault as 'minor' as not 'as bad as rape'. And at times it is difficult to articulate why someone's words or behaviour made you feel so violated or uncomfortable. There is a chapter in which Jeanette is fifteen or so and goes for a night out...and there was something about that chapter that I really did not like. Maybe it was the tone or the way the author described fifteen-year-old Jeanette but something just...rubbed me the wrong way. I also did not particularly care for the direction of her storyline (addicts can never recover etc.). The few chapters focusing on Jeanette's neighbour, who is detained by ICE, and her daughter felt a bit harried. I think the author should have expanded their stories more or simply not included them in this novel. While the topics explored in this novel are important I wish that these could have been presented to us differently. The constant shifting of perspectives made it hard for me to truly immerse myself in what I was reading. It was a bit distracting and maybe it could have worked better if the novel and been longer. Then again, given my feelings towards the author's prose maybe I would have still felt underwhelmed by it. I encourage prospective readers to check out some more positive and/or #ownvoices reviews. If you like the work of Patricia Engel, Melissa Rivero's The Affairs of the Falcóns, or Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford you will probably be able to appreciate Of Women and Salt more than I was able to. If you like me did not find Of Women and Salt to be a riveting read I recommend you read The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio which is a work of nonfiction that explores the realities of undocumented individuals. ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Mar 30, 2021
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Mar 31, 2021
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Aug 15, 2020
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Hardcover
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| 0670024902
| 9780670024902
| 3.28
| 3,644
| Jul 03, 2013
| Jul 03, 2013
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liked it
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2 ½ stars (rounded up) “Love bestows such a dangerous sense of entitlement.” Sometimes books really deserve their average rating...and this is one of 2 ½ stars (rounded up) “Love bestows such a dangerous sense of entitlement.” Sometimes books really deserve their average rating...and this is one of those cases. As I am writing this the majority of readers have given My Education three stars, and more reviewers have given it 2 stars than 5. I know that at the end of the day ‘ratings’ are insubstantial, not reliable gauges, yadda yadda but readers who are considering picking up My Education should bear its score in mind….it’s low for a reason. I for one can't say whether I disliked it or not. There were many elements I did not appreciate but I could also see what the novel was trying to do. For the most part, it was a rather funny novel and there were many passages and scenes that were almost endearingly offbeat. Susan Cho’s satire—of academia, of ‘affairs’ between a younger & naive person and an older married one, and of all sorts of people—did occasionally hit the mark, and the narrator’s caustic commentary did amused me. But, and it’s a big but, Cho’s hyperbolic and bombastic language made for a dense and ultimately not very rewarding reading experience. She has a Joycean approach to syntax, with baffling backwards-sounding sentences that go on forever and are punctuated by highfalutin words that more often than not do not fit the context they are in. Also, I couldn’t help but to unfavourably compare this novel with two others I’ve read in 2020, Pizza Girl and Luster, both of which explore dynamics similar to the ones My Education . Whereas I found those books to be highly absorbing and I enjoyed their ‘effervescent’ prose, My Education is bogged down by its author’s circumlocutory and turgid style. At times it seemed that I had to find my way through a discombobulating and never-ending warren of florid sentences, with little success. I was perplexed by Cho’s writing, especially since it did 'sound' like the authentic ‘voice’ of her main character. Would Regina really make such ostentatious metaphors and penetrating if convoluted observations and assessments? At times her comments seemed to originate from a perspective outside of her own one. But I’m getting ahead of myself. While this is by no means a plot-driven narrative, it does have a storyline, however feeble, and it unfolds as follows: Regina, the type of protagonist who should have and could have remained unnamed, is a directionless graduate student who upon hearing about Professor Nicholas Brodeur’s ill repute decides to join his class and attract his attention. For reasons that are never truly disclosed to the readers Regina is attracted to Nicholas because of the allegations against him... her excitement at his sexual misconduct was certainly bewildering. Was she aroused by the idea of his illicit behaviour? Who knows! Her true feelings and motivations are lost in her pleonastic inner-monologue. Which, as I’ve mentioned above, just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of her persona. She’s naïve, childish, inward-looking (yet, her act of introspections added little to her characterisation), impulsive, and socially myopic. The author tries to emphasise her ‘youth’, and in the process she made her seem closer to a teenager than a twenty-one-year-old (time and again we are reminded of her ignorance, and lack of interest or understanding, of what being a mother entails...is she 12?). Anyway, Regina, for obscurely perverse reasons, ‘pursues’ Nicholas, who isn’t as alluring a man as she’d hoped. Cho, in fact, subverts the trope of the young ingénue student who begins an affair with an older charismatic professor as Regina’s liaison is not with Nicholas but his wife. She falls in love within a few pages, lusts after this wife, Martha, for reasons that aren’t that clear (which is the norm in this book). More perplexing still is that Martha reciprocates, to a certain degree at least, Regina’s infatuation. The sex between these two women is awfully over the top, and I don’t I’ve ever come across such bad sex scenes (this book was nominated, and should have won, for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award). Regina lusting for Martha makes for 40% of this novel. They either have petty squabbles or convoluted sex (“I would have liked a single rope to bind us together, with tightly stacked coils, so that we formed a sort of Siamese mummy”) . Readers will probably not root for them as they are unlikable or unsympathetic as each other. The male characters, however flawed and problematic, at least had discernible personalities and could even be quite amusing. The narrative then takes us away from the 1990s and into the late 2000s where we witness how Regina’s life has come to look similar to Martha’s own one. I didn’t particularly like the message here: the three main women in this novel are all at one point or another mothers and wives. While the male characters had character arcs, Regina and Martha...I could not for the life of me understand what compelled them to act they way they did. Given that this novel popped up in ‘best campus/academia’ novels I was hoping that Regina’s studies would play more of a role in her story, but they don’t. Even when we see her as a ‘proper’ grown-up, her work and interests remain off page. While I liked the idea of this novel, the execution was not my cup of tea. Cho’s lampooning style could be amusing, but then we would get things like: “It was deep winter now, the season when suicides rained down like apples from the limbs of the gorge-spanning bridges” or “something in her bearing, an extremely compressed capability, suggested to me that she might be a butcher, or a construction foreperson, as well as a lesbian”. I just don’t know what to make of this book. It had the right ingredients for a funny yet cutting read but Cho’s overplays her already intentionally exaggerated style. Then we have two boring and undefined main characters, many failed attempts at subversiveness, and a repetitive and ultimately skin-deep story...and you kind of lost me. What pissed me off the most was a scene towards the end where Cho makes a character who was sexually abused have a cameo appearance where she discloses this to Regina for no real reason other than for some shock-value content. The tone in this scene was so off, it was almost gleeful...which, yikes. That’s fucked up. When Regina tells us “Reader, I grew up”, I wanted to call out bullshit because Regina, darling, you did no such fucking thing. The ending really wants to paint her as being more mature and sensible, but it doesn’t work as we only glimpse these traits in the very last few pages. Why was Martha interested in Regina anyway? Why would anyone be in love with someone like Martha ? Search me! Last, but not least, because of Cho’s extravagant and syntax-averse writing this 300-page novel read like a 600-page tome. Still, I did manage to finish it, and it was probably thanks to Nicholas, Dutra, and Laurence who kept me interested in the story. Also, to be fair, Cho’s commentary and her observations could be spot on...then again, more often than not, a good point would be lost in a sea of gaudy and seemingly never-ending asides. Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Sep 28, 2020
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Oct 2020
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Aug 09, 2020
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Hardcover
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| 024144151X
| 9780241441510
| 3.43
| 7,395
| Aug 25, 2019
| Jul 30, 2020
|
did not like it
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Burnt Sugar is one of the worst books I've read in 2020. If you were able to appreciate this novel, I'm glad. This may be one of those 'it's me, not y
Burnt Sugar is one of the worst books I've read in 2020. If you were able to appreciate this novel, I'm glad. This may be one of those 'it's me, not you' cases...or maybe I've read too many stories exploring a complex mother/daughter relationship. To be perfectly frank, I bloody hated this book. It was painfully intent on nauseating the reader. We get it, the human body is base (Julia Kristeva has been there and done that). Burnt Sugar is ripe with garish descriptions of the abject human body: we have bodily fluids and waste, failing bodies, changing bodies (pregnancies, puberty), body parts compared to food or objects (breasts like dough, buttocks like empty sacks). The narrator of this novel, someone who was so remarkable I can no longer recall her name, is the classic disaffected woman who is alienated from everyone and everything. A few days before listening to Burnt Sugar I read Luster, a novel that features a similar type of character except that there the author manages to make her protagonist into a nuanced human being, one who isn't nice or extremely likeable but is nevertheless realistic and capable of moving the read. But here, dio mio! The narrator comes across as petulant and myopic, understanding nothing about anything and no one. Readers are clearly not meant to like her but there are various scenes that try to elicit some sort of sympathy (the nuns mistreat her, her mother is mercurial, her 'silly' Indian-American husband is blind to her anguish) on her behalf. Except that I didn't. The MC goes and on about her mother, but we never gain insight into her actual feelings towards her. The MC is happy detailing all the wrongs she has endured, and seems to insinuate that she has become such a stronza because of her mother. The whole thing is incredibly superficial. Here we have another mother who is 'hysterical' just because 'hysterical' mothers can make for some dramatic scenes. Indian-Americans are portrayed as foolish and brainwashed. Everybody is nasty and disgusting. Ha-ha! Oh wait, that isn't quite 'caustic wit'. There were a few—and when I say a few, I mean two or three—phrases that under certain circumstances (if you are as high as a kite) may come across as slightly amusing, but for the most part the MC's cutting humour fell flat. Viewing everything as grotesque is hardly funny, and it gets tiring, fast. I also found the author's treatment and portrayal of postnatal depression and dementia to be highly insensitive. The mother in question becomes 'monstrous', the type of character that one may expect in Victorian literature. Who cares about realism when you can write explicit and 'subversive' things for the sake of shock value? I think this was an awful novel...and it seems that I'm in the minority. Who cares. If you want to read it or loved it, good for you. I'm glad I was able to return this audiobook and I sincerely doubt I will ever try reading anything by this author. Books with believably fraught mother/daughter relationships featuring alienated, disaffect, or challenging main characters : You Exist Too Much, The Far Field. Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads ...more |
Notes are private!
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none
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1
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Aug 08, 2020
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Aug 10, 2020
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Aug 08, 2020
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Paperback
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 4.26
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it was ok
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Apr 02, 2021
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Mar 24, 2021
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| 3.74
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liked it
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Mar 28, 2021
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Mar 20, 2021
| |||||
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| 3.87
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it was ok
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Mar 25, 2021
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Mar 10, 2021
| |||||
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| 3.71
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liked it
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Mar 10, 2021
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Mar 09, 2021
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| 3.71
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it was ok
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Mar 16, 2021
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Feb 27, 2021
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| 4.04
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liked it
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Feb 28, 2021
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Feb 17, 2021
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| 3.97
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liked it
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Mar 18, 2021
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Feb 02, 2021
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| 4.41
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liked it
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Mar 06, 2021
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Jan 13, 2021
| |||||
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| 3.85
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it was ok
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Jan 14, 2021
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Jan 11, 2021
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| 4.52
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liked it
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Apr 11, 2021
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Jan 08, 2021
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| 4.08
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not set
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Jan 06, 2021
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| 4.08
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not set
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Dec 21, 2020
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| 3.53
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it was ok
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Nov 22, 2020
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Nov 21, 2020
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| 4.05
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not set
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Nov 20, 2020
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| 3.39
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not set
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Nov 14, 2020
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| 4.05
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not set
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Nov 09, 2020
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| 3.24
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not set
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Oct 19, 2020
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| 3.51
|
liked it
|
Oct 21, 2020
|
Oct 07, 2020
| |||||
|
| 4.18
|
it was ok
|
Jan 24, 2021
|
Oct 06, 2020
| |||||
|
| Cho, Zen
*
| 4.08
|
liked it
|
Mar 10, 2021
|
Sep 24, 2020
| ||||
|
| 3.73
|
did not like it
|
Sep 24, 2020
|
Sep 22, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.52
|
not set
|
Sep 22, 2020
| ||||||
|
| 3.50
|
it was ok
|
Dec 23, 2020
|
Sep 17, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.82
|
not set
|
Sep 16, 2020
| ||||||
|
| 4.55
|
liked it
|
Feb 13, 2021
|
Sep 05, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.76
|
liked it
|
Feb 15, 2021
|
Sep 02, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.60
|
it was ok
|
Nov 07, 2020
|
Aug 27, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.79
|
liked it
|
Mar 31, 2021
|
Aug 15, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.28
|
liked it
|
Oct 2020
|
Aug 09, 2020
| |||||
|
| 3.43
|
did not like it
|
Aug 10, 2020
|
Aug 08, 2020
|
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