Mutmainah > Recent Status Updates

why do I always feel slightly tricked when I have to read from a male pov

I cannot for the life of me retain any information when Julia Whelan narrates, her voice is the equivalent of static to my brain

The reference to firing as “disappearing” ofc reminded me of Say Nothing and the IRA. I’m sure each faction would deny the parallels but they’re there.

I feel some kind of way about the proliferation of the ‘therapy plot.’ But again, if this was a different book and a different character, I think I’d be less forgiving. Also, can’t think of an example of the therapy plot with a male character. That’s probably partly reflective of my reading tastes but I’m sure it’s gendered.

Usually characters this naive aren’t this endearing. The whole thing is sweet and wistful. Poor girl needs a hug.

the discourse feels very "nothing new under the sun"

Obsessed with this narration style, the Ann Patchett style jumping around and the royal we/ plural pov à la Brit Bennet’s The Mothers

What a slog

the requisite 9/11 comparison ofc

The name dropping as world building just flies over my head because I do not know who these white men are

The Willa Cather epigraph felt like an auspicious beginning (but I’ve said that before)

I’m working through my thoughts…

This is very compulsively readable

"Her husband's house was the destination everyone had been referring to since she was old enough to understand what they meant. If all she had noted that week alone was any indication, the husband's house was the destination of all good girls when they became women, just as heaven was the destination of all good people when they died." ooof

I don’t think I’ve ever read anyone who describes the mundanity of grief and regret in the way Gaskell does. These little vignettes of how people get through the days in the midst of loss are so emotionally affecting

Cynthia is so Mirrorball coded - “If Molly had not been so entirely loyal to her friend, she might have thought this constant brilliancy a little tiresome when brought into every-day life; it was not the sunshiny rest of a placid lake, it was rather the glitter of the pieces of a broken mirror, which confuses and bewilders.”

it's wild how easily Gaskell balances characterizations that make you simultaneously want to throttle and protect a character. Also! I'd forgotten how funny her prose can be

was not expecting this level of magical realism

There’s an almost play-like quality to the way Tayari Jones writes. Her stories feel contained and expansive simultaneously. Also, the James/ Gwen/ Raleigh (sp.) dynamic feels like a spiritual predecessor to the relationships in An American Marriage somehow.

Tayari Jones, I love you! And what a killer first line.