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The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
Originally published in 1946 The Honjin Murders is a locked-room murder mystery. Throughout the course of the novel, the author pays homage to Golden Age detective novels, by alluding directly to authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie and their works and by being quite self-aware when it comes to the conventions that…
1930S, 2 STARS, Adult, aristocracy, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CRIME, DETECTIVE, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, golden age detective fiction, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, locked-room mystery, male authors, manor/big house, My reviews, MYSTERY, published in 1946, read in 2021, reading, TRANSLATED FICTION, wedding drama, whodunnit -
Sula by Toni Morrison
They were solitary little girls whose loneliness was so profound it intoxicated them and sent them stumbling into Technicolored visions that always included a presence, a someone, who, quite like the dreamer, shared the delight of the dream. Toni Morrison’s Sula revolves around the eponymous and fraught character of Sula Peace. Within the novel, Morrison…
1910s, 1920s, 1930S, 1940s, 1960s, 20th century, 4 STARS, addiction, affairs, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, CLASSICS, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), distressing reads, family, female authors, female doubles, female friendships, feminism, forgiveness, friendships, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, LITERARY FICTION, madness, modern classics, motherhood, mothers & daughters, My reviews, ohio, published in 1973, RACE, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2021, reading, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, suicide, Sula, terrific prose, TONI MORRISON, tragedy, trauma -
The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
For a book published in the 90s The Kitchen God’s Wife comes across as strangely outdated. And I guess in spite of Tan’s writing—which is far from mediocre or incompetent—I could not look past the fact that her story was the antithesis of female solidarity. At first I was taken by Tan’s storytelling. The first…
1930S, 1940s, 1990s, 1st pov, 2 STARS, 20th century, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, Amy Tan, China, chinese american author, class, drama, HISTORICAL FICTION, horrible friends, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, MEMORY, mothers & daughters, published in 1991, read in 2020, sexual assault/abuse/rape, Sino-Japanese War, story within a story, The Kitchen God's Wife, war -
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
“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…
1920s, 1930S, 1st pov, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, British author, CHILDHOOD, China, england, existentialism, friendships, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, introspective, Kazuo Ishiguro, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, male authors, male friendships, MEMORY, missing persons, MYSTERY, orphans, psychological, published in 2000, read in 2020, Shanghai, Sino-Japanese War, war, when we were orphans -
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie — book review
Death on the Nile is one of Agatha Christie’s most ingenious mysteries. While Christie has definitely penned more ‘twisty’ whoddunits, the shifting dynamics between the book’s various players make for a suspenseful story. With the exception of our wonderfully punctilious Poirot, Death on the Nile is almost entirely populated by unlikable characters (who are either…
1930S, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, AGATHA CHRISTIE, BOOK REVIEW, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, CRIME, Death on the Nile, DETECTIVE, egypt, england, favourite authors, female authors, golden age detective fiction, hercule poirot, HISTORICAL FICTION, light reads, MURDER, murder investigation, murder mystery, MYSTERY, published in 1937, QUEEN OF CRIME, re-reads, read in 2020, REVIEW, rich people, whodunnit -
The Charioteer by Mary Renault — book review
“He was filled with a vast sense of the momentous, of unknown mysteries. He did not know what he should demand of himself, nor did it seem to matter, for he had not chosen this music he moved to, it had chosen him.” This is the fifth time I’ve read The Charioteer and once again I’ve been…
1930S, 1940s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, coming of age, england, existentialism, family, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, gay, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, identity, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, love triangle, m/m, male friendships, Mary Renault, masculinity, modern classics, morality, mothers & sons, My reviews, philosophical, psychological, published in 1953, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, The Charioteer, unrequited love, WWII -
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende — book review
Isabel Allende is one of my all time favourite writers. When I was in middle-grade I fell in love with her Eagle and Jaguar series and in the years since I’ve enjoyed other novels by her. Having loved her memoir of Chile, My Invented Country, I was looking forward to A Long Petal of the…
1930S, 1940s, 3 STARS, A Long Petal of the Sea, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, chile, Chilean American author, drama, family, favourite authors, female authors, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, ISABEL ALLENDE, latin america, latin american, latinx author, LITERARY FICTION, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, migration/immigration, netgalley, Pablo Neruda, published in 2020, read in 2020, ROMANCE, south america, spain, spanish civil war, TRANSLATED FICTION, WWII -
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
Invitation to the Waltz is a short novel which was first published in 1932 and written by Rosamond Lehmann, an overlooked yet clearly talented author. The narrative takes place over the course of two days: the day of Olivia Curtis’ seventeenth birthday and the day in which, together with her older sister Kate and a…
1930S, 20th century, 3.25 stars, balls, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, class, CLASSICS, coming of age, dancing, drama, england, female authors, girlhood, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, introspective, Invitation to the Waltz, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, modern classics, published in 1932, read in 2020, Rosamond Lehmann, satire, SEXUALITY, SISTERS -
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton — book review
Whodunnits, Agatha Christie, mysteries, and puzzles are all favourites of mine…so I was pretty excited to read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle as it promised to combine all of these things together. “I suddenly have the sense of taking part in a play in which everybody knows their lines but me.” With a fascinating…
1930S, 1st pov, 2.5 STARS, 20th century, action, AGATHA CHRISTIE, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Books that take place in a single day, British author, confusing for the sake of being confusing, CRIME, DETECTIVE, england, Groundhog Day, HISTORICAL FICTION, lgbtq+ side, manor/big house, morality, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, published in 2018, read in 2020, SPECULATIVE FICTION, Stuart Turton, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, whodunnit, why the hype -
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier — book review
Rebecca is a work of Gothic suspense that is told in a mesmerising prose and makes for an enthralling and evocative read. “Colour and scent and sound, rain and the lapping of water, even the mists of autumn and the smell of the flood tide, these are memories of Manderley that will not be denied.”…
1930S, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, age gap, beautiful prose, bluebeard, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, domestic thriller, england, female authors, first love, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, House As Character, introspective, jane eyre, madness, manor/big house, MARRIAGE, Monte Carlo, MURDER, MYSTERY, psychological, published in 1938, READ IN 2019, Rebecca, ROMANCE, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, unnamed narrator
luce [is reading] 