![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez
“You have something of mine, I passed on something of me to you, and hopefully it isn’t cursed, I don’t know if I can leave you something that isn’t dirty, that isn’t dark, our share of night” Although I have previously quoted Lady Gaga’s iconic “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same,…
1980s, 1990s, 4 STARS, abuse, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, argentina, argentinian author, atmospheric, big books, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boyhood, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, coming of age, creepy setting, cults, dark, DEATH, england, FANTASY, fathers & sons, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, graphic content, GRIEF, grotesque, growing up, GUILT, haunted house, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, illness, latin america, lgbtq+, loneliness, Mariana Enríquez, missing girls, missing persons, morality, occult, orphans, otherness, Our Share of Night, parallel universes, PARANORMAL, POWERS, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, road trip, sexual assault/abuse/rape, strong sense of place, summer reads, SUPERNATURAL, toxic relationships, tragedy, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, unrequited love, violence -
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
“Fear and hatred, fear and hatred: often, it seemed that those were the only two qualities he possessed. Fear of everyone else; hatred of himself.” A Little Life is a heart-wrenching tour de force. Dark, all-consuming, devastating, moving, stunning, brutal, dazzling, beautiful, disturbing, A Little Life is all of these and so much more. This…
5 STARS, A Little Life, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, actors, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, chronic pain, cliques, Contemporary, dark, DEPRESSION, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), disabilities, distressing reads, female authors, film industry, forgiveness, found family, friendships, gay, graphic content, GRIEF, GUILT, Hanya Yanagihara, identity, Italy, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, m/m, male friendships, masculinity, monasteries, morocco, NEW YORK, Pedophelia, psychological, published in 2015, queer, rape, read in 2021, self-harming, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, suicide, tragedy, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, violence -
Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage
“Desire places people in dangerous positions. This was a fact I’d yet to learn and something Richard knew all too well.” Dio mio, this book was so stressful.Equal parts gripping and horrifyingYes, Daddy is one hell of a debut novel. This is not the kind of book one enjoys reading. In fact, most of the…
2000s, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, age gap, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, class, Contemporary, courtroom drama, dark, film industry, forgiveness, gay, graphic content, GUILT, Jonathan Parks-Ramage, journalism, kidnapping, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, male authors, netgalley, NEW YORK, Pedophelia, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2021, queer, rape, read in 2021, Religion, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, theatre, THRILLER, trauma, violence, Yes Daddy -
The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun
Last year I read Hye-Young Pyun’s The Law of Lines and in spite of a few reservations, I did find it to be an absorbing read. Yes, it was bleak, dark, and even grotesque at times but her tone never struck me as cruel or gratuitous. Given that The Hole won ‘Shirley Jackson Award for…
1 STAR, 3rd pov, abuse, Adult, affairs, all of the trigger warnings, books i hate, Contemporary, DEATH, disabilities, female authors, graphic content, grotesque, HORROR, Hye-Young Pyun, Korea, Korean, korean author, problematic, published in 2016, read in 2021, Shirley Jackson Award for Novel, SUSPENSE, The Hole, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Consent: A Memoir by Vanessa Springora
Written in spare yet unflinching prose Consent, as the title would suggest, is a memoir that examines its author’s relationship’ to a renowned French author, Gabriel Matzneff. At the time Springora was 14 and Matzneff was 50. Springora looks back to that time in her life, evoking the feelings and emotions her teenage self was…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, all of the trigger warnings, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, bad love, books about writers, child abuse, Consent, Consent: A Memoir, female authors, feminism, FRANCE, FRENCH, French author, graphic content, MEMOIR, Nonfiction, Pedophelia, published in 2020, rape, read in 2021, sexual assault/abuse/rape, TRANSLATED FICTION, Vanessa Springora -
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
re-re-read: what can i say, whatever this book has going on, i here for it. re-read: it hasn’t even been a year and I have already re-read this. This book slaps. Ninth House can be best described as: “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done…
3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, academia, addiction, adrenaline fuelled reads, Adult, alex stern, Alex Stern #1, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, California, campus, Contemporary, dark, dark academia, dark fantasy, DEATH, FANTASY, female authors, ghosts/spirits, graphic content, it’s about the *aesthetics*, Leigh Bardugo, MAGIC, mental health, MURDER, MYSTERY, NEW ADULT, New Haven, Ninth House, occult, PARANORMAL, Pedophelia, place as character, published in 2019, rape, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, read in 2022, rich people, secret societies, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, strong sense of place, SUPERNATURAL, terrific prose, THRILLER, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, URBAN FANTASY, violence, violence against women, Yale -
Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
(heads up: this review contains mentions of eating disorders and body dysmorphia as well as explicit language) 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…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, body dysmorphia, California, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, dark humor, eating disorders, f/f, female authors, film industry, graphic content, illness, incest-y, introspective, Jewish, lgbtq+, los angeles, Melissa Broder, mental health, Milk Fed, mumblecore, navel gazing, netgalley, published in 2021, queer, read in 2020, Religion, sapphic, sex, toxic relationships, trigger warning, work culture -
Not My Time to Die by Yolande Mukagasana
In this powerful and gut-wrenching testimony, which has only been recently translated in English, Yolande Mukagasana writes of the Rwandan genocide. In a striking and incisive prose Mukagasana recounts the horrific three months in which Hutus massacred hundred of thousands of Tutsis. Mukagasana, a Tutsi, worked was a nurse/doctor in Kigali. She was married with…
1990s, 1st pov, 4 STARS, all of the trigger warnings, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, DEATH, distressing reads, female authors, genocide, GRIEF, HISTORICAL FICTION, history, MEMOIR, MEMORY, Nonfiction, Not My Time to Die, published in 1997, RACE, read in 2020, rwanda, rwandan, rwandan author, Rwandan genocide, survival, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, violence, violence against women, war, Yolande Mukagasana -
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye is an unflinching and deeply harrowing examination of race, colorism, gender, and trauma. Throughout the course of her narrative Toni Morrison captures with painful lucidity the damage inflicted on a black child by a society that equates whiteness with beauty and goodness, and blackness with ugliness and evil.In her introduction to her…
1940s, 20th century, 4 STARS, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, CLASSICS, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, female doubles, HISTORICAL FICTION, illness, incest, LITERARY FICTION, MARRIAGE, mental health, modern classics, ohio, Pedophelia, Poverty, psychological, published in 1970, RACE, read in 2020, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, terrific prose, The Bluest Eye, TONI MORRISON, tragedy, trauma -
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell — book review
“I think we’re very similar, Nessa,” he whispers. “From the way you write, I can tell you’re a dark romantic like me. You like dark things.” Recently I read a nonfiction book which claimed that when reading a book “However you get it, you’ve got it right”. When I read those words I found them…
3 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books about books, dark, distressing reads, female authors, hyped releases, Kate Elizabeth Russell, LOLITA, maine, MEMORY, mental health, My Dark Vanessa, netgalley, Pedophelia, published in 2020, rape, READ IN 2019, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, subject over characters/story, trauma, VLADIMIR NABOKOV
luce [is reading] 