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Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
“It is in the most surreal situations that a person feels the most present, the closest to reality.” An ingenious and effervescent collection of surreal stories that will definitely appeal to fans of Kevin Wilson, Helen Oyeyemi, and Hiroko Oyamada. Ling Ma has a knack for blending realistic dynamics and issues with absurdist ones, and, […]
4 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, Bliss Montage, books about writers, California, China, chinese american author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, creative writing seminars, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dreamlike quality, existentialism, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, interconnected stories, Ling Ma, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, los angeles, MAGICAL REALISM, motherhood, NEW YORK, office, parenting, playful style, portal fantasy, pregnancy, published in 2022, read in 2022, short stories, surreal, toxic relationships, unnamed country, weird -
All This I Will Give to You by Dolores Redondo
“There’s a type of open grief that’s public, one of tears and mourning; and there’s another, immense and silent, that is a million times more powerful.” Initially, the premise for All This I Will Give to You intrigued me and I was gripped by the story’s tragic momentum. Manuel, a bestselling author, receives a visit […]
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, All This I Will Give to You, books about writers, class, Contemporary, CRIME, Dolores Redondo, drama, female authors, gay, GRIEF, lgbtq+, m/m, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, police, published in 2016, queer, read in 2022, rich people, SMALL TOWN, small town crime, spain, spanish author, SUSPENSE, TRANSLATED FICTION, widows -
Greenland: A Novel by David Santos Donaldson
Greenland is characterized by a mordant, erudite satire that I have come to associate with authors such as Zadie Smith, Deborah Levy, and Edward St. Aubyn. David Santos Donaldson’s insight into academia & creative burnout brought to mind the work of Weike Wang, Elaine Hsieh Chou, David Hoon Kim, and Jo Hamya. Similarly to these […]
1910s, 1st pov, 20th century, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, belonging, Black & Black heritage authors, bombastic style, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, David Santos Donaldson, egypt, existentialism, experimental, feverish, gay, greenland, Greenland: A Novel, hallucinations, history, identity, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, male authors, masculinity, men who do not seem to know how to write women, navel gazing, NEW YORK, obsession, paranoia, philosophical, psychological, published in 2022, queer, RACE, read in 2022, satire, sex, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, story within a story, stylised prose, travel, unreliable narrators, weird -
Solo Dance by Kotomi Li
“There’s a limit to how much misogyny and heteronomrative bullshit a story can have.” Solo Dance follows a millennial woman from Taiwan working an office job in Tokyo who feels alienated from her colleagues and their daily conversations about marriage, the economy, and children. Chō, our protagonist, is a lesbian, something she keeps ‘hidden’ from […]
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, break-ups, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, DEPRESSION, existentialism, f/f, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, japan, Kotomi Li, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, Li Kotomi, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, navel gazing, office, published in 2018, queer, rape, read in 2022, reading, sapphic, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, she is not feeling good at all, social issues, Solo Dance, subject over characters/story, suicide, taiwan, taiwanese author, the female malaise, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, work culture, youth -
Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri
“Writing in another language reactivates the grief of being between two worlds, of being on the outside. Of feeling alone and excluded.” While I can’t quite satisfyingly articulate or express why I find such comfort in Jhumpa Lahiri’s writing, I can certainly make a stab at it. In many ways, Translating Myself and Others reads […]
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Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America by Laila Lalami
Drawing from her own experiences as a Moroccan immigrant living in the States, in Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America Laila Lalami presents us with an impassioned and thoughtful social commentary. With piercing clarity, she touches upon Islamophobia, xenophobia, racism, and sexism. She reflects on the many flaws and conditions of citizenship, specifically American citizenship, […]
1st pov, 2000s, 2010s, 4 STARS, America, American dream, belonging, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Conditional Citizens, Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, cultural dissonance, ESSAYS, female authors, history, identity, Islam, Laila Lalami, MEMOIR, migration/immigration, Moroccan American author, morocco, Nonfiction, politics, published in 2020, RACE, read in 2022, reading, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues -
If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga
…a big fat nope from me. DISCLAIMER: Like with any other negative review that I write I feel the need to remind ppl that my opinions/thoughts/impressions of a book are entirely subjective (mind-blowing i know) and that if you are interested/curious about said book you should definitely check out more positive reviews. If an Egyptian […]
2 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, addiction, Adult, America, autofiction, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), egypt, Egyptian American author, female authors, identity, If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, language, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, My reviews, no quotations marks, Noor Naga, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, ROMANCE, style over character, stylised prose, subject over characters/story, trauma, unnamed characters, unnamed narrator -
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Cloud-Atlas-esque novels seem to be all the rage in 2022… “This place is precarious, that’s the only word for it. It’s the lightest sketch of civilizations, caught between the forest and the sea. He doesn’t belong here” This is my third novel by Mandel and once again I have rather conflicting thoughts and feelings about […]
1910s, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, America, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beautiful prose, belonging, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, canada, canadian author, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dystopia, Emily St. John Mandel, f/f side, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, interconnected stories, interesting structure, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, moon, morality, musicians, My reviews, pandemic, philosophical, published in 2022, queer side characters, read in 2022, reading, restrained prose, SCI-FI, Sea Of Tranquility, siblings, SPECULATIVE FICTION, time travel -
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
The first two chapters of The Swimmers, ‘The Underground Pool’ and ‘The Crack’ are highly reminiscent of the author’s acclaimed The Buddha in the Attic. Like that novel The Swimmers at first seems to implement a playful choral ‘we’ as our perspective. The ‘we’ in question are the people who regularly swim at a local […]
3 STARS, Adult, ageing, Alzheimer, America, asian american, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, gay side characters, greek chorus, GRIEF, HUMOR, interconnected stories, japanese american author, lgbtq+ side, MEMORY, mothers & daughters, My reviews, place as character, playful style, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, satire, self-inserts, sports, subject over characters/story, The Swimmers -
The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
this is my fault. i should know by now that titles claiming to have dark academia or sapphic vibes should be approached with extreme caution. DISCLAIMER: I did not like this book and my review reflects of that. I will be brutally honest about my thoughts on this novel so if you want to read […]
1 STAR, 3rd pov, academia, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, cheesy, Christianity, cliques, Contemporary, dark academia, drama, eating disorders, f/f side, female authors, horrible friends, lesbian side characters, Longing, maine, MELODRAMA, music, My reviews, MYSTERY, obsession, philosophical, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, reading, Religion, sex, SEXUALITY, SUSPENSE, Tara Isabella Burton, teen angst, The World Cannot Give, toxic relationships, unrequited love, weak prose, weak worldbuilding
luce [is reading] 