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Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
βMom had no money, and I knew better than to look. What money she ever came into she blew. Moneyβit was everywhere but nowhere.β Over the last few years, I have developed a certain fondness for collections of interlinked short stories, especially when they focus on the same character or various members of the same…
1st pov, addiction, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, boyhood, collection of short stories, coming of age, Contemporary, curses, DEATH, family, GRIEF, gritty realism, growing up, HORROR, illness, indigenous, indigenous author, interconnected stories, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, maine, male authors, Morgan Talty, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, Penobscot author, Poverty, published in 2022, read in 2022, reservations, short stories, siblings, snapshots, social issues, toxic relationships, trauma -
Our Share of Night by Mariana EnrΓquez
βYou have something of mine, I passed on something of me to you, and hopefully it isnβt cursed, I donβt know if I can leave you something that isnβt dirty, that isnβt dark, our share of nightβ Although I have previously quoted Lady Gagaβs 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 EnrΓquez, 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 -
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
βTo understand the world at all, sometimes you could only focus on a tiny bit of it, look very hard at what was close to hand and make it stand in for the whole.β The Goldfinch is an emotional rollercoaster spanning 700+ pages and proof that literary lightning can indeed strike twice. Fully deserving of…
1st pov, 2010s, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, anxiety-inducing reads, ART/CREATIVITY, beautiful prose, big books, bildungsroman, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, boyhood, CHILDHOOD, class, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, DEPRESSION, donna tartt, existentialism, fathers & sons, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, GUILT, introspective, las vegas, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, MEMORY, morality, mothers & sons, museums, My reviews, Netherlands, nevada, NEW YORK, orphans, paranoia, philosophical, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2013, Pulitzer Prize, pulitzer prize winners, queer undercurrents, re-reads, read in 2017, read in 2021, reading, rich people, strong sense of place, suicide, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the goldfinch, trauma, unrequited love -
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
βSometimes you are erased before you are given the choice of stating who you are.β Ocean Vuongβs strikingly lyrical debut novel is a work of transient beauty. Within On Earth Weβre Briefly Gorgeous there are many arresting passages that are, quite frankly, beautiful. At times this beauty derives from Vuongβs subject matter, at times it…
1st pov, 2000s, 3.25 stars, abuse, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, autofiction, beauty, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, boyhood, coming of age, Connecticut, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, existentialism, family, first love, gay, growing up, intergenerational, language, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, lyrical prose, m/m, male authors, migration/immigration, mothers & sons, My reviews, Ocean Vuong, On Earth Weβre Briefly Gorgeous, POETRY, published in 2019, queer, read in 2021, reading, sex, style over character, trauma, Vietnam, Vietnamese American Author -
All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running by Elias Rodriques
Written in an exceedingly lyrical prose All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running is a subtle and ultimately moving debut novel about friendship, grief, and reconciliation. While All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running will not necessarily appeal to those who are looking for a story-driven read, if you are looking for a quiet yet…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, All the Water I've Seen Is Running, America, American, arc, atmospheric, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, boyhood, class, coming of age, Contemporary, Elias Rodriques, FLORIDA, friendships, gay, GRIEF, HIGH SCHOOL, introspective, jamaican american author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, lyrical prose, male authors, MEMORY, My reviews, netgalley, NEW YORK, place as character, queer, RACE, reading, Southern America, strong sense of place -
Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami
Unlike Breasts and Eggs and Heaven, Ms Ice Sandwich makes for a perfectly breezy read. This short story is narrated by an unnamed boy who is in 4th grade. His mother seems always too busy to pay attention to him and his elderly grandmother is dying. Unlike the protagonist of Heaven, the narrator in Ms…
1st pov, boyhood, Contemporary, elementary school, female authors, first love, friendships, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, light reads, LITERARY FICTION, Mieko Kawakami, Ms Ice Sandwich, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, PUBLISHED IN 2017, read in 2021, SLICE OF LIFE, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed narrator, unrequited love, uplifting reads, YOUNG ADULT -
Later by Stephen King
Did I finish this in a day? I sure did. Stephen King simply excels at writing ‘kids with powers’. This is the 14th novel I’ve read by him and it deepened my already deep appreciation of him. The prose, characters, themes, and atmosphere in Later are pure King. Yet, while he has written more than…
1st pov, 2000s, 2010s, 4 STARS, abuse, addiction, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, books about books, books about writers, boyhood, CHILDHOOD, CRIME, DEATH, f/f side, favourite authors, ghosts/spirits, great storytelling, growing up, HORROR, illness, KIDS WITH POWERS, Later, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+ side, male authors, mothers & sons, NEW YORK, PARANORMAL, POWERS, published in 2021, read in 2021, STEPHEN KING, SUPERNATURAL, THRILLER, violence -
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
A few weeks ago I read Mieko Kawakami’s acclaimed Breasts and Eggs and suffice to say that I was not a fan. While Heaven was clearly written by the same author of Breasts and Eggs (both novels implement similar imagery and even use the same metaphor comparing the legs of a young girl to poles)…
1st pov, 2000s, 3.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, ANGST, boyhood, bullying, coming of age, Contemporary, existentialism, female authors, friendships, Heaven, HIGH SCHOOL, introspective, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Mieko Kawakami, navel gazing, netgalley, philosophical, published in 2009, read in 2021, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, TRANSLATED FICTION, violence -
Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan
βWhat we had that day was our story. We didn’t have the other bit, the future, and we had no way of knowing what that would be like. Perhaps it would change our memory of al of this, or perhaps it would draw from it, nobody knew. But I’m sure I felt the story of…
1980s, 1st pov, 4 STARS, Adult, ageing, Andrew O'Hagan, boyhood, Contemporary, england, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, male friendships, Manchester, Mayflies, MEMORY, music, netgalley, published in 2020, read in 2020, scotland, scottish author -
Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson β review
Brave Face was not an easy read given that it delves into some of the darkest moments of Shaun David Hutchinson’s life. The memoir focuses in particular over his teenage years where he struggled with reconciling himself with sexuality and with his own personality (who he is, how others perceive him, what others expect him…
3.5 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, anxiety, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, boyhood, Brave Face, Brave Face A Memoir, DEPRESSION, gay, growing up, HIGH SCHOOL, illness, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, m/m, MEMOIR, mental health, Nonfiction, published in 2019, READ IN 2019, REVIEW, self-harming, SEXUALITY, suicide
luce [is reading] 