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Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
Mira Jacob’s Good Talk is a small gem of a memoir. Jacob combines different media to discuss a number of issues and topics. Jacob transports to the page the difficult conversations she’s had with her son about race, while also recounting her own experiences growing up as a first-generation Indian-American. Much of Good Talk takes…
2000s, 2010s, 4 STARS, Adult, America, American, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, colorism, Contemporary, dialogue heavy, family, female authors, Good Talk, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, Graphic Novels, India, indian american author, MEMOIR, migration/immigration, Mira Jacob, mothers & sons, My reviews, Nonfiction, politics, published in 2019, RACE, read in 2021, reading, Sequential Art, social issues -
Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
“I saw my mother raise a man from the dead. It still didn’t help him much, my love, she told me. But I saw her do it all the same. That’s how I knew she was magic.” I was hooked by Libertie’s opening paragraph. Set during and after the American Civil War Kaitlyn…
1860s, 1870s, 19TH CENTURY, 1st pov, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, CHILDHOOD, colonialism, colorism, coming of age, cultural dissonance, doctors, drama, f/f side, female authors, feminism, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, HAITI, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, Kaitlyn Greenidge, lgbtq+ side, Libertie, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MARRIAGE, mothers & daughters, music, published in 2021, queer side characters, RACE, read in 2021, slavery, social issues, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
Symptomatic by Danzy Senna
“Every day in this new city I was trying to live in the purity of the present, free from context. Contexts, I knew, were dangerous: Once you put them into the picture, they took over.” As with her latest novel New People, Symptomatic presents its readers with a claustrophobic and disquieting narrative that becomes increasingly…
1990s, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, cold tone, colorism, Contemporary, Danzy Senna, dark, domestic thriller, doubles, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, female doubles, feverish, grotesque, hallucinations, illness, introspective, jealousy, journalism, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, madness, mental health, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, obsession, office, passing, psychological, published in 2004, RACE, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, stalking, surreal, Symptomatic, terrific prose, the body, the female malaise, toxic relationships, unnamed narrator, work culture -
Passing by Nella Larsen — book review
“It’s funny about ‘passing.’ We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect it.” At once alluring and disquieting Nella Larsen’s Passing presents its readers with a piercing examination of the…
1920s, 20th century, 4 STARS, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, Chicago, CLASSICS, cold tone, colorism, female authors, female friendships, feverish, friendships, Harlem, harlem renaissance, HISTORICAL FICTION, Illinois, jealousy, lgbtq+, Longing, MARRIAGE, modern classics, Nella Larsen, NEW YORK, obsession, passing, psychological, published in 1929, queer undercurrents, RACE, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, read in 2022, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, toxic relationships, tragedy -
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett — book review
“At first, passing seemed so simple, she couldn’t understand why her parents hadn’t done it. But she was young then. She hadn’t realized how long it takes to become somebody else, or how lonely it can be living in a world not meant for you.” Brit Bennett’s second novel is a tour de force. The…
1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, ALIENATION, AMERICAN AUTHOR, beautiful prose, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Brit Bennett, California, class, colorism, family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, los angeles, Louisiana, MARRIAGE, motherhood, mothers & daughters, New Orleans, NEW YORK, passing, published in 2020, RACE, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, read in 2022, rural setting, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SISTERS, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, Southern America, The Vanishing Half, trans side characters, trauma, twins, Washington DC -
Little Family by Ishmael Beah – book review
“Almost everything in this country is on its way to losing itself.” Little Family is a deeply felt novel. Set in an unnamed African country, the narrative revolves around five young people whose makeshift home is a derelict airplane. Ishmael Beah’s paints a sobering landscape: government corruption, extreme social divide, the malignant vestiges of colonialism,…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, class, colorism, coming of age, found family, friendships, growing up, Ishmael Beah, LITERARY FICTION, Little Family, politics, published in 2020, read in 2020, Religion, SEXUALITY, Sierra Leonean author, social issues, survival, unnamed country
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