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The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
“I think a lot of people would elect to be dead if they didnt have to die.” By turns, blunt and meandering The Passenger presents its readers with an unsparing tale permeated by existential angst. Cormac McCarthy’s prose is uncompromising: much of the narrative consists of dialogues: rambling conversations, mystifying backwards and forwards, sharp repartees,…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, ageing, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, atmospheric, bad love, bars & restaurants, Cormac McCarthy, dead girls, DEATH, desire, dialogue heavy, endless monologues, existentialism, experimental, feverish, FLORIDA, GRIEF, grit lit, GUILT, hallucinations, hauntings, history, i don’t think happiness is for me, Ibiza, Idaho, incest, introspective, ISLAND, Kafkaesque, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, Longing, Louisiana, madness, MEMORY, mental health, Mississippi, morality, MYSTERY, nature, New Orleans, no plot just vibes, no quotations marks, obsession, paranoia, philosophical, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, psychology, published in 2022, read in 2022, road trip, schizophrenia, science, scientists & co, sea, siblings, Southern America, spain, suicide, survival, terrific prose, The Passenger, tragedy, trans side characters, war, western -
I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee
“I wonder about others like me, who seem totally fine on the outside but are rotting on the inside, where the rot is this vague state of being not-fine and not-devastated at the same time.” There was something about the title and cover of this book that brought to mind Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, anxiety, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Baek Se-hee, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, DEPRESSION, dialogue heavy, female authors, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, Korea, korean author, loneliness, MEMOIR, mental health, My reviews, Nonfiction, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, published in 2018, read in 2022, reading, self-help, the female malaise, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
In many ways Sex and Vanity was exactly the pulpy light-hearted read I was in dire need of. Kevin Kwan’s engrossing and entertaining storytelling made me speed through his book and I ended up finishing it in less than a day. As retellings go, this manages to be both (fairly) faithful and rather refreshing. What…
1st pov, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, America, American, asian american, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, class, Contemporary, dialogue heavy, drama, E.M. Forster, family, gossip & scandals, holidays, HUMOR, Italy, kevin kwan, LGBTQ+ Author, light reads, Long Island, male authors, MARRIAGE, My reviews, NEW YORK, new york state, PRIVILEGE, published in 2020, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, rich people, ROMANCE, romcom, satire, Sex and Vanity, singaporean american author, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, summer reads, travel, wedding drama -
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 -
Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“I’m thinking I could spend the rest of my life becoming an expert at forgetting.” Heartbreaking, moving, and ultimately uplifting Last Night I Sang to the Monster is my favourite novel by Sáenz. While this novel explores themes and issues that are recurrent in Sáenz’s oeuvre, Last Night I Sang to the Monster is much…
1st pov, 2000s, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, addiction, ALIENATION, America, American, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, coming of age, Contemporary, conversational style, dark, DEPRESSION, dialogue heavy, distressing reads, family, favourite authors, friendships, GRIEF, Last Night I Sang to the Monster, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, male authors, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, My reviews, New Mexico, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, reading, rehab, sexual assault/abuse/rape, trauma, YOUNG ADULT -
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“A part of me wanted to run away from all the complications of being in love with Dante. Maybe Ari plus Dante equated love, but it also equated complicated. It also equated playing hide-and-seek with the world. But there was a difference between the art of running and the art of running away.” This one…
1980s, 1st pov, 3.5 STARS, America, American, arc, aristotle and dante, Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World, Aristotle Mendoza, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, coming of age, dialogue heavy, drama, el paso, fathers & sons, favourite authors, friendships, gay, HIGH SCHOOL, HISTORICAL FICTION, latinx author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, m/m, male authors, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, mothers & sons, My reviews, netgalley, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, ROMANCE, social issues, texas, YOUNG ADULT -
A Lover’s Discourse by Xiaolu Guo
On paper A Lover’s Discourse is the type of book that I generally like: we have an unmanned who recounts her relationship to her unmanned ‘lover’—a man she addresses as ‘you’. Our narrator met ‘you’ after moving from China to Britain in 2016. Recently orphaned and feeling somewhat alienated by her new environment the protagonist…
1st pov, 2 STARS, A Lover's Discourse, Adult, ALIENATION, AUSTRALIA, Brexit, China, chinese author, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, dialogue heavy, england, existentialism, female authors, Germany, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, migration/immigration, navel gazing, published in 2020, read in 2020, ROMANCE, unnamed narrator, Xiaolu Guo -
Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese
“We become eternal by being held in memory’s loving arms.” After I read Richard Wagamese’s Medicine Walk, I was looking forward to reading more of his work. And Ragged Company did not disappoint. Similarly to Medicine Walk, which felt like a long conversation between a dying man and his son, Ragged Company presents its readers…
1980s, 1st pov, 4 STARS, addiction, Adult, canada, canadian author, cinema, dialogue heavy, films, found family, friendships, GRIEF, HISTORICAL FICTION, homelessness, indigenous, indigenous author, male authors, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, Poverty, PUBLISHED IN 2008, Ragged Company, read in 2020, Richard Wagamese, trauma -
Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese — book reviews
“In the Ojibway world you go inward in order to express outward. That journey can be harrowing sometimes but it can also be the source of much joy, freedom, and light.” It is difficult to describe Medicine Walk as a work of fiction as this novel reads like reality. In a gracefully incisive prose Richard…
1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 20th century, 4 STARS, addiction, Adult, canada, canadian author, coming of age, DEATH, dialogue heavy, family, fathers & sons, forgiveness, GRIEF, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, indigenous, indigenous author, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, Medicine Walk, MEMORY, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, nature, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, read in 2020, Richard Wagamese, trauma, war, war related ptsd
luce [is reading] 