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The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura
The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a thing that exists.Did it elicit any particular reactions, feelings, emotions—be positive or negative—from me? Besides a big fat ‘meh’, not really. This short novel never truly delivers on its premise. After reading the summary, I was expecting this to be a psychological tale about voyeurism and obsession,…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, doubles, female authors, female doubles, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, jealousy, My reviews, MYSTERY, Natsuko Imamura, obsession, Psychological thriller, published in 2019, read in 2021, reading, slow pacing, stalking, SUSPENSE, The Woman in the Purple Skirt, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed characters, unreliable narrators, work culture -
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
In the last few weeks I’ve read two works by Oyeyemi (Peaces and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours) and what I liked most about them was how funny, inventive, and unapologetically queer they were. So, naturally, I was somewhat surprised and saddened to discover that Boy, Snow, Bird lacks any of those qualities.…
1950s, 1960s, 1st pov, 2 STARS, 20th century, abuse, Adult, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, doubles, evil stepmother, FAIRY TALES, FANTASY, female authors, female doubles, Helen Oyeyemi, HISTORICAL FICTION, jealousy, lgbtq+ side, Massachusetts, mothers & daughters, My reviews, NEW YORK, nigerian british author, problematic, published in 2013, RACE, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, SISTERS, surreal, trans side characters -
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