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Tell Me I’m an Artist by Chelsea Martin
Restrained yet acutely realistic, Tell Me I’m An Artist presents its readers with the unfinished portrait of an artist as a young woman. Throughout the course of this novel, we read of the trials and tribulations of an art school student Joey, who attempts to reconcile herself with a new existence in San Francisco. She…
1st pov, 3.5 STARS, academia, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, atmospheric, California, campus, Chelsea Martin, class, coming of age, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, ennui, female authors, films, friendships, GUILT, identity, introspective, jealousy, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, mumblecore, navel gazing, no plot just vibes, PRIVILEGE, published in 2022, read in 2022, restrained prose, san francisco, SISTERS, Tell Me I'm an Artist, the female malaise, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
“Horror’s not a symptom, it’s a love affair.” My Heart Is a Chainsaw is a magnificently chaotic ode to slasher, one that demonstrates an unparalleled knowledge of the genre, its logic & tropes. I saw quite a lot of reviews describing this as a slow burner, and sì, in some ways Stephen Graham Jones withholds…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, adrenaline fuelled reads, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, Blackfoot, blackfoot author, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, creepy setting, dark, dark humor, female friendships, films, friendships, gore, graphic content, HIGH SCHOOL, Idaho, incest, indigenous, indigenous author, loneliness, male authors, meta, MURDER, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, MYSTERY, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, obsession, playful style, Poverty, psychological, published in 2021, queer undercurrents, read in 2022, reading, revenge, sexual assault/abuse/rape, she is dangerous, slasher, Stephen Graham Jones, strong sense of place, SUPERNATURAL, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, THRILLER, trauma, violence -
Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little
“Action, cut, action, cut, action, cut, action, cut. These aren’t commands, not for me. They’re more like everyday punctuation. A capital letter. A period. An indication that I should pay attention to what’s going on in the middle.” Pretty as a Picture tells a slow-burn type of suspenseful story, one that I would definitely recommend…
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Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Readers, I am disappointed. Plain Bad Heroines was one of my most anticipated 2020 releases…maybe I should have ‘hyped’ it so much. This is certainly an ambitious novel, one that is a few hundred pages too long. There were elements that I liked, but these were ultimately outweighed by my frustration toward the tone of…
1920s, 2.5 STARS, all girls school, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, big books, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, boarding/private school, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, creepy setting, curses, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Emily M. Danforth, f/f, f/f/f, film industry, films, GOTHIC, haunted house, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, influencers, jealousy, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Mary MacLane, metafiction, modern gothic, MYSTERY, PARANORMAL, Plain Bad Heroines, playful style, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, sapphic, SUSPENSE, teachers, YOUNG ADULT -
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 -
Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade — book review
Ayoade on Top is a hilariously strange book. Richard Ayoade’s critical analysis of ‘View from the Top’ (a 2003 romcom starring Gwyneth Paltrow) is a delight to read. Throughout the course of this short book Ayoade argues that this long-forgotten film is a modern masterpiece. I found Ayoade’s dry wit and his clever observations regarding…
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Scenes of a Graphic Nature by Caroline O’Donoghue — book review
“That’s what it comes down to, I suppose. I was obsessed with what I was, because I had no idea who I was.” Scenes of a Graphic Nature is a thought-provoking and engrossing novel that is far darker than its brightly coloured cover suggests. After reading and being captivated by Caroline O’Donoghue’s debut novel, Promising…
1st pov, 3.5 STARS, abuse, Adult, ALIENATION, arc, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Caroline O’Donoghue, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, creepy setting, cultural dissonance, england, f/f, fathers & daughters, female authors, film industry, films, identity, illness, IRELAND, IRISH AUTHOR, ISLAND, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, loneliness, mental health, MYSTERY, netgalley, queer, read in 2020, sapphic, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, sex, social issues, unrequited love, village -
Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today by Rachel Vorona Cote
TW: mentions of self-harm Not only was Too Much not enough but what little it offers is wholly problematic. This book would have made slightly more sense if it had been published in 2010 instead of 2020. Its analysis of the social norms and literature emerging from the Victorian era are far from insightful or…
1 STAR, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Booklr, books about books, books i hate, female authors, feminism, films, literary criticism, mental health, problematic, published in 2020, Rachel Vorona Cote, read in 2020, self-harming, SEXUALITY, Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today, trigger warning, trying and failing @ feminism -
What Red Was by Rosie Price — review
What Red Was by Rosie Price ★★★★✰ 4 stars What Red Was is a stark and riveting debut novel that vividly depicts the lasting effects of rape on a young woman’s mind, body, and life. This is not for the ‘faint of heart’, and I am not writing this as some sort of snide but…
4 STARS, abuse, academia, addiction, ambiguous protagonist, ART/CREATIVITY, British author, class, cold tone, Contemporary, DEPRESSION, distressing reads, england, family, female authors, films, friendships, LONDON, mental health, PRIVILEGE, published in 2019, rape, READ IN 2019, rich people, Rosie Price, sexual assault/abuse/rape, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, violence against women, What Red Was -
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Review of Night Film by Marisha Pessl ★★★★★ 5 of 5 stars “As much as some people would like to believe, for their own peace of mind, that the appearance of evil in this world had a clean cause, the truth was never that simple.” Sometimes, if we are lucky enough, we ‘bump’ into…
1st pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Contemporary, CRIME, dark, existentialism, female authors, films, LITERARY FICTION, Marisha Pessl, missing girls, morality, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, Night Film, psychological, Psychological thriller, suicide, surreal, SUSPENSE, THRILLER
luce [is reading] 