![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
Hardboiled & Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
“I felt as if this place I had come to was nowhere. As if I no longer had a home to return to. That road I had been on didn’t lead anywhere, this trip would never end—it seemed to me as if next morning would never arrive.” Banana Yoshimoto is at her whimsical best in…
1990s, 1st pov, 3.5 STARS, Adult, ハードボイルド／ハードラック, Banana Yoshimoto, collection of short stories, Contemporary, DEATH, dreamlike quality, Dreams, existentialism, f/f, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, ghosts/spirits, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, hotel, illness, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MAGICAL REALISM, melancholy, MEMORY, navel gazing, no plot just vibes, published in 1999, queer, read in 2023, right person wrong time, sapphic, short stories, SISTERS, SLICE OF LIFE, suicide, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed narrator, uplifting reads -
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
“They spoke in both languages. We love you, don’t cry. Sorrow eats time. Be patient. Time eats sorrow.” Unsparing yet profoundly touching LaRose chronicles the aftermath of a tragic accident: it’s 1999, when, on a reservation in North Dakota, Landreaux Iron, hunting for a deer near his property, accidentally shoots and kills Dusty, the 5-year-old…
1830s, 1990s, 19TH CENTURY, 2000s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, abuse, addiction, Adult, America, bullying, CHILDHOOD, Christianity, coming of age, Contemporary, DEATH, DEPRESSION, family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, forgiveness, friendships, generational trauma, ghosts/spirits, great storytelling, GRIEF, gritty realism, growing up, GUILT, indigenous, indigenous author, intergenerational, LaRose, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Louise Erdrich, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, mental health, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, nature, no quotations marks, north dakota, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, polyphonic, published in 2016, read in 2022, Religion, reservations, revenge, school setting, sexual assault/abuse/rape, siblings, social issues, strong sense of place, suicide, toxic relationships, tragedy, trauma, unrequited love -
Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli
“Grief is not neat. Pain is not dignified. Both are ugly, visceral things. They rip holes through you and burst forth when they see fit. They are constant, controlling companions, and if they don’t destroy you or your relationship with others, they certainly go a long way to damaging you […] There is nothing eloquent…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, Black & Black heritage authors, black diaspora, Contemporary, DEATH, DEPRESSION, england, evil stepmother, female authors, forgiveness, GRIEF, GUILT, MARRIAGE, MEMORY, mental health, nigerian british author, Onyi Nwabineli, photographers, pregnancy, published in 2022, read in 2022, Someday Maybe, suicide, widows -
The Other Mother by Rachel M. Harper
“Yes, of course. It is always him they want to know about—the father, not the other mother.” The Other Mother is an affecting and nuanced multigenerational tale unearthing long-buried family histories. The author’s interrogation of motherhood challenges the heteronormative archetype of the nuclear family, as she focuses on the experiences, choices, and parenting of single-women…
1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, addiction, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, break-ups, campus, Contemporary, drama, f/f, family, FAMILY SAGA, fathers & daughters, female authors, FLORIDA, forgiveness, gay, grandfathers, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, identity, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, Miami, motherhood, mothers & sons, musicians, My reviews, New England, parenting, Providence, published in 2022, queer, Rachel M. Harper, read in 2022, reading, rhode island, siblings, The Other Mother, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love -
The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings
“This is the story of the witch who refused to burn. Some people said that there was power in her blood, a gift from her ancestors that she could endure.” Megan Giddings’s sophomore novel is highly evocative of those The Handmaid’s Tale inspired dystopias where readers are presented with a near-future where women—sometimes men—live in…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ART/CREATIVITY, atmospheric, beautiful prose, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, dystopia, FANTASY, female authors, female friendships, feminism, forgiveness, GRIEF, HORROR, identity, ISLAND, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MAGIC, Megan Giddings, Michigan, missing moms, missing persons, missing women, mothers & daughters, My reviews, MYSTERY, near future/alternate reality, PARANORMAL, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, reading, social issues, SPECULATIVE FICTION, SUPERNATURAL, the female malaise, The Women Could Fly, trauma, witchcraft, WITCHES -
Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
Perhaps I should have not read Goodbye, Vitamin on the heels of finishing Chemistry by Weike Wang, maybe then I would have found Khong’s novel to be more witty and original than I actually did. The scenario too brought to mind another novel I read fairly recently, The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing, which also centres on…
1st pov, 3 STARS, academia, Adult, Alzheimer, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, break-ups, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, ennui, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, forgiveness, Goodbye Vitamin, HUMOR, illness, loneliness, MEMORY, mental health, millennial, My reviews, PUBLISHED IN 2017, quirky reads, Rachel Khong, read in 2021, reading, teachers -
The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob
“People always say time stands still, and it really is that, you know. You find the thing you love the most, and time will stop for you to love it.” A few months ago I read and loved Mira Jacob’s Good Talk so I was quite looking forward to The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing as…
20th century, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, America, American, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cultural dissonance, DEATH, drama, family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, forgiveness, GUILT, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, illness, India, indian american author, intergenerational, MARRIAGE, MEMORY, migration/immigration, Mira Jacob, My reviews, New Mexico, photographers, published in 2014, read in 2021, reading, siblings, washington -
Dog Flowers: A Memoir by Danielle Geller
Dog Flowers is a relentlessly unsparing and depressing account of a dysfunctional family grappling with addiction, trauma, mental illness, and abuse. This memoir opens with Danielle Geller’s mothers’ death. Geller’s mother was homeless when she died of withdrawal from alcohol, and Geller is forced to return to Florida to sift through her mother’s possessions. Using…
1990s, 1st pov, 2000s, 3.5 STARS, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, addiction, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, bad love, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, Contemporary, conversational style, Danielle Geller, DEPRESSION, distressing reads, Dog Flowers, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, FLORIDA, forgiveness, GRIEF, growing up, identity, indigenous, indigenous author, MEMOIR, MEMORY, mental health, MENTAL ILLNESS, mothers & daughters, My reviews, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, navajo, navajo nation, Nonfiction, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SISTERS, toxic relationships, tragedy, trauma -
Faithful by Alice Hoffman
“You rescue something and you’re responsible for it. But maybe that’s what love is. Maybe it’s like a hit-and-run accident; it smashes you before you can think. You do it no matter the cost and you keep on running” While not without its flaws, Faithful is a gem of a book. Alice Hoffman has crafted a heartfelt…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, animals, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, cold tone, coming of age, Contemporary, ennui, fairytalesque prose, faithful, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, found family, friendships, great storytelling, GUILT, heartbreak/breakups, introspective, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Long Island, MAGICAL REALISM, mental health, My reviews, NEW YORK, PUBLISHED IN 2017, re-reads, read in 2017, read in 2021, reading, restrained prose, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SLICE OF LIFE, toxic relationships, trauma -
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
As per usual I was drawn to a book because I found its cover cute. The novel itself has plenty of cute moments, however, various elements prevented me from truly appreciating it. Before her parents’ separation 17-year-old Evie Thomas was a lover of romance and a believer in happy-ever-afters. When she becomes aware that her…
1st pov, 3 STARS, affairs, America, American, ANGST, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, caribbean author, coming of age, Contemporary, dancing, DEATH, drama, f/f side, female authors, forgiveness, Instructions for Dancing, jamaican american author, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+ side, MAGICAL REALISM, My reviews, Nicola Yoon, published in 2021, queer side characters, read in 2021, reading, summer reads, YOUNG ADULT
luce [is reading] 