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A Carnivore’s Inquiry by Sabina Murray
“This is what exploration had opened up the door to. Not only widespread slaughter, but the necessary accompaniment of gorging.” Unapologetically solipsistic and deeply manipulative, Katherine, the central character of A Carnivore’s Inquiry, makes for an awful human being and a deeply entertaining narrator. A predecessor to Ottessa Moshfegh and Mona Awad’s protagonists, and many…
1st pov, 2000s, 4 STARS, A Carnivore's Inquiry, A Carnivore's Inquiry by Sabina Murray, Adult, affairs, age gap, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, ART/CREATIVITY, books about writers, cannibalism, cheating, class, cold tone, colonialism, Contemporary, dark, dark humor, desire, ennui, female authors, feverish, filipino american author, GOTHIC, history, HORROR, introspective, Italy, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, madness, maine, Mexico, modern gothic, MURDER, MYSTERY, navel gazing, NEW YORK, no plot just vibes, otherness, PRIVILEGE, psychological, Psychological thriller, psychopaths, published in 2004, read in 2023, rich people, road trip, Sabina Murray, satire, self-destructive, serial killers, she is dangerous, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, travel, unreliable narrators, violence, womanhood/femininity -
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Summer Sons is very much a vibes-driven novel that would not exist without Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. From the aesthetics permeating the story to the combative & codependent character dynamics, Summer Sons share a lot of similarities with that book. Lee Mandelo’s older cast of characters however allow for them to employ an edgier…
3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, academia, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cars, coming of age, Contemporary, curses, DEATH, FANTASY, friendships, gay side characters, ghosts/spirits, GOTHIC, history, HORROR, identity, it’s about the *aesthetics*, Lee Mandelo, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, M/F/M side, m/m, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, nashville, NEW ADULT, PARANORMAL, polyamory, published in 2021, queer, read in 2022, reading, SEXUALITY, Southern America, southern gothic, summer reads, Summer Sons, SUPERNATURAL, tennessee, toxic relationships, trans side characters, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
Gallant by V.E. Schwab
Although I remember liking books by V. E. Schwab when I was a teenager the last couple of books I’ve picked up by her left me feeling rather underwhelmed. My reading tastes have definitely changed over the years but I hoped that I would always be able to appreciate her storytelling. I was sold on…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, all girls school, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, england, FANTASY, female authors, Gallant, ghosts/spirits, GOTHIC, hauntings, HISTORICAL FICTION, manor/big house, My reviews, Not Like Other Girls, orphans, parallel universes, PARANORMAL, portal fantasy, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, slow pacing, style over character, V.E. Schwab, YOUNG ADULT -
The Houseguest: And Other Stories by Amparo Dávila
Whenever an author is compared to Shirley Jackson, I feel compelled to check their work out. More often than not, upon reading their stuff, I end up rather perplexed by the comparisons to Jackson. In the case of Amparo Dávila, well, this comparison isn’t wholly unearned. Jackson and Dávila’s approach to the horror genre certainly…
1960s, 20th century, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Amparo Dávila, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, collection of short stories, curses, female authors, GOTHIC, grotesque, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, mexican, mexican author, Mexico, My reviews, paranoia, PARANORMAL, published in 2018, read in 2021, reading, short stories, surreal, The Houseguest, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
As riveting as watching paint dry. I wasn’t planning on reading this as I wasn’t all that enthused by Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow. But, as I don’t like to write off authors on the basis of just one book & earlier this week I was in the mood for a gothic-kind-of-read, well,…
1980s, 2.5 STARS, 20th century, 3rd pov, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, drama, FANTASY, female authors, ghosts/spirits, GOTHIC, haunted house, hauntings, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, illness, incest, latinx author, manor/big house, mexican, MEXICAN AMERICAN AUTHOR, Mexican Gothic, Mexico, My reviews, published in 2020, read in 2021, reading, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, slow pacing -
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
“I used to believe the house was haunted. Really, it was the other way around; the house haunted me.” 3 re-read: I once again loved this. The novel’s gothic ambience is truly hypnotic and Thomas really manages to suffuse Ines’ experiences at Catherine House with a dreamlike quality. There is a vagueness, a haze, one…
1990s, 1st pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, campus, Catherine House, cliques, cold tone, Contemporary, creepy setting, dark, dark academia, dreamlike quality, Elisabeth Thomas, existentialism, FANTASY, female authors, feverish, gay side characters, GOTHIC, GRIEF, GUILT, haunted house, hauntings, HORROR, it’s about the *aesthetics*, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, loneliness, Longing, modern gothic, morality, My reviews, MYSTERY, NEW ADULT, no plot just vibes, obsession, otherness, Pennsylvania, published in 2020, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, reading, secretiveness, strong sense of place, surreal, terrific prose, the female malaise, trauma -
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“But in the places where it isn’t faded and where the sun is just so—I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design.” First published in 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper is a disquieting short story that has become a seminal piece of…
1880s, 1890s, 19TH CENTURY, 4 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, CLASSICS, doctors, epistolary, female authors, feverish, GOTHIC, hallucinations, HISTORICAL FICTION, illness, madness, mental health, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, published in 1892, read in 2020, short stories, The Yellow Wallpaper, VICTORIAN, victorian madness -
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
MILD-SPOILERS At first I thought that The Shape of Darkness was going to be a spoof of Gothic novels. The dialogues were corny, the two main characters are exceedingly frail, and the ‘murder mystery’ storyline struck me as somewhat theatrical (or perhaps I should say more suited to a film than a book). But I…
1850s, 19TH CENTURY, 2 STARS, 3rd pov, bad love, bath, drama, england, female authors, ghosts/spirits, GOTHIC, HISTORICAL FICTION, illness, Laura Purcell, murder mystery, MYSTERY, netgalley, PARANORMAL, published in 2021, read in 2020, seances, SISTERS, spiritualism, The Shape of Darkness, VICTORIAN -
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 -
Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates
As I highly rate Joyce Carol Oates I was quite looking forward to Cardiff, by the Sea, a collection of four novellas ‘of suspense’. While I have only read a few of Oates’ works Patricide, a novella of hers, is a favourite of mine. The novellas collected in Cardiff, by the Sea have more in…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, abuse, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, Cardiff by the Sea, collection of short stories, dark, family, female authors, feverish, GOTHIC, HORROR, illness, Joyce Carol Oates, mental health, Mia Dao, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, Phantomwise, published in 2020, rape, read in 2020, sexual assault/abuse/rape, short stories, SUSPENSE, The Surviving Child, THRILLER, toxic relationships, trauma, violence against women
luce [is reading] 