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Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong
“Once upon a time, there was a girl with a vivid imagination, one who was not entirely sane. She was afraid of many things that weren’t real, but she didn’t tell anyone. They would’ve sent her far, far away, and she wasn’t ready to go.” Liar, Dreamer, Thief had all of the ingredients to be…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, amateur detective, America, anxiety, cat and mouse, Contemporary, DEATH, female authors, feverish, gay side characters, hallucinations, korean american author, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, Liar Dreamer Thief, loneliness, Maria Dong, mental health, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, obsession, OCD, psychological, published in 2023, read in 2023, she is not feeling good at all, stalking, suicide, SUSPENSE, the female malaise, unreliable narrators, work culture -
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 -
Greenland: A Novel by David Santos Donaldson
Greenland is characterized by a mordant, erudite satire that I have come to associate with authors such as Zadie Smith, Deborah Levy, and Edward St. Aubyn. David Santos Donaldson’s insight into academia & creative burnout brought to mind the work of Weike Wang, Elaine Hsieh Chou, David Hoon Kim, and Jo Hamya. Similarly to these…
1910s, 1st pov, 20th century, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, belonging, Black & Black heritage authors, bombastic style, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, David Santos Donaldson, egypt, existentialism, experimental, feverish, gay, greenland, Greenland: A Novel, hallucinations, history, identity, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, male authors, masculinity, men who do not seem to know how to write women, navel gazing, NEW YORK, obsession, paranoia, philosophical, psychological, published in 2022, queer, RACE, read in 2022, satire, sex, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, story within a story, stylised prose, travel, unreliable narrators, weird -
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
It would be safe to say that I do have a bit of an uneasy relationship with Murakami’s work. I read and was not blown away by it. Over the last couple of months, I have picked up several of his short story collections but never felt compelled to finish them. The main reason why…
1990s, 1st pov, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Dreams, existentialism, f/f, feverish, first love, Greece, hallucinations, Haruki Murakami, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, male authors, men who do not seem to know how to write women, missing persons, missing women, My reviews, obsession, philosophical, published in 1999, read in 2022, reading, ROMANCE, sapphic, sex, SEXUALITY, Sputnik Sweetheart, story within a story, surreal, teachers, TRANSLATED FICTION, travel, unrequited love -
All’s Well by Mona Awad
“I thought tests led to something. A diagnosis led to a plan, a cure. But tests, I know now, never lead us anywhere. Tests are dark roads with no destinations, just leading to more dark.” All’s Well makes for an entertaining if somewhat flawed romp. The novel is narrated by Miranda, a theatre professor in…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, academia, actors, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, canadian author, chronic pain, Contemporary, dark humor, disabilities, female authors, feverish, hallucinations, HORROR, illness, MAGIC, MAGICAL REALISM, mental health, mona awad, My reviews, MYSTERY, netgalley, playful style, published in 2021, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, revenge, shakespeare, she is not feeling good at all, stylised prose, teachers, the female malaise, theatre, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unreliable narrators, weird, womanhood/femininity -
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 -
New People by Danzy Senna
“When she was just a kid, Gloria told her never to trust a group of happy, smiling multiracial people. Never trust races when they get along, she said. If you see different races of people just standing around, smiling at one another, run for the hills, kid. Take cover. They’ll break your heart.” A disquieting…
1990s, 20th century, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, Danzy Senna, ennui, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, feverish, grotesque, hallucinations, identity, introspective, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, mental health, New People, NEW YORK, obsession, passing, PUBLISHED IN 2017, RACE, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, stalking, the female malaise, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unreliable narrative, unrequited love -
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 -
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez
Well…that was disappointing. Given the hype around this collection and the comparisons to Shirley Jackson, I was prepared to read some truly unsettling tales. However, as with a lot of other contemporary authors of horror, Mariana Enríquez relies on body horror, gore, and animal violence to instil feelings of unease in her readers…and while her…
2 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, argentina, argentinian author, CHILDHOOD, collection of short stories, Contemporary, female authors, grotesque, hallucinations, haunted house, HORROR, illness, latin america, latin american, latinx author, lgbtq+ side, madness, MAGICAL REALISM, Mariana Enríquez, published in 2016, queer side characters, read in 2020, short stories, Things We Lost in the Fire, toxic relationships, TRANSLATED FICTION -
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
I should have ended things with this book as soon as I grew irritated by our narrator’s navel-gazing. But, I persevered, hoping against hope that at some point, ideally before reaching the book’s finish line, I would find what I was reading to be even remotely intriguing. At the beginning we have a young woman…
2 STARS, Adult, canada, canadian author, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), endless monologues, feverish, hallucinations, HORROR, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid, illness, male authors, mental health, MYSTERY, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2016, read in 2020, road trip, surreal, SUSPENSE, THRILLER
luce [is reading] 