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The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo
The Old Woman with the Knife follows Hornclaw a 65-year-old assassin in South Korea who is noticing that she is no longer as fit as she used to be. She makes a few slips up on the job and wonders when her company is going to force her into retirement. Due to the nature of…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, ageing, ambiguous protagonist, assassins, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Contemporary, CRIME, female authors, Gu Byeong-mo, heavy on telling, Korea, korean author, My reviews, published in 2013, read in 2022, reading, revenge, SUSPENSE, The Old Woman with the Knife, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION -
The Archer by Shruti Swamy
Throughout the course of reading The Archer, I was painfully aware that I was in fact reading a novel. That is to say, I did not think this was a particularly ‘immersive coming-of-age’ story, quite the contrary. Almost every line I read struck me as contrived and as attempting (and failing) to be eloquent and…
1960s, 1970s, 2 STARS, 20th century, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CHILDHOOD, coming of age, dancing, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, growing up, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, India, indian american author, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, MARRIAGE, mothers & daughters, My reviews, navel gazing, pregnancy, published in 2021, purply prose, queer, read in 2021, reading, slow pacing, sports, style over character, stylised prose, subject over characters/story, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
Originally published in 1946 The Honjin Murders is a locked-room murder mystery. Throughout the course of the novel, the author pays homage to Golden Age detective novels, by alluding directly to authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie and their works and by being quite self-aware when it comes to the conventions that…
1930S, 2 STARS, Adult, aristocracy, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CRIME, DETECTIVE, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, golden age detective fiction, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, locked-room mystery, male authors, manor/big house, My reviews, MYSTERY, published in 1946, read in 2021, reading, TRANSLATED FICTION, wedding drama, whodunnit -
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
American Spy opens with a bang only to come screeching to halt within a few pages. What could have been an intriguing tale of espionage is thwarted by lacklustre execution: painfully slow pacing, watching-paint-dry levels of entertainment, cardboard characters, robotic narration, dry dialogues, heavy on the telling…Aside from its snazzy cover & title, and that…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 1st pov, 2 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, American Spy, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Burkina Faso, Caribbean, espionage, family, female authors, gay side characters, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, Lauren Wilkinson, lgbtq+ side, Martinique, My reviews, NEW YORK, political intrigue, politics, published in 2019, RACE, read in 2021, SISTERS, slow pacing, spies, THRILLER, west africa -
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
For a work that was first published in 1998 Daughter of Fortune strikes me as something more suited to the 1970s. Don’t get me wrong, I love Isabel Allende’s work and she is one of my favourite authors, however, at the risk of coming across as an oversensitive zillennial, her mystification of China struck me…
1830s, 1840s, 1850s, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, ADOPTION, Adult, adventure, America, California, chile, Chilean American author, China, class, daughter of fortune, doctors, drama, FAMILY SAGA, favourite authors, female authors, GRIEF, heavy on telling, HISTORICAL FICTION, ISABEL ALLENDE, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, miscarriage, orphans, pregnancy, problematic, prostitution, published in 1998, road trip, ship, slow pacing, survival, TRANSLATED FICTION, travel, unrequited love, voyage -
Before the Ruins by Victoria Gosling
“To sleep on? Or to wake? This was the question facing me. To sleep, or to wake and face the reckoning, to find out what had been lost.” Although by no means an incompetent debut Before the Ruins does not offer a particularly innovative take on this subgenre (usually we have big houses, a group…
1990s, 1st pov, 20th century, Adult, Before the Ruins, British author, cheating, child abuse, class, cliques, Contemporary, domestic thriller, drama, england, female authors, Florence, friendships, gay side characters, heavy on telling, introspective, Italy, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, manor/big house, MEMORY, missing jewels, MYSTERY, psychological, published in 2021, read in 2021, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SMALL TOWN, SUSPENSE, trauma, Victoria Gosling, Wiltshire -
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
“What was it about this country that kept everyone hostage to its fantasy?” Infinite Country shares much in common with two of other novels by Patricia Engel, The Veins of the Ocean and Vida. While I do enjoy certain aspects of her storytelling—which at times reminds me of authors such as Alice Hoffman and Isabel…
3 STARS, Adult, America, American, American dream, Colombia, Colombian American author, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, FOLKLORE, heavy on telling, Infinite Country, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MARRIAGE, migration/immigration, motherhood, mothers & daughters, netgalley, Patricia Engel, published in 2021, rape, read in 2020, road trip, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues -
Three by D.A. Mishani
Three wasn’t quite the “dark psychological thriller with a killer twist” I was anticipating. The blurb and cover suggests a far more suspenseful and possibly subversive tale that the one D. A. Mishani actually delivers. The novel’s tripartite structure didn’t feel particularly original as it has become quite popular in novels that fall under the…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, affairs, Contemporary, CRIME, D.A. Mishani, domestic thriller, drama, heavy on telling, Israel, Israeli, Israeli author, Jewish, male authors, MARRIAGE, published in 2020, read in 2020, serial killers, SUSPENSE, Three, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, violence against women, west bank -
The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun
The Disaster Tourist doesn’t tell a very memorable or engrossing story. If you’ve read the summary you know exactly what to expect from this book. We are introduced to Yona who is thirty-three and works as trip coordinator at Jungle, a travel company that specialises in organising disaster themed vacations. Yona is sexually harassed by…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Contemporary, environmental, female authors, heavy on telling, ISLAND, Korea, Korean, korean author, published in 2020, read in 2020, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, SPECULATIVE FICTION, surreal, The Disaster Tourist, TRANSLATED FICTION, weak prose, work culture, Yun Ko-eun -
The Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel
“I want to be forgotten. I want it to feel as if I’ve never existed. I want to be a stranger. Rootless.” A few days before reading The Veins of the Ocean I read, and enjoyed reading, Patricia Engel’s Vida, a collection of short stories centred on a Colombian-American woman. I was intrigued by…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, Caribbean, Colombia, Colombian American author, Cuba, DEATH, family, female authors, heavy on telling, introspective, ISLAND, latin america, latin american, latinx author, LITERARY FICTION, Miami, migration/immigration, Patricia Engel, prison, PUBLISHED IN 2017, read in 2020, ROMANCE, siblings, social issues, The Veins of the Ocean, trauma, zoos
luce [is reading] 