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Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang
Studying so much had its consequences. It caused me to wonder, for instance, if I might be a genius. Bursting with wry humor and insight Joan Is Okay makes for a quick and quirky read about a woman who doesn’t want to change to fit in with society’s standards. In spite of what the people…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, America, American, American dream, asian american, China, chinese american author, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, doctors, family, female authors, GRIEF, HOSPITAL, HUMOR, intergenerational, introspective, Joan Is Okay, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, medical, mental health, migration/immigration, Neurodiversity, NEW YORK, pandemic, published in 2022, quirky reads, read in 2022, sardonic humor, siblings, SLICE OF LIFE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, weike wang, work culture -
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
“‘How do you feel?’ ‘All right.’ But I didn’t. I felt terrible.” I feel incredibly conflicted over Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. On the one hand, I found it to be an ingenious and striking read, one that immortalizes in exacting detail a young woman’s slow descent into psychosis and offers a piercing commentary on…
1950s, 1st pov, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, american classics, ASYLUM, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, BOSTON, CLASSICS, DEPRESSION, doctors, ennui, female authors, feminism, feverish, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, introspective, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Massachusetts, MEMORY, mental health, modern classics, NEW YORK, paranoia, problematic, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, published in 1963, read in 2021, reading, self-destructive, self-harming, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, suicide, sylvia plath, terrific prose, The Bell Jar, unreliable narrators -
The Fat Lady Sings by Jacqueline Roy
Although I have not yet read anything by Bernardine Evaristo I am so grateful to her for bringing about this Black Britain: Writing Back series (which re-issues 6 titles by Black British authors). If it hadn’t been for Evaristo, I doubt I would have come across The Fat Lady Sings, a criminally overlooked modern classic.…
1990s, 1st pov, 2000s, 4 STARS, abuse, Black & Black heritage authors, child abuse, DEPRESSION, eating disorders, england, female authors, female friendships, friendships, GRIEF, HOSPITAL, illness, JACQUELINE ROY, jamaican british author, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LONDON, mental health, modern classics, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, published in 2000, read in 2021, sexual assault/abuse/rape, suicide, THE FAT LADY SINGS -
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
“We all lived in an unwalled city, that was it. I saw lines scored across the map of Ireland; carved all over the globe. Train tracks, roads, shipping channels, a web of human traffic that connected all all nations into one great suffer body.” This is the third novel I’ve read by Emma Donoghue…
1910s, 1918 influenza, 1st pov, 20th century, abuse, Adult, Dublin, Emma Donoghue, f/f, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, illness, IRELAND, IRISH AUTHOR, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, mental health, motherhood, netgalley, no quotations marks, Poverty, pregnancy, published in 2020, queer, read in 2020, sapphic, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, The Pull of the Stars, tragedy, trauma, war, war related ptsd, wwi -
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
“Ayoola lives in a world where things must always go her way. It’s a law as certain as the law of gravity.” Having read this novel twice I can safely say that I find it to be an exceptionally riveting read: once I start it, I just want to keep reading.My Sister, the Serial Killer…
1st pov, 4 STARS, abuse, Adult, Black & Black heritage authors, Contemporary, dark humor, DEATH, HOSPITAL, jealousy, millennial, MURDER, My Sister The Serial Killer, Nigeria, Nigerian author, Oyinkan Braithwaite, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, serial killers, SISTERS, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social media, SUSPENSE, terrific prose -
Revenge by Yōko Ogawa — book review
Having read two novels by Yōko Ogawa, I was curious to read Revenge, a collection of interconnected short stories. Ogawa’s magnifies the sense unease that usually permeates her narratives (even The Housekeeper and the Professor has its unsettling moments), as these stories seem intent on unnerving their readers. The characters within these pages are morbid,…
1st pov, 3 STARS, books about writers, collection of short stories, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, female authors, GRIEF, grotesque, HORROR, HOSPITAL, interconnected stories, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, read in 2020, revenge, short stories, surreal, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, violence, Yōko Ogawa -
The Charioteer by Mary Renault — book review
“He was filled with a vast sense of the momentous, of unknown mysteries. He did not know what he should demand of himself, nor did it seem to matter, for he had not chosen this music he moved to, it had chosen him.” This is the fifth time I’ve read The Charioteer and once again I’ve been…
1930S, 1940s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, beautiful prose, bildungsroman, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, british classics, CLASSICS, coming of age, england, existentialism, family, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, gay, greek myths, HISTORICAL FICTION, HOSPITAL, identity, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, love triangle, m/m, male friendships, Mary Renault, masculinity, modern classics, morality, mothers & sons, My reviews, philosophical, psychological, published in 1953, queer, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2017, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2021, ROMANCE, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, The Charioteer, unrequited love, WWII -
STONE MOTHERS : BOOK REVIEW
Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly ★★★✰✰ 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3) “People lie to cover their tracks all the time but in the aftermath of true horror, there is a window – minutes, even seconds long – where shock drives out dissemblance and there is only room for a kind of devastated honesty.”…
1980s, 1st pov, 2.5 STARS, 20th century, Adult, affairs, bad love, BOOK REVIEW, British author, class, Contemporary, creepy setting, domestic thriller, england, ERIN KELLY, female authors, friendships, HOSPITAL, MARRIAGE, mental health, motherhood, MYSTERY, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2019, READ IN 2019, SMALL TOWN, STONE MOTHERS, SUSPENSE -
Everything Here is Beautiful: Book Review
Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee ★★★★✰ 4 stars “Where are you? Where the fuck are you, Lucia?” Being punched in the stomach would have been less painful than this. Lee’s depiction of mental illness is both incredibly vivid and deeply disturbing. Lucia is the focal point of the narrative: she is…
4 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, asian american, China, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dislocation, Everything Here is Beautiful, family, HOSPITAL, illness, latin america, LITERARY FICTION, mental health, migration/immigration, Mira T. Lee, motherhood, pregnancy, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, READ IN 2019, schizophrenia, SISTERS -
THE NIGHT TIGER: BOOK REVIEW
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo ★★★✰✰ 2.5 out of 5 stars “[His] voice was icy. He’s an ass if he can’t tell you’re obviously a virgin.” …and they say romance is dead. On paper The Night Tiger has a lot of potential but there were several things that prevent it from being a really…
luce [is reading] 