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The Furrows by Namwali Serpell
At first, The Furrows presents its readers with a labyrinthine yet hypotonic narrative about trauma, grief, and guilt. Cassandra, our central character, now an adult, recalls the death of her seven-year-old brother, Wayne when she was twelve. Then, this accident is presented to us again, except this time the circumstances are different. Cassandra tells different…
Adult, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, bad love, Black & Black heritage authors, black diaspora, CHILDHOOD, cold tone, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, GRIEF, GUILT, incest-y, LITERARY FICTION, MEMORY, MYSTERY, Namwali Serpell, psychological, published in 2022, read in 2022, rich people, sea, siblings, snapshots, style over character, surreal, The Furrows, toxic relationships, trauma, Zambian author -
Dead-End Memories: Stories by Banana Yoshimoto
“And yet, when I traveled to other cities, I always found that a view without a river was of no interest to me at all. Perhaps that was because the inherent stillness of my nature made me crave the sight of things that moved.” Whenever I am in a reading slump or going through a…
1st pov, 2000s, 3 STARS, Adult, Banana Yoshimoto, collection of short stories, Contemporary, Dead-End Memories, Dead-End Memories: Stories, dreamlike quality, Dreams, female authors, ghosts/spirits, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, incest-y, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, loneliness, Longing, melancholy, MEMORY, nature, navel gazing, nostalgic reads, published in 2003, read in 2022, short stories, SLICE OF LIFE, surreal -
Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique
A week or so before reading Monster in the Middle I read Tiphanie Yanique’s debut short story collection, Land of Love and Drowning, which I rather enjoyed. I remember being struck by Yanique ’s atmospheric storytelling, by her subtle use of irony, and by her thoughtful meditations on death, love, and everything in between. So,…
1980s, 1990s, 2 STARS, 2000s, 2010s, Adult, affairs, America, American, belonging, bi side characters, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Caribbean, caribbean author, cheating, Christianity, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, Ghana, illness, incest-y, interconnected stories, intergenerational, ISLAND, lgbtq+ side, MARRIAGE, mental health, Monster in the Middle, My reviews, NEW YORK, pandemic, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, Religion, Saint Thomas, Saint Thomas authors, schizophrenia, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, Tiphanie Yanique, travel, U.S. Virgin Islands authors -
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Having heard a lot about the genius of Murakami over the years I was excepting something a bit more out of After Dark, a novel which, at the risk of incurring the wrath of Murakami aficionados, failed to captivate me. Credit where credit’s due, Murakami certainly knows how to create and maintain a certain…
2000s, 3 STARS, Adult, After Dark, books that take place in one day, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Dreams, feverish, Haruki Murakami, incest-y, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, male authors, men who do not seem to know how to write women, musicians, navel gazing, prostitution, published in 2004, read in 2021, SISTERS, style over character, stylised prose, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto
There is something idiosyncratic about Yoshimoto’s novels. Every time I read something of hers I feel almost comforted by how familiar it all is. Her narrators sound very much like the same person: they are young women prone to navel-gazing yet attuned to their environment (especially nature or their hometown). Moshi Moshi follows Yoshie after…
1st pov, 2000s, 2010s, 3 STARS, affairs, age gap, Banana Yoshimoto, Dreams, existentialism, family, fathers & daughters, favourite authors, female authors, food & cooking, GRIEF, incest-y, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, Moshi Moshi, mothers & daughters, mumblecore, navel gazing, problematic romance, published in 2010, READ IN 2019, ROMANCE, SLICE OF LIFE, suicide, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION, work culture -
Pretend I’m Dead by Jen Beagin
Pretend I’m Dead was 50 shades of fucked up but boy was it funny. “When he went to order their drinks, he asked, “What’s your poison?”“Oven cleaner,” she’d said with a straight face.Her sense of humor sometimes made people—herself, included—uncomfortable.” This novel is divided in four chapters, each one focusing on a particular relationship of…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, Adult, age gap, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Booklr, child abuse, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, dark, dark humor, DEPRESSION, ennui, female authors, graphic content, grotesque, illness, incest-y, Jen Beagin, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, Massachusetts, mental health, millennial, mumblecore, New Mexico, obsession, Pretend I'm Dead, published in 2015, read in 2021, sexual assault/abuse/rape, suicide, surreal, toxic relationships, work culture -
Milk Fed by Melissa Broder
(heads up: this review contains mentions of eating disorders and body dysmorphia as well as explicit language) While I doubt that Milk Fed will win many awards, I sure hope that it wins the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. It 100% deserves to. “Was it real freedom? Unlikely. But my rituals kept me skinny, and…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, body dysmorphia, California, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, dark humor, eating disorders, f/f, female authors, film industry, graphic content, illness, incest-y, introspective, Jewish, lgbtq+, los angeles, Melissa Broder, mental health, Milk Fed, mumblecore, navel gazing, netgalley, published in 2021, queer, read in 2020, Religion, sapphic, sex, toxic relationships, trigger warning, work culture -
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] 