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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 -
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
“Horror’s not a symptom, it’s a love affair.” My Heart Is a Chainsaw is a magnificently chaotic ode to slasher, one that demonstrates an unparalleled knowledge of the genre, its logic & tropes. I saw quite a lot of reviews describing this as a slow burner, and sì, in some ways Stephen Graham Jones withholds…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, adrenaline fuelled reads, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, Blackfoot, blackfoot author, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, creepy setting, dark, dark humor, female friendships, films, friendships, gore, graphic content, HIGH SCHOOL, Idaho, incest, indigenous, indigenous author, loneliness, male authors, meta, MURDER, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, MYSTERY, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, obsession, playful style, Poverty, psychological, published in 2021, queer undercurrents, read in 2022, reading, revenge, sexual assault/abuse/rape, she is dangerous, slasher, Stephen Graham Jones, strong sense of place, SUPERNATURAL, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, THRILLER, trauma, violence -
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
Despite the many moments of poignancy that appear throughout the course of Searching for Sylvie Lee, the novel is ultimately diminished by unnecessary melodrama and convoluted (yet predictable) soap-opera-ish twists. At its heart Searching for Sylvie Lee is a family drama about long-held family secrets. The narrative switches between three points of view: a mother and her two…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, chinese american author, Contemporary, DEATH, drama, family, female authors, gay side characters, grandmothers, incest, Italy, Jean Kwok, lgbtq+ side, MELODRAMA, migration/immigration, missing persons, missing women, musicians, My reviews, MYSTERY, Netherlands, NEW YORK, published in 2019, read in 2022, reading, Searching for Sylvie Lee, secretiveness, SISTERS, suicide -
N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto
N.P. is textbook Banana Yoshimoto: we have a cheerful, occasionally off-beat, young woman, as our narrator, Daddy Issues, sucide(s), a bizarre love story, and… incest?! I will say that N.P. does seem to attempt to include a mystery subplot (which doesn’t really go anywhere but still…). In this novel a writer published a collection of…
1990s, 1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, Banana Yoshimoto, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, DEATH, drama, female authors, GRIEF, incest, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, loneliness, Longing, My reviews, N.P., navel gazing, published in 1990, queer undercurrents, read in 2021, reading, SLICE OF LIFE, suicide, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION, unrequited love -
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 -
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Secret History lives rent free in my head. It is a masterpiece. A thing of rare beauty. A tour de force. A literary triumph. “One likes to think there’s something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I’ve learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, beautiful prose, beauty, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, campus, class, cliques, Contemporary, CRIME, dark, dark academia, DEATH, donna tartt, ennui, existentialism, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, GUILT, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, incest, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MEMORY, modern classics, morality, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, obsession, philosophical, PRIVILEGE, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 1992, queer undercurrents, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2021, reading, rich people, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the secret history, THRILLER, toxic relationships, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love, Vermont, whydunnit, WINTER -
Picnic in the Storm by Yukiko Motoya
Picnic in the Storm, also published as The Lonesome Bodybuilder, is a collection of 11 extremely weird tales. Yukiko Motoya imbues mundane settings with a sense of the surreal so that even a story about a saleswoman at a clothing shop who is trying to assist a customer who won’t come out of their changing…
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Touring the Land of the Dead by Maki Kashimada
disclaimer: in the below review I am expressing my own entirely subjective opinion. I do not wish to invalidate anyone’s feelings or thoughts about this book. If you loved it or liked it, huzzah!If you are thinking of reading this I recommend you check out some more positive reviews. Touring the Land of the Dead…
2 STARS, bullying, collection of short stories, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), disabilities, family, female authors, hotel, illness, incest, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, Maki Kashimada, MARRIAGE, netgalley, published in 2012, read in 2021, short stories, Touring the Land of the Dead, TRANSLATED FICTION, weird -
The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami
Considering that Hiromi Kawakami is one of my favourites authors this was a big letdown. The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino lacked the zing that made Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop into such fun and engaging reads. Nishino, the novel’s central character, is a boring creep and I could not for…
1st pov, 2 STARS, 2000s, Adult, bad love, cheating, collection of short stories, favourite authors, female authors, HIROMI KAWAKAMI, incest, interconnected stories, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, lgbtq+ side, published in 2003, queer side characters, READ 2020, ROMANCE, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, short stories, SLICE OF LIFE, surreal, The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino, toxic relationships, TRANSLATED FICTION, weird -
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye is an unflinching and deeply harrowing examination of race, colorism, gender, and trauma. Throughout the course of her narrative Toni Morrison captures with painful lucidity the damage inflicted on a black child by a society that equates whiteness with beauty and goodness, and blackness with ugliness and evil.In her introduction to her…
1940s, 20th century, 4 STARS, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, CLASSICS, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, female doubles, HISTORICAL FICTION, illness, incest, LITERARY FICTION, MARRIAGE, mental health, modern classics, ohio, Pedophelia, Poverty, psychological, published in 1970, RACE, read in 2020, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, terrific prose, The Bluest Eye, TONI MORRISON, tragedy, trauma
luce [is reading] 