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Himawari House by Harmony Becker
Himawari House breathes a breath of fresh air into the contemporary graphic novel genre. I have never come across a multilingual graphic novel so it was really refreshing to see Harmony Becker seamlessly incorporate English, Japanese, Korean, and Singlish in her work. I loved that the English equivalent of whatever was being said in Japanese…
3 STARS, America, belonging, coming of age, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, female authors, female friendships, friendships, Graphic Novels, Harmony Becker, Himawari House, identity, japan, japanese american author, Korea, language, loneliness, NEW ADULT, published in 2021, read in 2022, ROMANCE, Sequential Art, singapore, SLICE OF LIFE, travel, YOUNG ADULT -
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
The first two chapters of The Swimmers, ‘The Underground Pool’ and ‘The Crack’ are highly reminiscent of the author’s acclaimed The Buddha in the Attic. Like that novel The Swimmers at first seems to implement a playful choral ‘we’ as our perspective. The ‘we’ in question are the people who regularly swim at a local…
3 STARS, Adult, ageing, Alzheimer, America, asian american, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, gay side characters, greek chorus, GRIEF, HUMOR, interconnected stories, japanese american author, lgbtq+ side, MEMORY, mothers & daughters, My reviews, place as character, playful style, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, satire, self-inserts, sports, subject over characters/story, The Swimmers -
A Separation by Katie Kitamura
Given its abysmal overall rating, it should not come as a surprise that A Separation is not the type of novel that will/to have a large appeal. While it bears many of the same elements and stylistic qualities as Intimacies, Katie Kitamura’s latest novel which I happen not to like, here, well, they kind of…
1st pov, 3.5 STARS, Adult, affairs, ambiguous protagonist, atmospheric, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cold tone, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, divorce/separations, female authors, Greece, GRIEF, introspective, japanese american author, language, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, MARRIAGE, Mediterranean, missing men, missing persons, MYSTERY, navel gazing, no quotations marks, psychological, PUBLISHED IN 2017, read in 2021, restrained prose, slow pacing, SUSPENSE, travel, unnamed narrator -
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
On paper, Intimacies is my kind of read. In actuality, well, turns out it is anything but. While it ticks all the ‘in’ boxes (an unnamed narrator, ambiguous storyline, no quotation marks), the ‘story’ and characters were dusty, dull, done-to-death. Our narrator is an interpreter who lives and works in The Hague and works for…
1st pov, 2 STARS, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, cold tone, ennui, female authors, Intimacies, japanese american author, Katie Kitamura, language, LITERARY FICTION, love triangle, My reviews, navel gazing, Netherlands, no quotations marks, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, slow pacing, style over character, unnamed narrator -
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura
For the love of Jupiter, Nozomi was such a detestable main character. It had been a while since I so wholeheartedly hated and rooted against the main character of a novel…but here we go. Love and Other Natural Disasters is the kind of romance YA novel that pretends to critique and be self-aware of the…
1st pov, 2 STARS, America, American, ANGST, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books i hate, California, Contemporary, drama, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, f/f, fake dating, female authors, japanese american author, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Love and Other Natural Disasters, love quadrangle, MELODRAMA, Misa Sugiura, My reviews, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, rom-coms, ROMANCE, sapphic, YOUNG ADULT -
The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr — book review
The Necessary Hunger, Nina Revoyr’s debut novel first published in 1997, had the potential of being a great YA book. In many ways this novel was ahead of its times. Set in Inglewood, L. A., in the late 1980s The Necessary Hunger is narrated by seventeen-year-old Nancy Takahiro, a Japanese-American all-star high school basketball player.…
1980s, 1st pov, 2.5 STARS, America, American, ANGST, basketball, BOOK REVIEW, California, drama, f/f side, family, female authors, female friendships, friendships, Inglewood, japanese american author, jealousy, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, los angeles, navel gazing, Nina Revoyr, queer, RACE, read in 2020, sapphic, social issues, sports, The Necessary Hunger, unrequited love, YOUNG ADULT
luce [is reading] 