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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Usually, when I read a book I know how I feel about it—whether I loved it, really liked it, thought it was just okay, or disliked it—and I have an idea of how to articulate my feelings. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is one of those rare books that has me really torn up and…
1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3 STARS, abortion/miscarriage/bodily autonomy, academia, Adult, age gap, America, anxiety, asian american, big books, books that make me mad, California, cambridge (us), class, coming of age, Contemporary, DEATH, DEPRESSION, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), disabilities, drama, female authors, friendships, Gabrielle Zevin, gay side characters, GRIEF, growing up, GUILT, Harvard, HISTORICAL FICTION, horrible friends, Jewish, korean american author, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, los angeles, m/m side, Massachusetts, mental health, nostalgic reads, Not Like Other Girls, orphans, published in 2022, queer side characters, ROMANCE, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, toxic relationships, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love, videogames, work culture -
Sarahland by Sam Cohen
Kinky, offbeat, and playful, Sarahland is a madcap story collection. Most of the stories focus on queer Jewish young women who are named or rename themselves Sarah. Their quest for identity and love leads them astray from traditional notions of femininity and adulthood. They become entangled in parasitic relationships, lose and regain their sense of…
Adult, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cliques, collection of short stories, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), ennui, existentialism, f/f, female authors, feverish, HUMOR, identity, Jewish, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, millennial, My reviews, prostitution, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, Religion, RETELLINGS, Sam Cohen, sapphic, Sarahland, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, short stories, surreal, trans side characters, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love, weird -
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 -
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
Heavenly Creatures by way of Patricia Highsmith, plus a sprinkle of Like Minds, and with the kind of teenage morbidity one could find in Hangsaman or Stoker. Adroit and gripping, These Violent Delights is a superlative debut novel. Being the self-proclaimed connoisseur of academia fiction that I am, I was drawn by the comparisons to…
1970s, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, anxiety, anxiety-inducing reads, bad love, class, dark, dark academia, drama, family, first love, gay, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, Jewish, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, m/m, mental health, Micah Nemerever, morality, MYSTERY, obsession, Pennsylvania, philosophical, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2020, queer, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2022, rich people, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, These Violent Delights, THRILLER, toxic relationships, tragedy, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, whydunnit -
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 World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman — book review
“Heart of my heart, love of my life, the only loss I will never survive.” The Nightingale meets The Golem and the Jinni in Alice Hoffman’s latest novel. Yet, while The World That We Knew may in points thread similar paths to those of many other novels (historical fiction seems to be brimming with WWII…
1940s, 4 STARS, Adult, ALICE HOFFMAN, AMERICAN AUTHOR, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, DEATH, female authors, FOLKLORE, FRANCE, friendships, golems, GRIEF, HISTORICAL FICTION, holocaust, Jewish, MAGIC, MAGICAL REALISM, motherhood, mothers & daughters, Nazi-occupied France, netgalley, published in 2019, READ IN 2019, Religion, survival, The World That We Knew, tragedy, war, WWII -
The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy — book review
For readers in want of an incisive and creative account of life in East Germany, I strongly recommend picking up something by Christa Wolf. I think that from now on I might stick to Deborah Levy‘s non-fiction. While I’m glad to see that many of my friends and other readers were able to enjoy this…
1980s, 1st pov, 3 STARS, bad love, Berlin, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, booker longlist 2019, British author, cheating, cold war, Deborah Levy, east and west germany, england, existentialism, female authors, feverish, Germany, historians, Hyped new releases, illness, introspective, Jewish, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, mental health, paranoia, published in 2019, READ IN 2019, SEXUALITY, stylised prose, surreal, The Man Who Saw Everything, why the hype -
Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg — book review
From the first page I was drawn by Natalia Ginzburg’s incredibly vivid prose. The title of this memoir encapsulates much of Ginzburg’s recollection of her family. She remembers in minute detail the way in which within her family certain words and phrases had a particular significance or meaning, one that is known only by a…
1930S, 1940s, 1st pov, 20th century, 4.5 STARS, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, CHILDHOOD, CLASSICS, family, Family Lexicon, fascism, female authors, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, Italian Author, Italian classics, Italy, Jewish, Lessico famigliare, MARRIAGE, MEMOIR, modern classics, Natalia Ginzburg, Nonfiction, politics, published in 1963, READ IN 2019, read in Italian, REVIEW, war, WWII -
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
There are so many new releases that are focused on a particular family’s history, and there is a trend for storylines that follow members of a family through the decades (e.g. The Good Children, Commonwealth). The Immortalists might revolve around four siblings, but there was little – if any –interaction between them. This novel focused…
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 3rd pov, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Chloe Benjamin, Contemporary, existentialism, family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, gay, growing up, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, Jewish, labs, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, san francisco, science, siblings, The Immortalists, why the hype
luce [is reading] 