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Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
Perhaps I should have not read Goodbye, Vitamin on the heels of finishing Chemistry by Weike Wang, maybe then I would have found Khong’s novel to be more witty and original than I actually did. The scenario too brought to mind another novel I read fairly recently, The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing, which also centres on…
1st pov, 3 STARS, academia, Adult, Alzheimer, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, break-ups, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, ennui, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, forgiveness, Goodbye Vitamin, HUMOR, illness, loneliness, MEMORY, mental health, millennial, My reviews, PUBLISHED IN 2017, quirky reads, Rachel Khong, read in 2021, reading, teachers -
Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes by Alexa Martin
Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes is an exceedingly average chick-lit novel. While I appreciated that it was very much a novel about friendship, as opposed to romance, and that the author does incorporate more serious issues within her otherwise light-hearted story, I found many scenes to be cringey (unintentionally so) and towards the end, things…
1st pov, 3 STARS, addiction, Adult, Alexa Martin, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, Contemporary, divorce/separations, drama, female authors, female friendships, friendships, HUMOR, influencers, light reads, los angeles, millennial, motherhood, mothers & daughters, My reviews, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, romcom, summer reads, toxic relationships -
Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang
“Who knows. I could change my mind. It is changing all the time.” Days of Distraction should have been right up my street. Alas, it turned out not to be the ‘wry’, ‘tender’, and ‘offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale’ its blurb promised it’d be. Our quasi-unnamed narrator is a Chinese American woman in her early twenties who…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, China, chinese american author, coming of age, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, ennui, female authors, ithaca, loneliness, millennial, mumblecore, My reviews, navel gazing, new york state, published in 2020, RACE, read in 2021, reading, san francisco, slow pacing, subject over characters/story, unnamed narrator, work culture -
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
While I appreciated the subject matter (no matter how infuriating & depressing), I could not get into the robotic style. This book opens with Kim Jiyoune, a housewife and stay-at-home mother, acting in an increasingly concerning manner. Depressive episodes give way to ‘bizarre’ instances in which she emulates the behaviour of other women. Her concerned…
1980s, 1990s, 2.5 STARS, 2000s, 2010s, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Cho Nam-Joo, cold tone, Contemporary, DEPRESSION, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, feminism, Korea, Korean, korean author, MARRIAGE, mental health, millennial, motherhood, My reviews, pregnancy, published in 2016, read in 2021, reading, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, subject over characters/story, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, work culture -
Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
“It takes practice to have restraint, and we are not yet at an age to try it out.” As the title and cover themselves suggest, Happy Hour is the book equivalent of an aperitif. I’m thinking of an Aperol spritz and some black olives. Nice enough while you’re having them but once they are gone…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, canadian author, class, cold tone, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, ennui, female authors, female friendships, friendships, gay side characters, Happy Hour, horrible friends, latinx author, lgbtq+ side, loneliness, Marlowe Granados, millennial, mumblecore, My reviews, navel gazing, NEW YORK, PRIVILEGE, read in 2021, reading, rich people, satire, SLICE OF LIFE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, toxic relationships -
Wahala by Nikki May
The cover and premise for Wahala made me think that this novel would be a beach thriller, something in the realms of Liane Moriarty. While the unfolding drama between a trio of ‘friends’ was fairly amusing to read of, Wahala wasn’t quite the suspenseful domestic thriller I’d hoped it to be. Still, this was, for…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, affairs, arc, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, Contemporary, domestic thriller, drama, england, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, horrible friends, jealousy, lgbtq+ side, LONDON, MARRIAGE, millennial, motherhood, MURDER, My reviews, netgalley, nigerian british author, obsession, psychopaths, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, work culture -
Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
Candid and humorously absurd Afterparties is a collection of short stories that focuses on the experiences of Cambodian-Americans in California. In spite of the occasional Shameless-like scenario, these stories remain grounded in realism, almost to the point of reading like a slice of life. Vo’s stories can also be read as frank vignettes capturing the…
3 STARS, Adult, America, American, autofiction, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, cambodia, cambodian american author, cheating, collection of short stories, Contemporary, conversational style, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, gay, HUMOR, intergenerational, lgbtq+, m/m, migration/immigration, millennial, My reviews, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2021, reading, sex, SEXUALITY, short stories, SLICE OF LIFE, social issues, temples -
Mona at Sea by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
heads up: in this review i will be discussing self-harm Described as being a ‘sharp’ and ‘witty’ debut Elizabeth Gonzalez James’s Mona At Sea is neither of those things. The novel tells yet another tale about an alienated millennial woman having a quarter midlife crisis. While Mona At Sea is far from terrible it is…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, 2000s, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, arizona, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, dark humor, DEPRESSION, ennui, female authors, latinx author, loneliness, millennial, Mona At Sea, My reviews, navel gazing, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, self-harming, work culture -
Sunset by Jessie Cave
“When I next love someone, they will die suddenly, unfairly, quickly, oddly, suspiciously, horrifyingly, traumatically; they’ll die in the worst way that someone could, and I will have to stand by and watch, take a photo.” Funny, raw, heartbreaking, Sunset is an exceptional debut novel. Jessie Cave’s unsparing portrayal of grief in all of its…
1st pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, dark humor, DEATH, DEPRESSION, england, female authors, GRIEF, introspective, Italy, Jessie Cave, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, loneliness, MEMORY, millennial, My reviews, netgalley, no quotations marks, published in 2021, read in 2021, SISTERS, Summer, summer reads, Sunset, trauma, travel, work culture -
Friends & Dark Shapes by Kavita Bedford
That is the truth of someone’s character: how a person makes you feel after you walk away from spending time with them.” Kavita Bedford’s Friends & Dark Shapes is an exceedingly millennial novel. We have a directionless and nameless narrator, a modern flâneur who is afflicted by a vague sense of ennui. There are no…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, AUSTRALIA, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, ennui, female authors, Friends & Dark Shapes, Indian Australian author, millennial, mumblecore, My reviews, navel gazing, no quotations marks, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, SLICE OF LIFE, strong sense of place, style over character, stylised prose, unnamed narrator
luce [is reading] 