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Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
“It is in the most surreal situations that a person feels the most present, the closest to reality.” An ingenious and effervescent collection of surreal stories that will definitely appeal to fans of Kevin Wilson, Helen Oyeyemi, and Hiroko Oyamada. Ling Ma has a knack for blending realistic dynamics and issues with absurdist ones, and,…
4 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, Bliss Montage, books about writers, California, China, chinese american author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, creative writing seminars, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dreamlike quality, existentialism, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, interconnected stories, Ling Ma, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, los angeles, MAGICAL REALISM, motherhood, NEW YORK, office, parenting, playful style, portal fantasy, pregnancy, published in 2022, read in 2022, short stories, surreal, toxic relationships, unnamed country, weird -
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
“Inside of me, there’s another person, with a form all his own, moving around as he pleases. It’s like my own body has become foreign to me.” The premise for Diary of a Void promised a ‘surreal and wryly humorous cultural critique’ and I am afraid that while the commentary within this novel is fairly…
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We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets
We Had to Remove This Post is one of those books that leaves me thinking…well, not much beyond: this is a thing that exists It doesn’t happen all that much but now and again I read books that spectacularly fail to elicit any discernible feeling or emotion in me (beyond ‘meh’). This is ironic given…
1st pov, 2 STARS, Adult, cold tone, Contemporary, dutch author, f/f, female authors, feverish, Hanna Bervoets, HORROR, jealousy, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, morality, Netherlands, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, obsession, office, paranoia, psychological, published in 2021, queer, read in 2022, sapphic, social issues, social media, subject over characters/story, technology, TRANSLATED FICTION, unreliable narrators, violence, We Had to Remove This Post, work culture -
Solo Dance by Kotomi Li
“There’s a limit to how much misogyny and heteronomrative bullshit a story can have.” Solo Dance follows a millennial woman from Taiwan working an office job in Tokyo who feels alienated from her colleagues and their daily conversations about marriage, the economy, and children. Chō, our protagonist, is a lesbian, something she keeps ‘hidden’ from…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, break-ups, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, DEPRESSION, existentialism, f/f, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, japan, Kotomi Li, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, Li Kotomi, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, navel gazing, office, published in 2018, queer, rape, read in 2022, reading, sapphic, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, she is not feeling good at all, social issues, Solo Dance, subject over characters/story, suicide, taiwan, taiwanese author, the female malaise, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, work culture, youth -
Edge Case by YZ Chin
“[I]f I could make Americans laugh, then I would be accepted. I would be embraced and admired.” Realistic, subtly off-beat, and keenly observed, Edge Case couples an indictment of the rampant misogyny that permeates the tech industry with an unsparing depiction of the everyday inequities and hurdles immigrants face in their pursuit of green cards…
1st pov, 3.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, eating disorders, Edge Case, female authors, introspective, language, LITERARY FICTION, Malaysia, Malaysian author, MARRIAGE, mental health, migration/immigration, missing men, missing persons, mothers & daughters, My reviews, NEW YORK, office, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, trauma, work culture, YZ Chin -
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
How to describe Queenie? Cringe comedy without the comedy meets misery porn? Unfunny caricatures galore? Low-key offensive towards ethnic minorities? Look, I knew that Queenie would not be like Bridget Jones, and to be honest, that is a plus in my books (i watched the film adaptation when i first moved to britain and i…
1st pov, abortion/miscarriage/bodily autonomy, abuse, Adult, anxiety, bad love, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, Candice Carty-Williams, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, drama, england, female authors, LONDON, MELODRAMA, mental health, millennial, My reviews, office, published in 2019, Queenie, RACE, read in 2021, sex, social issues, toxic relationships, trauma, work culture -
Symptomatic by Danzy Senna
“Every day in this new city I was trying to live in the purity of the present, free from context. Contexts, I knew, were dangerous: Once you put them into the picture, they took over.” As with her latest novel New People, Symptomatic presents its readers with a claustrophobic and disquieting narrative that becomes increasingly…
1990s, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, cold tone, colorism, Contemporary, Danzy Senna, dark, domestic thriller, doubles, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, female doubles, feverish, grotesque, hallucinations, illness, introspective, jealousy, journalism, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, madness, mental health, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, obsession, office, passing, psychological, published in 2004, RACE, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, stalking, surreal, Symptomatic, terrific prose, the body, the female malaise, toxic relationships, unnamed narrator, work culture -
The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
The Office of Historical Corrections is a striking collection of short stories, easily the best one to be published this year. Unlike many other collections—which tend to have a few forgettable or ‘weaker’ stories—The Office of Historical Corrections has only hits. There isn’t one story that bored me or wasn’t as good as the rest.…
4.5 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ARTISTS, beautiful prose, Black & Black heritage authors, CHILDHOOD, class, collection of short stories, Contemporary, Danielle Evans, family, favourite authors, female authors, female friendships, friendships, girlhood, history, LITERARY FICTION, motherhood, museums, netgalley, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, office, prison, published in 2020, RACE, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, short stories, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, The Office of Historical Corrections -
Severance by Ling Ma
“To live in a city is to take part in and to propagate its impossible systems. To wake up. To go to work in the morning. It is also to take pleasure in those systems because, otherwise, who could repeat the same routines, year in, year out?” Severance is an engrossing and, given the…
1st pov, 4 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, apocalyptic, asian american, China, chinese american author, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, dark humor, ennui, female authors, illness, Ling Ma, LITERARY FICTION, migration/immigration, millennial, mumblecore, near future/alternate reality, NEW YORK, no quotations marks, office, pandemic, post-apocalyptic, pregnancy, published in 2018, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2022, sardonic humor, satire, Severance, SPECULATIVE FICTION, surreal, survival, the female malaise, work culture -
Temporary by Hilary Leichter — book review
“The gods created the First Temporary so they could take a break.” Temporary is a wonderfully bizarre novel. Readers who prefer to read stories that are grounded in reality or that are ruled by logic and reason may be better off steering clear from the sheer absurdity that is Temporary. “She noted the fallacy of…
4 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, female authors, Hilary Leichter, HUMOR, Kafkaesque, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, office, pirates, published in 2020, read in 2020, ship, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, surreal, Temporary, temporary workers, unnamed narrator, weird, what ifs, work culture
luce [is reading] 