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Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Gut-wrenching and haunting Indian Horse depicts the horrific realities of residential schools, as well as racism and discrimination in 1960s Ontario. This is the third novel that I’ve read by Richard Wagamese and, while Medicine Walk and Ragged Company were no walks in the parks, Indian Horse’s unsparing bleakness and distressing content make those two…
1960s, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, abuse, addiction, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, canadian author, conversational style, DEPRESSION, distressing reads, favourite authors, GRIEF, HISTORICAL FICTION, hockey, indigenous, indigenous author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, male authors, My reviews, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, nuns, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, Pedophelia, published in 2012, RACE, read in 2021, reading, rural setting, social issues, sports, trauma -
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
“Fear and hatred, fear and hatred: often, it seemed that those were the only two qualities he possessed. Fear of everyone else; hatred of himself.” A Little Life is a heart-wrenching tour de force. Dark, all-consuming, devastating, moving, stunning, brutal, dazzling, beautiful, disturbing, A Little Life is all of these and so much more. This…
5 STARS, A Little Life, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, actors, Adult, ALIENATION, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, chronic pain, cliques, Contemporary, dark, DEPRESSION, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), disabilities, distressing reads, female authors, film industry, forgiveness, found family, friendships, gay, graphic content, GRIEF, GUILT, Hanya Yanagihara, identity, Italy, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, m/m, male friendships, masculinity, monasteries, morocco, NEW YORK, Pedophelia, psychological, published in 2015, queer, rape, read in 2021, self-harming, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, suicide, tragedy, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, violence -
Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage
“Desire places people in dangerous positions. This was a fact I’d yet to learn and something Richard knew all too well.” Dio mio, this book was so stressful.Equal parts gripping and horrifyingYes, Daddy is one hell of a debut novel. This is not the kind of book one enjoys reading. In fact, most of the…
2000s, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, abuse, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, age gap, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, class, Contemporary, courtroom drama, dark, film industry, forgiveness, gay, graphic content, GUILT, Jonathan Parks-Ramage, journalism, kidnapping, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, male authors, netgalley, NEW YORK, Pedophelia, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2021, queer, rape, read in 2021, Religion, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, theatre, THRILLER, trauma, violence, Yes Daddy -
Consent: A Memoir by Vanessa Springora
Written in spare yet unflinching prose Consent, as the title would suggest, is a memoir that examines its author’s relationship’ to a renowned French author, Gabriel Matzneff. At the time Springora was 14 and Matzneff was 50. Springora looks back to that time in her life, evoking the feelings and emotions her teenage self was…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, all of the trigger warnings, AUTOBIOGRAPHY, bad love, books about writers, child abuse, Consent, Consent: A Memoir, female authors, feminism, FRANCE, FRENCH, French author, graphic content, MEMOIR, Nonfiction, Pedophelia, published in 2020, rape, read in 2021, sexual assault/abuse/rape, TRANSLATED FICTION, Vanessa Springora -
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
re-re-read: what can i say, whatever this book has going on, i here for it. re-read: it hasn’t even been a year and I have already re-read this. This book slaps. Ninth House can be best described as: “talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done…
3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, abuse, academia, addiction, adrenaline fuelled reads, Adult, alex stern, Alex Stern #1, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, California, campus, Contemporary, dark, dark academia, dark fantasy, DEATH, FANTASY, female authors, ghosts/spirits, graphic content, it’s about the *aesthetics*, Leigh Bardugo, MAGIC, mental health, MURDER, MYSTERY, NEW ADULT, New Haven, Ninth House, occult, PARANORMAL, Pedophelia, place as character, published in 2019, rape, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, read in 2022, rich people, secret societies, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, strong sense of place, SUPERNATURAL, terrific prose, THRILLER, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, URBAN FANTASY, violence, violence against women, Yale -
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 -
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata — book review
“The person who had given birth to me said I was a dead loss, so I decided it really must be true.” A few days before reading Earthlings I read Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman and I really loved its humour and eccentric narrator. So, perhaps I approached Earthlings with the wrong expectations. Or maybe…
3 STARS, ALIENATION, ALIENS, BOOK REVIEWS, bullying, cannibalism, child abuse, Contemporary, Earthlings, family, female authors, feverish, graphic content, HIGH SCHOOL, HORROR, incest, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, mental health, netgalley, Pedophelia, published in 2020, rape, read in 2020, Sayaka Murata, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, trigger warning, violence, weird -
The Lover by Marguerite Duras — book review
The Lover strikes me as little more than an exercise in literary masturbation. This novella is overwrought, self-indulgent, and ultimately insubstantial. Fooled by the promise of its first pages, I soon found myself irked by the narrator’s linguistic burps. With the exception of two or three characters, everyone else is nameless. Alienation is de rigueur.…
1 STAR, 1920s, 20th century, age gap, ALIENATION, bad love, BOOK REVIEWS, books i hate, CLASSICS, female authors, FRANCE, FRENCH, French author, Marguerite Duras, modern classics, navel gazing, Pedophelia, published in 1984, purply prose, read in 2020, ROMANCE, sex, SEXUALITY, style over character, The Lover, TRANSLATED FICTION, Vietnam -
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell — book review
“I think we’re very similar, Nessa,” he whispers. “From the way you write, I can tell you’re a dark romantic like me. You like dark things.” Recently I read a nonfiction book which claimed that when reading a book “However you get it, you’ve got it right”. When I read those words I found them…
3 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, all of the trigger warnings, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, boarding/private school, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, books about books, dark, distressing reads, female authors, hyped releases, Kate Elizabeth Russell, LOLITA, maine, MEMORY, mental health, My Dark Vanessa, netgalley, Pedophelia, published in 2020, rape, READ IN 2019, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, subject over characters/story, trauma, VLADIMIR NABOKOV -
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
How can I have ‘enjoyed’ or ‘liked’ this novel?Well…I did find myself flinching away from it a few times… Well, what can be said about Lolita that hasn’t been said? Who hasn’t heard of it? The influence this work has had on modern culture is astounding: just think that the meaning of the name Lolita…
1950s, 1st pov, 20th century, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, bad love, CLASSICS, dark, existentialism, HUMBERT HUMBERT, illness, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, LOLITA, modern classics, NABOKOV, Pedophelia, philosophical, psychological, published in 1955, read in 2018, road trip, Russian American author, toxic relationships, travel, VLADIMIR NABOKOV
luce [is reading] 