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Confidence by Rafael Frumkin
“It seems now like everything I’ve done in my life I’ve done because of love, a useless, gutting love that left me devoured from the inside.” Fans of books exploring white-collar crime and/or conmen & scammers should definitely give Rafael Frumkin’s sophomore novel Confidence a shot. There were aspects of the storyline that reminded me…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, America, American dream, bad love, Confidence, Contemporary, CRIME, cults, disabilities, gay, heartbreak/breakups, jealousy, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, m/m, masculinity, morality, obsession, prison, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2023, queer, Rafael Frumkin, read in 2022, rich people, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, summer camps, toxic relationships, unrequited love, wellness culture, white-collar crime -
Quartet by Jean Rhys
“There she was and there she stayed. Gradually passivity replaced her early adventurousness. She learned, after long and painstaking effort, to talk like a chorus girl, to dress like a chorus girl and to think like a chorus girl – up to a point. Beyond that point she remained apart, lonely, frightened of her loneliness,…
1920s, 20th century, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, affairs, age gap, ALIENATION, atmospheric, bad love, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, british dominican author, caribbean author, class, cold tone, ennui, female authors, FRANCE, HISTORICAL FICTION, jealousy, Jean Rhys, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MARRIAGE, melancholy, My reviews, obsession, Paris, prison, psychological, published in 1928, quartet, read in 2022, reading, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, strong sense of place, the female malaise, toxic relationships -
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Compared to My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Eileen just ain’t it. “I was like Joan of Arc, or Hamlet, but born into the wrong life—the life of a nobody, a waif, invisible. There’s no better way to say it: I was not myself back then. I was someone else. I was Eileen.” Vile, vulgar,…
1960s, 1st pov, 20th century, 3 STARS, abuse, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, dark, dark humor, eileen, endless monologues, ennui, fathers & daughters, favourite authors, female authors, grotesque, HISTORICAL FICTION, introspective, kidnapping, LITERARY FICTION, Massachusetts, MURDER, navel gazing, obsession, Ottessa Moshfegh, prison, queer undercurrents, re-reads, toxic relationships, unreliable narrators, WINTER, winter reads, work culture -
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
“I was Tookie, always too much Tookie. For better or worse, that’s a fact.” I feel quite conflicted over The Sentence. Although I loved the first half of this novel I found the latter to be boring and somewhat disjointed. While I’m sure many will be able to love everything about this book I wish…
3.5 STARS, Adult, America, American, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, bookshops, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, ghosts/spirits, hauntings, history, illness, indigenous, indigenous author, lgbtq+ side, libraries/bookshops, LITERARY FICTION, Louise Erdrich, MAGICAL REALISM, minnesota, My reviews, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, netgalley, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, pandemic, PARANORMAL, prison, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, social issues, The Sentence -
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
aaaand Cosby’s done it again! “Tears ran from his eyes and stung his cheeks. Tears for his son. Tears for his wife. Tears for the little girl they had to raise. Tears for who they were and what they all had lost. Each drop felt like it was slicing his face open like a razorblade.”…
3rd pov, 4 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, fathers & sons, favourite authors, forgiveness, gay side characters, GRIEF, grit lit, GUILT, lgbtq+ side, m/m side, male authors, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, Poverty, prison, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2021, reading, revenge, S.A. Cosby, social issues, Southern America, summer reads, terrific prose, THRILLER, trans side characters, violence, virginia -
A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
“That was the thing about people on the outside. They thought it cheered him up to see their faces, but it just reminded him too much of freedom when everybody knew it was better to adjust to the kind of freedom available on the inside.” Heartbreaking yet luminous A Kind of Freedom is a truly…
1940s, 1980s, 2010s, 20th century, 4 STARS, A Kind of Freedom, addiction, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, cheating, Contemporary, family, FAMILY SAGA, fatherhood, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, LITERARY FICTION, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, MARRIAGE, motherhood, New Orleans, prison, PUBLISHED IN 2017, RACE, read in 2020, SISTERS, social issues, war, WWII -
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 -
The Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel
“I want to be forgotten. I want it to feel as if I’ve never existed. I want to be a stranger. Rootless.” A few days before reading The Veins of the Ocean I read, and enjoyed reading, Patricia Engel’s Vida, a collection of short stories centred on a Colombian-American woman. I was intrigued by…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, Caribbean, Colombia, Colombian American author, Cuba, DEATH, family, female authors, heavy on telling, introspective, ISLAND, latin america, latin american, latinx author, LITERARY FICTION, Miami, migration/immigration, Patricia Engel, prison, PUBLISHED IN 2017, read in 2020, ROMANCE, siblings, social issues, The Veins of the Ocean, trauma, zoos -
Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Sabrina & Corina is a touching collection of short stories. In these 11 stories Kali Fajardo-Anstine depicts the lives and experiences of Latinas in the United States (mainly in Denver, Colorado). Their everyday realities are marked by many social injustices: poverty, racism, sexism, addiction, parental neglect, emotional and physical abuse. While Fajardo-Anstine doesn’t shy away…
3.5 STARS, addiction, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, California, CHILDHOOD, collection of short stories, colorado, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, girlhood, growing up, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, latin america, latin american, latinx author, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, mothers & daughters, prison, published in 2019, queer side characters, RACE, read in 2020, Sabrina & Corina, short stories, SISTERS, social issues -
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel — book review
“But they were citizens of a shadow country that in his previous life he’d only dimly perceived, a country located at the edge of an abyss. ” Emily St. John Mandel’s prose in The Glass Hotel is certainly striking. She deftly weaves realism with a dreamlike atmosphere, while also adding an elegiac touch to otherwise…
2000s, 3 STARS, Adult, affairs, ARTISTS, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, canadian author, class, Contemporary, drama, Emily St. John Mandel, female authors, ghosts/spirits, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, MEMORY, MYSTERY, prison, published in 2020, read in 2020, rich people, sea, ship, The Glass Hotel, Vancouver/Vancouver island, white-collar crime, work culture
luce [is reading] 