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The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
“It seemed to me that in this confluence of cultures, we had acquired one another’s superstitions without necessarily any of their comforts.” A few years back I read and was positutely grossed out by Yangsze Choo’s The Night Tiger as I found its male love interest to be both a perv & bully. Thankfully, Yangsze…
1890s, 19TH CENTURY, 1st pov, Adult, adventure, afterlife, chinese myths, class, colonialism, dead boys, DEMONS, DRAGONS, drama, FANTASY, female authors, FOLKLORE, ghosts/spirits, girls hating girls, HISTORICAL FICTION, love triangle, Malaysia, Malaysian author, myths, PARANORMAL, published in 2013, read in 2022, ROMANCE, spirit realm, SUPERNATURAL, The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo -
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
“It felt scary, as if she were stepping across some invisible boundary, as if she might not know herself afterward. As if she were becoming the self she’d always thought lurked just underneath her skin. Her coolest possible self.” The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is very much old-school Holly Black: edgy aesthetics, gritty/snarky dialogues, and…
3.25 stars, 3rd pov, Adult, adventure, age gap, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, atmospheric, balls, bi side characters, DEATH, drama, dystopia, FANTASY, favourite authors, female authors, gritty aesthetics, HOLLY BLACK, HORROR, it’s about the *aesthetics*, lgbtq+ side, monsters, no plot just vibes, PARANORMAL, published in 2013, queer side characters, re-reads, read in 2013, read in 2022, revenge, road trip, ROMANCE, SPECULATIVE FICTION, survival, The Coldest Girl, trans side characters, URBAN FANTASY, VAMPIRES, violence, YOUNG ADULT -
The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo
The Old Woman with the Knife follows Hornclaw a 65-year-old assassin in South Korea who is noticing that she is no longer as fit as she used to be. She makes a few slips up on the job and wonders when her company is going to force her into retirement. Due to the nature of…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, ageing, ambiguous protagonist, assassins, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Contemporary, CRIME, female authors, Gu Byeong-mo, heavy on telling, Korea, korean author, My reviews, published in 2013, read in 2022, reading, revenge, SUSPENSE, The Old Woman with the Knife, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Having recently enjoyed reading Kevin Kwan’s A Room With A View re-telling, I was seriously expecting to love Crazy Rich Asians. I went into it hoping for a light-hearted and fun read but was instead met with a snooze-inducing story, a horrid cast of poorly developed characters, and an abundance of crass humor. I grew…
2 STARS, 2010s, 3rd pov, Adult, affairs, America, American, asian american, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, bullying, cheating, China, class, Contemporary, Crazy Rich Asians, cultural dissonance, drama, girls hating girls, gossip & scandals, hong kong, HUMOR, kevin kwan, LGBTQ+ Author, male authors, MARRIAGE, MELODRAMA, My reviews, NEW YORK, Not Like Other Girls, playful style, published in 2013, read in 2022, reading, rich people, romcom, singapore, singaporean, singaporean american author, wedding drama -
Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
“How could I know then that this would be my life: yearning to leave the South and doing so again and again, but perpetually called back to home by a love so thick it choked me?” Devastating, heart-wrenching, and full of love and sorrow, Men We Reaped is an unforgettable memoir. Jesmyn Ward recounts her…
1st pov, 4 STARS, addiction, Adult, America, American, beautiful prose, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CHILDHOOD, class, Contemporary, DEATH, distressing reads, family, female authors, GRIEF, growing up, introspective, Jesmyn Ward, Longing, MEMOIR, MEMORY, Men We Reaped, Men We Reaped: A Memoir, Mississippi, My reviews, Nonfiction, Poverty, published in 2013, RACE, read in 2021, reading, siblings, SMALL TOWN, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, Southern America, strong sense of place, suicide, tragedy, trauma -
The Embassy of Cambodia by Zadie Smith
This is the first story I read by Zadie Smith that I actually didn’t hate. In fact, one could even say that I quite liked The Embassy of Cambodia. Smith’s adroit storytelling is characterised by a razor-sharp social commentary and a trenchant sense of humor. While I was overall able to appreciate this short story,…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Black & Black heritage authors, British author, class, Contemporary, england, female authors, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, migration/immigration, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, politics, PRIVILEGE, published in 2013, RACE, read in 2021, rich people, satire, short stories, sitter/au pair/governess, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, The Embassy of Cambodia, ZADIE SMITH -
The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada
While The Factory shares many similarities with The Hole, it lacked the eerie atmosphere that made the latter into such a beguiling read. The Factory switches between three 1st povs, without specifying who is narrating (we usually can guess by the job they do). They all work at ‘the factory, an industrial factory located in…
1st pov, 3 STARS, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, female authors, Hiroko Oyamada, HUMOR, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, Kafkaesque, MAGICAL REALISM, My reviews, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, published in 2013, read in 2021, reading, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, surreal, The Factory, TRANSLATED FICTION, weird, work culture -
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah
“Objects, matter itself, were softly disintegrating. All identity became ambiguous, semi-opaque.” As the fickle creature that I am what drew me to Untold Night and Day was its cover. The first few pages intrigued me as they focus on Kim Ayami a former actor who now works at an audio theatre for the blind. The…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, actors, Adult, Bae Suah, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, existentialism, female authors, Korea, Korean, korean author, MAGICAL REALISM, My reviews, published in 2013, read in 2021, reading, style over character, stylised prose, surreal, theatre, TRANSLATED FICTION, Untold Night and Day, weird -
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
“To understand the world at all, sometimes you could only focus on a tiny bit of it, look very hard at what was close to hand and make it stand in for the whole.” The Goldfinch is an emotional rollercoaster spanning 700+ pages and proof that literary lightning can indeed strike twice. Fully deserving of…
1st pov, 2010s, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, anxiety-inducing reads, ART/CREATIVITY, beautiful prose, big books, bildungsroman, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, boyhood, CHILDHOOD, class, Contemporary, CRIME, DEATH, DEPRESSION, donna tartt, existentialism, fathers & sons, favourite authors, female authors, forgiveness, friendships, GRIEF, growing up, GUILT, introspective, las vegas, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, MEMORY, morality, mothers & sons, museums, My reviews, Netherlands, nevada, NEW YORK, orphans, paranoia, philosophical, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2013, Pulitzer Prize, pulitzer prize winners, queer undercurrents, re-reads, read in 2017, read in 2021, reading, rich people, strong sense of place, suicide, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the goldfinch, trauma, unrequited love -
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
In the last few weeks I’ve read two works by Oyeyemi (Peaces and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours) and what I liked most about them was how funny, inventive, and unapologetically queer they were. So, naturally, I was somewhat surprised and saddened to discover that Boy, Snow, Bird lacks any of those qualities.…
1950s, 1960s, 1st pov, 2 STARS, 20th century, abuse, Adult, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, doubles, evil stepmother, FAIRY TALES, FANTASY, female authors, female doubles, Helen Oyeyemi, HISTORICAL FICTION, jealousy, lgbtq+ side, Massachusetts, mothers & daughters, My reviews, NEW YORK, nigerian british author, problematic, published in 2013, RACE, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, SISTERS, surreal, trans side characters
luce [is reading] 