![luce [is reading]](https://wishfullyreading.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/9429655-1.jpeg){kind=small}
-
The Human Zoo by Sabina Murray
Written with compelling self-assurance The Human Zoo focuses on Ting, a Filipino-American journalist in her late forties whose marriage is close to collapse. Ting decides to go to Manila, where she seeks refuge in her Tita Rosa’s house, who still dotes on her like she was a child. Ting’s motivations for this journey are ambiguous,…
1st pov, 4 STARS, Adult, affairs, ambivalent mood, atmospheric, books about writers, class, colonialism, Contemporary, DEATH, divorce/separations, female authors, filipino american author, gay side characters, history, identity, introspective, journalism, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, navel gazing, philippines, place as character, politics, PRIVILEGE, psychological, published in 2022, queer side characters, re-reads, read in 2022, read in 2023, rich people, Sabina Murray, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, strong sense of place, The Human Zoo, trans side characters -
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi
“By the time the apocalypse began, the world had already ended. It ended every day for a century or two. It ended, and another ending world spun in its place.” War, historical conflicts, present crises, and apocalyptic visions, are the motifs of Franny Choi’s The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes. Some poems are…
3 STARS, Adult, America, apocalyptic, asian american, asian diaspora, colonialism, DEATH, environmental, female authors, Franny Choi, generational trauma, history, Korea, korean american author, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, POETRY, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, social issues, stylised prose, The World Keeps Ending and the World Goes On -
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 Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
“I think a lot of people would elect to be dead if they didnt have to die.” By turns, blunt and meandering The Passenger presents its readers with an unsparing tale permeated by existential angst. Cormac McCarthy’s prose is uncompromising: much of the narrative consists of dialogues: rambling conversations, mystifying backwards and forwards, sharp repartees,…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 3rd pov, 4 STARS, addiction, ageing, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, atmospheric, bad love, bars & restaurants, Cormac McCarthy, dead girls, DEATH, desire, dialogue heavy, endless monologues, existentialism, experimental, feverish, FLORIDA, GRIEF, grit lit, GUILT, hallucinations, hauntings, history, i don’t think happiness is for me, Ibiza, Idaho, incest, introspective, ISLAND, Kafkaesque, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, Longing, Louisiana, madness, MEMORY, mental health, Mississippi, morality, MYSTERY, nature, New Orleans, no plot just vibes, no quotations marks, obsession, paranoia, philosophical, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, psychology, published in 2022, read in 2022, road trip, schizophrenia, science, scientists & co, sea, siblings, Southern America, spain, suicide, survival, terrific prose, The Passenger, tragedy, trans side characters, war, western -
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
“They spoke in both languages. We love you, don’t cry. Sorrow eats time. Be patient. Time eats sorrow.” Unsparing yet profoundly touching LaRose chronicles the aftermath of a tragic accident: it’s 1999, when, on a reservation in North Dakota, Landreaux Iron, hunting for a deer near his property, accidentally shoots and kills Dusty, the 5-year-old…
1830s, 1990s, 19TH CENTURY, 2000s, 20th century, 3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, abuse, addiction, Adult, America, bullying, CHILDHOOD, Christianity, coming of age, Contemporary, DEATH, DEPRESSION, family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, forgiveness, friendships, generational trauma, ghosts/spirits, great storytelling, GRIEF, gritty realism, growing up, GUILT, indigenous, indigenous author, intergenerational, LaRose, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Louise Erdrich, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, mental health, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, nature, no quotations marks, north dakota, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, polyphonic, published in 2016, read in 2022, Religion, reservations, revenge, school setting, sexual assault/abuse/rape, siblings, social issues, strong sense of place, suicide, toxic relationships, tragedy, trauma, unrequited love -
Self-Portrait with Ghost: Short Stories by Meng Jin
Sly and surreal Self-Portrait with Ghost makes for a playfully weird and refreshingly inventive collection of short stories. Like most collections, not all of its stories are created equal, as there are a couple, especially the shorter ones last, that are rather forgettable. The most effective stories were the ones that, although characterized by a…
3.25 stars, Adult, ambivalent mood, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, CHILDHOOD, chinese american author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, dark humor, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dreamlike quality, female authors, feverish, first love, ghosts/spirits, girlhood, HIGH SCHOOL, jealousy, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MAGICAL REALISM, MARRIAGE, Meng Jin, migration/immigration, mothers & daughters, navel gazing, opera/choruses/classical music, playful style, published in 2022, queer, read in 2022, SEXUALITY, short stories, surreal, toxic relationships, unrequited love, weird, womanhood/femininity -
A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice Daniel
Drawn by its stunning title & cover, I requested an arc for A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing. For some reason or other I ended up neglecting to read it but at long last decided to give it a try, and I’m really glad that I did get round to it. Written with clarity and…
1990s, 2000s, 3.5 STARS, A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing, A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents, Adult, America, belonging, biography, Black & Black heritage authors, black diaspora, CHILDHOOD, Christianity, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, elementary school, england, family, female authors, generational trauma, girlhood, growing up, HIGH SCHOOL, history, identity, Islam, language, Mary-Alice Daniel, MEMOIR, MEMORY, migration/immigration, Nigeria, nigerian american author, Nonfiction, otherness, published in 2022, RACE, read in 2022, Religion, school setting, snapshots, social issues, story within a story -
Are You Happy Now by Hanna Jameson
“That this was the trade-off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.” A quietly crushing yet devastatingly tender work scintillating with insight and emotional intelligence. With acuity and empathy Hanna Jameson presents her readers with a captivating narrative chronicling four people’s attempts at happiness despite a looming health…
3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, adulthood, age gap, ALIENATION, ambivalent mood, America, anxiety, Are You Happy Now, atmospheric, bad love, beautiful prose, belonging, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, British author, contemporary malaise, dancers, DEATH, DEPRESSION, desire, divorce/separations, ennui, female authors, first love, gay, Hanna Jameson, heartbreak/breakups, i don’t think happiness is for me, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, journalism, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, m/m, male friendships, melancholy, mental health, musicians, near future/alternate reality, NEW YORK, pandemic, psychological, published in 2023, queer, read in 2022, restrained prose, right person wrong time, ROMANCE, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, strong sense of place, suicide, trauma, unrequited love, wedding drama, work culture -
Marie’s Proof of Love by Mieko Kawakami
“Love doesn’t belong to any of us—it exists elsewhere, complete, from beginning to end. We simply have the privilege of coming into contact with it every once in a while.” The dreamlike mood permeating this short story by Mieko Kawakami is reminiscent of Elisabeth Thomas’s Catherine House, Sylvia Plath, and Fleur Jaeggy’s Sweet Days of…
abuse, all girls school, boarding/private school, dreamlike quality, female authors, GRIEF, heartbreak/breakups, JAPANESE AUTHOR, loneliness, Marie’s Proof of Love, melancholy, Mieko Kawakami, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, published in 2021, read in 2022, sapphic, short stories, the female malaise, trauma, unnamed country -
Nothing Can Hurt You Now by Simone Campos
A banger of a premise is let-down by sensationalistic storytelling, a banal plot, and a writing style that for all its attempts to be gritty & edgy comes across as laughable. Worst still, the narrative seems under the impression that it is doing a lot, in terms of unconventional female characters and challenging simplistic representations…
2 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, amateur detective, brazil, brazilian author, Contemporary, f/f, female authors, graphic content, kidnapping, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, men who are sleazy, missing girls, missing persons, models, MYSTERY, Neurodiversity, Not Like Other Girls, Nothing Can Hurt You Now, prostitution, published in 2019, queer, read in 2022, sapphic, sex, sex scenes that are yikes, Simone Campos, SISTERS, smut, style over character, survival, SUSPENSE, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, trying and failing @ feminism, wannabe gone girl
luce [is reading] 