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A Carnivore’s Inquiry by Sabina Murray
“This is what exploration had opened up the door to. Not only widespread slaughter, but the necessary accompaniment of gorging.” Unapologetically solipsistic and deeply manipulative, Katherine, the central character of A Carnivore’s Inquiry, makes for an awful human being and a deeply entertaining narrator. A predecessor to Ottessa Moshfegh and Mona Awad’s protagonists, and many…
1st pov, 2000s, 4 STARS, A Carnivore's Inquiry, A Carnivore's Inquiry by Sabina Murray, Adult, affairs, age gap, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, ambivalent mood, America, ART/CREATIVITY, books about writers, cannibalism, cheating, class, cold tone, colonialism, Contemporary, dark, dark humor, desire, ennui, female authors, feverish, filipino american author, GOTHIC, history, HORROR, introspective, Italy, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, madness, maine, Mexico, modern gothic, MURDER, MYSTERY, navel gazing, NEW YORK, no plot just vibes, otherness, PRIVILEGE, psychological, Psychological thriller, psychopaths, published in 2004, read in 2023, rich people, road trip, Sabina Murray, satire, self-destructive, serial killers, she is dangerous, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the female malaise, travel, unreliable narrators, violence, womanhood/femininity -
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
“I’d be able to move out of my car and rent my own apartment; I could live like a fully formed twenty-first-century North American human. I needed this.” Being a big fan of collections of short stories following the same character/s, I was keen to read If I Survive You. Each chapter in this debut…
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, adulthood, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, belonging, Black & Black heritage authors, black diaspora, brothers, Caribbean, CHILDHOOD, collection of short stories, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), drama, family, fathers & sons, FLORIDA, gritty realism, growing up, HIGH SCHOOL, homelessness, HUMOR, interconnected stories, intergenerational, jamaica, Jonathan Escoffery, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, masculinity, Miami, migration/immigration, music band, natural disasters, PRIVILEGE, published in 2022, RACE, read in 2022, satire, short stories, snapshots, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, work culture -
Greenland: A Novel by David Santos Donaldson
Greenland is characterized by a mordant, erudite satire that I have come to associate with authors such as Zadie Smith, Deborah Levy, and Edward St. Aubyn. David Santos Donaldson’s insight into academia & creative burnout brought to mind the work of Weike Wang, Elaine Hsieh Chou, David Hoon Kim, and Jo Hamya. Similarly to these…
1910s, 1st pov, 20th century, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, belonging, Black & Black heritage authors, bombastic style, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, David Santos Donaldson, egypt, existentialism, experimental, feverish, gay, greenland, Greenland: A Novel, hallucinations, history, identity, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, male authors, masculinity, men who do not seem to know how to write women, navel gazing, NEW YORK, obsession, paranoia, philosophical, psychological, published in 2022, queer, RACE, read in 2022, satire, sex, SEXUALITY, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, story within a story, stylised prose, travel, unreliable narrators, weird -
Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
disclaimer: i did not like this book. the opinions and impressions i will express in this review are entirely subjective and i am not in fact stating ‘irrefutable facts’. it has come to my attention that this author has a history of going on twitter to ‘bemoan’ reviewers who have given her book a negative…
1 STAR, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beauty, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, books i hate, Boy Parts, British author, class, Contemporary, dark, dark humor, Eliza Clark, england, female authors, feverish, graphic content, grotesque, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LONDON, My reviews, navel gazing, Newcastle, offensive, photographers, PHOTOGRAPHY, PRIVILEGE, psychological, psychopaths, published in 2020, queer, rape, read in 2022, reading, satire, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, she is not feeling good at all, slow pacing, style over character, subject over characters/story, the female malaise, trying and failing @ feminism, unreliable narrators -
Happy for You by Claire Stanford
The premise for Happy for You made me think that this would be something in the realms of titles such as Temporary, The Factory, and Severance, which present their readers with wry commentaries on the gig economy and the modern workplace, or, satires about social media, the tech industry, and wellness culture, such Followers and…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, asian american, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Claire Stanford, Contemporary, fathers & daughters, female authors, Happy for You, identity, loneliness, MARRIAGE, My reviews, pregnancy, PSYCHIATRISTS & THERAPISTS, psychological, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, satire, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, social media, SPECULATIVE FICTION, technology, the female malaise, work culture -
The Trees by Percival Everett
“Money, Mississippi, looks exactly like it sounds. Named in that persistent Southern tradition of irony and with the attendant tradition of nescience, the name becomes slightly sad, a marker of self-conscious ignorance that might as well be embraced because, let’s face it, it isn’t going away.” Percival Everett is an author that has been on…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, CRIME, graphic content, history, male authors, Mississippi, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, Percival Everett, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2022, reading, revenge, satire, SMALL TOWN, small town crime, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, Southern America, SUSPENSE, The Trees, violence -
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
The first two chapters of The Swimmers, ‘The Underground Pool’ and ‘The Crack’ are highly reminiscent of the author’s acclaimed The Buddha in the Attic. Like that novel The Swimmers at first seems to implement a playful choral ‘we’ as our perspective. The ‘we’ in question are the people who regularly swim at a local…
3 STARS, Adult, ageing, Alzheimer, America, asian american, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about writers, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, gay side characters, greek chorus, GRIEF, HUMOR, interconnected stories, japanese american author, lgbtq+ side, MEMORY, mothers & daughters, My reviews, place as character, playful style, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, satire, self-inserts, sports, subject over characters/story, The Swimmers -
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
In many ways Sex and Vanity was exactly the pulpy light-hearted read I was in dire need of. Kevin Kwan’s engrossing and entertaining storytelling made me speed through his book and I ended up finishing it in less than a day. As retellings go, this manages to be both (fairly) faithful and rather refreshing. What…
1st pov, 2010s, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, America, American, asian american, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, class, Contemporary, dialogue heavy, drama, E.M. Forster, family, gossip & scandals, holidays, HUMOR, Italy, kevin kwan, LGBTQ+ Author, light reads, Long Island, male authors, MARRIAGE, My reviews, NEW YORK, new york state, PRIVILEGE, published in 2020, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, rich people, ROMANCE, romcom, satire, Sex and Vanity, singaporean american author, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, summer reads, travel, wedding drama -
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 -
Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados
“It takes practice to have restraint, and we are not yet at an age to try it out.” As the title and cover themselves suggest, Happy Hour is the book equivalent of an aperitif. I’m thinking of an Aperol spritz and some black olives. Nice enough while you’re having them but once they are gone…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, canadian author, class, cold tone, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, ennui, female authors, female friendships, friendships, gay side characters, Happy Hour, horrible friends, latinx author, lgbtq+ side, loneliness, Marlowe Granados, millennial, mumblecore, My reviews, navel gazing, NEW YORK, PRIVILEGE, read in 2021, reading, rich people, satire, SLICE OF LIFE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, toxic relationships
luce [is reading] 