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Lakewood by Megan Giddings
“America is only routinely good to women, especially Black women, when it wants something from them.” Having recently read Megan Giddings’ intriguing sophomore novel, The Women Could Fly, I decided to revisit Lakewood, a book that I have picked up and put back down on and off since August 2020. Each reading attempt saw me…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, abuse, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, creepy setting, doctors, female authors, feverish, graphic content, HORROR, illness, Lakewood, Megan Giddings, Michigan, morality, MYSTERY, near future/alternate reality, Poverty, psychological, published in 2020, RACE, read in 2022, reading, social issues, SPECULATIVE FICTION, subject over characters/story, surreal, SUSPENSE, violence -
You Are Free by Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna has a knack for unsettling her readers. The stories collected in You Are Free are a testament to her ability to create and maintain an atmosphere of disquiet, one that adds to the ambiguous characters populating her stories. The people Senna centres her stories around seem perpetually uneasy and their behaviour—which ranges from…
3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, America, belonging, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, class, collection of short stories, Contemporary, Danzy Senna, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), favourite authors, female authors, feverish, graphic content, LITERARY FICTION, motherhood, parenting, passing, published in 2011, RACE, read in 2022, reading, short stories, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, surreal, You Are Free -
Rouge Street: Three Novellas by Shuang Xuetao
Rouge Street presents its readers with three novellas by Shuang Xuetao which have been translated by Jeremy Tiang who once again has done a stellar job. The prose of these novellas is smooth and engaging, contrasting with the sometimes stark realities experienced by the characters populating these stories. The backdrop to most of these stories…
3 STARS, Adult, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, China, chinese author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, intergenerational, MAGICAL REALISM, male authors, My reviews, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, politics, Poverty, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, Rouge Street, Rouge Street: Three Novellas, short stories, Shuang Xuetao, social issues, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
It would be safe to say that I do have a bit of an uneasy relationship with Murakami’s work. I read and was not blown away by it. Over the last couple of months, I have picked up several of his short story collections but never felt compelled to finish them. The main reason why…
1990s, 1st pov, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Dreams, existentialism, f/f, feverish, first love, Greece, hallucinations, Haruki Murakami, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, male authors, men who do not seem to know how to write women, missing persons, missing women, My reviews, obsession, philosophical, published in 1999, read in 2022, reading, ROMANCE, sapphic, sex, SEXUALITY, Sputnik Sweetheart, story within a story, surreal, teachers, TRANSLATED FICTION, travel, unrequited love -
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
Like most other collections of short stories, Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is a bit of a mixed bag. Out of the 12 stories, only 2 really stood out to me while the rest blended together somewhat. The author uses fantastical elements to explore familiar themes and dynamics. I liked her use of…
3 STARS, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, canada, canadian author, collection of short stories, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, girlhood, hauntings, Kim Fu, Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, MAGICAL REALISM, My reviews, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, short stories, SPECULATIVE FICTION, surreal -
Life Ceremony: Stories by Sayaka Murata
This collection was both disappointing and unnecessarily disgusting. Not a great start to my reading year… “What could be more normal than making people into clothes or furniture after they die?” A lot of things… As Life Ceremony happened to be one of my most anticipated 2022 releases, I was very happy to learn that…
2 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, arc, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cannibalism, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), favourite authors, female authors, feverish, gay side characters, graphic content, grotesque, HORROR, illness, japan, lgbtq+ side, Life Ceremony, Life Ceremony: Stories, My reviews, netgalley, Neurodiversity, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, Sayaka Murata, sex, SPECULATIVE FICTION, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION, weird, what ifs -
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
Previously to reading All the Lovers in the Night, I’d read Breasts and Eggs, Heaven, and Ms. Ice Sandwich, by Mieko Kawakami. While I was not ‘fond’ of Breasts and Eggs, I did find her other books to be compelling. As the premise for All the Lovers in the Night did bring to mind Breasts…
1st pov, 2010s, 3.25 stars, addiction, Adult, All the Lovers in the Night, anxiety, atmospheric, Booklr, books about books, bullying, Contemporary, DEPRESSION, endless monologues, female authors, female friendships, friendships, identity, introspective, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, loneliness, Longing, melancholy, Mieko Kawakami, mumblecore, navel gazing, philosophical, psychological, published in 2022, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, SLICE OF LIFE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, surreal, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION, work culture -
The Houseguest: And Other Stories by Amparo Dávila
Whenever an author is compared to Shirley Jackson, I feel compelled to check their work out. More often than not, upon reading their stuff, I end up rather perplexed by the comparisons to Jackson. In the case of Amparo Dávila, well, this comparison isn’t wholly unearned. Jackson and Dávila’s approach to the horror genre certainly…
1960s, 20th century, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Amparo Dávila, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, collection of short stories, curses, female authors, GOTHIC, grotesque, HISTORICAL FICTION, HORROR, latin america, latin american, latinx author, MAGICAL REALISM, mexican, mexican author, Mexico, My reviews, paranoia, PARANORMAL, published in 2018, read in 2021, reading, short stories, surreal, The Houseguest, TRANSLATED FICTION -
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
“The deep sea is a haunted house: a place in which things that ought not to exist move about in the darkness.” The cover, title, premise, and early hype around this novel made me think that I was going to love it. Alas, as it often seems to be the case, Our Wives Under The…
1st pov, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, arc, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, cold tone, Contemporary, england, f/f, female authors, GRIEF, illness, introspective, Julia Armfield, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MARRIAGE, MEMORY, mental health, My reviews, netgalley, Our Wives Under The Sea, psychological, purply prose, queer, reading, sapphic, science, scientists & co, sea, style over character, stylised prose, subject over characters/story, surreal -
N.P. by Banana Yoshimoto
N.P. is textbook Banana Yoshimoto: we have a cheerful, occasionally off-beat, young woman, as our narrator, Daddy Issues, sucide(s), a bizarre love story, and… incest?! I will say that N.P. does seem to attempt to include a mystery subplot (which doesn’t really go anywhere but still…). In this novel a writer published a collection of…
1990s, 1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, Banana Yoshimoto, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, Contemporary, DEATH, drama, female authors, GRIEF, incest, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, loneliness, Longing, My reviews, N.P., navel gazing, published in 1990, queer undercurrents, read in 2021, reading, SLICE OF LIFE, suicide, surreal, TRANSLATED FICTION, unrequited love
luce [is reading] 