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Solo Dance by Kotomi Li
“There’s a limit to how much misogyny and heteronomrative bullshit a story can have.” Solo Dance follows a millennial woman from Taiwan working an office job in Tokyo who feels alienated from her colleagues and their daily conversations about marriage, the economy, and children. Chō, our protagonist, is a lesbian, something she keeps ‘hidden’ from […]
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, break-ups, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, cultural dissonance, DEPRESSION, existentialism, f/f, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, japan, Kotomi Li, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, Li Kotomi, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, navel gazing, office, published in 2018, queer, rape, read in 2022, reading, sapphic, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, she is not feeling good at all, social issues, Solo Dance, subject over characters/story, suicide, taiwan, taiwanese author, the female malaise, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION, trauma, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, work culture, youth -
NOTES OF A CROCODILE BY QIU MIAOJIN
“Cruelty and mercy are one and the same. Existence in this world relegates good and evil to the exact same status. Cruelty and evil are only natural, and together they are endowed with half the power and half the utility in this world. It seems I’m going to have to learn to be crueler if […]
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, academia, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, ANGST, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, CLASSICS, DEPRESSION, endless monologues, existentialism, female authors, gay side characters, HISTORICAL FICTION, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, lgbtq+ classics, LITERARY FICTION, modern classics, My reviews, navel gazing, Notes of a Crocodile, published in 1994, Qiu Miaojin, queer, read in 2021, reading, sapphic, SEXUALITY, style over character, subject over characters/story, suicide, taiwan, taiwanese author, toxic relationships, TRANSLATED FICTION, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE