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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 -
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
“It is in the most surreal situations that a person feels the most present, the closest to reality.” An ingenious and effervescent collection of surreal stories that will definitely appeal to fans of Kevin Wilson, Helen Oyeyemi, and Hiroko Oyamada. Ling Ma has a knack for blending realistic dynamics and issues with absurdist ones, and,…
4 STARS, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, asian american, asian diaspora, belonging, Bliss Montage, books about writers, California, China, chinese american author, collection of short stories, Contemporary, creative writing seminars, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dreamlike quality, existentialism, female authors, heartbreak/breakups, interconnected stories, Ling Ma, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, los angeles, MAGICAL REALISM, motherhood, NEW YORK, office, parenting, playful style, portal fantasy, pregnancy, published in 2022, read in 2022, short stories, surreal, toxic relationships, unnamed country, weird -
The Maid by Nita Prose
edit: after some reflection i have decided to lower my rating as i am frustrated by the way autistic-coded Nina is presented as so exaggeratedly ‘quirky’ & ‘naive’, someone who we will inevitably find ‘endearing’ The Maid could have been a solid escapist read. This is less of a cozy whodunnit than a ‘trying hard too hard…
1st pov, 2 STARS, Adult, arc, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, bullying, canadian author, Contemporary, cozy mystery, CRIME, female authors, friendships, grandmothers, hotel, HUMOR, light reads, loneliness, maids, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, netgalley, Neurodiversity, Nita Prose, read in 2022, reading, SUSPENSE, The Maid, unnamed country, whodunnit, work culture -
How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
“It was the kind of giggling they themselves did as kids. Now, that kind of giggle seemed foolish for them to do. It was like a far distant thing, a thing that happened only to other people. All they could do now was be close to it, and remain out of sight.” While How to…
3 STARS, Adult, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, collection of short stories, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, How to Pronounce Knife, intergenerational, language, Laotian Canadian author, migration/immigration, My reviews, published in 2020, read in 2021, reading, short stories, social issues, Souvankham Thammavongsa, unnamed country, work culture -
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara and the Sun presents its readers with a quiet yet touching meditation on life. In a similar fashion as Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro’s foray into the speculative realm is deeply grounded in the mundane. Yet, in spite of its ordinary trappings, Klara and the Sun is a work that is brimming…
1st pov, 4 STARS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, atmospheric, beautiful prose, British author, environmental, existentialism, favourite authors, friendships, identity, introspective, Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, near future/alternate reality, parenting, psychological, published in 2021, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, SCI-FI, SLICE OF LIFE, SPECULATIVE FICTION, technology, unnamed country, what ifs -
Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
“Everything I could see looked unreal to me; everything I could see made me feel I would never be part of it, never penetrate to the inside, never be taken in.” From the very first page, I was enthralled by Lucy’s deceptively simple narration. To begin with, I was struck by the clarity of her…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, Antiguan author, beautiful prose, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Caribbean, caribbean author, class, CLASSICS, cold tone, coming of age, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, female authors, GRIEF, identity, introspective, ISLAND, Jamaica Kincaid, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, Lucy, MEMORY, migration/immigration, modern classics, mothers & daughters, My reviews, NOVELLA/SHORT STORY, Postcolonial, psychological, published in 1990, queer undercurrents, RACE, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, read in 2022, reading, SEXUALITY, sitter/au pair/governess, the female malaise, unnamed country, VILLETTE -
The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi — book review
The Eighth Detective is not quite the “thrilling, wildly inventive nesting doll of a mystery” it’d be promised to be. I approached this novel hoping for something in the realms of Anthony Horowitz. Sadly, The Eighth Detective seems closer to The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, in that both novels are hellbent on ‘confusing’ the…
2 STARS, Adult, Alex Pavesi, arc, books about books, books about writers, BOOKS ON WRITING, Contemporary, CRIME, DETECTIVE, golden age detective fiction, male authors, murder mystery, MYSTERY, mystery puzzle, netgalley, published in 2020, read in 2020, short stories, story within a story, SUSPENSE, The Eighth Detective, unnamed country, whodunnit -
Little Family by Ishmael Beah – book review
“Almost everything in this country is on its way to losing itself.” Little Family is a deeply felt novel. Set in an unnamed African country, the narrative revolves around five young people whose makeshift home is a derelict airplane. Ishmael Beah’s paints a sobering landscape: government corruption, extreme social divide, the malignant vestiges of colonialism,…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, child abuse, CHILDHOOD, class, colorism, coming of age, found family, friendships, growing up, Ishmael Beah, LITERARY FICTION, Little Family, politics, published in 2020, read in 2020, Religion, SEXUALITY, Sierra Leonean author, social issues, survival, unnamed country -
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht — book review
“He was alone and hungry, and that hunger, coupled with the thunderous noise of bombardment, had burned in him a kind of awareness of his own death, an imminent and innate knowledge he could neither dismiss nor succumb to.” To begin with I was intrigued by Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife. Obreht’s writing is both…
1940s, 1990s, 2010s, 20th century, 3.25 stars, balkans, BOOK REVIEW, Booklr, Contemporary, DEATH, doctors, female authors, FOLKLORE, HISTORICAL FICTION, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, myths, published in 2011, read in 2020, Serbian American author, story within a story, Storytelling, survival, Téa Obreht, The Tiger’s Wife, tigers, unnamed country, war, WWII, zoos -
Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat
“The difference between her and them was as stark as the gulf between those who’d escaped a catastrophe unscathed and others who’d been forever mutilated by it.” This was such a wonderful and poignant collection of short stories.In a interview on LitHub Edwige Danticat said that one of the reasons why she loves the short…
4.5 STARS, affairs, ALIENATION, America, Black & Black heritage authors, Caribbean, caribbean author, CHILDHOOD, class, collection of short stories, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), Edwidge Danticat, Everything Inside: Stories, family, female authors, FLORIDA, friendships, GENDER, GRIEF, HAITI, haitian author, identity, illness, ISLAND, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, mental health, migration/immigration, motherhood, mothers & daughters, published in 2019, RACE, re-reads, READ IN 2019, read in 2020, short stories, unnamed country
luce [is reading] 