This is one book I truly wish I could give 5 stars too.
Bodies of Light is the story of one woman's life from childhood to adulthood, as she 4.5 Rating
This is one book I truly wish I could give 5 stars too.
Bodies of Light is the story of one woman's life from childhood to adulthood, as she navigates through being a kid in the foster system and the trauma that follows her.
Let's start with the good - the writing is really beautiful. Down really captures all of the emotions and smells and sights of Maggie's experiences. Some passages take your breath away and she really captures both small and big emotions in a raw, resonating way.
Unfortunately, a few things let the book down for me, even though it's not far off a 5 star for me.
One, is the structure. At times it just felt like one (condensed) moment of her life after the other and that's all that really happens. I never felt completely in the novel because I knew that portion of her life was just going to end. There is no build up to anything, no peak of the novel - it's very much this happened, then this happened.
Two - some of the events that happen to her do feel a bit overdone and like trauma porn. While most of it makes sense considering her childhood, I felt like the section with her children just became too much to accept. I felt like the events around her children needed to be tied in to something bigger.
Three - I had trouble getting gauging how other characters saw her, or how her personality appeared to others. This is partially the consequence of the first person narrative and it does make sense that she is a difficult person to get close to, but it did dull my attachment to her just a little bit.
Four - The last section was a little dull. After such an engrossing beginning, the last few hundred pages really dragged and just weren't that interesting. I felt the book was just missing something to tie it all together.
Overall though, well written and I am sure I will be thinking of Maggie for quite a while.
This simultaneously sent me into a slump and pulled me out of one. For the first 150 pages it was just 'fine' and I couldn't get into it. Onc3.8 stars
This simultaneously sent me into a slump and pulled me out of one. For the first 150 pages it was just 'fine' and I couldn't get into it. Once the other main characters came into it more, I was more invested and the last 30% was great. I REALLY appreciated that the MMC was intelligent and thoughtful and felt like a real character. I didn't see any of the twists coming either.
This was honestly one of the most boring books I have read. I DNFd at around 200 pages and skimmed the last few chapters.
I saw another reviewer say thThis was honestly one of the most boring books I have read. I DNFd at around 200 pages and skimmed the last few chapters.
I saw another reviewer say this was like a kids book for kids who wanted to read about adults. I agree. The whole story felt very juvenile, immature and flat. The plotline (which is obvious pretty early on) was contrived.
The main fault of the novel though is just how slow and boring it is. The characters aren't very likeable or compelling, so having to read about them doing basically nothing for half the book was like watching paint dry.
I still for the life of me can't figure out why she made the male main character so incredibly unlikeable. There was no point to this, he did not have some amazing character arc nor did his unlikeable nature have much impact on the plot.
The good reviews for this book actually boggle my mind. It wasn't even Colleen Hoover bad, where you know the book is crap but you are reading solely for mind numbing entertainment. This was just boredom in a book.
Let’s be real, the fact that Barbara Kingsolver can set a retelling of David Copperfield in modern times and have it remain realistic is a true indictLet’s be real, the fact that Barbara Kingsolver can set a retelling of David Copperfield in modern times and have it remain realistic is a true indictment on the way humans have failed their most vulnerable. David Copperfield was written in 1849 and here we are in 2023, with one of the richest countries in the world operating a FOR-PROFIT foster child, mental health and health system that means orphans like David and Demon essentially experience the same kind of systemic failures that result in them feeling abandoned, unloved, unwanted and hopeless. Hundreds of years between them.
Set in the Appalachian mountains in the US, the novel follows Demon from his birth in a trailer to a teenage single mother through his journey into the foster care system and the effects of the opioid epidemic on everyone around him. If this sounds depressing, it is - there are times when the novel is hard to read because of how just how alone demon is and how systemic and embedded the problems are. It is frustrating reading about the consistent apathy that grown adults and the system itself displays towards this child, all the while knowing that this really is the experience of so many kids.
That said, Demon’s narration is full of heart, humour, Appalachian colloquialisms and Appalachian *appreciation.* Despite the many terrible things that happen to and around our main character in this novel, there is one passage that has played over in my mind since I finished the book. That’s the part in the novel where Demon relates the feeling of *knowing* he’s a ‘hillbilly’ to the well known trope of the ‘loser’ in the toilet overhearing people talk about him. “We can hear you” are the four words that have bounced around in my head ever since, because I think many of us have been guilty of judging people from this area, and as Demon points out, the image of the dumb, toothless hillbilly runs rampant, unquestioned.
Because that’s the thing - this book is built on empathy towards those who are least likely to receive it and certainly aren’t receiving enough of it in the world as it is today. Kingsolver builds the novel around the idea that some people’s life choices are suffocated and shaped by things out of their control and admitting so doesn’t negate all personal responsibility.
“A ten year old getting high on pills. Foolish children. This is what we’re meant to say: Look at their choices, leading to a life of ruin. But lives are getting lived right now, this hour, down in the dirty cracks between the toothbrushed nighty-nights and the full grocery carts, where those words don’t pertain. Children, choices…….all the adults had gone off somewhere and left everything in our hands”.
These kids live in a world where poverty, both generational and systemic, has a trickle down effect that is effortlessly woven into the book and around every character. Add in the deliberate decisions by now billion dollar companies to profit off pain via the introduction of oxycontin into such a world and the hopelessness can feel debilitating and permanent.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Demon really is an engaging narrator - sometimes you want to bop him on the head for his choices as he grows older, but mostly you want to just give that boy a hug. The supporting characters are mostly well rounded, though there a few Dickensian villains in there that are a little one dimensional. Characters like Tommy and Angus inject enough heart and warmth into the story so that hope shines through the bleakness and encourages the reader to keep going.
It’s a long, epic novel so pacing is reasonably slow and it is very character driven at times. There is a part in the middle when things are going okay for Demon that did take me out of the novel for a while and I struggled to get through the feeling that I knew it was about to all go wrong again.
Overall though it’s a novel that sticks and and resonates and frankly, hurts. The prose is beautifully written without being flowery. It feels deliberate and thoughtful and damn are some passages a gut punch. ”Was this me now, for life? Taking up space where people wished I wasn’t? Once on a time I was something, and then I turned, like sour milk. The dead junkie’s kid. A rotten little piece of American pie everybody wishes could just be, you know, removed”.
This book deserves the awards it has won, 5 stars....more
I really enjoyed this one - it also means I can mark off another on my Reading Around the world challenge as this one is from the Dominican Republic. I really enjoyed this one - it also means I can mark off another on my Reading Around the world challenge as this one is from the Dominican Republic.
Essentially, this novel is a funny and tragic generational family saga about life in the Dominican Republic under the Trujillo dictatorship. We follow the latest generation - Oscar and his sister Lola, as well as their mother, grandfather and the other family members whose actions and lives have lead us to Oscar.
The novel explores toxic masculinity and the expectations around masculinity in Dominican culture. We are told over and over that men in the DR are masculine ‘players’ with a voracious sexual appetite and little interest in education. Oscar’s existence subverts this stereotype and much to the chagrin of his family, he grows into an extremely overweight, sensitive, intelligent, Marvel loving nerd with zero luck with the ladies.
While he’s a joke at the beginning, he’s a friend by the end. While the women in the novel are constrained by their appearances, so is Oscar. Oscar is desperate, *desperate* for love - but his differences and his looks make him unattractive to the women around him and his complete lack of experience and separation from women makes his feelings strong but ultimately shallow. He falls ‘ in love’ easily and intensely but with no real choices, he will fall in love with anyone who glances his way. It’s his lot in life, and if we’re honest - it happens. Some people never get what they want.
The sexuality of women under the dictatorship is significant. There is an entire section of the novel where we follow Oscar’s grandfather through his absolute terror and fear that his daughter will be raped by Trujillo solely because she grows into a beautiful teenager. While at times it feels like the women in the novel use their overt sexuality to get what they want, by the end of the book we realise just how trapped they are by sex - which has become a commodity they have no power over at all. In fact, no one under this regime has any real agency at all and the trauma that arises from being powerless and downtrodden is woven really well throughout the book.
Our narrator is revealed around halfway through the book, but it’s a fun ride - the prose is edgy and funny, honest but empathetic. It has a real tragicomedy vibe. Despite extensive footnotes in the book which becomes its own subplot on the history of the Dominican Republic, the author chose not to provide any translations for the Spanish included - even though it is very liberally sprinkled throughout. At first I was like…hmmmm, kind of annoying, but I read that the author wanted to replicate the experience of what it is like to learn a language as an immigrant, feeling locked out of the the nuance and slang that gives language extra meaning.
The characters do go through some extremely violent, traumatic events though - and I really appreciated that the writing’s tone and humour dulls down the horror of it all so that you don’t just walk away horrified. I knew very little about the DR before I read this book and it does a great job of using this family and their tragedies as a window into a dark period of human history....more
Like many others, I'm going to pretend this book doesn't exist.
It's hard to believe this was written by the same author as the first book. The writinLike many others, I'm going to pretend this book doesn't exist.
It's hard to believe this was written by the same author as the first book. The writing was some of the worst I have ever read - if there was a literary award for unrealistic, cheesy dialogue, this would scoop the awards up with gusto. Everyone sounded like they were suddenly on an after school special and everyone could not stop crying, constantly!
I will give the second book a shot but only because everyone says it improves the series and not because there is *anything* in this novel to make me I will give the second book a shot but only because everyone says it improves the series and not because there is *anything* in this novel to make me want to keep going.
I don't even know where to begin with all the problems in this novel. It felt like if Mills & Boon started writing throwaway fantasy.
The characters are mostly all terrible. Lucien is *okay*.....even if he also makes no sense occasionally.
Feyre never questions why after murdering a fae, she is suddenly turned into basically a princess, waited on by fairies, and has her whole family taken care of as well. She doesn't question even question at the end of Tamlin actually loves her back or JUST wants her to love him so the curse can be broken. She spends the first 250 pages or so whinging about wanting to go back home to her awful family and extreme poverty and then doesn't WANT to go home two seconds later because she has supposedly fallen madly in love with Tamlin.
Tamlin himself has no personality other than growling and Lucien is under utilised as comic relief.
Amarantha is an awful villain as again, nothing she does makes any sense. She brutally tortures and kills the girl she thinks is Feyre, but when she finally has the real Feyre, she gives her three chances and a pathetic riddle to actually win. Why?!? Feyre is the *only* threat to Amarantha's power, why would she risk losing everything? As a villain she is over the top and silly.
And poor Alis, whose entire point is to be Feyre's maid and then spend 10 pages info dumping all the backstory.
Ugh.
It wasn't terrible as an experience to read, I wasn't overly bored but I was just meh about most of it.
The last part of the novel feels like a dark fantasy version of the Bachelor, with Feyre running around in mud trying to be worthy of his 'love'.
Very average - nonsensical plot, shallow insta love 'romance'. ...more
I really enjoyed this simple, thoughtful novel about two people struggling in their marriage.
It just overall felt a bit simplistic. Relation3.5 Stars
I really enjoyed this simple, thoughtful novel about two people struggling in their marriage.
It just overall felt a bit simplistic. Relationships at this stage can get quite ugly, but this one stays safely on the "not too bad" pile so that you never really feel that worried about them lasting. They never cross any big lines and so the stakes never feel that high.
While there were a few of those little insightful "Oh I've felt that moments' scattered throughout, it did feel a little like a Hallmark movie at times. I would think of it Christina Lauren type romance and nothing more.
Really enjoyable and heartfelt, but don't expect much more....more
I really loved the first half of this book before the first plot twist. It was savage and insightful, Nick felt like a very real character to me and hI really loved the first half of this book before the first plot twist. It was savage and insightful, Nick felt like a very real character to me and his cowardice and lies of omission are realistic for that kind of person.
The book kept my interest the entire time, though it wasn't really a desperate page turner as I expected, it was more of a slow burn. I was never tempted to rush to the finish.
It let me down a little though with Amy's first person narrative in the second half of the book. For me she lacked the nuance that Flynn had given Nick in the first half. She felt like a textbook psychopath and it just started to feel a bit silly, rather than ominous.
I was ready to give the book 5 stars in the first half, but found the second half just a bit too trite.
All in all though, an enjoyable novel and definitely worth reading....more
Unfortunately my least favourite of the series so far. This one just really missed the mark. All the characters were separated from each other for mosUnfortunately my least favourite of the series so far. This one just really missed the mark. All the characters were separated from each other for most of the book, leaving no character interaction. Elias felt on hold for most of the book, Laia turned badass a little too quickly for me and overall it was just a bit of a flop. I was bored for so much of it which I didn't expect, considering how intense and absorbing the first two books were. ...more
I was so looking forward to this but ended up DNF'ing it.
I found the characters wooden, lacking any depth and the plot was so slow, I just didn't careI was so looking forward to this but ended up DNF'ing it.
I found the characters wooden, lacking any depth and the plot was so slow, I just didn't care. Robin didn't feel like a real person to me, particularly the part where he goes to see the 'popular kids' and randomly decides he doesn't care what they think, even though it doesn't fit with his character at all.
It all just felt a bit blurgh, I was expecting a real character driven exploration of the effect of colonisation but I didn't get any real characters.
The linguistic stuff was interesting but too much of it felt inserted, it wasn't organic.
This is probably the worst romcom/romance/whateveritthinksitis book I have ever read.
The sex scenes were so cringe, I wish I could go back in time andThis is probably the worst romcom/romance/whateveritthinksitis book I have ever read.
The sex scenes were so cringe, I wish I could go back in time and never read them. The main character's autistic traits apparently can disappear with some hot sex.
The two main characters were worse. I mean if you think a man going into a jealous, violent rage everytime another loser looks at the girl is sexy, then go for your life. They were shallow, unbelievable, just ugh. There was a weird, awful "baby girl' vibe going on, where the main character has child qualities pop up when it's from the male character's POV. Her eyes grow big and she makes sweet little faces - are we really STILL HERE?
This was like taking a porn movie that has a 'plot', changing a few things to make it cutesier and then presenting it as a novel. I'm not opposed to some good spice, but this was on another level bad. The writing was terrible.
How anyone rated this 5 stars, I'm sorry -sex itself needs to put in a complaint....more
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