A short novella translated from French, about a Senegalese soldier fighting in France in the trenches of WWI. The book is about the brutality of that A short novella translated from French, about a Senegalese soldier fighting in France in the trenches of WWI. The book is about the brutality of that war, the personal losses it exacted on soldiers, as well as the insanity of demanding that people kill in the “right” way. It’s also I think about capitalism and colonialism — or at least it’s not not about those things. It feels very French as well, in that it uses women’s bodies and sexual violence as metaphors as well as concrete plot points in unexamined ways. That I did not love, and also I found the ending both interesting and also maybe just a little bit incomprehensible. Very mixed on this one. Definitely a feel-bad-club book, which is not necessarily a bad thing. ...more
Bought it for the cover and the plot blurb, and was happy to find illustrations inside as a bonus. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be a YA book—iBought it for the cover and the plot blurb, and was happy to find illustrations inside as a bonus. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be a YA book—it wasn’t billed that way and there are some elements that seem more for adults—but it read like a fairy tale, animal allegory, and speculative fable wrapped into one. The story is simple, which is fine. Unfortunately it seemed to need a little more attention to pacing and character development, because it ended up feeling both rushed and thin to me. It’s an interesting premise, I think it just needed more room to breathe. ...more
A short book of interlinked stories whose generation-spanning breadth mimics its central concerns and tropes, which have to do with interconnectednessA short book of interlinked stories whose generation-spanning breadth mimics its central concerns and tropes, which have to do with interconnectedness and interdependence. Also a book about climate change and the end of the world as we know it, although in a remarkably hopeful tone. Hyper local read for anyone in my part of the world, which is interesting. I would have been interested to read more in this world, to see how much richer and more fully realized it could become. ...more
Nunez is wonderful. This one is a short, somewhat metafictional, tragicomic book about grief at many levels—kind of like The Friend, which is the otheNunez is wonderful. This one is a short, somewhat metafictional, tragicomic book about grief at many levels—kind of like The Friend, which is the other book by Nunez that I’ve read. I really liked both, although this one goes to eleven. ...more
There’s something about Kingfisher’s voice that I really like. Her horror protagonists have an amiable, settled quality that makes me warm to them rigThere’s something about Kingfisher’s voice that I really like. Her horror protagonists have an amiable, settled quality that makes me warm to them right away. Maybe there’s something about being a queer fifty-year old white woman that helps—I feel a little more aligned with her characters and her worldview. Which isn’t something I tend to get in a lot of other places.
This is a short, enjoyable read that I won’t spoil but I will say that I really liked the “sworn soldier” aspect and all that undergirds it. A mildly alternate version of Europe that contains a country with more than the usual number of pronouns—such a great idea and a great way to normalize the breakdown of the binary. And Alex is a very enjoyable narrator. For a very hair-raising (but still enjoyable!?!?) experience.
What a beautiful book. Strange and wild and evocative of so many of life’s unsaid things. Road trips and sunshine afternoons and grief and siblinghoodWhat a beautiful book. Strange and wild and evocative of so many of life’s unsaid things. Road trips and sunshine afternoons and grief and siblinghood and hope. This put me in a sizable mood. ...more
I like Kingfisher’s voice. She has a casual, breezy, low-key mordant style that makes the pages flow. And she pretty consistently delivers delightfullI like Kingfisher’s voice. She has a casual, breezy, low-key mordant style that makes the pages flow. And she pretty consistently delivers delightfully strange and original horror scenarios—in this case, rose gardens and vultures combine in ways I had never considered. ...more
Seems like I’m reading a lot of books from and about Hollywood this year. I just finished Jennette McCurdy’s and Elliot Page’s memoirs and followed upSeems like I’m reading a lot of books from and about Hollywood this year. I just finished Jennette McCurdy’s and Elliot Page’s memoirs and followed up with Daisy Jones and the Six, and overall I think I can say Hollywood ain’t a healthy way to be. This book is both delicate and savage—a little firecracker with a long fuse that you can see fizzling away the whole time. You know enough to expect the explosion, but it’s still shocking....more
A strange and unsettling short novel about a Japanese woman whose husband’s job takes them to a small isolated rural town…where she encounters strangeA strange and unsettling short novel about a Japanese woman whose husband’s job takes them to a small isolated rural town…where she encounters strange and unsettling things. Slightly reminiscent of Samanta Schweblin’s FEVER DREAM, with strains of Lewis Carroll and Yoko Ogawa. I’m not sure if it’s sinister or fantastical or what, exactly. ...more
I enjoy Chambers’s work overall—she has a humane optimism that’s rare in any genre, but especially sci-fi. This one felt slight on the storytelling, tI enjoy Chambers’s work overall—she has a humane optimism that’s rare in any genre, but especially sci-fi. This one felt slight on the storytelling, to me. Not much actually happens, and most of the (very short) book is spent exploring ideas related to personhood, morality, identity, etc. Still, it’s a pleasure to spend time in Chambers’s worlds, where humanity has overcome so many of its self-destructive tendencies and where monks and robots can devote themselves to questions of what makes them who they are. ...more
Winner of the 2022 Amazon First Novel Canada award.
A short novel told in chapters of one to a few pages, each of them a scene or memory or reflectionWinner of the 2022 Amazon First Novel Canada award.
A short novel told in chapters of one to a few pages, each of them a scene or memory or reflection on the life of the Vancouver-raised narrator and her Hong Kong-immigrant family, after the death of her father.
There’s a lot here—some of the story is funny, some of it’s heartbreaking. For a white Vancouverite, it’s a glimpse into the lives of so many people who moved to that city before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong.
There are some things about this family that are specific, and very different from my own experience of life during this period and in this place. And then there’s losing a loved one, which is in some ways the same for everyone, everywhere. For such a short book, it sure did make me cry. ...more
I fluctuated a bit on this one. At the beginning, I really enjoyed the idea of a supernatural horror thriller with the Ku Klux Klan as the monsters. TI fluctuated a bit on this one. At the beginning, I really enjoyed the idea of a supernatural horror thriller with the Ku Klux Klan as the monsters. Then, as the story played out, it felt a bit familiar, in a cinematic sense. I felt like I could predict quite a lot of the set pieces from having seen thriller and action movies. I also started to worry that the underlying concept was too heavy and immense for the genre. After all, showing the very real horrors of Klan violence in 1920s America through the lens of an action thriller, or blaming white racism on monsters, feels potentially glib.
I stuck with it, though, and I was won over by the end. My expectations for the climactic finale were subverted, and I felt like the book came through in dealing with the weight of its topics—racism, power, and hate, and what possible response to make to them that doesn’t embroil the survivors in more of the same.
There are also some absolutely amazing, imaginative, and grotesque characters, scenes, and ideas in this book. The monster images go farther and in more interesting directions than I’ve seen in many other books and movies. While some elements of the book are familiar, and the author owns up to some of those in the afterword, there’s plenty here that’s surprising, moving, and unusual....more
Filing under latinx-lit although it’s actually a Portuguese-language Brazilian novella by a Ukrainian Jewish woman. And under philosophical fiction evFiling under latinx-lit although it’s actually a Portuguese-language Brazilian novella by a Ukrainian Jewish woman. And under philosophical fiction even though it’s maybe more meta fiction. Good luck categorizing Lispector, is the thing. I’m getting old and I like narrative, but even I can tell there’s something real in the awkward, abrupt, original strangeness of her sentences. Like dancing with Martha Graham—it’s not going to be a nice mutually agreeable two-step, but that’s because she’s doing something different. ...more
A small collection of wry, often humorous passages addressing a fictional reader who is, well, a sad woman. Most of the passages include a recipe or aA small collection of wry, often humorous passages addressing a fictional reader who is, well, a sad woman. Most of the passages include a recipe or at least a mention of food, usually in a whimsical or philosophical or fantastical way. A few are just philosophers reflection or life advice. The book was published in 1996, and for a male writer in Colombia, I think the sentiments here and the advice given to women about sex, love, aging, health, bodies, etc are all extremely progressive. Read in 2021 they occasionally clanged, as a male writer advises women on how to enjoy sex or deal with male (everyone is straight) infidelity. But the tone overall is bemused, humble, and clever, so I came away feeling like I’d had a conversation with a slightly ridiculous distant male relative who’s out of touch and didn’t know it, but means well and is hard to fault because if you called him on his bullshit, he’d happily agree with you. ...more
A return to a world similar to that of Soucouyant—a family of Caribbbean immigrants in Scarborough Ontario, two brothers growing up with an exhausted,A return to a world similar to that of Soucouyant—a family of Caribbbean immigrants in Scarborough Ontario, two brothers growing up with an exhausted, overworked single mother. The narrator is familiar, the younger son, a hapless but determined caretaker who’s clearly got his own unmet needs. Here, though, the family is trapped under the thumb of Canadian white supremacy even more painfully. Their neighborhood is simultaneously over-policed and neglected, and young Brown boys growing up there face some very hard and limited choices. The narrator’s eponymous brother falls victim to expectations, leaving the narrator and his mother to find their own way, somehow, through the “complicated grief” that follows. Chariandy has a lovely voice, and even as he writes about deplorable circumstances, there are pockets of dry humor that surprise you. ...more
A King novella packaged as a book on its own—nice vacation reading. Watching King address LGBTQ rights is kind of like listening to your aged uncle hoA King novella packaged as a book on its own—nice vacation reading. Watching King address LGBTQ rights is kind of like listening to your aged uncle hold the family dinner table hostage over the need to stop end stop and frisk—you feel a kind of mild embarrassment at how slowly he’s gotten to this point and how earnestly he’s mansplaining it to you, and at the same time it’s kind of nice and moving to see an elder getting more progressive. God knows plenty of us go the other way. ...more
Offill has a distinctive voice and style—aphoristic, quirky, dry, despairing, and given to wonderful juxtapositions of matter from very disparate sourOffill has a distinctive voice and style—aphoristic, quirky, dry, despairing, and given to wonderful juxtapositions of matter from very disparate sources. In this book, a beleaguered mother in New York City struggles through her days taking care of her young son and her addicted brother in the face of the Trump election and climate apocalypse. The underlying questions: how to survive? How to stay human, how to take care of the meek and needy while swimming in rising waters? And yet it’s also funny and trenchant and Offill’s fallible protagonist Lizzie is someone you’d want to drink a beer with. Offill’s books always make me see the world differently, in a good way even if it’s also uncomfortable. ...more
Short and aphoristic, with a dry deadpan sense of humor. Wang’s narrator is depressed and divided, unable to pursue the chemistry career her parents eShort and aphoristic, with a dry deadpan sense of humor. Wang’s narrator is depressed and divided, unable to pursue the chemistry career her parents expect or to marry the man who wants her. She struggles mightily to forge her own path, without knowing clearly what that path should be. Relateable even for someone without Chinese family expectations, and subtly funny and tragic at the same time. ...more
A bit quiet, or maybe a little uneventful (?) for a book about space travel. There’s some of Chambers’s wonderful found-family vibe here, but most of A bit quiet, or maybe a little uneventful (?) for a book about space travel. There’s some of Chambers’s wonderful found-family vibe here, but most of the novella is spent detailing the scientific processes and findings of a crew of four astronauts, as well as the philosophical quandary they face as their fates, as well as the fate of the Earth they left behind, become uncertain. A thinky kind of book, which is always nice. ...more
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