I really enjoyed following Ember and Danuwoa's love story (told from Ember's first person) and I look forward to reading more Danica Nava.
A highlightI really enjoyed following Ember and Danuwoa's love story (told from Ember's first person) and I look forward to reading more Danica Nava.
A highlight for me (and I think many) is when her racist boss asks for 'the Indian' she sends in her South Asian colleague rather than Danuwoa. The micro and macro agressions are rooted in her own experience in the corporate world and I think this is the strongest part.
I always prefer dual perspectives as it allows for fuller story and development of the love interest. Danuwoa is a very static character (which can be a good thing) but if I had of seen more of his inner world I would have been pulling for their romance more. This is often something that develops as a writer writes more so I have confidence.
This is spicier than I would like. So for those who prefer closed door romances I needed to skip a lot of scenes....more
Over the last few months I have read and loved Abby Jimenez's Part of Your World series and gone back and loved Life's Too Short (third book in this sOver the last few months I have read and loved Abby Jimenez's Part of Your World series and gone back and loved Life's Too Short (third book in this series), I was worried going into her back catalogue because authors normally develop and grow as they write and when I was set at ease with Life's Too Short this one definitely was not as good as her later books.
Abby Jimenez is fantastic at writing about disability/chronic illness and complicated family dynamics. She also likes including dogs and kids. This has it all. But it also has some more tired tropes of 'military/protective guy' and 'cool girl whose never cried/who eats food' and there are nuanced depictions of this in other books and she does bring depth to these tropes at times but it also isn't as strong as her later books. Also this book is a lot about emotional cheating and 'she'll change her mind' and just other things that I hate.
Painful periods and infertility are topics super close to my heart and I cried so much and they had good chemistry but parts of the book still left a more sour taste in my mouth....more
This was an utterly brilliant, lovely and humorous book! I laughed, I felt, I panicked for the characters. It follows seventeen year old Evelina, who This was an utterly brilliant, lovely and humorous book! I laughed, I felt, I panicked for the characters. It follows seventeen year old Evelina, who after the abandonment of her father and death of her mother is raised by a vicar who was once a tutor to her grandfather.
We meet her young, innocent of the world and perplexed by the social customs and we see her love the arts of London and make friends, we see the persecuted by the intentions of undesirable men who won't take no for answer (this book really does illustrate the precarious and dangerous situation of being a woman in this era).
This was a huge inspiration for her Jane Austen and you see it from her social criticism, humour, comic characters and rakes.
4.5
My only true con of this book is that some of the comic character, particularly the captain, who are suppose to be funny became so frustrating to read about....more
Excellent! Two years ago Zoe Washington helped her dad get exonerated and released from prison, now she's fourteen, and learning about what life afterExcellent! Two years ago Zoe Washington helped her dad get exonerated and released from prison, now she's fourteen, and learning about what life after prison is like for those who served time....more
A completely wonderful middle grade novel featuring two girls on a mission to return lost socks and finding out more about the inner lives of those arA completely wonderful middle grade novel featuring two girls on a mission to return lost socks and finding out more about the inner lives of those around them.
Chanel Miller wrote the incredible memoir Know My Name and she brings the same power and lyrical writing to this novel when also inserting plenty of whimsy and humour. It is the younger side of middle grade Magnolia has just turned tem but it still deals with harder topics like racism, bullying, verbal child abuse and intimidation, expectations and family relationships. It does this honestly but very age appropriate. It focuses more on how it makes us feel. Words can make us feel stupid. Abuse can make us silent. And Chanel Miller can write a metaphor.
I highly recommend this!!
4.5 Stars
Spoilery paraphrase
Where at the beginning of summer she was but one shadow, now their shadow was a baby elephant....more
I have so many complicated feelings about All's Well. The experience of chronic pain and dismissal is so personal to me and when the book leaps from rI have so many complicated feelings about All's Well. The experience of chronic pain and dismissal is so personal to me and when the book leaps from realism to fabulism it is hard for me (I had known about this book for a long time and never knew that about 70% of it is surrealist dreamlike horror as the stage shifts between reality and fabulism, with elements of loose Shakespearean magic). I like fabulism/magical realism within the grasp of worlds a little wider than our own but I don't think I like it in the horror adjacent novels. It reminded me of my experience reading Jawbone where I could write essays on the topic but I found it unpleasant to read.
I don't know how much my personal pain comes into this, I've experienced nearly all the same experiences Miranda describes with doctors and friends. Being asked if I ever thought it was 'psychosomatic' or 'was I a hypochondriac' or 'maybe I wasn't really sick.' And because of that I think it was particularly painful to see that plot point be abandoned for a more fabulist storyline. The dreamlike state and 'reversal of fortune' plays perfectly into the themes of Shakespeare (which I love) but as someone who came in for the chronic pain rep it felt cheapened.
And this is an example of me expecting a different novel than was written. She played wonderfully into the three witches and other Shakespearean motifs. And though in most reviews it says she falls during her performance of 'All's Well' I believe she fell during a production of Richard III. I was listening to it on audio but I believe she says she was playing 'Lady Anne' when she fell, the wife of Richard III. All's Well was her starring role earlier in her career when she first met her husband. Her performing in Richard III where he leans with a limp and 'humped back' is symmetry for her pain in her leg, back, hip.
There's so much I can praise academically about All's Well. It is clever, it both homages and reinvents Shakespeare and yet it feels like some of the greater themes are sacrificed on this altar.
Whether it doesn't perfectly tow the line between tragedy and comedy (as it has been critiqued for), or it just not the novel I expected or would be drawn to naturally I ended with apperciation but disappointment.
I think my conclusion is just a blank line of questions....more
I liked the first book I loved this one! Emily and Wendell are such loveable characters, the footnotes and magic is perfect. I just felt full of whimsI liked the first book I loved this one! Emily and Wendell are such loveable characters, the footnotes and magic is perfect. I just felt full of whimsy and happiness the entire time....more
This was delightfully sweet and lovely, the oldest of four orphaned sisters Kitty is indebted to find a rich husband in 1818 London. With the help of This was delightfully sweet and lovely, the oldest of four orphaned sisters Kitty is indebted to find a rich husband in 1818 London. With the help of her made over 'aunt' and her bookish younger sister, Kitty is ready to scheme herself into a marriage. What follows is measured, fun and has many beautiful subtle call backs to Jane Austen's works.
I also loved that we bounced around in different people's heads, as a lover of shifting omniscent point of view and I was delighted with this. I loved seeing from all the characters' POVs and I had many good laughs. I also apperciated the slow release romance of the book.
For those who love Jane Austen or Bridgerton without the spice, this is for you....more
A Norwegian 19th century writer, Ibsen is the most performed playwright outside of Shakespeare. When I read his earlier play, A Doll's House (1879), iA Norwegian 19th century writer, Ibsen is the most performed playwright outside of Shakespeare. When I read his earlier play, A Doll's House (1879), it became an immediate favourite and Hedda Gabler also a banger of a book. Both plays focus on female characters, unhappy and jailed within the parameters of marriage, though Nora and Hedda come from different perspectives and end in different places they are very interesting to compare and contrast.
I have not read the literature around the the plays but I would be curious if Ibsen purposely created Hedda to contrast Nora. Their plights are so opposite in creation and delivery. I read this in preparation of seeing it performed at Stratford Festival in September of this year. So I may leave my final thoughts until then but for now I will say that Ibsen is an immaculate writer. Fabulously created stories and dialogue. ...more
I really, really apperciated Jimenez's depiction of trauma and how it affects relationships. I saw myself so much in Emma. A rare feat. Our childhoodsI really, really apperciated Jimenez's depiction of trauma and how it affects relationships. I saw myself so much in Emma. A rare feat. Our childhoods may have been very different but her depiction of 'smallness' and avoidance in traumatic situations mixed with an unbridled belief in people is something that is rarely seen. You either have the clueless happy one or the traumatized shout out one and it's not that Emma isn't shut down in some ways but it doesn't make her cranky or withdrawn from empathy.
Jimemez is dedicated to showing mental health and complicated family dynamics and she shows it again. I really apperciated that Emma and Justin never lie to each other and in tgis case their breakup was fully reasonable, discussed and had no miscommunication about it. This might be the only romance book where the leads are never out of the loop on how their love interest is feeling. Their trauma may get in the way but the other is aware of what is keeping them apart.
I also apperciated that this had barely any spice, there's only one scene with any detail and it's still rather vague/short. As someone who loves closed door romance this is pretty much there.
I also really loved the family aapect. I loved the siblings and that was a beautiful aspect of the romance....more
I love, love, love disability rep and as someone who also became chronically ill young in life this was very meaningful.
I apperciated the fleshing ouI love, love, love disability rep and as someone who also became chronically ill young in life this was very meaningful.
I apperciated the fleshing out if so many minor characters, supportive but not sacchrine parents and a cute love story.
My approach to disability is different, for instance I'm pro labelling. I don't think diagnosis or explanation should be needed as criteria for care but the truth is that one does not get adequate care. I don't think diagnoses are limiting, I think they are expanding. Because it allows the simple fact to exist, be acknowledged and accomodated and not to be a noisy cat prowling in every conversation but awkwardly ignored.
I know there is a nuanced discussion, I just have a deep rejection of it because of the barriers I've had to diagnosis.
This is the second novel I have read translated by Ann Goldstein and I can say whether it is the original Italian or her translation, I love the sharpThis is the second novel I have read translated by Ann Goldstein and I can say whether it is the original Italian or her translation, I love the sharp, poetic way of writing.
I began thinking this might be a favourite of the year but as time went on I began to wander. I had a harder time being drawn in and staying invested in our main character. Which might be because she herself loses herself. But also though not supposed to be a model character the acts of neglect and abuse at times done to her children really disturbed me.
This is a classic unhinged woman narrative, her husband leaves her and she falls into obession and grief, her feelings overwhelm and unmoor her. Reality and unreality meld. I read this beside Claire Kilroy's Soldier Sailor that looks at a similar break within the context of early motherhood. I finished Soldier Sailor yet so I can't comment on the finish but I just felt it was hard to follow Olga back to life after such a time her life.
There is so many themes from the disposal of women as they age, the pressure of motherhood, the grief of divorce and how we, willing or unwillingly, share traits of those around us. How do we exist? How can we decide? What do we do when we fall into the tropes we thought we never would.
I am so torn. It is a brilliant book but it left me unsatisfied in places....more
"Who gives you the men? We women. We bear and rear and agonize. Well, if we are fit for that, we are fit to have a voice in the fate of the men we bea"Who gives you the men? We women. We bear and rear and agonize. Well, if we are fit for that, we are fit to have a voice in the fate of the men we bear. If we can bring forth the men for the nation, we can sit with you in your councils and shape the destiny of the nation, and say whether it is to war or peace we give the sons we bear."
A dark brilliant feminist play about a household of women 'in a war torn country' published in the beginning of World War I. It follows Amelia, a young woman dreaming of being a nurse, pressured to marry for the sake of her country and her sister-in-law Hedwig who outspokenly speaks against the emperor and war, saying she will not bear her son only for war to continue. ...more
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