I've had this on my shelf for what feels like forever, and finally just picked it up and read it overnight when I wanted to knock something off of my I've had this on my shelf for what feels like forever, and finally just picked it up and read it overnight when I wanted to knock something off of my Book of the Month shelf.
The basic premise is three women in their 20s trying to make sense of their lives in rural Arkansas. It is told in rotating viewpoint chapters, which I like. These are women who didn't go to college and don't make the best relationship choices, and they are drawn to the somewhat radical ideas of the boyfriend of one of the women (who has to be the least charismatic cultish leader person I've encountered in a novel, perhaps supposed to be funny) and follow that path, even when it is to their detriment.
I'll talk more about it on an upcoming podcast episode....more
I circled around this book for a long time, not wanting to read another dystopian breeder novel. But I eventually decided to try it, and I'm glad I diI circled around this book for a long time, not wanting to read another dystopian breeder novel. But I eventually decided to try it, and I'm glad I did. Told through multiple perspectives (all female), this is a near future dystopia with very probably legislation that outlaws abortion, IVF, and adoption outside of straight married couples for the entire country. The female characters are known first as these new archetypes - the Mender, the Wife, the Biographer, the Daughter, etc. As the story unfolds we learn their names and stories from their chapters but also the chapters of others, and you start to see how their lives and stories interrelate.
I had one question - the partner of The Mender, is he known as a different name to someone else? He was the only one I hadn't connected up. I thought maybe I missed something.
Bonus points, for me, for Oregonian setting, Oregonian author (teaches at Portland State!), mention of PCOS, and one point which was even more chilling because of recent legislation in my current state of South Carolina, which hasn't outlawed adopted by non married couples, exactly, but the governor signed an order giving preference to married couples, and not just married ones, but married CHRISTIAN ones.
I read the first 30 pages of this several weeks ago, and read the last 350 in one night so I could talk about it on the podcast the next day (so stay I read the first 30 pages of this several weeks ago, and read the last 350 in one night so I could talk about it on the podcast the next day (so stay tuned for that longer discussion!) Miller's writing pulls me through, it's so sensory, including smells. The way she uses metaphor doesn't make me gag, and there are these moments where all of the sudden these philosophical comments happen and I'd have to stop a second. I enjoyed the myths from Circe's point of view, and going along the thought experiment of what it is like to be immortal.
This book made a bunch of best of the year lists, and I had picked it from Book of the Month in October, so I decided to make this one of my last readThis book made a bunch of best of the year lists, and I had picked it from Book of the Month in October, so I decided to make this one of my last reads of the year. I started it the same day as Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which became far more appropriate than I could have planned for. I believe Naomi Alderman must also have read this book because some of the scenarios described in it, where women are oppressed and disadvantaged, have direct parallels to events in The Power.
Women worldwide start developing the ability to transmit electrical shock and this inspires a global shift in power. At first, it comes in small ways, with women able to say no more and being able to overpower an attacker, or even in the confidence bestowed to a woman knowing she has the power. But then, as in many dystopian landscapes, power corrupts. I was unhappy to see the women taking on the same violations of power as the men; at the same time this is a likely fall out (but maybe one we've seen before just in different forms.) There is one very important moment in which a woman who was trying not to display her power does so and rather than it ruining her chances at something, it turns the tide in her favor. It almost felt damning rather than empowering (but I'm not complaining, this was smart.)
Does it matter if it's male or female if it's more about who has the power? The author has some fun with this at the end where she has a meta conversation between a guy named "Neil" who has submitted this manuscript in the world of the novel, and she suggests he publish it under a female name so it wouldn't just be considered a "male novel." Ha!
The alternating perspectives were interesting but this tends to separate me a bit from the characters. I really found Jos, the female who can't control or always summon her power, the most interesting and probably least utilized.
Mother Eve is being led by a voice, and I wasn't satisfied with the reveal of that voice. Perhaps the weakest element of the book. I did like the way religions shifted to the female focus without necessarily forming new religions. Just a reminder that history and religion is heavily influenced by who has the power, and who gets to tell the stories.
This was the book selected for the second ever Reading Envy Readalong. I had never read it but it really lived up to the hype! I'm going to let my thoThis was the book selected for the second ever Reading Envy Readalong. I had never read it but it really lived up to the hype! I'm going to let my thoughts marinate for a while longer. If you want to join us in our discussion, please join the Reading Envy Readers Group. There is also information there about the online audio discussion that we will have in October; please join us!...more
After positive reviews and a nod from Roxane Gay, and being one of the Book of the Month picks, my Newest Literary Fiction group declared this as a buAfter positive reviews and a nod from Roxane Gay, and being one of the Book of the Month picks, my Newest Literary Fiction group declared this as a buddy read for September. It's the first book I grabbed for the month.
Most of the time, the unlikeable, older characters with disappointing lives are side characters, there for pity or amusement. Or they are the central character on a journey. I suppose Greg in this novel is on a journey too, to try to find his drug addict adult son GJ (Greg Junior), but his ex-wife refers to the quest as a "gesture" more than believing it will help.
We get to know Greg quite well by the end of the novel - his dietary habits, his willful denial of his health concerns, his bad decision making, his tendency not to believe something until he's seen it for himself, his lack of change over the course of two wives, the way his life has deteriorated further since retirement. It's like seeing the longterm downside to a lack of selfcare, clueless parenting, and a lack of self-awareness in relationships. But Hunter writes it all in a way where I felt incredibly sympathetic towards all of them.
I did find myself wishing we had a chance to see into the minds of some of the other characters. Instead, we're stuck with the pieces Greg notices, and they are subtle, moments where he sees but doesn't absorb, and I think the way the author writes those bits was pretty genius.
Read into it what you will, but I could not help but completely picture my father in law as Greg. ...more
This is a backlist title from my Book of the Month stash. This is about when a man named Tony drowns in Jamaica after saving his son. Tony and Decca aThis is a backlist title from my Book of the Month stash. This is about when a man named Tony drowns in Jamaica after saving his son. Tony and Decca aren't the most likeable characters, but the capture of grief had me nodding my head a lot, particularly navigating the behaviors of other people surrounding the bereaved. 3.5 stars....more
I liked but didn't love this story of a marriage in the newly crowned Oprah Book Club pick (I had started it the day before it was announced!)
Liked - I liked but didn't love this story of a marriage in the newly crowned Oprah Book Club pick (I had started it the day before it was announced!)
Liked - the setting (Atlanta for the most part) and how the characters are products of the complex class system of Atlanta neighborhoods, ideas of the "people you come from" and what that means or doesn't mean, the realistic portrayal of a marriage and what happens when a major challenge comes along, the look at black incarceration and the question of justice.
How much does a marriage commitment mean? What if you are likely not to even see your spouse for 12 years? What is the expectation of the spouse left behind? It was easy to feel compassion towards all sides.
Less than liked - while I'm usually a fan of letters, I felt the narrative ended up feeling lopsided, resorting to letters and multiple points of view when I'm not sure it needed to. Maybe one but not both. The underlying issues are almost too subtle and mainly come across in conversations, but I mean, one character spends half the book in prison! There are also a few too many overly convenient coincidences.
This is my first book by this author and I would absolutely read another. I can't even think of the last non-dystopian novel I've read that is set in Atlanta. And I agree with Oprah that this makes a good book club novel, because there is a lot to discuss.
Quotes about marriage:
"Marriage is between two people. There is no studio audience."
(hmm, the other one I marked is a spoiler so never mind.)
Quotes about incarceration:
"That's your fate as a black man. Carried by six or judged by twelve."
"You know what they say: if you go five miles outside of Atlanta proper, you end up in Georgia. You know what else they say? What do you call a black man with a PhD? The same thing you call one driving a high-end SUV." (this comes after a discussion about how all black men with expensive cars in the south are treated like drug dealers by the police)
The publisher provided a copy for review through NetGalley, which I appreciate. I also bought it for myself because of the strong reviews, from Book of the Month. Since I read the actual book, I'm quoting from that and not the review copy. Available 6 February 2018....more
I was really looking forward to this book. It was burning a hole in my pocket because I had heard such good things, and was happy when it was picked aI was really looking forward to this book. It was burning a hole in my pocket because I had heard such good things, and was happy when it was picked as a book club pick for one of my groups.
I ended up disappointed for a few reasons. I think it's a decent read, a quick read certainly, but not the five-star read I was hoping for. The basic premise is a bit of a spoiler, better discovered as you read the book, so I will put it all behind a spoiler tag.
(view spoiler)[So Exit West is about refugees, but instead of crossing borders, there are large masses of people moving between countries through magical doors. The doors appear randomly and sometimes get blocked off by authorities once they know what is going on. The author has said he came up with this concept so he didn't have to dwell on the border crossings. The problem is, without the violence and difficulty of border crossings or navigating the legal system or waiting in relocation camps, the stakes are pretty low for refugees. So he removed what he didn't want to include, but lost a lot of the conflict, the danger, the challenge.
It's also weird to have just one random element of magic in a book. It smacks of convenience, and, well, it is. See above. And even so, magic doors! If they're going to be there, they could have been used so much more. The best bit in the entire novel is when these two older men pass through the door and fall in love. It would have been better if the novel had started with the premise of these doors appearing because of the need of the refugees (similar to Room of Requirement) and then morphed into this entirely other thing.
My last disappointment has to do with the relationship between Saeed and Nadia. No matter who talked about this book, they always mention the romance between the two. They describe the novel as a love story, but where's the love? The two end up together because of happenstance and then out of necessity but there is no spark. They don't understand one another or have the same priorities. So when they separate it does not feel like a loss. SO disappointing. A strong romance would have saved everything. (hide spoiler)]...more
This was a lackluster book with parts that never really cohere. The writing sparkles the most when the author describes the meals created by the centrThis was a lackluster book with parts that never really cohere. The writing sparkles the most when the author describes the meals created by the central character, but this has nothing to do with the story itself (since he is out of work he could have any hobby.) The same passion would have served the central theme of obsession, or helped build the tension, but the writing is less successful to these ends. The timeline is linear until suddenly it isn't, and this was a strange choice that did nothing but feel like a flat tire, with that feeling of something that was smooth forcing the reader to pull over and not at any destination that was promised.
I picked it as one of my Book of the Month selections, and feel like one of the stars is simply for me, actually reading a book I already own, for once. ...more
I had a review copy of this book, but still selected it as my pick when it came around as an option for Book of the Month. I read her earlier novel anI had a review copy of this book, but still selected it as my pick when it came around as an option for Book of the Month. I read her earlier novel and liked it, and was curious to see what would happen next. This is a little more ordinary of a storyline, about a marriage, the effect of infidelity, the impact of a missing parent on a child even after they are adults. Some of the setting and characters made me think of Fates and Furies (anyone else?)
The novel alternates between chapters in the current day, with adult daughters returning home to deal with their father after he has an accident, and letters the mother wrote to the father before leaving him. Each letter is the story of their marriage and move pretty much chronologically through time. Each letter also includes the name of the book the wife placed it in, so of course I was stopping to think of shared themes and hidden messages in the book pick when it was a book I knew. I liked that the entire novel wasn't letters but that they were used consistently to tell one whole part of the story.
I thought it was interesting to observe how my own loyalties shifted as a reader, particularly to the two parental figures. What was less effective to me was the ending, a somewhat halfhearted attempt to bring some mystery into a story that really had been pretty straightforward. I think I would have tried to bring more of that into the novel or just ended it differently, as it seemed out of place.
On a personal note, I recently purchased books from the Dorothy Project, and one of the books was Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns. I had never heard of the author or the book. So there it was, on my shelf, and then the mother in this novel places a letter inside the very same title! Either it is better known in the UK or I just had another book synergy moment. So of course that was the next book I read!...more
In January 2017, the Book of the Month people put a hardbound special edition of this story in with the books we had chosen. It was originally publishIn January 2017, the Book of the Month people put a hardbound special edition of this story in with the books we had chosen. It was originally published in Rogues edited by George R. R. Martin. It started out pretty well, with a girl who is trying to capitalize on her fraudulent fortune telling by helping a woman with an evil presence in her home. But then a character explains the truth to the fortune teller, and in the car he explains another truth. It was like the author got tired of actually writing a story and just decided to dump the best parts into a monologue. It seemed like the parts the fortune teller should have been discovering and piecing together.
Still it was a decent and quick palate cleanser during a readathon....more
I picked this from Book of the Month last year, and then my in-person book club voted to read it in the 2017-18 season. Since we aren't reading it untI picked this from Book of the Month last year, and then my in-person book club voted to read it in the 2017-18 season. Since we aren't reading it until June, I was going to wait, but then saw the author would be coming to my town on February 5, and I wanted to go see her read and get my book signed. Then it was included in the shortlist for the Tournament of Books, so basically I needed to read it. It also counts for the Reading Women challenge, as a book on their 2017 shortlist. This checks a lot of boxes.
I enjoyed the novel on several levels - I didn't know anything about what it was like to be a Korean living in Japan, and although many of them count as economic immigrants, there are families that have been in Japan for multiple generations and are still treated as outsiders or lower class. Hmm, sounds uncomfortably familiar.
I really enjoyed the first two sections (there are three) but by the time I reached the third, I felt like the story could just continue on and maybe I'd prefer it had been wrapped up earlier. At the same time, it was nice to see some of the early decisions come around full circle, for instance Noa's parentage, etc. Sometimes the characters make decisions that don't make sense to me but seem to be an extension of the values of Korean culture, so even that was a reminder to stop and ponder those differences.
Usually, I'm not the first person to pick up a historical saga, but I was glad I did. And I think the research the author did with Koreans who lived in Japan really shows....more
I started this book and found myself putting it aside for other reads pretty frequently. I think if it had just been a library book I would have returI started this book and found myself putting it aside for other reads pretty frequently. I think if it had just been a library book I would have returned it without finishing but I paid money for this! So I went ahead and finished.
This is one of the hyped books of summer, and was my June pick for the Book of the Month subscription service that I decided to do for three months (and won't probably be renewing). I found it to be more of a light summer beach read. But even in that context I have complaints. The central character is not central in the events of the book, the big news that the story is supposed to reveal more and more of. She is more of a partial observer, and too young to fully understand. She is taken advantage of, for money, food, and sex (in fact she is sexually assaulted)... as "fun" as an unreliable narrator is, I never felt close to the meat/heart of the story. Instead the novel reads like a bunch of vignettes of drug addicts and one egomaniac, but only the boring parts - when they're hanging out and eating rotting food and dealing with leaky roofs and clogged toilets. I kept expecting more drama and excitement, or maybe some insight into what is supposed to be a Charles Manson like cult.
I was excited to sign up for Book of the Month because practically all the literary people I follow in social media were doing it. (I admit! I'm a lemI was excited to sign up for Book of the Month because practically all the literary people I follow in social media were doing it. (I admit! I'm a lemming!) It was a beautiful moment getting that first package in the mail because it was in a beautifully lined box and wrapped in plastic and it came with a bookmark and notecard... the entire experience was very lush and satisfying. It helped that the book inside was this one, which I picked because it was set in the Galapagos Islands and the cover is so gorgeous.
In the end I was not overly enchanted with the novel. I really wanted to be. But I kept thinking back to the experience I had reading Euphoria by Lily King - the time period is similar, the isolation on an island is similar, the element of unusual relationships is similar - but while Lily King pulled me into the jungle and never let me go a year later, I feel like a month from now I will hardly remember this one. The islands are described most through the lens of the tasks the couple moving there have to accomplish. There is no strangeness in it, no inherent other, except in their physical bodies. It didn't give me an opportunity to use my imagination, to put myself there, nothing was vivid to me.
I think my somewhat blase response might be a combination of the writing (somewhat plain) and perhaps the author's desire to keep as close to the historical facts as possible. We know that I found myself wanting their lives to be more interesting. Or they were interesting but the spy action that I was expecting largely happened "off stage." I think there is an expectation that the reader would be super shocked by one character's big reveal but since sexual identity is really not a big deal these days it wasn't enough to keep the driving force of the novel afloat for me.
We know of Frances Conway from her historical writings and because the couple was written about in a few national publications, and the idea that they were in that location because they were spies has been hinted at before. I think what I was hoping for was a more passionate telling of this imagined story, and that just isn't what I found. I also wondered about the locals. Where are they? At the beginning there was some information about how using island materials was against the rules but then they never seemed to be in any danger. That seemed like a missed opportunity....more
I whole heartedly support the underlying philosophy or driving force of this book - proving a woman should have space of her own, a vote, a life, evenI whole heartedly support the underlying philosophy or driving force of this book - proving a woman should have space of her own, a vote, a life, even if she deigns to stay single, etc. But the way the story is told deflates the message, from a three part structure that follows 1)agonizingly slow 2)feisty pseudo feminist 3)batshit crazy witchcraft (well this was a surprise)
This was the first book every offered by Book of the Month back in the day, so I enjoyed it from that curiosity standpoint, but there are stronger books of the same era that have similar themes.
Gold star for me, reading a book from my shelves.
And after I bought it but before I read it, I heard this book mentioned in passing on the Backlisted Podcast about "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," as an example of when witchcraft is used as a foil to show something about society, or something like that. Shirley Jackson is a much better writer, read her instead....more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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