Perry
Holy crud. This book contains subject matter that is at least as difficult to read as you think it is. It is also beautifully written. It is lyrical and tragic, and I actually truly loved the characters. The multiple points of view can be unnecessary, but I didn't mind it; it reminded me of the middle episodes of Lovecraft Country, the show, each focusing on primarily the women. I appreciated the perspectives of the characters that lead to the end.
There isn't much plot, so don't go looking for it. It's all about the concepts and the tragedy of the characters, and the strength of the women. And the consequences of our actions.
On top of the obvious themes of racism, Christian supremacy, homophobia, and love.
I had many feelings at the end. And I want go bundle Isaiah in a big blanket and give him a hug.
Moving tale
It took me a bit to get into, but once I did, I devoured this book. It is a lovely, detailed period piece about religious fervor gone wrong, and the petty enmities that tear a community apart. Out is also, importantly, about racism and sexism, against an indigenous culture and against women, respectively. With a doomed lesbian romance.
Part personal reflection and part study and part political, Gordon's book is impassioned, sad, frustrated. I've had experiences, I know people who have, and I've read plenty of articles on how fat people are treated. It is anger-inducing. Despite it all, she is hopeful. I would certainly recommend for anyone dealing with the stress of being fat in this world, and for anyone who has a steady size person of import in their life.
Major TW for physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse; rape; underage sexual situations; attempted suicide and suicidal ideation; cannibalism and gore, and what would technically be considered incest, and disassociation due to trauma, and PTSD. Oh, and murder. Did I forget anything?
This is reeeaaaalllly not for the taking of heart.
It's basically the tale of Natsuo and how she has no place in society. As a child, she believes she has magical powers granted by her best friend, an alien hedgehog toy. She tries to please and is actually a good kid, but her family sucks and treats her horribly. Weird, damaging things happen to her, and then she grows up, and sh*t gets real. She marries a man who also can't fit in and has a mutually beneficial non-sexual arrangement. That return to her grandparents homestead, where she hasn't been since childhood. She reconnect with the cousin she wanted to marry as a child.
There are so many alarming and painful parts if this book that my wife heard me muttering and exclaiming multiple times. Natsuki tries to fit in, but also refuses to. She wants to want to be “brainwashed by the factory” and to manufacture babies like a good little Factory component. Her husband begins to believes her tales if being from another planet. Things come to a head when their families find out they aren't having sex, aren't contributing to society.
The outcomes are extreme, yes, but I really appreciated Murata-sensei's risks and extremely dark thematic elements. And how it feels not to want the things Prime are supposed to want, as dictated by society. Especially as a woman.
3.5 stars.
I received this ARC from Harper Collins. As a born and bred New Englander, I very much enjoyed the setting and intricate details of Brown's novel. Having spent all of my adulthood in the Midwest, I appreciate the imagery that has me reminiscing about the cold, the enjoyed, the mountains, the sea. I appreciated the historical details too. The character of Falon was a fascinating creation, though I felt was though her progressive politics were far ahead of the early nineties.
Essentially, this is a small town family drama. A closed mill is set to reopen on Penobscot land, and suddenly burns down. Almy's mother runs the local paper and writes editorials about it. Meanwhile, a neighbor attacks a Penobscot girl taking catches from his lobster traps in the river. Which is tribal land, not his. Much drama ensues, embroiling Almy's family, the girl's, and the fisherman's, until it all ends, of course, tragically.
One or two notes about issues with the writing. The story is told from Almy's perspective, but the story has certain parts that are in the nearly omniscient third-person perspective. Her is no indication written this will happen. Indeed, a couple of times it happens during points when it is very clearly from Almy's perspective. The first time it occurred, I was confused, until I realized Almy seemed to be omniscient.
There are also quite a few tangents in the novel. Long descriptions leaping off from one or two sentences in the main narrative. Whilst I don't have much of an issue with this, it does seem more akin to classic novels than to modern litfic. That being said, I enjoyed this far more than many works of litfic I've read or given up on.
I feel as if I might have wanted more from the end, but I'm not sure what Brown could have done differently. I am very glad Almy took Otto the dog though.
I actually loathe Marcus say this point. And I feel like the relationship drama sent haywire in this volume. It was Al very ridiculous and abrupt. And I'm over Marcus. Stuff happened that just didn't need to, and I keep forgetting the are like 15-year-old kids, despite the violence. I think Remender does too. I've felt this from the beginning, and I'm no prude, but he does seem to like sex and violence just for the sake of seeming edgy. Also, I want more of other characters and less of Marcus. He has become unbearable. And if he did what it looks like he did, the sooner he kicks the bucket the better.
Not as much preposterous fun as Lock every Door. The explanations are still silly, but more mundanely so. Everything is, as ever with this, are a bit of a stretch, but this became a trifle tedious. Derivative and ludicrous and not as much fun as I'd hoped. And the characters were largely dull or just inane. All the explanations really make no sense whatsoever.
It's fine. It's fast. But it didn't have the disturbing beautiful magic of it's predecessor. It was, honestly, unnecessary.
Edit: Actually, I just finished telling my wife about it, literally fine minutes after I was done, and I have to take away a start. The more I discussed it, the worse it got. Just nonsense. And so anticlimactic. And Gary? Really? That was so absurd. His acknowledgements were written with more thought than the book.
Spoilers.
And a review that ended up more angry than I thought it would.
Really? I caved to the hype for this? It was not the worst I've ever read, but it wasn't that good. It's taken me weeks to get through it because I was finding it so tedious. The prose is like standard genre fiction, nothing special. The plot ended up being nothing special. The main character is so milquetoast I could die. The main female I liked despite myself because she was an angry asshole, but she wasn't written great. She's super hot and plays with her black hair a lot. A. LOT. Like, we get it. The other female protagonist has little to do and dies before everyone else. Oh, and she's black. Are. You. Kidding. Me?
I'm trying really hard not to swear a lot.
The old man is fine, whatever. But then we get the Christian YA horror writer. He's actually fairly likeable, actually. Until the end, when the evil house gets him to start killing everyone so he can resurrect his daughter. Then he's suddenly inappropriate and creepy towards his daughter. Like Purity Ball creepy. Oh. And he's really fat, just in case you don't get it the five million times it's pointed out.
The only engaging part was the first part, when everyone spends the night at the house, and that's mostly because the idea is fun, and you don't know what's going to happen.
And then the book happens, and it is a raging disappointment. It took me like two weeks just to get through the part where they try to tear down the third floor wall. That's gotta be like fifty pages or something. Fifty dull pages.
I really don't like the main character. He is so boring and trite and trope and white horror hero. He also does nonsense that is just nonsense. Swinging back and forth on the gutter of an old house when you are a full grown ass man will probably break said old gutter right away. Especially if the house wants you dead. Sam had total plot armor on. I hated him. With a passion. He was soooo boring!
This is two stars because I like the cover, the premise could have been fun, it wasn't the worst thing I've read, and I can't abide knowing I paid for an ebook I gave one star.
2.5 stars. A mild spoiler. I wasn't bored for most of this book until the end. The characters are all awful people. The writing is just okay. The characterizations are also just okay. There are a million red herrings, and just when I wanted to second guess myself, my basic hunch was proven right in the end. I started to give the book more credit than it deserved, but the end was a thing I've seen done before. Badly, and in better written books.
I'm so over the psychopath villain stalker. I'm over the fat girl obsessing about pretty people. I'm over books that don't seem to really get friendship. Do I need another female frenemy thriller in my life? No. Nope. I'm over all those things. Can someone please write a thriller that's actually not asinine? Like, seriously, thrillers are the worst sometimes. And I mostly had fun reading this. But, like nearly all thrillers I've read, the ending just kills me. And is it too much to ask to be able to like someone in the story?
Actually, I did like someone. The only character I liked was Miranda herself.
Netgalley ARC. I finished this last minute. I, of course, was interested in learning about the eel, and I did. But I feel like the book meanders in a sophomoric philosophical fashion, which prompted me to take way longer than I should have reading it. His prose is best when he's detailing his eel fishing adventures with his father. But even there, he forgoes familial intimacy in favor of heavily detailed descriptions of fishing itself. Which I get. It was bonding time with his father. But, subjectively, there were moments that were too graphic for this vegetarian. If have preferred straight science and history without the pontificating. And the weirdly proselytizing moments mentioning Christianity that didn't fit, especially for an ostensibly irreligious writer.
In short, I wanted more eel and less weird babble about Freud's weirdness about Italian women.
Lonely broke orphan girl just lost her job and her awful boyfriend. Desperate and mostly alone, except for her best friend, she accepts a job as a temporary tenant at a famously posh and exclusive apartment building. Then people go missing, people act sinister, Satan is a red herring, and evil doctors happen.
I appreciate the down with the 1% message, but like most thrillers, things get silly. That being said, I enjoyed this mote than most thrillers because it has a fun, more PG-rated “Eyes Wide Shut” rich-people-are-evil vibe. It could honestly have been more shocking though. I was actually disappointed the twist was as mundane add it was. I expected more. But then, I do horror, and–whilst this has some commonalities with horror–it IS a thriller. That being said, this was also more fun than I thought it would be.
Also...if a Sager heroine bones someone, that someone is the main villain.
Spoilers. On the one hand, I wasn't pleased with the ending. It was realistic, but so very depressing. On the other, even though this story took place in a very Roman Catholic French village, anyone who grew up in a conservative religious household can relate to the misery of Adrian. Even if one's upbringing wasn't as awful. But this kid can't catch a break. I feel like this book is less for LGBT+ readers and more a warning to parents, communities, religious institution, and schools not to be so terrible, cruel, sanctimonious, ignorant and prejudiced. Even Adrian's nice aunt was problematic and more concerned with pacifying her sister than supporting her nephew. Still though, I'd have liked to read an ending where the LGBT+ protagonist didn't die again. As an American, I felt that, between the art and the conclusion of the story, the village itself, this graphic novel felt dated. But then someone mentioned YouTube, and I was completely flummoxed that this story was contemporary. That made the ending even more depressing.