Sandwich Joe

In the novel, the narrator is simultaneously bored and overwhelmed with the world around her, and so she decides to hibernate for a year. In one respect, I understand her. I relate to her desire to sleep (or, really, die without dying). She writes, “I was plagued with misery, anxiety, and a wish to escape the prison of my mind and body,” and this is a feeling with which I'm well acquainted.

However, the narrator is profoundly unlikable. She has seemingly everything going for her: her beauty effortless, her pockets deep, yet her greatest desire in life is to withdraw. She is solipsistic and spoiled, someone who spends pages and pages focusing on her own self-care with a small mention of 9/11 (the event that kills her only friend!) at the end. 

At one point, the narrator is talking to this ‘friend,' Reva. She says, “But why do you care? It's not a contest.” To which Reva responds, “Yes, it is. You just can't see it because you've always been the winner.”

While I enjoyed the novel and appreciated its complexities and dark humor, I do feel as if it drags a bit towards the end and often returns to the comfort of what it has already established. That said, I will probably be thinking about this book for a very long time.

In The Secret Commonwealth, Pullman trades the intimacy of Oxford and the frozen wonder of the North for a sprawling, politically charged journey across Europe, the Near East, and Central Asia… and it works. This installment feels like a mature evolution of His Dark Materials: a world still threaded with Dust and dæmons, but one wrestling with modern realities and the pain of getting older.

Lyra, now grown and disenchanted, experiences a second fall, one not from innocence, but from belief. The sense of loss is profound, but so is the beauty of her search to recover faith in the unseen.

Others have noted some of the rougher aspects of the novel, so I won’t go into those. I’ll just say that this is a rich, mature, and deeply philosophical entry in the series: less adventure, more pilgrimage. Even in its darkness, it never loses the wonder that makes Lyra’s world so unforgettable. I can’t wait for the final chapter later this week.

Reading The Hole by Pyun Hye-young feels like waking in a hospital room you can’t leave. At first, nothing much happens. The novel seems like quiet musings on recovery. Then the light grows harsher, the silences heavier, the house smaller. The hole in the yard keeps getting deeper, and so does the suffocating horror. It’s a novel about paralysis, about being trapped inside your own body, and suffering from someone else’s grief.

That said, I feel the beginning was too slow. I wasn’t very invested until at least the middle, and it ended just when it was really starting to get going.

🇰🇷 The English translation from the Korean by Sora Kim-Russell is very good.

🎧 The narrator, Tim Campbell, does a solid job with the audiobook.

I found Snake Oil by Kelsey Rae Dimberg entertaining, especially with my corporate background. The way Dimberg captures power plays, appearances, and manipulation felt sharp and familiar. The writing is stylish, and the setup pulled me in right away.

That said, it's a long book, and the middle section hit a lull. There was too much information that didn't add much to the story, slowing the momentum that made the opening so strong. As a result, the ending felt a bit distracted and flat.

I've read a bunch of these “weird girl wellness” novels (youthjuice, Natural Beauty, etc.), and while Snake Oil isn't as surreal or strange, it actually offers sharper insight into the corporate world. It shows how privilege and power can be both intoxicating and corrupting, and while it could have been tighter and more focused, it's still a sleek, unsettling read worth picking up.

🎧 It's easier for me to consume longer books as audiobooks, and this one was was very good. The three different narrators (Rhoda, Dani, and Cecilia) were three separate voices, which added to the story.

The three books in this series (baby, toddler, and child) explore way to raise children in the Montessori way outside of school.

I’ve read the series, and I found this one to be the weakest of the three. While it was informative, I believe the others (especially the toddler one) were more novel and interesting.

That said, it’s a helpful book for guardians and caregivers to read, and I’ll be able to use these strategies in caring for my niece.