Great audio! I'm marking it as read even though I didn't get to the last 15% in time. I don't think I have the presence of mind right now to write on Great audio! I'm marking it as read even though I didn't get to the last 15% in time. I don't think I have the presence of mind right now to write on this in any real depth, but I'll just that that this was very compelling and oddly satisfying for something that centers on sexual assault. Probably the thing that really speaks for it, though, is that I'd now like to read more true crime that doesn't involve murder, which is...not usually my thing, to say the least....more
3.5 stars. Anyone who knows me could tell you that I categorically hate murder mysteries, so you would think that I'd love this for the fact that it's3.5 stars. Anyone who knows me could tell you that I categorically hate murder mysteries, so you would think that I'd love this for the fact that it's the only book by KJ Charles that DOESN'T contain a murder mystery. But the way she normally develops the romance amidst the crime and intrigue really works for me; she keeps the focus on the romance but uses the mystery as a way to move the story forward, to provide the unique circumstances that develop the main characters' connection.
So conversely, I think that the lack of mayhem here left it feeling a little meandering to me. I also found that a lot of the side characters kind of blurred together making pretty much impossible to keep them all straight (pun not intended, but delightful nonetheless), and there was a seemingly endless amount of talking that got to be a little wearing.
But I did enjoy it overall. I LOVED the central characters, and I found a lot of the ideas explored to be interesting. One thing all that extra narrative space allowed for is the exploration of some interesting ideas surrounding sex and sexuality (consent, the idea of sharing and giving pleasure rather than one person "taking" it, polyamory, different types of love being different but equal). There's also a lot going on here about the toxicity of moulding ones life around the opinions of others, and about finding your group of people who truly care about you and with whom you can be yourself (found family feels ftw!)
So overall this is good and I enjoyed it, but I don't think it's one I'll be rereading on the regular....more
The fastest way to get me interested in a historical story is to say that it's about a well-known topic from the perspective of people who have largelThe fastest way to get me interested in a historical story is to say that it's about a well-known topic from the perspective of people who have largely been written out of the history books.
In this case the story of the Pilgrims is told through the perspective of the women and the Anglican former indentured servants ten years after the Mayflower landed in Plymouth, and it focuses on the time leading up to the community's first murder.Â
The writing and ideas really hooked me and kept me engaged throughout, which is really saying something since I've struggled to get into any of the books I've picked up over the last couple of weeks. My one criticism might be that the author uses aphorisms a little too liberally, but that's only a minor quibble.
Overall it was pretty fascinating to see this story from the vastly different perspectives of the ruling Puritans and the former servants who feel wronged and hemmed in by their self righteous piety. You really get a strong sense of each side's bitterness, resentment, hypocrisy, and self centeredness.Â
I was on guard as I read to see how Indigenous folks would be portrayed, but the scope of the book is very narrow and it doesn't look heavily at the Europeans' interactions with them. I do think that this aspect of the book was done pretty well, though, particularly because the Pilgrims were definitely not painted in a positive light (the whole time I was just mentally going "fuuuuuuuuck the Puritans").
Another thing that I appreciated was how the characters feel very of their time/place, but at the same time still feel somehow very relatable, like on an a basic human nature sort of level. For example:
"We were trying to be in God's good favor, and whatever was fashionable was lowly and earthly. Beauty was a vanity, an earthly vanity, which is why the royalty spent their time upon it. That was not us, I kept telling myself, but privately I believed it was far easier to be less vain when you were beautiful".
"He spoke loud enough for his wife to register the grumbling, but not loud enough to elevate his annoyance into an argument, as is common with husbands."
Overall I really found this to be fascinating and super readable. Would recommend to anyone who would like to read things from this time period without having an absolute aneurysm over racist/sexist/classiest/xenophobic shit (I mean it's there, of course, but it's not held up as good or natural in any way)....more
3.5 stars. I'm a bit conflicted on this one but I can't bring myself to rate it less than 4 stars because a) I love Lindy West and want her to succeed3.5 stars. I'm a bit conflicted on this one but I can't bring myself to rate it less than 4 stars because a) I love Lindy West and want her to succeed b) I enjoyed parts of this immensely - there were moments that made me think, moments that made me feel (I got teary-eyed over Guy Fieri for gods sakes). West writes in this way that is so chatty and fun and easy to read that I kept having these little fissures of shock every time I remembered that, oh yeah, she's also really fucken smart.
So why, then, did this not totally rock my world? Why did I find myself wanting to skim through chunks of it?Â
I think that for me a lot of it felt like a retread. Maybe it's that I've done a lot more reading on various feminist/social issues in the last 3 years since I read and loved Shrill, but there was a lot here that didn't exactly feel new. There are some really quality moments of wisdom, some nice quotable nuggets, and there are several main themes that I would have loved to see expanded (our predilection for turning away from truth and going with the flow, how many people choose to cease growing as they get older, how we are taught it's not cool to care, etc.).
But I don't think it was enough for me. I don't need to be convinced that sexism or racism or classism or fatphobia or climate change are a problem. And what's the point of merely stating the problem? What are we here for? Solidarity? Laughs? Those are here, definitely, but doesn't it all just feel a little like... preaching to the choir?Â
I don't know, maybe I'm expecting or asking for too much, but I wanted something that's more about moving us forward. I kept impatiently thinking "Yes, and..?"
Sigh. I don't know. This wasn't bad, by any means. Parts of it were really good! I laughed! I cried! And obviously a lot of people are loving it! I just expected to whole-ass love it when I only actually half-ass did, and I guess I'm a little bummed about it....more
This completely wrecked me- I cried, I lol'd, I cheered, I cried some more. I'm not gonna lie, there were parts that were really hard to read. But oveThis completely wrecked me- I cried, I lol'd, I cheered, I cried some more. I'm not gonna lie, there were parts that were really hard to read. But overall this was so utterly compelling, so starkly beautiful, so extremely emotionally satisfying, that I don't regret a single second of it.
I'm not going to get into the details of the plot since you can read that in the blurb, but I'll just say that this is basically about rape culture and forging bonds between teen girls and channeling female rage to effect change. It deals with themes of agency, consent, intersectionality, the mechanisms that keep women silent, and sex and pleasure.
Even though this was an intense read, the things that made it worthwhile, made it so that I was able to open up my heart to it, were the tenderly portrayed characters and the positive view the book takes on the ultimate potential of female relationships. While it does a fantastic job of setting up the things that keep us apart, looking at how we often don't give the people around us a chance to be the people we need them to be, to fit into our lives, or to see into our vulnerable insides, it also does a fantastic job of showing how it doesn't have to be that way- that it isn't always that way. That we don't have to prop up the status quo that divides and conquers us. It shows a pathway towards a togetherness that makes space for accepting of each other's differences while still allowing us to be true to ourselves.Â
Ok, so I know that probably sounds all kumbaya and shit, but it's really not cheesy or unrealistic. It doesn't shy away from looking at how freaking hard it is to reach out to each other, to disrupt the patterns of cattiness and backbiting and ostracization. It acknowledges that change, true change, is really painful and disruptive and sometimes violent. But despite all the shit, this book is exceedingly, joyously hopeful. I'm honestly tearing up a little right now just thinking about the beautiful bonds of friendship and sisterhood (the earnestness of that term makes me cringe a little, but it's true so I'm soldiering on with it).
My only minor critique is that there are moments in the first half that are a bit heavy handedly About Rape Culture, that focus a little more on the concepts than the actual plot, but overall that didn't ruin it for me at all, and I think for the most part it really deftly and compassionately weaves together a hugely complex set of ideas and distinct characters.
Ooh, and great fat representation!! I loved and identified with Grace so much :D...more
Well I finally picked up the last new-to-me Roan Parrish book because it's officially been long enough since I read book one that I kind of forgot whaWell I finally picked up the last new-to-me Roan Parrish book because it's officially been long enough since I read book one that I kind of forgot what a colossal asshole the main character is (he's the lead's homophobic brother in the first one).
Man, I love all her books outside this series with the fire of a thousand suns, but this series just kind of blows (I'm sorry.) (but it's true.) The first one was fine, this one made me feel a bit squicky inside, and the third one-- the third one I haaated. Like a year after reading it and I still have a visceral reaction when I think about it.
All the books in this series have similar problems that are mostly absent from her other works:
-They're weirdly heteronormative -The sex scenes need some SERIOUS editing -There's some really problematic stuff surrounding power and codependency -The dialogue is about 70% "um"s and sentence fragments
I'm glad I've read everything she's written now, but I'm definitely never going to read and of the books in this series again...more
Fantastic in every respect, so much so that I'm having a hard time writing anything that feels adequate. Most everything I can think of to say about iFantastic in every respect, so much so that I'm having a hard time writing anything that feels adequate. Most everything I can think of to say about it sounds like sensational back-of-the-book sort of junk. Like I want to say how much I loved the characterization of Sadie and it turns into "Sadie, a young woman with nothing to lose and a heart full of revenge". This would be true in the barest sense, but it wouldn't get at how down to earth the story is, how compassionately Sadie is written.
Rarely have I seen poor working class characters written so fairly; so many books I've read over the years portray them with a veiled disdain and condescension, so this felt really, really good to read. Some of the people and places the author describes just remind me so much of people I grew up with, of trailers I felt safe in, of trailers I didn't feel safe in, of ingrained dysfunctions that are just a part of life when you're poor, and they are portrayed in ways I've never quite seen on the page before.Â
Like I love this description:
"To my right, a girl. Girl. Woman. She's hunched over a plate of half-eaten food, thumbs moving fast across her phone's screen. She has frizzy brown hair and she's got so much exposed pale skin, it makes me shiver to look at her. She's wearing black pumps, short shorts, and a thin tight tank top. I think she works the parking lot. Lot lizards. That's what they call girls like her. My eyes travel up for a better look at her face and it's the kind of face that's younger than it looks, skin ravaged by circumstance, not passage of time. The lines at the corner of her eyes and the edges of her mouth remind of me cracks in armor."
Along with the great characterizations, Sadie's world of poverty and drugs and broken-down trailer parks is well drawn, too; unflinching yet even-handed, it never verges into titillating Gritty� territory. The author tells you about Sadie's world while pulling back from explicitness, walking tenderly around some of the hard parts like we often do in our own minds around things we don't want to think about, or things that we just take for granted. Some reviewers have pointed out that these things feel like inconsistencies in the narrative to them, but to me they actually feel the most authentic and only add to to the overall story.
Last of all, though, I have to talk about how excellent the pacing is-- how it had me rushing to the end, how badly I wanted to know how it all ended, while at the same time being even keeled enough that I could handle it all. This is what I always want mysteries to be like when I pick them up-- real and lacking in cheap thrills. A compelling story that doesn't make me feel like I'm going to come out of my skin with anxiety for the main character. Something that talks about true things and hard things in ways that give me room to take it all in, that are sad and dark but ultimately leave me feeling unexpectedly uplifted.Â
Just... Wow. I loved this whole heartedly. ...more
This book was damn near perfect for me; I feel like it took me on a journey that completely hollowed me out and then filled me back up to overflowing.This book was damn near perfect for me; I feel like it took me on a journey that completely hollowed me out and then filled me back up to overflowing.
I'm honestly having a hard time writing something that adequately covers it, so I'll just say that I think that for people who love books that are deeply insightful, who love characters and watching rich development over time, who don't mind giving this story the proper time and space to unfurl, who like the idea of contemplating the true weight of immortality and the awful power of divinity, this would be an incredibly moving and satisfying read.
I'm going to have to think about it, though, and hopefully come back to do an in depth review because I think this book really deserves it....more
4.5 stars. Really interesting intro, beautiful illustrations. It's really fascinating to read folk tales that were never updated to fit more modern ta4.5 stars. Really interesting intro, beautiful illustrations. It's really fascinating to read folk tales that were never updated to fit more modern tastes and morals like the Brothers Grimm stories were. They are truly macabre and seemingly lacking any point other than 1) women should be obedient and chaste, 2) don't trust old ladies in the woods, and 3) men are pretty much always colossal jerks only out for themselves....more
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