At times really beautiful and poignant, this was a powerful read. There is no denying that Vermette is an exceptional writer. In this book, she introdAt times really beautiful and poignant, this was a powerful read. There is no denying that Vermette is an exceptional writer. In this book, she introduced us to so many worlds, so many people, so many stories, and the way they connected together was beautiful and vivid. I felt that the various characters didn't always seem to progress the story along in a linear narrative, which was a bit distracting, but overall I did like the way it showed the ways we interact with each other and the ways we shape each other's lives. Some of the POVs were more interesting or compelling than others, but overall this was an well designed web of connectivity. I was so frustrated and devastated by the ending though. It just made me so deeply upset. I do think you need to have read books 1 and 2 (& possibly recently) to get the full weight and magic of the book, and I unfortunately found myself a little confused at times....more
This was a Dramione fanfiction, inspired by The Handmaid’s tale, and recommended by TikTok, and honestly I was shocked. Both by the brutality and the This was a Dramione fanfiction, inspired by The Handmaid’s tale, and recommended by TikTok, and honestly I was shocked. Both by the brutality and the devastation, but also by how well written it was, especially in the ways it explored the shades of grey, and the messy morality when it comes to war.
This is not a read to be taken lightly, there are plenty of content warnings, and those are to be taken seriously, but it didn’t feel gratuitous, which I appreciated.
Unexpected and intense, this was compulsively readable, and immersive, and I couldn’t put it down. ...more
Gruesome, horrifying, nauseating, strange. But also tender, ferocious, quirky, and full of heart. This is a story about belonging, even in the midst oGruesome, horrifying, nauseating, strange. But also tender, ferocious, quirky, and full of heart. This is a story about belonging, even in the midst of unimaginable horror. This book is NOT for everyone.
Content warnings are necessary (i went into it unprepared) sharing them here - there is repeated sexual assault, sexual assault of a minor, body horror, violence, gore, cannibalism, and more. ...more
I really enjoyed this weird & brilliant book. It was gorgeous and gruesome, and so immersive (haha, mermaid pun), that I could smell and tas4.5 stars.
I really enjoyed this weird & brilliant book. It was gorgeous and gruesome, and so immersive (haha, mermaid pun), that I could smell and taste the chlorine, the salt, the water, the egg rolls, the blood. Chlorine defies definition and categorization and simply remains: stunning and strange, and simply unforgettable. I can’t wait to read more from Jade Song.
CW: Body Horror, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harrassment, Abuse, Fat-shaming, Disordered eating...more
This book took my breath away. Tender and heartfelt and stunning and devastating - full of love and rage and kindness and compassion. It defies genresThis book took my breath away. Tender and heartfelt and stunning and devastating - full of love and rage and kindness and compassion. It defies genres, and defies simple explanation, this was a grand project, and an impactful one. The letters are poems are stories are prose are essays are calls to action are manifesto. Kai Cheng Thom puts words together beautifully. She makes magic, and I am so grateful for the chance to have read her words.
Can’t wait for the world to read this book!!
I received an advanced reading copy from the publisher, in exchange for my honest feedback....more
Stunning, bold, vivid, surreal, beautiful, and utterly devastating. I listened to this via audiobook, but will 100% need to buy a physical copy, as I Stunning, bold, vivid, surreal, beautiful, and utterly devastating. I listened to this via audiobook, but will 100% need to buy a physical copy, as I know I'm going to want to reread this, and recommend this to everyone. Brilliant, as per usual, Akwaeke Emezi is a force to reckon with.
This is a breathtaking work of magical realism that shows us how monsters don't always look like monsters, and heroes (and angels) don't always look like heroes. Strange and simultaneously stunning, I am blown away by this book. ...more
This book is more ✨vibes� than substance. At times charming and funny, and full of great mille2.5 - 3 stars
CW: sexual assault, internalized homophobia
This book is more ✨vibes� than substance. At times charming and funny, and full of great millennial & queer pop culture references, this book was overall a fun read, and easy to consume. Some of the essays and references were hilarious to me, and made me feel really seen, but largely, I was struck over and over again how despite being so completely online, the author seems to very much live in a very specific bubble (of very white, very online lesbianism).
This book lacked any intersectionality - which can be hard to critique when essays are autobiographical (& the author is white, cis, and grew up middle class - with ups and downs). While the author documents some of her struggles, with her sexuality, with her father being laid off, and her experiences with anxiety, sexual assault, and toxic relationships - it was largely a shallow exploration of these themes (aside from one essay that heavily documents covid anxieties), and while the author doesn’t *owe* us a deeper dive into their life, and the traumas and experiences they’ve had � this, combined with largely surface level, and meme-ified engagement with pop culture, made this book (using the author’s own analogy of Hi-chew candy) easy to consume, but lacking any substance, and you can’t consume too much of it in one go, or you realize it’s not really satisifying you. The author also seemed to lack a lot of self awareness, and self criticism (ironic, since so much of the book relies on popular millennial humour and themes of self hatred and shame!!!) � I was pretty frustrated by her lack of critical engagement with the fact that she herself contributed so heavily to publicly speculating on celebrities and their sexuality. It’s *different* when she does it apparently (vs. Perez Hilton, who she so effectively critiques), but honestly, it feels just as malicious and really doubled down on her lack of self awareness and acknowledgment of� well, anything outside of her. She rarely discusses consequences or real life implications of anything, but I guess that’s not completely unexpected to me - because tbh, so many of the most prominent voices in queer culture are white, and they are also often missing the nuance and thoughtfulness that Gutowitz was missing. My bar is already pretty low for “internet famous� white queer folks (i’ve been disappointed time and time again) - so when they impress me, it’s REALLY impressive.
I want to be clear that I don’t find this book shallow and insubstantial because the author’s experiences are tied with explorations of pop culture, celebrities, and popular culture � that was the draw. I *love* 2000s movies & music, ✨yearning�, and reading about messy celebs living their messy (& completely removed from real life) lives � this, combined with Jill’s humour, and the overt and explicit ✨queerness� of this book should have been a recipe for success for me, but unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down.
Perhaps, part of it was how incredibly *”nice� white lady* this book felt � but similar to how Jill talks about the ways she felt so disengaged by the shallowness of celebrities during Covid - I felt the same way about this book. The author makes a point to call out and critique misogyny and homophobia, but rarely deigns to mention race or privilege.
The cringe-y humour was fun at times, but really had its hits and misses. In the acknowledgments Jill mentions that the book came about after a literary agent messaged her on Twitter, and that makes sense, because this book (its writing and humour styles) read like a series of tweets. Which also leads the essays to feel like they don’t flow well together.
I’m also a very online person, so I really connected with some of the jokes and references, and even the ✨vibes� of the book, but unfortunately it really wasn’t for me....more
While Courtney Summers is a great writer, unfortunately this book didn’t work for me. Our protagonist’s POV could often be pretty confusing -2.5 stars
While Courtney Summers is a great writer, unfortunately this book didn’t work for me. Our protagonist’s POV could often be pretty confusing - she made a lot of decisions that felt like she was leaving readers in the dark, and we had to catch up with them. She was also a bit hard to understand - like some of her motivations and key personality traits made sense, while there were others I wish we could have fleshed out more.
The plot was really fascinating - very Jeffrey Epstein inspired, and it was also pretty hard to read for some of those reasons. The character development was a bit lacking, and the plot had promise, but ultimately It felt a bit convoluted, and the pacing was weird and rushed.
I would definitely recommend looking up content warnings before reading this book!...more
I received an advanced galley of this book, from the publisher, through Netgalley - in exchange for my honest feedback.
This is a hard review to write,I received an advanced galley of this book, from the publisher, through Netgalley - in exchange for my honest feedback.
This is a hard review to write, folks, as I had really high hopes - but unfortunately, they were pretty thoroughly dashed.
This book was somehow both pretentious & careless - with turns of phrase that i’m sure were meant to evoke great emotion, or be permanently tattooed into young, romantic minds - but they felt stiff and forced and unrealistic. Medusa turned from misunderstood villain to manic pixie dream girl, and it was hard not to make it through every page without rolling my eyes. It was a lot of really flowery, really beautiful “Tumblr-esque� language - both in conversations and in Medusa’s internal dialogue - and it felt so forced and unrealistic.
I wasn’t expecting The Odyssey, but i was expecting some effort to at least pretend like the author was trying to make it authentic to Ancient Greece� Instead, I kept finding turns or phrase or stylistic choices that decidedly didn’t belong in this era - like “girlfriend� and “boyfriend� - and honestly it was distracting - it kept taking me out of the story.
The art was beautiful, and this book had so much promise for me - but unfortunately fell very flat.
I really appreciated the perspective on Medusa - finally giving her agency in her own story, finally not painting her as a villain, but as a victim, and as a survivor, as a teen girl subject to the whims of the gods. It’s the story I and so many others have wanted for a long time. I think the writing wasn’t bad either - just kind of insufferable at times - which feels crappy to say.
Also, most of the book is told in conversation format. So a lot of the significant events in Medusa’s mythos don’t actually *happen* in this book - Medusa just talks about when they happened. It was an interesting stylistic choice, and perhaps it works for some, but not for me - it made me a little bored, to be honest. (Very literal example of someone TELLING and not SHOWING).
All in all, not the book for me, but I appear to be in the minority right now. I kind of hope I stay in the minority, as I really was rooting for this book, so maybe others will be able to look past some of the things that bothered me!...more
CW: Se*ual assault of a minor, Violence, murder, gun violence, discussion of sui*ide, graphic depiction of an abor*ion, racism, domestic assault, chilCW: Se*ual assault of a minor, Violence, murder, gun violence, discussion of sui*ide, graphic depiction of an abor*ion, racism, domestic assault, child abuse, neglect, alcoholism
This book was compelling, readable, and interesting. A bit slow paced, so it took me a while to really sink into the story. It was good, but unfortunately I found it a bit predictable (although I didn’t see everything coming). The concept was interesting, and i enjoyed reading (listening) to it. The themes of racism were interesting, and I enjoyed many of the relationship dynamics. I absolutely loved a few of the secondary characters (Rudy and Juice were both so great!) - but had a hard time staying connected to our protagonist. While she referenced race and racism, as well as her personal experiences in a way that was compelling and relatable - it was done in an interesting way, where she didn’t actually seem vulnerable, and seemed almost removed from them. I didn’t hate it - it more surprised me. I don’t know if this was intentional - as a defence mechanism for the racism she faces, or if it was because I was listening to the book as an audiobook, and already felt a bit removed from the character.
This was a heavy read, for sure, and I would recommend everyone read through the content warnings first. It was interesting and unique, and action-packed - full of twists and turns that leave you wanting to know what happens next.
Small pet peeve: The author used the term “fragile smile� so often that it actually distracted me, and took me out of the book.
I received an advanced listening copy of the audiobook from the publisher (through Netgalley) in exchange for my honest feedback....more
A short, but phenomenal read - Misfits is thoughtful, smart, seating, and unputdownable. Michaela Coel is wickCW: Racism, The “N-word�, Sexual Assault
A short, but phenomenal read - Misfits is thoughtful, smart, seating, and unputdownable. Michaela Coel is wicked smart and has an incredible way of putting words together into compelling stories.
Misfits is adapted from a speech Coel performed at an event for industry professionals, and this hour long speech was incredible. I tore through this book, soaking up every single world, itching for more.
I don’t say this lightly, but Michaela Coel is one of this generations most incredible voices, and experiencing her art, her writing, her storytelling feels like a gift. I am blown away by the care, thought and power put into every word, and every story. ...more
Delicious, vivid, breathtaking, lush, and so utterly alive, this was a magical journey into food and faith and folMy goodness, this book was stunning.
Delicious, vivid, breathtaking, lush, and so utterly alive, this was a magical journey into food and faith and folklore and family.
I started reading this book, and sunk into the story so deeply, the only times I wanted to interrupt my reading was to say out loud: “This book is so freaking good.�
Truly, an unforgettable read, I am Francesca Ekwuyasi’s new biggest fan....more
Natalia Hero’s ‘Hum� is a beautiful, painful, & vulnerable story about a young woman whose life changes comSometimes tough times require tough reads.
Natalia Hero’s ‘Hum� is a beautiful, painful, & vulnerable story about a young woman whose life changes completely when she is sexually assaulted, and gives birth to a hummingbird. It’s a story of trauma, and pain, and coping, and persistence. Heartfelt, tender, and healing - this book was exactly what I needed to read. �...more
Just finished Chanel Miller’s memoir (& manifesto) “Know My Name�, and WOW.
We knew Chanel Miller was a powerful writer, when we read her victim impacJust finished Chanel Miller’s memoir (& manifesto) “Know My Name�, and WOW.
We knew Chanel Miller was a powerful writer, when we read her victim impact statement on Buzzfeed, on Facebook, picked up by newspapers, and trending around the world, a few years ago, but this book is phenomenal.
Searing, vulnerable, incisive, raw, beautiful, unflinching. full of light - this is more than Chanel Miller’s memoir, it is an indictment of the US judicial system; of university & colleges without adequate systems of support for sexual assault victims & survivors; of society, and our perpetuation of rape culture; our failure to prevent harm, & protect survivors.
Once known to us as Emily Doe, her words heard around the world, her case familiar to all of us, in “Know My Name� Miller shows her agency clearly - she is strong, & fierce, & still healing. She is a survivor of sexual assault, but more than that, she is a young woman, coming into her own, she is an advocate, a fighter, an artist, a writer, a big sister, a daughter, a friend, a survivor.
She is speaking to and for survivors - saying loudly, clearly, firmly: I Am With You.
What an incredible, powerful story.
A must read, & absolutely one of the best books I’ve ever read. ...more
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