I am having so much fun with this series. Even though it is a high fantasy setting with an incredibly de4 1/2 stars. Even better than The Tainted Cup!
I am having so much fun with this series. Even though it is a high fantasy setting with an incredibly detailed world, the tone of the stories reminds me very much of urban fantasy mysteries I've enjoyed over the years. Once again, the plot is a murder mystery, and, once again, the delightfully funny banter between Din and Ana drives the narrative.
Before beginning this series I saw comparisons to Sherlock and Watson and I rolled my eyes and thought yeah, whatever, but it's actually a fairly good comparison in this case. Ana is just as brilliant as Cumberbatch's Sherlock, and even more prone to eccentricities and social faux pas. Din narrates the story Watson-style, recounting Ana's brilliance with no small amount of bafflement, while also showing ingenuity of his own.
The mysteries in both books have been really well-crafted, layered and satisfying. I've gotten much better at discovering culprits and spotting wild twists after years of reading mysteries and thrillers, but I have so far found Bennett's mysteries impenetrable. I think it is because there is so much going on and each mystery opens up to an even larger mystery before it is solved. By the time I got to the "Aha! So it's..." point, Ana was confirming what I'd figured out in the next paragraph.
But while much of this book is fun, underneath it is something deeper-- a criticism of autocracy in a genre enamored by kingdoms and divine rule. The author's note is a must-read.
Old Soul is one of those books that starts strong and compelling but goes on way longer than it should have done.
The opening with Jake and Mariko was Old Soul is one of those books that starts strong and compelling but goes on way longer than it should have done.
The opening with Jake and Mariko was arresting; the kind of opening that makes you sit up straight and settle in for what is sure to be a gripping read. The pair meet by chance when they both miss a flight at Kansai International Airport. As they get to know one another, it first seems like they have nothing in common, but soon they reach a chilling realisation: they each knew someone who died in the same disturbing and mysterious way.
What connects both these deaths, thousands of miles apart, is the appearance of a strange woman in the weeks leading up to the end. This new understanding leads Jake around the world in pursuit of answers.
The chapters alternate between Jake gathering testimonies from various people who have also lost loved ones to this mysterious woman, and the woman honing in on her next victim.
I have often expressed disagreement with Kirkus reviewers, but I think in this case they got it completely right. The longer this story dragged on, the more the tension drained out of it. Jake's investigations feel like a series of short stories, ones that became repetitive after a while. The eerie, mysterious woman, once well-explained, became far less eerie and not at all mysterious.
It was like the author built up all this tension in the first 25% or so, then just allowed it to slowly fade away over the rest of the book. By around the 75% mark, my interest had waned....more
What must it feel like to be like that, a woman who wasn’t afraid to make demands or stir up trouble?
I really wish I could say I liked this book m
What must it feel like to be like that, a woman who wasn’t afraid to make demands or stir up trouble?
I really wish I could say I liked this book more than I did. The premise is great-- a perfect antidote to tradwife nonsense --but the story itself is inconsistent, both in terms of pacing and characterization.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women is set in 1963, shortly after the publication of The Feminine Mystique. A group of suburban housewives in Virginia start a book club and their first pick is Friedan's new release: a decision that will change all of their lives.
Moving through the perspectives of these women-- Margaret, Viv, Bitsy and Charlotte --Bostwick explores this very specific time and place. She covers the weird post-war housewife fixation and propaganda in America, showing how emerging consumerism benefitted from encouraging this as a "natural" role for middle class women because it sold household appliances. We see the invisible labour carried out by women, how challenging it could be to have and keep a career, and how many housewives turned to prescription drugs to cope with their six kids and stagnant lives (literally .)
In 1963, married women couldn't open a bank account without their husband's permission (even if the money going into it was their own wage), couldn't be prescribed the pill without his signature. It was stifling just reading about it.
I also really appreciated that Bostwick acknowledged the limitations of Friedan's work. As Viv notes, her book primarily applies to middle class women with choices, whereas many other women, and men, were forced to work jobs they hated just to feed their kids.
But while all this is great, these positives are all about the message of the book and the takeaways from Betty Friedan's writing. What actually unfolded in the story was... not that much. Especially when compared to the length of the book. There were quite a lot of slow spots, good bits interspersed with more tedious stretches.
Also, I know women faced a lot of difficulties at this time, but I was disappointed that we didn't see much in the way of the promised "troublesome women." Only Charlotte really caused any trouble (and that was thanks to her brilliant daughter). It was frustrating that Bitsy and Margaret's lives only really changed as a result of their husbands' decisions; they themselves did not actually make much trouble. There was a lot of tongue-biting and easy forgiveness, and while I appreciate character growth, I did not fully buy Walt's about-turn.
Still, I read it all and made a bunch of notes, so obviously not a bad read. Charlotte's story was by far the most satisfying....more
The Memory Collectors is popping up in sci-fi recommendations but I'd say it's more of a character-driven mystery. Either way, I really enjoyed it. ItThe Memory Collectors is popping up in sci-fi recommendations but I'd say it's more of a character-driven mystery. Either way, I really enjoyed it. It was gripping and surprisingly moving.
The science is probably the weakest aspect of the story as it is not very well-explained. It requires a pretty big suspension of disbelief to accept that a person's consciousness travels back in time without their body and, obviously, requires you to accept that consciousness is something that can be separated from the body. But if you don't think too hard about this, the story is very enjoyable.
We follow four perspectives-- Elizabeth, Logan, Andy and Brooke --as they make a time travel jump to their pasts. These four are broken in the present, in different ways, and long for one blissful hour in a time before their lives were irrevocably changed. But their one hour in the past inexplicably turns to two, three... and suddenly they realise they are stranded back in time. Naturally, they begin to wonder what surely all time travellers would wonder: can they change what happened?
Meserve sets it up well by having each one of these characters be in some way sympathetic and/or relatable. Elizabeth's grief for her son is palpable; Logan's thrill-seeking personality feels imprisoned in his body after the accident; Andy's heartbreak over the woman who ghosted him will be familiar to anyone left wondering why? after a relationship has ended; Brooke's estrangement from her beloved family after making a terrible mistake is painful.
It soon becomes clear that these four stories are intertwined in ways none of them could have predicted and I really enjoyed uncovering each layer of this mystery and seeing how it was all interconnected.
One negative is that I was never 100% sold on people spending five figures to go back to a random time in the past, with zero guarantees that they'd even arrive in a time before their lives changed. Super rich people, for sure. But would you really save up all your money to take such a huge chance? I dunno. I wouldn't. But I guess I'm not much of a gambler....more
“The data doesn’t lie.� “It doesn’t tell the truth, either.�
You know those dreams, the ones where you have to get somewhere, desperately need to ge
“The data doesn’t lie.� “It doesn’t tell the truth, either.�
You know those dreams, the ones where you have to get somewhere, desperately need to get somewhere or pursue something, but things keep happening, keep getting in your way and holding you back? The panic that keeps increasing as time� or whatever you’re chasing —slips away from you?
That's what this book is like.
It's set in a future that feels just around the corner-- one where companies mine data from all our devices, social media and, in this case, dreams, and allow the government to profile us. In an effort to combat crime before it's even occurred, those considered 'high risk' by the algorithm can be legally detained.
It starts with a period of 21 days, but every tiny infraction recorded can extend the detention period without question or trial, no matter how unfair. This is the situation Sara finds herself in when an algorithm deems she is a threat to her husband, trapped in an institution as her baby twins grow up without her. I felt every bit of her frustration and suffocation.
Entire generations have never known life without surveillance. Watched from the womb to the grave, they take corporate ownership of their personal data to be a fact of life, as natural as leaves growing on trees.
Sara grows increasingly disillusioned with the system that would put an innocent woman in what is essentially a prison. Along with the other women in the centre, she tries to reclaim some freedom in any way she can.
The more I thought about it, the easier it was to suspend disbelief for this premise. Obviously the data mining is not difficult to believe at all, but I at first questioned whether people would really consider it a good idea to detain innocent people... but then, profiling is already occurring, and has been for a long time. And, from a strictly utilitarian perspective, one could argue that the technology in the book has done more good than harm. A minority suffer so that the majority can live in safe communities, free from crime. Scarily, I don't even think it'd be a tough sell.
I loved the concept and enjoyed Sara as a protagonist. I thought some of the secondary characters could have been better developed. I also thought it went on a bit too long. These reasons are why it's a 4-star instead of a 5. But I would still highly recommend it.
She wants to be free, and what is freedom if not the wresting of the self from the gaze of others, including her own?
A frustrating, high-concept piece of writing. It was beautifully-written and I appreciate it was clever, but it was not my cup of tea.
I was unfamiliarA frustrating, high-concept piece of writing. It was beautifully-written and I appreciate it was clever, but it was not my cup of tea.
I was unfamiliar with Kitamura’s work going into this, which was likely an error on my part. Had I known the author typically writes abstract, postmodern stories, I wouldn’t have mistook the premise for something I would enjoy.
In Audition, the narrator is an actress, currently in a play of two very different Acts, struggling to figure out how to play a transitional scene that bridges the two. In true meta fashion, the book itself also consists of two very different parts with Part 1 teasing an important scene, one we never get to see and is completely unmentioned in Part 2.
As noted above, the writing is quite beautiful, and the narrator provides us with with some interesting commentary on race in theatre, as well as on being a mother/childless. But this is one of those literary novels that forces you to ask many questions, yet the answers remain elusive after the final page.
I was contemplating giving it three stars for being quite clever, but the last fifty pages just went completely off the rails. Up until that point, I had felt I somewhat understood the novel structurally and thematically, even if I did not necessarily enjoy it, but then the narrative dissolved into what, in parts, read like random chaos.
In the end, I was left thinking that this is one of those books so abstract that I think you could say it means literally anything, "oh, this symbolises this" and "this is a metaphor for that", so very deep, but books like this exhaust and frustrate me. I don't personally think it's clever to make a mess and wait for others to see art in it.
Don't get me wrong, there are certainly readers for this book. In fact, it is every Literature student’s wet dream� abstract, subjective, meta, and rooted in the heart of western literature: theatre.
Hence why I wasn't a Lit student.
I’ll also be glad when this trend of not using speech marks is over. I don’t know which hipster made this the “literary� thing, but it’s trite at this point. Even the other book I am currently reading is the same (Old Soul)....more
Not sure if it’s just me, but I always find the distance between 3 and 4 stars seems like the greatest between all the star ratings. For that reason, Not sure if it’s just me, but I always find the distance between 3 and 4 stars seems like the greatest between all the star ratings. For that reason, Ordinary Love is a solid 3.5.
There's lots to like here. Rutkoski is telling two stories-- a story of an abusive marriage and tumultuous separation, and a decades-spanning love story. The problem is it's a very slow-burn tale that I feel would have benefited from losing a hundred pages.
I thought the portrait of this particularly insidious form of abuse was very powerful. The way someone can make a casually callous comment, subtly manipulate their partner, so that they end up wondering if they are being too picky, too sensitive. As the reader, we watch in horror as Jack slowly isolates Emily from her family and friends, her support network gradually falling away.
One of the ways this abuse manifests is she can never be sure what he will do and she is constantly trying to anticipate his reaction. This goes beyond dealing with the reaction itself because she must also deal with the constant anxiety. One part of the book captures this perfectly� she imagines Jack's reaction to a change in Halloween plans, her mind catastrophizes the whole thing, and it isn’t what she thinks� but it’s the fact he put that anxiety in her, that never knowing when he will blow up and punish those around him.
Another time, Jack buys Emily a bracelet and this is her reaction:
Emily could predict, though, how their happiness might sour. Maybe she wouldn’t wear the bracelet enough. Or if she wore it every day, he might say that she treated it like an ordinary object. Didn’t she think it was special enough? What more could she possibly want?
Alongside this is the broody and melancholy love story between Emily and Gen, who met as kids, became lovers, and were later pulled apart by life and misunderstanding.
In fact, the almost constant misunderstandings and miscommunications between them was one of my main grumbles and what really made the story drag. It felt like one simple conversation could have saved years of hurt, and there was enough sighing and sad silence between them to rival Sally Rooney. Still, it has to be said they had chemistry and were very sweet and sexy together.
I'm convinced a shorter book would have been an easy 4 stars for me. It just went on too long, everything dragged out beyond the point of being interesting....more
I grew up in "Wakey" Wakefield, not "Donny" Doncaster, which is the setting of We Pretty Pieces of Flesh, but this could This book tore at old wounds.
I grew up in "Wakey" Wakefield, not "Donny" Doncaster, which is the setting of We Pretty Pieces of Flesh, but this could easily have been my town, my school, my classmates. The book is written entirely in Yorkshire dialect, which will probably be a challenge for some, but was easily recognisable to me.
I can’t imagine how this book will be received by those not from Yorkshire, but as Trainspotting and Shuggie Bain managed to cross barriers of language and culture, perhaps this one will also.
This book felt very personal to me. I was also young in the early 2000s (the blurb says the '90s, but this is not really accurate) and I experienced all of this. Yes, the references; yes, the music. Also, yes, the tidal wave of misogyny. I remember that acutely confusing feeling of fury at being objectified, yet at the same time to be objectified was to be desired, and to be desired was better than to be rejected.
What a horrific, miserable feeling.
I remember girls starving themselves, girls bending over backwards to find that sweet spot that evades being "frigid" or a "slag", kids losing themselves in alcohol and drugs. I remember getting out, going to uni, and it being like escaping to a different world. I remember being shocked that there were people who were shocked at underage teens having sex.
This book captures all of this, a very specific time and place, and it captures it well. The characters, especially Shaz, are dazzling and memorable.
For a while I really wanted to rate this 5 stars but it did get a bit long. In the middle it became a bit of a repetitive sea of dancing, boozing and bad choices� probably intentionally so, to create the effect of a kaleidoscopic whirlwind, but I would have preferred less of it.
Still, it was really powerful, and Brown's writing in the dialect was fantastic. I could hear their voices speaking in my ear... sounded a lot like the family and friends I grew up with. I'll be looking out for this author's future work....more
After reading the starred review from Kirkus and the blurb presenting this as an exciting and twisty thriller, I had some pretty high expectations of After reading the starred review from Kirkus and the blurb presenting this as an exciting and twisty thriller, I had some pretty high expectations of this book. But Tell Me What You Did was a letdown on almost every level.
First, the main character is flat and completely uninteresting. I spent over 400 pages with Poe and I still can't say I know her very well. She seemed to swing back and forth between being someone with a moral compass who is capable of feeling guilt and a BADASS BITCH who's going to take you down, mofo, and lose no sleep over it.
It is also slow and boring, probably made more so because of how little I cared about any of the characters (naturally, the dog and cat are the exceptions). It felt like we already had all the information in the blurb-- Poe's mom was murdered, Poe killed her murderer (or thought she did) but now she has a guy on her podcast claiming to be her mom's killer --and so this whole book is just us waiting on a twist... that never came.
Well, maybe it was supposed to be a twist. But it was genuinely the first thing I guessed at.
Then there's just the very weird and, for me, unbelievable way Poe talked on the livestream. I know he asked her to describe in detail, but she described it like an author enjoying herself, not someone being forced to do something under duress. Like why would she volunteer information on losing her virginity to this guy when it has nothing to do with anything and he didn’t ask?
And I'm pretty sure some things were never explained?? Like how he got past her security cameras?
Add to this the fact that, at the climax, Poe acts sooooo stupid. There is no reason for her not to call the police then and there. No reason except she wanted to risk her own life, and her loved ones' lives, for the sake of some drama.
Famous Last Words is my second read by McAllister (I thought Wrong Place Wrong Time was okay) and my favourite so far. I liked Cam, it was well-paced,Famous Last Words is my second read by McAllister (I thought Wrong Place Wrong Time was okay) and my favourite so far. I liked Cam, it was well-paced, and I did not figure out what was going on at all.
Well, okay, one twist was obvious, but it actually didn't tell you anything about the mystery at the root of the story.
Cam and her husband, Luke, have a close, loving relationship, careers they enjoy, and a baby daughter who is their entire world. Everything they ever wanted. But one morning, Cam wakes to find a strange note and no Luke. Something feels off, but it isn't until she is at work later that the police turn up. Her beloved husband has taken several people hostage in London.
I won't offer up any more of the plot, but what emerges is a baffling mystery. How can this man-- who's always been so warm, laid back and loving --do such a thing?
Cam starts to question everything, especially what happened in the weeks leading up to the hostage situation. Did Luke's behaviour change? And if so, why? How could she have been so wrong about him?
A quick, engaging read, and also a surprisingly thoughtful and astute portrait of being both a new mother and an introvert. My favourite quote is kinda a spoiler: (view spoiler)[
At the heart of this mystery was a book that solved everything for her, the way they always do. A story that made sense of the chaos of life.
4 1/2 stars. Holly Bourne's latest is another juicy page turner about a group of women who've been friends since college. Now they're going off and st4 1/2 stars. Holly Bourne's latest is another juicy page turner about a group of women who've been friends since college. Now they're going off and starting families of their own (or not) and new tensions and old resentments surface at a baby shower.
Bourne is great at writing contemporaries about women and complex relationships, yet this is the first that reads a bit like a thriller. The story moves between police interview transcripts in the present and the build-up to the fire that ended the baby shower from hell. It was great (and unusual) to see a book successfully juggle four different perspectives.
It's a very compelling story, mostly because the characters are so well-drawn. Nicki, Lauren, Steffi and Charlotte are each easy to sympathise with when you're reading their POV, but it is also easy to see how you could resent them when seen from another's perspective. Bourne's characterization was so strong you could appreciate it from all sides. This is true of Charlotte, especially, who I felt sorry for at the same time as I felt sorry for all those having to deal with her.
I wasn't at all surprised to learn Bourne is a new mum herself as she so perfectly describes the horror and anxiety so many new mothers deal with, including breastfeeding nightmares, useless husbands and the feeling that your whole life and identity has been taken from you.
Alongside this, she also portrays the heartache of being unable to get pregnant and the frustrations of being a woman who doesn't want kids. She handles all these perspectives with empathy and respect.
I was excited to see how it would all play out, though I'm not totally convinced by the last chapter. (view spoiler)[Some things really cannot be unsaid and I find it hard to believe everyone would be that forgiving. (hide spoiler)]...more
I do think pacing-wise it could have been tighter. There were definitely some slow spells (pun intended, of course) but, overall, what a wonderful and empowering read. As in Southern Book Club, the real strength of this story is in the fantastic cast of characters and the dialogue between them. They absolutely drive the book, carrying it through any slower periods and making it necessary for me to find out what happens to them.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is set in 1970 and is a fabulous indictment of slut-shaming, religious hypocrisy and the homes for unwed mothers that used to be commonplace-- what Fern calls "a machine that took in wayward girls and put out adoptable babies". These were horrific places, with high rates of abuse, where young women and girls were bullied into repenting their sins and handing over their babies to wealthy couples.
(I should probably say at this point that the book contains grisly and gruesome depictions of pregnancy and labour and is not one I’d recommend for those currently pregnant.)
What I especially loved (and hated with a blinding fury) about Southern Book Club that I think this book also captures is what it feels like to be dismissed, to be powerless and have more powerful figures talk over you and make decisions without your input. Fern, Rose, Zinnia and Holly have been let down. By their families, by their church, by the whole stupid system. When dabbling in witchcraft offers them the chance to reclaim some control over their lives... well, wouldn't you take it?
While Hendrix doesn’t explicitly mention the recent attack on reproductive rights in the US, he throws in a mention of how these horrific homes disappeared after Roe. Ultimately, the true villain of this book is any person, church or government that believes they have a right to make decisions about women's bodies.
After everything she’d been through, after she’d created life, after they had taken her child, did they really think she was scared of something as small as God?
So I thought this was a great book. Very emotional and empathetic, often funny, occasionally scary, with villains almost as complex as the heroines....more
It's been years since I read an Alice Feeney book because the last one I read-- I Know Who You Are --was so bad that it really put me off. But she's gIt's been years since I read an Alice Feeney book because the last one I read-- I Know Who You Are --was so bad that it really put me off. But she's gained an impressive fan base since then; enough to make me want to try another. So here we are.
And I can now feel confident in my decision to avoid the author's books. Beautiful Ugly is simply one of those types of thrillers I never like and, for some reason, are extremely popular. The Freida Mcfadden-type thrillers where weak characters, loose plotting, everything is built around a wacky twist that of course you didn’t see coming because it’s so ludicrous.
We open Beautiful Ugly to struggling author Grady detailing his wife's disappearance a year ago. While on the phone to him, she saw a woman lying by the side of the road, got out to help her, and hasn't been seen since. Her car was found abandoned at the roadside.
Now, Grady is tortured by what happened to her. He can't sleep. Can't write. When his agent offers him a unique opportunity-- to live in the remote writing cabin of a much-loved and deceased author --even moving to a strange little island seems worth it if he can rescue his career.
The premise is interesting and there is enough in the first half that is compelling and eerie to make me give this two stars instead of just one. But there is not a single character worth caring about and, in fact, I cared less about both Grady and Abby the more I read about them. Plus, the further I got into the book, the more the implausibility mounted.
Everything is built up around the twist, and the truth is that I just couldn't believe in it. Part of the explanation of events made me laugh out loud because it was so bizarre and silly. Many characters behaved in a way that didn't make sense. (view spoiler)[Like Morag and her articles, for one. (hide spoiler)] And when we got to the whole island backstory, my god... what a convoluted mess.
I like a good twist as much as anyone, but it is not enough, for me, for it to be shocking. It also has to be somewhat believable. ...more
I've read a lot of books about obsession and they're always hit and miss. I find Megan Abbott's stories about obsessive female relationships compellinI've read a lot of books about obsession and they're always hit and miss. I find Megan Abbott's stories about obsessive female relationships compelling while those by Robin Wasserman and Tara Isabella Burton feel forced. Recently, Tony Tulathimutte's Rejection kept me glued to the pages with a mix of pity and revulsion while This Immaculate Body just didn't work for me. I'm going to try to explain why.
The writing put me off almost immediately. I noticed another reviewer say it was overwritten, but I'd argue you could say the same about Tulathimutte's work. No, it's not just overwritten. It is written in a way that suggests to me the author was trying to be deliberately edgy. Graphic descriptions of menstrual blood and clots that try and fail to add gravity and edge to something as simple as using the bathroom. In fact, lots of weird thoughts about blood in general.
The story is about a woman called Alice who is a cleaner for a guy called Tom and she develops an obsession with him, though they have never actually met. As a cleaner, Alice is able to get acquainted with the intimate details of Tom's life from the contents of his drawers and his fridge. Conveniently, of course, unlike absolutely no one except your ninety-year-old grandpa, Tom regularly leaves his computer unlocked and without password protection so Alice can read his emails.
In Tulathimutte's Rejection, I could understand the characters' actions, even as I was repulsed by them. In This Immaculate Body I felt a disconnection, like I did not understand Alice's thoughts or actions at all.
Maybe it is because we are plunged straight into Alice's unhinged behaviour without any character development, explanation or background, but, unlike other readers, I couldn't muster any sympathy for Alice. If you want me to sympathise with someone who behaves in this way, I’m going to need more of a build-up of empathy for them. As it was, I struggled to feel sorry for Alice, which I think was crucial to liking the book.
And, unfortunately, by the time the book started to humanise Alice and offer up suggestions for why she was the way she was, it was already too little, too late for me.
I could imagine fans of heavily-written character studies like Cline's The Girls enjoying this....more
The Unworthy is a strange read, yet one that feels like it's been done many timTender Is the Flesh was fantastic, but I did not like this book at all.
The Unworthy is a strange read, yet one that feels like it's been done many times before. Bazterrica drops us into the middle of a bizarre dystopian world, offering no immediate context and only slight tidbits throughout, and tries to propel the story with little more than increasingly horrific depictions of whippings and torture.
We find out that this is set in a convent, the House of the Sacred Sisterhood, after the climate crisis has brought about some vague devastation and infections in the outside world. Though short, the book is slow and repetitive, moving from prayer to punishment and back again. World-building, character development and an actual story are notably missing from the book.
I have said this before, but I really dislike being kept in the dark this much. I find it extremely boring when I don't understand what is happening or why I should care.
It felt like The Unworthy was an attempt to be mysterious and edgy. Almost nothing happens until the end of the book and even that was unsatisfying. If it was intended to provoke thought about women and religion, it missed the mark for me.
I Who Have Never Known Men is another short, mysterious dystopia about women and I would recommend it over this one in a heartbeat....more
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