Welcome to Litsy!

Chapter by chapter a woman narrates her thoughts about her relationships with men and women. Sexual liaisons, needing to please, and the apparent desire to be/remain unhappy are common topics. Reviews are negative and I started wondering if the audio version might be worse than the print version. I was taken by this novel and copied parts of the book into my journal. She gets people like me. Definitely trigger warning notice given.

Okay. I‘m going in. But the reviews are so bad that I wonder why I stacked this book! Onward!

Also, Laura said, I didn't realize how many times he'd told the story. I should have known, how polished it was. The practiced hesitations. I thought he was opening a door. And that on the other side of the door was-intimacy, I guess. Only it was just a room. A crowded one.

This book grew on me. It is sort of stream of consciousness but more an attempt at imitation of everyday speech patterns. All the incomplete sentences/thoughts, are the ways we all interrupt ourselves mid story/thought. Life is choppy. This is also a personal growth story. I didn‘t really ever like our unreliable narrator, but I didn‘t actively dislike her, either. It‘s a slow read and not for everyone. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a hard book to read. It‘s a disconnected collection of stories from one woman‘s perspective. Many are about cruel encounters with men or women who feel lost in their current roles. The overall theme is about the power dynamic in relationships and societal expectations. It‘s interesting, but also feels more like a dissertation that‘s been turned into a novel.

“Trapped, yes, but in a hedge maze of her own careful design.”

I‘m a little late on this book considering it was a BOTM pick from last year and I honestly don‘t know why I wasted my time. I only finished it because I hate abandoning books. I rated it 3 stars because I hate giving a book any less unless it‘s just a terrible book. This wasn‘t terrible, it just wasn‘t my cup of tea.

I can not for the life of me stand behind the “narrator” of this book. She was vile, disturbing, and just flat out a bad person. I couldn‘t stand the hype up of rape, underage girl attraction, the rudeness. I hated the part of her thinking about pushing her friend off a cliff. Besides the disgusting characters, there was just too much rambling, confused back and fourth, out of context writing. It just was an overall poorly written book.

Today‘s read. So far, I‘m not really enjoying it. I feel like the author is just rambling on. There‘s not a clear indication from a characters thought and what she‘s saying to another person. But I‘m only on the first chapter. Hopefully, it gets better

Good for people who liked Rachel Cusk‘s Outline trilogy (which I did). The narrator recounts some significant conversations she has had on love, desire, abuse, family, and belonging, which span continents and decades. Thoughtful and intimate.

9-26-20: My 75th finished book of 2020! I didn‘t love it but I didn‘t hate it. We follow the narrator from her college days to middle age, through different places and specific moments all shown in a conversational style. The narrator is not very likable but somehow it kept my interest until the end. ⭐️⭐️ #topicsofconversation #mirandapopkey 📖#️⃣7️⃣5️⃣

I‘ll be honest I didn‘t like this book. To each their own, but I found it hard to find anything enjoyable about it. I thought the characters were just awful people. I realize everyone makes mistakes, hurt people at some point or another in their lives whether it be intentional or not, but goddamn these characters take the cake. I was happy the book was over simply so I could check it off my list not because it was actually good.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 better than I expected. Kind of an offbeat book but if you‘re into Sally Rooney, you‘d probably like this one.

I enjoyed this. Maybe it's not as good as it was hyped to be but that's not the author's fault. I certainly don't think it deserves the poor reviews. I found the conversations real, honest, and raw. Were some of them unfavorable, making the main character unlikeable at times, yes. But isn't that the story the author is telling. If I had any complaint it would be some of the chapters are very long and it was hard to finish in one sitting

Apparently I like BOTM books that no one else does. This book is literally conversations between women. Perhaps I just miss being face to face with people, but I enjoyed feeling like I was with the narrator, just listening to her. It was interesting to read the way people speak (so the style didn‘t bother me), and I appreciated thinking about the topics - violence, motherhood, the trajectory of our lives, to name a few. #Bookspin 3 complete

This was an interesting look at sexual and relationship experiences among women. The narrator records conversations with various women over a 20 year period, but there is little diversity in the types of women or the types of experiences. The narrator seems self-obsessed, but the author seemed to be aware of that. Intentional? Maybe, but I‘m not sure to what end. This is often smart and insightful, but the writing style is very fragmented. 3⭐️

Hated it. I wasn't even sure in understood what was happening.

I just don‘t have a desire to continue to pick it up.

Some lovely prose, but tiring narcissistic narrator who mixes in rape fantasy and violence against women, and confuses raw honesty with integrity. Better to be object than subject? Another bad bad girl novel. No thanks.

Knowing someone, it‘s one part divination, two parts force. p 75

I went into this one not sure if I was going to like it. It is told through conversations between women through 20 years of the main character‘s rather dysfunctional life. Although there were times I felt that I was missing a highly intellectual point she was trying to make, I really enjoyed Popkey‘s writing and Rebecca Lowman‘s narration was on point.

Book 35
#yarnandbooks

This book has been divisive, but I‘m in the group that really enjoyed it!! Thumbs up!

Happy, with a secret. The safest way to be happy, if you think about it. If you keep it a secret, the happiness, it‘s harder for someone else to, you know take it from you 💬

Good grief. There were moments of brilliance here but they were few and FAR BETWEEN. A pretentious mish-mash of ideas lifted from her favorite cultural touchstones.

Also, I don‘t recall whether #BOTM included content warnings for this but they definitely should have. Rape fantasies figure prominently. BEWARE.

2⭐️

Really don‘t like reading about casual sexual violence, and especially don‘t appreciate that #BotM didn‘t give any warning. At least it was a fast read.

This was my January #BOTM pick. At first, I loved this and was intrigued. As the book went on, it became harder to stay engaged. I just really never connected with the main character. I got bored and just didn‘t care about her conversations on her sex life, her relationships, or anything she had to say. I only finished because the book was so short.

I swore I was not going to mention Rachel Cusk in my review because everyone else already has, but she really is the only frame of reference if you want an idea of Popkey‘s style. Popkey has a darker, more subversive, sensibility than Cusk‘s that I am interested to see how she develops as she continues her career.

This book is in conversation with many tv shows and books I like (the author lists them in the back) and each chapter is a conversation between women about events that took place off the page. I would say it feels like it almost works but ultimately I'm more engaged by the texts it intends to be in conversation with. ⤵️

Just starting...

First, I felt that this should have come with a warning. Some of the topics and conversations blind sided me, and I think they could be triggering to people.
The writing style was interesting bc it was different, but sometimes confusing.
And I felt absolutely no connection to the main character.
I do think this could be a good book club read because it could start some discussion since people seem to either love or hate it.

Wow. Confusing and cerebral. Dark and horrific. Loved it.

I liked this book when I started it. The writing style was a little difficult to get into but the conversations between these women made me want to push through the book. I really appreciated that the dialogue was so brutally honest and raw. I would finish a chapter and think about it for the rest of the day. However, I was ready for it to be over about halfway through...and it‘s not a very long book. I liked it but wouldn‘t recommend it.

I enjoyed the first chapter but didn‘t understand who was telling the story and what they were meaning in the second one, so I did not finish the book. This is my Book Of The Month pick, and I wish I had understood the writing better. 😔

I joined the Book Of The Month club last week and this is my first pick of the first five picks for January! A very fascinating read if you like to listen to people talk deeply. I love it so far and am just finished with the first chapter. I am reading this one mostly during the days.

I‘ve heard others say that it felt like the author was trying too hard. Completely agree.

The font is large so I can easily read and exercise. Probably my favorite thing about this book. 😬

I got it! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 Apparently #botm is willing to admit its a stinker. I can‘t remember them doing this since the shit show that was Lucky You.

I don‘t know how I feel about this one. I keep jumping back and forth on if I‘m enjoying it or not 😂

3/5
It took me a little bit to get used to her “stream-of-consciousness” writing style. I appreciated the raw and unguarded thoughts and feelings of the MC. However, I didn‘t find the MC relatable. Self-absorbed as she was, I wish the author provided more background as to how and why the MC became the way she is. I wanted to know her, but that opportunity never came. There are some great moments in here, but I was expecting much more.

#Booked2020

Sadly, this was a BOTM pick for me and I just couldn‘t hang with this book and I tried. I never like panning books as I think authors pour themselves out onto the page and sometimes it just isn‘t the right person reading it. After the initial story dealing with rape fantasy, I should have realized I wasn‘t the audience, but I kept on. Oh well, just didn‘t connect.

Hey @Reviewsbylola they‘re still doing it! #botm

Small portion of my book haul early this week. I'll get to these books one day

This book attempts to do something interesting and different. It broaches topics considered taboo and without judgement portrays women's experiences with sex, motherhood, desire, control, power.
While there were pockets of insightfulness, the narrative structure did not work for me. This book is written in stream of consciousness, which made it difficult to dip in and out of it. It also detracted from the meaning the author intended to impart.👇

I enjoyed Topics of Conversation. It tells the story of a woman via a series of conversations among groups of women. The timeline jumps between each conversation, and we see the narrator rather unsympathetically dealing with adulthood and motherhood. The writing is a little self-aware, but I was engrossed. I am glad stories like these, about women of all stripes, are becoming more prevalent. #botm

". . . of course life is random, a series of coincidences, etc., but that to liveyou must attempt to make sense of it, and that's what narrative's for" (162).⠀
⠀
Miranda Popkey's Topics of Conversation is absolutely brilliant. It's a loose, wide-ranging look at conversations in one woman's life. Some conversations are obviously significant; others seem to be trivial; ⬇️

The perfect start to the weekend.
There have been really polarizing opinions of this book - I'm halfway through it and find the style a bit challenging, but some of the insights are riveting.

Hands down one of the worst #BOTM choices ever. Instead of Everybody Poops, this should be called Everybody Lies. Not one reliable character in the bunch. The dialogue is horrible and stilted. And it‘s about as sexy as a trip to the gynecologist. Glad that‘s over.

#hatoncover #booked2020

I kept waiting for this book to her better. Spoiler alert: it didn‘t.

Really all I can say is the author tried way too hard. I keep wanting to type more but it‘s just not nice so I‘ll leave it at that.

#hatorheadcover #booked2020

So I‘m 1/3 through this book and I‘m completely unsure of how I feel about it. Actually, I‘m not even sure wtf is happening. The one thing I do know is that this seems like a book @Megabooks will love!