Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m a native Victorian, I ask for potato cakes, I hope for the best getting off trams, and I‘d never heard of Labassa or considered that Australia would have had film stars from the Silent era.

The next open house is in April and I‘m jotting it down in my diary!

https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/labassa/

There‘s a song that my Mum absolutely hated when I was a teen - City High‘s ‘What Would You Do?‘ which I was reminded of while reading this - it‘s easy to think you‘d make different choices when you haven‘t actually had to face them & this novella really showcased that helpless feeling of being trapped in a situation that seems inescapable.

It also opens with a murdered courtesan coming back to life & becoming a vigilante but she‘s not the MC.

My November reads. I gave myself permission to reread a series for the first time in a long time, and even though I didn't read a lot this month I'm proud of myself for not policing how I spend my reading time quite as much.

I think this is one of those novellas that would've benefited from being a full length novel. I love a story that can be told concisely but some stories need more time to be told. The worldbuiding felt convoluted and rushed because of the length. I enjoyed the idea of a dead sex worker raised from the dead in a dystopian future where she becomes a vigilante stalking those that hurt her & her loved ones, but it needed more space to be developed.

I think I missed too much of the background to fully dip into this story and truly understand it. It moved me, of course, since I've always got the devastating truth in the back of my head that lies beneath this sci-fi story. The Venice touch was nice, but mostly I felt somewhat lost even though I could follow the plot.

(2021) Set in a near-future world ravaged by climate change and capitalism: a courtesan is murdered by a client who faces no consequences due to his extreme wealth. Except then the murdered woman isn't dead anymore, and her friend Jewel has to decide whether to jeapordize her precarious comforts for a chance at retribution. It's a dark and furious meditation on friendship, dignity, and justice, and I loved it.

3.5/5

A woman is murderer and returns from the dead to murder her killer in this dystopian novella. It was an enjoyable read, but I didn't like it as much as The Migration of Clouds.

#scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash @StayCurious

Yikes, that had a lot of kick. I really sympathise with Jewel's plight and her fears, even when she makes less than awesome choices.

Well this is definitely a cracking start. 👀