Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself: A Novel | Marisa Crane
Dept. of Speculation meets Black Mirror in this lyrical, speculative debut about a queer mother raising her daughter in an unjust surveillance state In a United States not so unlike our own, the Department of Balance has adopted a radical new form of law enforcement: rather than incarceration, wrongdoers are given a second (and sometimes, third, fourth, and fifth) shadow as a reminder of their crimeand a warning to those they encounter. Within the Department, corruption and prejudice run rampant, giving rise to an underclass of so-called Shadesters who are disenfranchised, publicly shamed, and deprived of civil rights protections. Kris is a Shadester and a new mother to a baby born with a second shadow of her own. Grieving the loss of her wife and thoroughly unprepared for the reality of raising a child alone, Kris teeters on the edge of collapse, fumbling in a daze of alcohol, shame, and self-loathing. Yet as the kid grows, Kris finds her footing, raising a child whose irrepressible spark cannot be dampened by the harsh realities of the world. She cant forget her wife, but with time, she can make a new life for herself and the kid, supported by a community of fellow misfits who defy the Department to lift one another up in solidarity and hope. With a first-person register reminiscent of the fierce self-disclosure of Sheila Heti and the poetic precision of Ocean Vuong, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is a bold debut novel that examines the long shadow of grief, the hard work of parenting, and the power of queer resistance.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
sakeriver
Pickpick

I stayed up until 2AM finishing this book. Set in a near-future dystopian America where the state has cameras in every house and “criminals” are visibly marked by being given an extra shadow, it‘s in part a look at American fascism and the violence and oppression of our carceral culture. But it‘s also very much a book about bow grief lives in us, about the anxiety of parenting, and about the beauty and defiance of queer love.

review
ImperfectCJ
post image
Pickpick

A soft pick for this one. I like that it seems like a book about dystopian society but it's really about grief, love, shame, belonging, and the risks and benefits of resistance. I don't quite buy the kid's precocity, but it's not terrifically outside the realm of possibility (it's not like she's starting a 401K, picking out a barbecue grill, and complaining about her arthritis at age 9, just acting more like a precocious 11 or 12).

47 likes2 stack adds
blurb
ImperfectCJ
post image

I'm undecided about the tagged audiobook, but 5 stars to this swirly cloud I saw on my afternoon walk today.

dabbe Wow! A hurricane in the sky! 🤩🤩🤩 9mo
51 likes1 comment
blurb
sakeriver
post image

Next

blurb
ImperfectCJ
post image

I came home from vacation to a bunch of book mail, including the most recent installment of my Tailored Book Recommendations, with titles I'm excited to dig into, and a bunch of books for work, which is mostly awesome because I get to read middle-grade fiction and nonfiction and call it "work."

review
rachelsbrittain
post image
Pickpick

This speculative dystopian novel about a world where people are given extra shadows for whatever infractions the government decides are worth punishing (ie very variable and targeted) was so hard to put down. Told in a stream of consciousness style, a new mother faces the prospect of raising her newborn daughter alone after her wife dies in childbirth and her daughter is given an extra shadow for it. Queer resistance and found family feels.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I‘ve never heard of this one before…. Stacking! Sounds very interesting 12mo
40 likes3 stack adds1 comment
blurb
rachelsbrittain
post image

This almost stream of consciousness book about systems of oppression and motherhood and family and queer resistance is so hard to put down.

34 likes1 stack add
review
julesG
post image
Pickpick

Dystopian story of motherhood, grief and resistance.

In a US where people are issued an additional shadow for every 'crime' they've committed, Kris is grieving her wife while trying to raise her newborn daughter. The baby was issued her second shadow upon her which lead to her mother's death. Through the eyes of Kris we see how (white) people with additional shadows are treated and how this affects her daughter's upbringing.

Low pick ⬇️

julesG The invasion of privacy and surveillance 'shadsters' have to endure is horrible. But, low pick because we only get to see how awful white people are treated and there are only a few hints at how awful this system is for people of colour. 13mo
Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 13mo
56 likes3 comments