📬𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐥🌞
I happily accepted an invitation to join the 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 (operated by Alta Journal) & am looking forward to reading & discussing 2 intriguing books this summer: 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 by 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬 & 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 by 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧. I received copies courtesy of MCD and Plume Books.
so-soSo…Coral, author of a hit dystopian novel, finds her brother dead by suicide. After the police come and he‘s taken away, she takes his cell and starts replying to messages as if she is her brother. Interspersed with this story, we read sections of her book which seems to become entangled in her real life. Didn‘t love the story, or the grieving main character. But her novel looked good!
pickHuh. This has such a strange structure that just defies description. It works, giving such depth to Coral‘s story, but it can be hard to stay in the story. I liked the Wildfire excerpts the best, oddly, and I think if this had been longer, I‘d have better appreciated & understood the way Blackburn was telling the story.
pickThis book was an up close and personal look at the grief of losing a sibling. Coral finds her brother Jay after he commits suicide. As way to say goodbye, Coral uses Jay's phone to text through the history of their lives together. This book was a journey through the unexpected loss of a loved one. Check the trigger warnings before reading. Overall, a sad but thought-provoking read. #netgalley #arc
Dead in Long Beach, California: A Novel | 
