Welcome to Litsy!

😳 I‘ve been bailing left & right on audiobooks, including the tagged novel, The Wren the Wren, two Toibin novels, among others.

I‘m in an audio drought. 🏜️🌵

On the #Booker2023 longlist

I've been reading the longlists since 2019 and this was a really good year in that small window. I gave five stars to four different books. I really liked that there was a lot of value given to poetic prose, not purple, but poetic and rhythmic, often personal and always generating reflection. Many of the authors are also published poets, and it shows.

I finished last week. My personal rankings are in the comments

I enjoyed this curiosity, found it wonderfully done, found the writing, which focuses so much on the sound, always interesting and terrific, with its own rhythm and life. And I say this even I didn't really get it. (I missed a lot, as I discovered afterwards reading online reviews) This maybe should have won the Booker (and I loved the winner, Prophet Song)

#ShadowGiller2024 @Lindy

She‘s like, “yeah, right” 🙄 But it‘s my next read and I‘m looking forward to it. #booker2023

I feel like there‘s a really excellent, moody, disturbing short story buried in this book. But as a novel, even a short one, it‘s a meandering mess. And yet it‘s a prize winner! Baffling. #tob24 longlist

The reminded me of 'Discomfort of evening' in its depiction of an unsettling narrator within an uncomfortable environment. It is a disconcerting read as we find ourselves possibly considering uncertain sibling abuse as well local folkloric belief in witchraft. The theme of the living with the sins of the holocaust also is implicit. A challenging read + I put it down, scratching my head but wanting to pick up again.

I‘m so torn on this one! I listened to the audiobook quickly; it was over before I could get my bearings. I kept thinking the setting was northern UK in 1666 (where my previous read took place!) but then the narrator would speak about Microsoft Teams! This is somewhat brilliant on the author‘s part: a timeless story, layering experiences of women over millennia of abuse and forced obedience. However, it was a confusing reading experience.

3⭐️/5⭐️

This year's #GillerPrize Longlist was incredibly strong, diverse, intriguing, thought-provoking, and challenging, with many beautiful, engaging stories that played with style while delivering on substance and story. I'm glad other readers are finding more in Obedience than I did.

I highly recommend checking out some of the other titles from the list, especially The Double Life of Benson Yu, All the Colour in the World, and We Meant Well.