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#TOB2025
review
rebcamuse
Liars: A Novel | Sarah Manguso
Mehso-so

Well, I tried. I had a really hard time relating to the relentless onslaught of the narrative. I felt like I was a therapist, and I was simply reading a transcript of sessions of a woman in an unhappy marriage. As a child of divorced parents, it did make me think a bit, but mostly the book just tired me out. I needed more shape and direction. #TOB2025

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rebcamuse
Liars: A Novel | Sarah Manguso
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“I began to understand what a story is. It‘s a manipulation. It‘s a way of containing unmanageable chaos.” Finally something resonates in this book. #TOB2025

blurb
rebcamuse
Liars: A Novel | Sarah Manguso
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I‘m in a test of wills with this book. Just renewed it for a week because I‘m determined to finish it, but I‘m 70% there and EXHAUSTED. Sorry—unpopular opinion, I know. 😢#TOB2025

BkClubCare Thank goodness it is not longer than it is. I suggest powering through. 2w
rebcamuse I‘m determined!! 2w
4 likes2 comments
blurb
rebcamuse
James: A Novel | Percival Everett
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Tonight I went to a wonderful “Reading Dinner” where we sit around and read (I brought James) for awhile and then have dinner. Such a pleasure to discuss #TOB2025 books with smart people.

review
rebcamuse
Great Expectations | Vinson Cunningham
Mehso-so

It is a good book--and with some of the detritus cleared and perhaps a bit more interest in the trajectory of narrative, it could have been great. Certainly it was enough that I'll be curious to read what comes next from Cunningham, and I hope there is a “next“! #TOB2025

review
rebcamuse
Mehso-so

I am glad I read it, and there were definitely parts of the book I thought were glorious in prose and imagination. But at the end I felt I had finished putting together a piece of furniture, and found myself looking at several screws and bolt or two that were “left over.“ #TOB2025

review
rebcamuse
The Book Censor's Library | Bothayna Al-Essa
Pickpick

Al-Essa's “looking glass“ is perhaps more than it seems, and we are easily manipulated into caring for characters even though they bear titles, like stock figures, rather than names. The “Everyman“ approach keeps a strange distance, until we come to understand the power of our own imaginations with an ending that has been described as a “narrative rupture“ or a “twist worthy of Kafka.“ #TOB2025

review
rebcamuse
Pickpick

Senna does excellent work layering the texture with tension. First and foremost, there is Jane's own mixed-race identity and how it does/doesn't interact with both her personal and professional life. The book is more a tragicomedy than anything else, and the humor is sardonic. #TournamentofBooks2025 #TOB2025

review
Gissy
Martyr!: A novel | Kaveh Akbar
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Pickpick

February 2025 Book #5

I really enjoyed this book but I understand is not for everyone because is slow, maybe story was dragged a little bit and some convenient actions present that helped that ending. I usually don‘t like or enjoy stories about addictions, maybe too close to work, but there was something in the writing style that I loved, how author described the characters, that self talking, reflection, so deep, so many wonderful quotes⬇️

Gissy (Cont.) It is a depressed, sad story but with hope. A drama but it was deep and beautiful written. I did care for Cyrus and that fríendship/romance was just beautiful. I will like to try another book by this author. This book really worked for me 4/4.5⭐️

Also recommended by YouTuber Eric
3mo
Gissy #BookSpinBingo #3 (buddy read) #ISpyBingo (vest-male wearing some kind of a vest looks like a vest😜) @TheAromaOfBooos
#toB2025 @BarbaraBB
#GoodReadsAroundTheYear #ATY prompt #9 (book listed in tournament llst of any year) from by GoodReads shelf #BooksIWantToRead2025
(edited) 3mo
46 likes2 comments
review
CarolynM
Liars: A Novel | Sarah Manguso
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Pickpick

Once I started I could not stop reading. I found the story compulsive and kind of suffocating. The husband was so appalling - so self righteous, so unreliable, so unappreciative - I kept thinking “how dare he?”. I was beyond anger and into claustrophobia. While her relationship was outside my experience (and I recognise more than ever how lucky I am in mine) the description of caring for a small child was very relatable. #ToB2025 👇

Jas16 Wasn‘t he terrible? This was definitely a book that gets under your skin. 6mo
CarolynM ☝️Would I have voted for this over The Wedding People if I‘d read it in time? I‘m not sure. I liked the broader range of TWP and the fact that it incorporated a little humour, but this is a very powerful book and I‘ll be interested to see how far it gets in the official tournament. 6mo
CarolynM @Jas16 Yes, truly terrible! And I liked that there were specific examples of his behaviour so you weren‘t left wondering how reliable her version of events was. 6mo
See All 12 Comments
Tamra I think I started this on audio, but I quit thinking it would be better in print. 6mo
BkClubCare Intense 6mo
Hooked_on_books I think “suffocating” is the perfect descriptor for this book. 6mo
thecheckoutstack I flew through this one too 6mo
squirrelbrain I agree with ‘suffocating‘. I did vote for this over TWP - it felt more like a ToB book to me. 6mo
BarbaraBB Well said. I felt that way too. 6mo
Cathythoughts Great review! Stacked. 6mo
Rissreadswithcats I have too much menopausal feminist rage for this book at the moment! I‘ll stack it for the future when I‘m feeling calmer. (edited) 5mo
rebcamuse I'm in the middle of it and I find it suffocating in a way that I'm having trouble tolerating. It is unrelenting--like she's sitting on a couch and I'm the therapist. 3w
67 likes1 stack add12 comments