This YA was a quick read and a lot of fun. Familiar themes (especially for YA) but done in a very funny, creative, and engaging way.

“... it could create the richest ruling class in history and still have enough for the middle classes to act as a buffer between the rich and the dispossessed.”

“Outright lying or quiet omission takes the risk of discovery which, when made, might arouse the reader to rebel against the writer. To state the facts, however, and then to bury them in a mass of other information, is to say to the reader with a certain infectious calm: yes, mass murder took place, but it‘s not what‘s important—it should weigh very little in our final judgments; it should affect very little what we do in the world.” Damn.

Well and truly engrossing; it deserved its spot on so many “Best of 2018” lists. It‘s at once an extremely specific story— every character is complex and interesting and wonderfully drawn — but it‘s also a broader story about the intersections of race, gender, class, justice, and the black experience in America. The entire time, you‘re left with the sense that everyone in this book is at once justified but not RIGHT. So good.

This was such a serious omission in my reading. I‘m glad I finally got to it, and it was enjoyable and important but at the same time I liked the idea better than the execution. So much felt glazed over and interesting plots and characters were completely dropped. Definitely a must read even if it wasn‘t my all time favorite.

Super interesting delve into Victorians relationship with bodies and sexuality via 4 stories of notable Victorian scandals and trends.