This was not one of Toew‘s best works. The section of letters written to her sister during a wayward backpacking trip through Europe and snippets of witticisms from her elderly mother were the highlights of this brief, unconventional memoir. It seems the author continues to grapple with the meaning of the silence her sister and father fell into before their suicides and whether their silence mirrors her drive to write.

Believe the hype for this one. Brilliant retelling of a classic tale told from Jim‘s point of view plus a Shyamalan-esque twist that I did not see coming.

This is a magical novel about processing grief, growing as people, and also realizing it‘s okay to revert back to something more primal, instinctive. I can‘t recommend it enough.

All the ruins of early capitalism now engulfed by future ruins of later capitalism. #realtalk

The kid questions in this book are so astute and so sweet.

Bingo

11 pages in and I‘m sold.

So far this is like if Goldfinch and Immortalists has a baby.

What do testes and prostates have in common? Nothing, there is a vas diferens between them.

I am so surprised at how much I loved this one. I initially thought the idea of this book was a hokey means of writing a memoir but the non-sequential story telling made a complete picture in a way that was organic but also memorizing.

Between and pick and a so-so. I liked the sections on grief, particularly that Rob‘s world got smaller and harder as time went on, a nice antithesis to what we‘re normally fed about “time heeling all wounds.” Still, the author‘s second fiddle puppy dog routine made the book drag for me.

I like the chapter styling of this one. A memoir told through coming of age mix tapes. The author is a little woe-is-me-hopelessly-awkward-rock-of-ages-fanboy for my liking but it‘s true to himself so I guess it isn‘t his fault his life became a Hollywood trope.

What a waste of time. Super juvenile, pedantic writing. I hung in there because folks said it was a page turner but I honestly didn‘t care about the mystery or a single character.

Meh. Book of the Month has been so movie of the week for the last several months. This was a quick read in a cool setting but could have used a lot more character development and more fleshing out of generational poverty and class conflict.

I don‘t know if my mind is where the character‘s is but I‘m chortling like a middle schooler right now.

I am crossing my fingers that this is a book of the month selection for June.

“Having made the correct shoe choice, I now understand the nature of mystery in the universe.”
Truth.

Nope. I did not need any more validation that white men are always given the benefit of the doubt when the opposing view is provided by a woman.

Does this get better? Can‘t stand the book but love the extra reading time I‘m getting on my vacation in Colombia.

At times very difficult to read. The three central characters are all constantly self-destructing while feeling as though it‘s those around them making the poor decisions. They are deeply flawed characters with equally flawed relationships. This book does an incredible job depicting longing for a life not lived and memories that never quite happened.

So many of the descriptions in this book remind me of my own complicated relationship with my mother. Too real.

I‘ve read so many reviews filled with vitriol for Celestial but unless she starts drowning kittens in the last 50 pages, I 100% identify with her decision.

This book was unputdownable. Gobbled it up in a single session and am desperate to reread it to catch all the clues I missed in the first telling. A play by play account of a small town stricken by environmental disaster told in a dream-like remembrance. 5/5

I was late on the bandwagon with this one. Not quite as good as I was hoping, blame the hype, but the descriptions of place and foreboding nature of how closely we are all tied to our surroundings made up for any obnoxious plot developments. 3.5/5

Ready for a quality read to cleanse my palette from the saccharin sweetness of the last book.

I almost never do this but I could not go on with this book. Quitting reading this fluff was the best life decision I‘ve made in a long time. There are not enough hours in the day to waste a single minute on a Sweet Valley High rendition of the Alienist.

Well, this is weird. I like “Inventory” so far.

Ali Smith would be more appropriate for this DMV wait

Eegads, I‘m only 40 pages in to last month‘s BOTM. Time for speed reading.

Guys! Kristin Hannah must be spying on my book reviews. Idaho+History of Wolves+‘Nam flashbacks? Yes please!

Loved loved loved this book, my first foray into Ali Smith.

“The lifelong friends, we sometimes wait a lifetime for them.”

“Thin as the skeleton of a cartoon fish left by a cartoon cat”
This book is so strange.

God bless this incredible book for making the wait at the social security office seem less miserable.

This book was pure magic. A snapshot into what it is to be a lonely teen in an isolated place. The scenery changes but the feeling is so familiar. 5/5

“Who wants to ruin one of the things you like thinking about most?”

Checking in to the Ari Fliakos fan club where I‘m not just the president, I‘m also a member. If you were into the way Ari narrated The Nix, you will find lots familiar here in his character inflections. Great story too that melds old lore and ritual with modern tech information processing. 4/5

There wasn‘t anything too complex to parse through in this sweet little procedural mystery. Likable protagonist, vivid setting. There‘s something that still feels a little icky about a white, American man writing about Asian female passivity culture but you can‘t win ‘em all. 3.5/5

Hooked from the very first page.

Pretty good so far. Glad to have dug my head in the sand regarding the press for this one.

Intimidation by durian. A bitter pill, indeed.

Road trip reading. Woman. Man. Emergency. Quite dead.

Nope. All of the mental masturbation of Camus and Sartre with none of the talent.

This is the fifth book in a row to feature sexual assault. Crawling under a rock.

Reading this for book club. Do you ever red a book and wish that any single other supporting or bit part character was the protagonist instead of who you‘re actually stuck with?

Hoopla road trip listening locked and loaded.

“If on these days she was subdued and seemed most reasonable, it was only because she was imitating mechanically what she considered rational behavior.” The holidays with extended family is a prime example of my behaving this way.

I wouldn‘t quite call this a caper since most of the book was bleak af, but both protagonists were fun and the story moved at a great pace. Ron Perlman is a gentleman and a scholar always.

Another sojourn into the narrative trend of all women being dead. How related to the rise of the alt-right is this pattern?