“So that‘s what Fulcrum training does to you. You learn to think of orogeny as a matter of effort, when it‘s really...perspective. And perception.” -Alabaster to Essun
“And there was revived in her the wretched sentiment which had often come to her before, that in inhabiting the fleshy tabernacle with which nature had endowed her she was somehow doing wrong.”
If only I could laugh at this outdated passage instead of cry at it‘s enduring gravitas...
pickThere‘s toxicity in our city. Schweblin has built the tautest piece of horror-surrealist fiction I have ever read. (Pure)Terror is evoked when noxious waste spills into the realm we all know it is bound to reach: Our children. Written entirely in dialogue, the machinations have as much to do with the reader‘s (read: my) unraveling as the subject matter itself. Read on a dark dark night. 😉
so-soThe first novella was truly wonderful. As for this final installment...my disappointment is reminiscent of how I felt at the end of Vonnegut‘s Sirens of Titan (minus the apathy for the human race). There was so much brilliance in the world building! I was hoping for...well, a little more brilliance in the conclusion. I‘m such a sucker for kickass heroines, so my lack of satisfaction here is especially difficult for me.
pickSPOILERS...A sweet little ditty on a family facing the abrupt dissolution of the patriarch to Alzheimer‘s. Told from the perspective of 30-year-old daddy‘s girl Ruth, the Alzheimer‘s portrayal is convincing, and any tears shed will earn a quirky-family, coming-togetherness of an ending. For fun, take a shot every time a banana is mentioned and see how buzzed you get! 😉
pickI love writer couples! Here‘s Julie Buntin debuting her novel Marlena (which is an incredible portrait of a young female friendship that only Ferrante can surpass) with her partner Gabe Habash. Florida is a fully-fleshed, belligerent wiseass with a surprisingly engrossing psyche. The closest literary equivalents I could only compare to Rosa Guy‘s Wade Williams and Ellison‘s Invisible Man. Horrendously brilliant and disgusting individuals! 😊
pickI love Lady Sherlock! A pastry-loving, crime-solving social outcast with a ragtag group of fellow female crime solvers, AND she don‘t need a man—YES PLEASE! This is book 2. You don‘t need to read book 1, but it helps. Book 3 comes out next month.
