abbie_'s Reviews (1.79k)

Thanks to Libro.fm and the publisher for my free ALC! I really enjoyed this memoir in essays by Aussie social worker Erin Riley. It’s a really nice balance of the personal and more political aspect of their work - trying to help vulnerable people best they can in a system that only values you if you’re able bodied and actively contributing to our capitalistic society. 

Much like Beautiful Monster which I read a couple of months ago, Erin made space for their transness later in life. It’s heartbreaking to think they put other people’s comfort first for so long, but reaffirming to read where they’re at in their gender journey now - thriving!

Erin and I have a lot in common when it comes to our love of routines, so I really felt validated by the essay where they discuss how it’s okay to feel more safe and happy in a domestic setting than say, jumping out of a plane. They don’t come off as condescending (as in, look at me, you can do it too!!) even when they do branch out and conquer their fear of ocean swimming, and I love that they still value the importance of their routines and order. I get so much joy from my little habits and routines I do every day, but sometimes they can feel small - in a bad way. Erin’s words really helped me see them in a new light. 

Some of these essays will put you through the emotional wringer. Their mam and dad’s behaviour at the wedding?? Omg my heart broke for them, their mam thought it was a good idea to dredge up all of Erin’s trauma from childhood, as well as misgender them countless times. Their dad then proceeded to go on a rant about how they/them pronouns offend him as an English teacher like… We use they/them in the singular all the damn time when the person’s gender is unknown, but okay. I’m so glad Erin has such an outstanding community of queer found family to support them, but that doesn’t make the sting of their parents’ rejection any less painful.

it does sound like they’re taking steps to make amends now though

Overall, a gorgeous contribution to the queer memoir club!!

This is widely considered to be the first Arabic novel to examine life under i$r@el! occupation, and it offers a rich tapestry of characters who react to life in Nablus under occupational rule in various ways.

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We have characters like Usama, who is returning from the Gulf after a few years away, convinced the violence is the only way to resist the occupation. Then there’s Adil, a young man responsible for feeding his large family, including his ill father, who shamefacedly takes a job in an i$r@el! factory because of slightly higher wages. Abu Sabir, an older Palestinian man who is refused compensation after a workplace accident because he’s not recognised by the company as a legitimate worker.

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These characters’ lives intersect and there’s often contention between them all - everyone with a different opinion of the ‘best’ way to survive under an occupation which views them as inferior. This novel was published in 1976 (after first being confiscated by i$r@el! authorities), but the same things are playing out then as we’re seeing now. Palestinians are subject to everything from humiliation to outright brutality when trying to just live their day to day lives.

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There’s a resounding idea throughout the novel that Palestinians have been left to fight for their own survival, forgotten by other Arab countries and the west. A line is repeated often by characters: ‘Sink in the mud, Palestine, and kiss the world goodbye.’  But Palestinians - then and now - refuse this missive. They refuse to give up, continue to resist and fight for their right to live freely in their own land. But we must keep our attention on Palestine, continue to call for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation.

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Translated from the Arabic by Elizabeth Fernea & Trevor Legassick

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC!

On the Isle of Antioch is a quiet, philosophical take on the dystopian novel. It's written as journal entries by a cartoonist who lives alone, save for his one neighbour, on a remote island called Antioch. One seemingly normal day, the power goes out and the radio emits only a high-pitched whistling. It's revealed that the US president has been contacted by a people called the Empedocles, apparent descendents of the ancient Greeks, with the offer to destroy all the world's nuclear weapons to avoid an imminent catastrophe. The Empedocles' science is far beyond our own, and the world is on the brink of a complete overhaul. 

I'm not sure I completely got everything that was being put down, but I enjoyed this thought-provoking read nonetheless. I've read other reviews with the critique that the book glorifies colonialism, but I felt like it was more of a warning. Given the author's Franco-Lebanese background, I would also find this surprising. The book explores the idea of the world as it is now being confronted with a 'superior' race of beings. The US, the traditional coloniser, now finds itself on the brink of being colonised itself. I found the role reversal to be a warning of such ideas, of one group of people believing themselves and their culture to be 'above' another's. 

I've also read reviews on Netgalley critiquing the translation, but I personally found it engaging and natural to read. My own critique is that some things felt too convenient. Alec, the cartoonist, has a friend very conveniently placed in the US president's entourage. He just phones him up and the friend gives him all the details of what's going on with no care for security clearance or the like... Likewise his relationship with his neighbour Eve goes from cold to very intimate too quickly. 

In terms of making you think though, I would recommend!

Don’t you love it when you have high expectations for a book and not only are they met but exceeded?? Disorientation is without a doubt my favourite book of 2023. I usually read quite short books, so 400+ pages is a fair amount for me, but I could have read another 400 pages of these characters! This book is so perfectly paced, there’s not a single section that feels drawn out or rushed. The character development feels believable (and sometimes scary) even though I believe it’s classed as satire, and I loved Ingrid and Eunice!

It centres around Ingrid, a Taiwanese-American PhD student in her eighth year, who finds herself somehow studying a Chinese-American poet she initially had no interest in. When she uncovers something strange in the archive one day, she sets off a chain of events that nobody could have predicted, unleashing chaos at her university which unwittingly leads to the start of a thinly veiled white nationalist movement. Believe me, it’s a wild ride, both horrifying and hilarious, as Chou’s wit is unrelenting. 

Disorientation tackles everything from fetishisation, racism in academia, identity politics, interracial relationships, parent-child relationships, and everything slots into the story so seamlessly. Ingrid’s journey felt realistic in that she doesn’t unlearn all of her internal biases in one fell swoop - it’s halting and messy, she has a lot to learn and unlearn, and I feel like Chou portrays her development incredibly. She made me feel so many emotions for all these characters - disgust, rage, irritation, pride, the unbearable urge to punch Stephen in the mouth. Truly a rollercoaster, my jaw literally dropped several times throughout the book. 

Never boring, often shocking, almost always true to real life even with its exaggerations. Loved it so very much!!

I flew through this little memoir, which I picked from my Scribd (Everand) queue at random. Told in three parts and interspersed with gorgeous pieces of bilingual poetry, Knitting the Fog tells Hernández’s story of growing up between Guatemala and the US, crossing the border with coyotes, then returning to Guatemala in order to return to America legally. Her storytelling is so vivid, particularly the sections set in Guatemala. She spent time living with an auntie and a grandmother in two very different villages - one sweltering and one bitingly cold, one swampy and stagnant, the other beautiful and full of life in spite of the chill. She transports the reader to both of the villages. 

Hernández’s home life wasn’t easy, with a reticent mother, alcoholic father, and an older sister struggling with depression. When her mother leaves her three girls for America to try and make a better life, things do get more stable under the influence of their auntie and grandmother, though of course they miss their mother intensely. When they eventually join their mother in the US, they have to contend with xenophobia, being the only Guatemalans among mostly Mexican immigrants. Hernández’s telling of the perilous journey across to America with the coyotes was brilliant, told on a fine line between childish innocence and a growing awareness of the more sinister aspects of the world. 

I’m not the biggest lover of poetry but I really did like the poems woven in here, especially the ones written first in Spanish then in English. I have a working knowledge of French & Italian, and with Spanish being so similar, I could work out enough to see the differences in translation between the Spanish and English, which was fun! 

Would highly recommend to people who enjoy personal memoirs with a focus on immigration and family dynamics. 

This is such a lovely little collection to listen to on audio! It’s a collection of traditional Anishinaabeg stories, written to be read aloud to children and adults alike. They have moral teachings, but aren’t meant to brow beat the reader. They’re gentle reminders of Anishinaabeg values, such as the importance of community, respect for natural resources and the land and respect for one another. The narrator, Tiffany Ayalik, does a delightful job of bringing these stories to life with their humour and whimsy. Since they’re meant to be heard aloud, audio is the perfect way to experience this collection! They’d be ideal as bedtime stories for both children and adults. 

I was appreciative of the Anishinaabemowin vocabulary at the start of every story. The author said one of the intentions of this collection was not to teach the language but to spark an interest in it, which I think is definitely achieved!

Thanks to Libro.fm for my free audiobook edition!

I've had this book sat in my audiobook library for 3 years now, I was waiting until I'd read a few more of Morrison's novels before I dove in. Well now I've read all but 2 of her fictional books and guess which book is one of the four discussed?? Mercy, one of my two unread - figures! But I continued anyway, because I'm not really fussed about spoilers and this book was chosen in my audiobook roulette so!

Along with Mercy, the four authors here also tackle Beloved, The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon, with each of them writing two essays apiece. I've never read a group memoir before, and to be honest, only the intro and the very first bit of each person's chapter/essays seems to be written as a group. Then the essays move into the first person. It's a fun concept, as the group are all huge fans of Toni Morrison and use these four novels as a way to discuss the personal and political. 

Three of the authors are Black women and one is a gay white man. I found Juda's section to be the least compelling, as he seemed quite intent on proving that he is a 'good white person', rather than interrogating the privilege he does hold. He also straight up uses the N word, and the white audiobook narrator says it, whereas most of his Black co-authors just write 'the N word'??? Bizarre. 

But the essays written by Winnie, Piper and Cassandra were all interesting, ruminating on motherhood, immigration, race, and of course Toni Morrison. They talk about how terrifying it is to raise a Black son in today's America, microaggressions from white neighbours, the need for protection and whether that protection should come from a gun, the first time they realised what being Black meant, interracial dating and more. All of this circles back to the rich offerings of Toni Morrison's fiction, and their insights offered me more appreciation of the three novels I've read - and made me excited to pick up a copy of Mercy! I think I also want to reread Beloved, as this was the first Morrison I tackled and most of it definitely went over my head, oops. 

Would definitely recommend for fans of Toni Morrison. 

The Mountains Sing is a tough act to follow, and unfortunately I don't think Dust Child is as strong as  Quế Mai's debut. I did also listen to The Mountains Sing on audio, which absolutely enhanced the experience for me because the narrator did an incredible job. 

Dust Child focuses on the devastating effect of the Vietnam war on a few different characters. We have Trang and her sister who become bar girls during the war to earn money to help out their parents' debt. Trange becomes involved with Dan, a white American GI, and one of the other POVs in the book. Then there's Phong, a half Black, half Vietnamese man who is trying to locate his father and possibly move to America. 

My main gripes with this book were mainly all to do with Dan. He is such a dick, and while I fully think we're meant to think he's a dick for most of the book, I didn't vibe with the redemption arc he got at the end. I didn't feel like picking up the book when I was in a Dan part. I also thought the writing was a little too on the nose at times. A bookish friend used the word 'didactic' which I think is perfect - this book was written to inform, and that took me out of the story. This makes sense, since the author used material from a real-life research project she did as inspiration. 

I found Phong's storyline to be the most compelling. I didn't know 'dust child' was a term used to refer to Amerasians born to Vietnamese women with Black American fathers, nor was I aware of the racism they faced in Vietnam because of their mixed heritage. 

I did also like Trang and her sister's storylines, although Trang was unbelievably naive at times. I liked how Quỳnh came back into the story later.

I've watched a few interviews with Quế Mai and she is a wonderful, genuine person. Nadia did an interview with her recently over on The StoryGraph's Instagram where she shares some of the importance of diacritics to the text (though in my edition, some of the diacritics would be randomly missing off characters' names??) and I always appreciate that sort of insight. 

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my free digital ARC!

This is my second book by de Vigan and I liked this one more than Loyalties I think! I was expecting a little more from the thriller/mystery side of things, and was surprised that this was wrapped up fairly quickly by the middle of the book. The story then jumps ahead and switches perspectives to the characters who are children at the beginning of the book. 

The main thrust of the book is the truly disturbing nature of parent-child content on the internet. I have nieces who are obsessed with this sort of kids content on Youtube, and I do find it a bit odd. A few they watch are dubbed (badly) from other languages, which is a little disconcerting in itself, but mostly these kids just seem like badly scripted actors. When you think about the parent behind the camera who is (usually) making the kids make these videos and profiting from it... Yikes. 

This is the murky world de Vigan delves into, and she does a great job of highlighting how quickly and violently the promise of internet fame and fortune can change a person. Scruples are thrown out the window and everything has the potential to become profitable content. de Vigan does a good job showing the mental toll this can take on the children involved. 

Mélanie, the mother who runs the Youtube channel, is one of the most antagonising characters you could hope to meet. I'd like to think de Vigan is exaggerating for effect here, but sadly there likely are mothers and fathers like this in the world, completely sucked into the world of validation and likes, becoming nothing but a performance for their audience. 

I wasn't fully convinced of the need for the POV from Clara, a police officer who becomes a little obsessed with the case which makes up the first half of the novel. It could have been a tighter story had this been cut and the focus was more on Mélanie and the two kids. 

Overall, a compulsive and frightening read about the grim reality of kid influencers.

Completely out of my wheelhouse (heterosexual romance) but that's the fun of audiobook roulette! Unsurprisingly, the non-romance aspects of this book were what I enjoyed the most - Jasmine's struggle to determine what she really wants to do with her life, processing her trauma over an incident at college, her relationship with her immigrant parents. All of this was well woven into the story, and to me was stronger than the romance plot.

As for the actual romance - it's not steamy (I'm not 100% with the lingo, but I'd say closed door/fade to black?) but there is some good chemistry between Jasmine and Alex! However, I got to the end of the book and was like... 'Who is Alex?' We know he's Jasmine's college crush after she saw him *one time*, and then he reappears in her life by accident. He works long hours doing ~something~ and likes to hike. That's literally all we know about the man. Oh and he's super handsome with six-pack abs, obvi. Considering how much effort Tieu put into Jasmine's characterisation, this was a little disappointing. 

But still, a fun, fluffy book with lots of delicious doughnuts if you're looking for something easy to read! Audiobook narrator, Natalie Naudus, was good too.