alexandriaslibrary's reviews
250 reviews

True to Piglet's nature: I devoured this!

This is a very well-written novel: the author is incredibly intention with her structure, her reveals, her showing and concealing.

Piglet (a childhood nickname) is a fish out of water in her new life. She works in a publishing house, she is the proud owner of a new cottage in Oxford, and her perfect fiance's family is bankrolling it all. But two weeks out from her wedding, he reveals a terrible secret that threatens this new life she so desperately wants to fit into. 

At times, Piglet is unlikable but in a way that is achingly familiar. She loves but is deeply embarrassed by how average her family is compared to her in-laws. She can't make a decision about if she should continue with the wedding or not. She is overwhelmed with concern that she is drifting from her pregnant best friend.

The food writing in this is also top notch. Piglet is an avid chef and baker (she plans to make three towers of croquembouche for her wedding cake) and food has never sounded so good. She becomes absorbed with food as comfort, as a status symbol, and as an outlet.

And of course the reveal! Midway through I started suspecting that maybe we would never have the reveal. That whatever we imagined in our brains would be endlessly more satisfying than the "true" answer. Also, I think it's interesting commentary on the overarching theme of the book: greed. The readers are devouring the book because they need to know this life-altering secret. Most negative reviews I've seen are negative because there is no simple "reveal" as to what her fiance did. But I think it's a really brilliant stylistic choice

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy, all thoughts are my own!

Grief isn’t linear and is often messy, jarring, backwards, and disorienting. In her true experimental sensibility, Blackburn’s debut novel is unlike anything else. 

Coral discovers her brother’s body and begins to use his phone. But while this seems like a thriller, it’s a very internal and philosophical look at grief and the human condition. Coral is the author of a semi-popular dystopian graphic novel Wildfire and her narrators of the series (a first-person plural omniscient entity) is the narrator of the entire book. Flashbacks, excerpts from Wildfire, musings on humanity, and Coral’s week following her brother’s death—weave together harmoniously to the end. 

Also, as someone from Long Beach California, this book is a beautiful ode to an oily, salty city! 

A gem! A star! Marie-Helene has crafted an achingly human about an alien named Adina.

Adina is born on the day Voyager 1 is sent into the Cosmos and must grow up as a human girl in Philadelphia. We follow her life as she reports back to her home planet (via Fax Machine) about the human condition. 

What a book to open 2024 with!

A genius part-nature part-cozy part-self-help guide about living Goblincore! Uplifting, a tad silly, and filled w crafts that I can’t wait to try :-) 

A stream of consciousness monologue of a woman attending her ex-husbands funeral. It was easier to read than I thought since there is no dialogue or plot, but a lot of the book focuses on classical music, and although I felt like I learned a little, someone with a musical background might gleam more from this. 

A collection of cohesive yet unique stories about womanhood, Native Hawaiian/Hawaiian Japanese identity, exploitation and queerness. Loved “Temporary Dwellers” about a mother and daughter who open their home to a teen refuge, “Some Things I Know About Elvis” about a cacophony of Elvis’s” and “Touch Me Like One of Your Island Girls: A Love Story” following a woman who agrees to be in a costumed adult film for a job.

Thank you Bloomsbury for the copy!