alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)

This collection of six short stories about people who got away with murder is delicious on a cold, grey night. Just add blankets, popcorn, and tea, and if you are listening to the audiobook, knitting. This is the first book I have ever read by P. D. James and now I am certainly curious to read more. Keep an eye on those innocent looking old ladies—they always write the best murder stories.

I gave this book two tries. The first time was an ARC and the second an audiobook from the library. I had thought that the first time I didn’t want to read it because sometimes I dislike reading pdfs. I really enjoy audiobooks and I still could not get into it. Too bad; the premise seemed interesting.

I tried sooo hard to like this book!! But I gave up at the 50% mark. I kinda liked everything? But I wasn’t in the mood? Idk, maybe I will try it again later. I think this book’s existence is important and worthy of the hype, but as far as an awesome fantasy goes.... I just didn’t care enough about the characters to keep slogging through.

This book got so much press and attention. It is very beautiful and if you read it, you should go into it with a “I’m reading poetry” mindset. It is completely nonlinear and rambling, and there mostly aren’t any connection points between paragraphs or even sentences. The author frequently switches between naming the abusive people in her life to saying “you” and as this is totally nonlinear, it is hard to keep track of what she is talking about (besides the main subject: abuse). Mostly I found myself just listening to the beauty of the turns of phrases instead of trying to understand.

The sad thing about reading this now instead of when it came out a year or so ago is that Sherman Alexie wrote the introduction and is referenced multiple times in the book; he is obviously a big mentor for the author. But a couple months ago he publicly apologized for sexual harassment in relation to multiple people.... which is what this book is about?? I wonder if he would still be asked to write the intro today.

Ya’ll know that I am fascinated by cults. The FLDS is like The Handmaid’s Tale but possiby a little crazier. This story is very well told, clear about labeling abuse, and explicit. Could be helpful for people who are emerging from controling, authoritarian religions to read this to recognize abuse patterns.

The author reads the audio herself. While she is not a professional reader, I think it is special, esp for memoirs.

This is a good thriller. If I told you why, I would give things away and this book is best approached with a blank slate.

I love David Sedaris, as do we all. Sedaris reading his own books make the audio an absolute must, as his delivery and accents add color to the stories. Not all of these stories are funny, but there are two hilarious stories recorded with a live audience and those two are really great—Six to Eight Black Men, and Rooster at the Hitchin’ Post.

Fantastic. I will for sure read this again.

I like Maggie Stiefvater's books a whole lot. But you should know, unlike me going into this one, that this story is magic realism through and through. I am not a big fan of magic realism—I have to be in a rare mood for it. This story is slow and thoughtful and about learning to communicate and listen better.

A polished set of short stories with just a dash of the fantastical, it would seeem this is right up my alley. Most of these stories were pretty dry in the literary sense of the meaning, though. Meh.