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booksellersdiary's Reviews (246)
I'm still not sure what to think of this one. Part of me thinks there are scenes that are included only for shock value, but on the other hand Tiffany's lyrical prose, tension building and careful observations of love and sex make for a profound novel.
I liked the inclusions of the social dynamic of the kookaburra family, Harry's musings made for a nice break in tension. I wanted more of Little Hazel, right at the start there was mention of a traumatic event involving Mues but no more was mentioned. I guess it was used as a base for character of Meus, given the later scenes.
This is a solid 3-star read for me, but I can see why other readers connect with it better than I did.
Read for: Stella Project
I liked the inclusions of the social dynamic of the kookaburra family, Harry's musings made for a nice break in tension. I wanted more of Little Hazel, right at the start there was mention of a traumatic event involving Mues but no more was mentioned. I guess it was used as a base for character of Meus, given the later scenes.
This is a solid 3-star read for me, but I can see why other readers connect with it better than I did.
Read for: Stella Project
This book is mind blowing. I learned so much, and everything in this made me glad I stopped taking hormonal birth control in any form a few years ago. While this research is predominantly around the birth control pill, I would argue the same arguments could be made for other forms of hormonal birth control.
This book is a summary of the research available, all of which is centered on cis women, and I would wager likely white women. The author makes an excellent acknowledgment of this in her introduction. Regardless of your gender or sex, there is something to be learned by ALL people. Perhaps this book would make men take more responsibility for birth control in hetero relationships, and be more understanding of what women go through both on the pill and off.
A major takeaway for me was there are more than 7 million women currently taking birth control pills worldwide. When you factor in the changes the pill makes to those women, the pill doesn't just change women. It changes the world.
This book is a summary of the research available, all of which is centered on cis women, and I would wager likely white women. The author makes an excellent acknowledgment of this in her introduction. Regardless of your gender or sex, there is something to be learned by ALL people. Perhaps this book would make men take more responsibility for birth control in hetero relationships, and be more understanding of what women go through both on the pill and off.
A major takeaway for me was there are more than 7 million women currently taking birth control pills worldwide. When you factor in the changes the pill makes to those women, the pill doesn't just change women. It changes the world.
I don’t read much YA these days, and when I do it’s usually books that I fell in love with when they were age appropriate. In the past I have loved John Marsden, Isobelle Carmody and Melina Marchetta among others. Alice Pung knocks it out of the park with Laurinda. Snappy, visceral and heartbreaking at times, I could barely put this one down
What a read!
Orchard has done a great job at weaving tension through the relationships in this novel. It is a stark and honest look at the optimism of 90s feminism, and the flaws within while exploring romantic and platonic relationships and how they shift and change over time.
I really connected with Lara. I really wanted to see Crow as the good guy, the guy who loved his family and worried about his troubled wife. It was almost too late before I saw the red flags Orchard planted, so cleverly were they dropped into the narrative.
What Orchard has accomplished here is something real, because we have all looked away when things are too hard or we don't want to see them for what they really are. We have all been guilty of ignoring things in front of us.
Orchard has done a great job at weaving tension through the relationships in this novel. It is a stark and honest look at the optimism of 90s feminism, and the flaws within while exploring romantic and platonic relationships and how they shift and change over time.
I really connected with Lara. I really wanted to see Crow as the good guy, the guy who loved his family and worried about his troubled wife. It was almost too late before I saw the red flags Orchard planted, so cleverly were they dropped into the narrative.
What Orchard has accomplished here is something real, because we have all looked away when things are too hard or we don't want to see them for what they really are. We have all been guilty of ignoring things in front of us.
A classic Bookstagram made me do it read, and boy am I glad I did. What a joy. Parrett packs a huge amount into a relatively short read. I've come away feeling all warm and fuzzy, like I've had a warm hug.
fast-paced
I hadn’t planned on reviewing this, because frankly I didn’t love it. But I think a conversation around the finer points and missed opportunities of this essay is important, so I would like to contribute to that.
I would have appreciated if Lee had written from an acknowledgement of her immense beauty privilege. Understandably, she has her own issues to deal with in this space. But at no point is there an in-depth acknowledgement of her white, able-bodied, straight, gender representation. There are a few thoughts thrown in on African-American women and the politics of hair, but it feels like an afterthought rather than something that was in the original thought process of the essay. As an Australian writer, a perspective on Aboriginal women would have been more fitting.
I would have preferred her to be the editor of a collection of essays on Beauty, with poc, trans, fat, disabled and other diverse voices speaking for themselves. Without a thought I can name 4-5 authors who would have been excellent contributors to an anthology piece (Carly Findlay, Claire G Coleman, Nakkiah Lui among others)
Additionally, the essay is really only an exploration of thinness as beauty and not everything else.
Beauty is a broad topic, and it is difficult for one person and her experience to cover everything that comes under that topic. Lee has never lived in a fat, black, disabled, trans, gay, or other body. She can’t know that experience. But she can speak to and give platform for those who have lived that experience, and are able to share that experience.
All this said, the discussion around thinness and beauty, and the pressures or social media and wider society on women and young girls is an important discussion to have. Lee tells her experience with mental illness and disordered eating with brevity and insight beyond her years. The essay is hugely personal, brave, reflective and seemingly cathartic. I hope it gave Lee the strength I felt she was looking for at the end of Eggshell Skull.
I’d be keen to reread upon final release, in the hopes that some of this is addressed. Thanks to my lovely local indie bookshop for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.
I would have appreciated if Lee had written from an acknowledgement of her immense beauty privilege. Understandably, she has her own issues to deal with in this space. But at no point is there an in-depth acknowledgement of her white, able-bodied, straight, gender representation. There are a few thoughts thrown in on African-American women and the politics of hair, but it feels like an afterthought rather than something that was in the original thought process of the essay. As an Australian writer, a perspective on Aboriginal women would have been more fitting.
I would have preferred her to be the editor of a collection of essays on Beauty, with poc, trans, fat, disabled and other diverse voices speaking for themselves. Without a thought I can name 4-5 authors who would have been excellent contributors to an anthology piece (Carly Findlay, Claire G Coleman, Nakkiah Lui among others)
Additionally, the essay is really only an exploration of thinness as beauty and not everything else.
Beauty is a broad topic, and it is difficult for one person and her experience to cover everything that comes under that topic. Lee has never lived in a fat, black, disabled, trans, gay, or other body. She can’t know that experience. But she can speak to and give platform for those who have lived that experience, and are able to share that experience.
All this said, the discussion around thinness and beauty, and the pressures or social media and wider society on women and young girls is an important discussion to have. Lee tells her experience with mental illness and disordered eating with brevity and insight beyond her years. The essay is hugely personal, brave, reflective and seemingly cathartic. I hope it gave Lee the strength I felt she was looking for at the end of Eggshell Skull.
I’d be keen to reread upon final release, in the hopes that some of this is addressed. Thanks to my lovely local indie bookshop for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.