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1.84k reviews by:
caseythereader
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
- WELLNESS is a book that is so sprawling and layered that I am having a hard time collecting my thoughts about it.
- Hill is such a master of slowly unspooling a story, giving us each piece of a character's life at the exact moment it's needed, which somehow makes a slow, character-based novel feel like a page turner.
- It's possibly I simply connect too deeply to this book, given that I'm someone who thought she'd be an artist of some kind who is now married in the suburbs...but I think even if you don't identify with that particular part of the story, there will be something in Jack and Elizabeth's lives that rings true to you.
- The more I think about this book, the more sure I am that I can't condense it into an Instagram caption. Consider this an open invitation to come chat with me about it if you've read it!
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts
- Bless a sci-fi book that doesn't take itself too seriously. STARTER VILLAIN is silly and over the top, but at the same time it's making real points about who the real villains are in the modern world.
- Truly, this is a book you'll fly through, cackling the whole time. Space lasers! Foul-mouthed dolphins! Double, triple, quadruple crossing each other!
- And personally, I couldn't disagree with the notion that cats - specifically a pair of orange and white ones - are secretly running the world.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
- NEVER WHISTLE AT NIGHT is a collection of horror stories by Indigenous authors. The stories range from the supernatural to the psychological, and each left me chilled and unsettled.
- While many of these stories feature literal monsters, many are primarily about the horrors of humans and the many lasting nightmares of colonization.
- There are several well-known authors included here - Orange, Dimaline, Rice, Hobson, etc., and many that are new to me, including a few authors whose debuts are forthcoming. This is definitely a collection to check out if you want to see the future of Indigenous literature.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
Toluse Olorunnipa, Robert Samuels
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
- THE HAUNTING OF PRISCILLA LAVIOLETTE is a sapphic short story that deals with both horrific monsters and the horrors of grief.
- Richoux manages to pack in so many intense feelings into so few pages. Even if you've never dealt with a loss like this, you'll have the air knocked out of your lungs.
- On top of the complex emotions, there's some excellent and terrifying imagery as well.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Transphobia
- I am of two minds about CLEAT CUTE. On the one hand, omggg sapphic grumpy/sunshine soccer players, was this written for me?! Plus, Grace and Phoebe have great banter and superhot chemistry.
- However, for me, this was so much miscommunication around minor things that could be so easily solved, but every time they started to have a real conversation, they just stopped and slept with each other instead.
- (MINOR SPOILER) Additionally, so much of Grace's half of the plot revolves around her assuming that her injury is about to end her career for good, when the injury is essentially a pulled muscle. This is an objectively ridiculous thing for a pro athlete with 10+ years of experience to think.
- On the other other hand, I am deeply enjoying how each of Wilsner's books is an order of magnitude spicier than the previous book.
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
- THE FREE PEOPLE'S VILLAGE is unlike any book I've ever read before. I never thought a book about the internal struggles of a group of activists would rivet me, but I absolutely could not put this down.
- This book is entirely from the POV of Maddie, a young white woman joining a Black-led movement to preserve a Black neighborhood. She doesn't always handle new information and situations perfectly (or even well), and she eventually has to reckon with her place in the movement and take accountability for actions she does or does not take. I think Kern struck the right balance here - Maddie is not a white savior, but she is given space to catch up on the history and politics she does not know (and even then, she is reprimanded for never bothering to learn these things!)
- Looking at this book from a wider perspective, I appreciated how Kern took the fork in the road that we often romanticize - Gore winning the 2000 election - and showed how even if there was massive movement on the climate, our society would still find a way to use those changes to enrich white people and push out poor and BIPOC people. Honestly, this book is one to give to white liberals who you wish would consider leftist ideas.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide attempt
Minor: Deadnaming, Pregnancy