chantaal's Reviews (2.32k)

Super, super cute and exactly what I needed right now. 

On a side note, I could not get past the sentient anthropomorphic vegetables growing and selling non-sentient versions of themselves to humans to eat?? There is an explanation given but OMG. It felt like I was reading some Jordan Peele might have come up with.

I cared not one bit for the thematic storytelling in this one (the brutal telling made no sense, neither did the fable of the little boy and how that turned out), but WOW what a hell of a way to end this book. I certainly wasn't expecting it.

DNF @ page 110. Despite my best intentions and my enjoyment of Friday Black, I am bouncing off of this pretty hard. Maybe I’ll try to pick it up again in the future. 

This hit every button I didn't even know I needed it to hit to be a successful read for me.

First off, he doesn't get named in this, despite everyone knowing what this story is referring to, because this is about him, but it isn't about HIM. He's just The Defendant. 

I love the framing of this story that shifts the perspective away from the killer, and onto the women whose lives he absolutely bulldozed. Pamela is the president of the sorority house where one of his most famous attacks happened, and we follow her as she navigates grief, shock, and a system that feels like all it does is belittle and infantilize women in every way possible. Ruth is a victim, and her storyline in the time leading up to her murder is beautiful and tragic all at once because of it. Both women are there to show a different view of true crime, where the victims and survivors and their loved ones are centered.

Bright Young Women is blistering and unafraid of shining a light right back on those of us who consume true crime media - but Knoll shines that light in a way that isn't incredibly accusatory. It's simply a reminder that there are always those on the sidelines in these types of big true crime stories who are always forgotten.

The Centre follows Anisa, who is in her mid-late thirties and adrift in life, when someone tells her about an almost magical Centre that will cause her to learn a new language in just 10 days. We follow Anisa as she goes through the Centre and afterwards, as she continues to feel adrift and tries to figure out what the Centre is, and what new friendships she's formed outside of it mean. 

It's hard to see this as anything but a mid-life crisis with a lightly speculative/weird element to it. Lightly sad girl lit fic, but I didn't hate it. I found it compelling, and a lot of the work that Siddiqi does in terms of discussing racism and classism feels woven deftly into the story. 

I would caution against anyone looking for some sort of twisty thriller here. This is a steady character driven story with an interesting mystery at the heart of it. It was compelling and kept me moving along, with straightforward writing that at times dipped into the lyrical in a way that felt natural and not overwrought. 

Really nicely done and I enjoyed it for what it was doing.