Started reading this book shrugging: okay, so two dudes meet in college and really love vinyl records. Nerdy music geeks, fine. Then...other things started happening and I found I could not put the book down. It turns into a tale of horror, one that I was not expecting, and I was thoroughly put into a trance by it. I feel I could read this 10 times and still discover details I missed. Kunzru layers many themes into a sharp tale, and I can't stop thinking about it.

This was just...fine! Everything was FINE. I was not captivated by it, and maybe only really became invested in the last quarter of the book, which was a bit late. I felt a kindred spirit in the protagonist who moves to Brooklyn and works in Manhattan in 2006 (much as I did), but then also like me she's a bit boring. I liked the restaurant bits, but I was hoping for a bit MORE from Tess. She didn't seem fully realized.

The narrator was spot on, though. I listened to this because it was the same narrator who did the WONDERFUL [b:The Animators|30090925|The Animators|Kayla Rae Whitaker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462394905s/30090925.jpg|50513878], [a:Alex McKenna|6566470|Alex McKenna|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. It was a bit weird for her to embody a completely different character, but I shifted from Sharon Kisses to Tess after a minute.

A beautifully written novel that is just relentlessly sad. It's as if the author set out to write about people but made sure only to relate their adamantly depressing inner selves and circumstances.

(At one point I laughed out loud when I thought, hey maybe I'll get a respite from all these sad people with this new character - but nope, here's all about how that character regrets never having children).

The narrative from the beginning propels the reader to find out what happened (murder! a missing child!), but since I was told before starting that this book contains no resolutions to its many mysteries, I lowered by expectations and instead was able to admire the writing. The biggest miss was being able to see Jenny as a woman in prison who felt immense guilt for what she did, who we saw react to her roommate and a piano being brought in, and other small things - the author allowed us this perspective on her, but nothing deeper as to the crime she was there for. These were all just glances into her life; here are some of her thoughts on this and that, but not the crime. This awful, awful crime of a mother killing her young daughter with a f*#&@ hatchet. Either keep it real in that we can never know what she was thinking about anything, keep her this mysterious woman in prison that Ann can't get to no matter how hard she tries from a distance, or go deep. This halfway-ness left me wanting, even if I knew it would never come. The June storyline I was okay with being unresolved - I understand not knowing, and since we only get her chronological perspective right up until she turns around and runs into the woods, I choose to believe (Sopranos style) that she's dead.

Anyway, REALLY LIGHT READ!!!!

This was almost a 3-star read but then I've been musing on it so much after finishing it, wanting to bring it up with people I talk to randomly, that it does have some sort of power that I must acknowledge.

I liked A Visit From the Goon Squad just okay, and if it weren't for its inclusion in this year's Tournament of Books I may have skipped Manhattan Beach. I'm so glad I didn't. Structurally very different from Goon, this novel is quite straight-forward in its narration and its relatively small set of characters.

I loved the protagonist, Anna Kerrigan, wholeheartedly. As I continued to read, I realized what I was reading was a gangster story but I didn't recognize it because it's told through Anna's point of view for the most part - a woman whose father may or may not have been a mob hit. It doesn't stick to tropes. Egan's writing is beautiful from its wonderful descriptions of New York in the 30s and 40s, to the way she illustrates Anna's disabled sister Lydia (a character that conjured deeply visceral feelings when I read about her/from her POV), to the adventure and fun of the diving plot, and to one of the better sex scenes I've read in a novel.

It's probably more of a 4.5 when I think about some of the strings that come together for the ending... and for one of the decisions I didn't quite understand from the Anna I came to know.

Recommend for its cinematic quality and lovely portrait of old New York from a woman's POV.

I really loved this small, intimate book about a woman who keeps most people at an arm's length. I didn't relate to a lot (I'm no chemist), but I liked how she intertwined scientific perspective with her personal struggles. I did relate a lot to having an immigrant parent--

"Even now, people still talk to her in loud voices, as if speaking English poorly is the same as being deaf. People still laugh, as if it is the same as being very funny."

&

"If she lives here, she is expected to speak the language, Eric says.

Immediately, he apologizes. Immediately, I put the stapler down. But I can't forgive him. That thing you said, I have heard from other people as well. So I don't need to hear it from you."

<3

The language is sparse and moving, and I enjoyed this very much. It reminded me of The Dept of Speculation and Goodbye, Vitamin...quick reads with deep insight, and can be very funny amidst heartache.

First off, what a great title. The title itself may be intriguing enough to pick it up -- "What are you reading right now?" "People Who Eat Darkness." "Woah." Yes, the sentence gives off a chill, and it should, given the subject matter.

I vaguely remembered the Lucie Blackman case from over ten years ago, but definitely did not know the details. Richard Lloyd Parry really delves not only into the case, but the Blackman family, the accused rapist/murderer, and any and all people with insight. It's a truly fascinating look at several things: a brutal and mysterious crime, the effect of that crime on a family in grief, and Japanese culture.

I learned a lot about Japan -- I'd visited years ago and recognized some of what Parry described, but he details more than I could never understand with just a visit. There are so many frightening revelations in this book, and also sad. It's completely engrossing and well-written. I think it was best that I didn't know any details of this specific case, because I was surprised by many things; I felt sadness and anger throughout.

Recommended to anybody fascinated by Japan and true crime.

Definitely understand why this novel won so many awards. It's breathtaking in its prose and narrative; I was under its spell. Toward the end I needed to take a break, my emotions so overcome by a scene. The writing here is awe-inspiring.

A riveting portrait. There was so much to unpack, just as the characters were trying to do regarding their circumstances. My mind is still treading on Celestial, Roy, Andre, Big Roy, etc. There's institutional/cultural issues at hand, but also the personal. This is the third novel I've read just this year about (wrongful) incarceration of black men in the south (actually, think all three are in Louisiana?), and there is so much wrong with the system. The book made me think about this, but was not heavy-handed, but demonstrative. Jones does a wonderful job of weaving it into the intimate tale of a relationship, and that is where I had to wonder, as I read both sides of the marriage, what would I do? How would I handle this if something similar happened to my marriage? I don't know, and I'm sure I'll still think about it for some time.

I have to say that one of the narrators, Sean Crisden, inhabits the characters and emotions SO WELL. I almost wanted to clap for him and his performance when the book ended. (The other narrator was good, too, but just not at the same level as Crisden.)

Fell in love with these characters from the start. Specifically fell in step with Sunja and loved how the reader sees her in each stage of her life. There was so much turmoil and intense sadness in this... and yet I was fully engrossed and spent hours with the book not wanting to put it down even though I had to go to bed. There was a lot I didn't know and learned about Korea and Japan and immigration, and I'm glad to understand it more. The first 2/3 of this book are just ripping and roaring, but something falls off or feels abrupt in the last 1/3 and I'm not sure if it's because we didn't spend as much time with the younger generation (Solomon, Hana) as we did with Yangjin, Sunja, Noa? The final scene did make me well up; Lee able to conjure a family story that left me thinking of their fictional personal history as real memories.

I don't dive into the romance genre much, but I'm glad I picked this up on a whim based on someone's recommendation in the Tournament of Books comments. Having just read a lot of especially harrowing books for said Tournament, I needed a breather and this was perfect. Def romantic, funny, corny, and finished in two sittings. Enjoyed the dynamic between the leads quite a bit. Could have done without the Harry Potter references (I've never read them) in the beginning of the book, but thankfully no more eye rolling after that.