extremely thorough and so many perspectives I dont usually think about with the opioid crisis. so much of this information is still shocking in its blatant evil! 

wow!! wow. Jim is such a well done character. some things said plainly in this book moved me to tears! worried that I wouldn’t remember enough of Huck Finn but it didn’t matter. Feel like this would be a great companion read to The Sellout

slow and sometimes hard to follow but very beautiful with some pure moments of clarity and insight.

“the past is past, and furthermore it’s different every time I remember it.”

“Fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives!”

“The press should be not only a collective agitator, but also a collective organizer of the masses.”

and of course - “all water is connected.”

on a jill ciment kick!! loved the contained but wide reaching world this book creates over the span of a weekend and under 200 pages. having read Consent makes this even more interesting 

absolutely heartbreaking but the narrator’s voice is so wonderful 

wow. extremely interesting how she examines her own previous memoir and questions the idea that anyone could ever write an accurate book about their own life. i have always wondered how people writing memoirs remember dialogue, clothes, even the order of things. i guess the secret is they do not. i felt like this memoir had a lot of great insights but stopped just short of revelation. I also wanted to know how she is thinking about the future after her husband’s death but the book’s ending doesn’t allow that. 

very well paced and interesting though I wanted it to go a little deeper on some topics. funny and witty at times and so cold at others

sweet if a little literal and predictable. the octopus is the most interesting character

and gets the least amount of attention

Engaging and funny and ridiculous but real. sooo thick with references and humor and detail and things I will think about for a long time! I found myself rereading sections a lot because the writing is so rich with layered meaning… a book I have already been recommending and will continue.

interesting concept and take on the pandemic novel… not sure I was bought in the whole time but still an interesting look at grief