mariebrunelm's Reviews (478)

Quelle novella étrange et délicieuse ! Esmée Dubois dessine les contours d’un monde renfermé sur lui-même, dont les habitantes ont découvert un moyen de repousser le froid qui les assaille de plus en plus chaque année. Leur secret : traduire ce froid en chaleur. Une tâche ingrate, à laquelle seules de rares élues peuvent prétendre.

Ce texte polyphonique est d’une poésie étourdissante, qui prend parfois le pas sur la narration et m’a laissée émerveillée. Je ne sais pas dans quels méandres l’imagination de l’autrice s’est aventurée pour nourrir ce récit singulier mais je suis sous le charme de sa plume.

Quand Martino naît avec les cheveux blancs, le village ne perd pas de temps à lui attribuer tous les malheurs qui pèsent sur lui. Alors le petit garçon, plutôt que d’être envoyé loin de sa famille ou pire, fuit dans la forêt, où il rencontre Viviana. Une drôle d’amitié naît entre les deux.

Ce petit bijou m’a été recommandé par un ami, et comme toujours mes ami.e.s ont d’excellents goûts. Quelle splendeur ! Le dessin est exactement ce que j’aime, avec des traits fins, des personnages aux expressions subtiles, et beaucoup d’attention aux vêtements et aux décors, le tout dans une palette très harmonieuse. Avec les bandes-dessinées, si je n’accroche pas au dessin je ne saurai pas profiter de l’histoire, mais ici les deux ont été un coup de cœur. L’histoire de Martino / Rebis évolue vers beaucoup de douceur et d’acceptation, quand bien même ses débuts sont durs.

La seule ombre au tableau, selon moi, est que l’histoire se termine de façon trop abrupte. Je n’ai rien contre les fins ouvertes, mais là j’ai vraiment eu l’impression qu’il manquait des pages à mon édition.

AC : meurtre, abandon, feu, tentative de suicide, dysphorie.

At first I was a little weary because - oh no, another book with an invented world where sexism is rampant. But I quickly understood that not to worry, Ava Reid has our back. And what better feeling than reading a book you have a very good feeling will be a new favourite, and it turning out to be a new favourite indeed ???

This novel puts the “academia” back into “dark academia”. I feel like some DA books of late have been mostly about academic rivalry, which is all well and good, but my catnip is also academic research and finding out secret knowledge. Bonus point if it’s literature or language-related. Hence why Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip was a huge favourite before I heard about Dark Academia (read Alphabet of Thorn).

Back to ASID. This book was both painful and extremely healing. Were there a few too many similes? Perhaps. Did I guess one of the plot twists a little too soon for my liking? Also perhaps. Did that tamper my enjoyment of the book? Not today, Satan. I inhaled this novel. It was everything I’d hoped and more. It’s dark and twisted but also holds a lot of tenderness. It kicks patriarchy in the bottom while discussing what it means and how insidious it can be. I would give my life for Effy and I loved how she and Preston discussed their biases and prejudices.

Last but not least, although it unsettled me a little bit at first, I loved that the atmosphere in this book was a lot more second-half-of-the-20th century than it was 19th-century. It was very refreshing and although not profoundly important, it was a pleasant surprise.

This excellent collection of articles dives deep into the concept of craftivism, aka the intersection of craft and activism, through a historical, political, social and contemporary lens. Different authors bring their own unique perspective on the topic and make this collection wide-ranging as far as the USA are concerned. The first section is all about the history of craftivism in the USA in white, fairly affluent circles. The second section deals with the political aspect of craftivism especially today, and the third one gathers together testimonies of craftivists and people having facilitated craftivism workshops.

This is such a big topic, and with such a variety of outcomes, that it would be hard to summarise it here, but having recently discovered the concept of craftivism, I highly enjoyed this collection which I thought was quite accessible and not too academia-oriented. I felt it worked really well as an encouragement to make our crafts a little more overtly political, and this is certainly something I’ll consider in the future.

Mexico, reçoit un jour un étrange courrier de sa cousine Catalina, isolée dans un manoir de la campagne depuis son mariage précipité avec un jeune noble désargenté. Les mots de Catalina sont confus mais laissent entendre qu'une menace terrible pèse sur sa vie. Noemí n'hésite pas longtemps à prendre la route de High Place, où elle fait la rencontre de la famille Doyle et découvre peu à peu leur terrible héritage, aux racines profondes et… mouvementées. Là-bas, on lui assure que Catalina va bien et que sa santé est entre les mains compétentes du docteur de la famille, mais Noemí n’en croit rien, et ses doutes s’amplifient quand elle est elle-même la proie de cauchemars morbides.
Ce roman mérite complètement le succès qu'il connaît. Il est tortueux, sombre (iykyi), merveilleusement ancré dans son lieu et son temps (j’ai beaucoup aimé l’intégration du contexte historique et des thèmes du colonialisme et de l’eugénisme), avec une héroïne bien pensée et une atmosphère qui s’installe lentement mais sûrement.
Pourtant, la magie n'a pas vraiment opéré avec moi. Je voyais bien les moments où j'étais censée m’horrifier ou agripper le livre un peu plus fort, mais je pense que j'ai tout simplement été hermétique au style simple et direct de l’autrice. Je pense que j'aurais préféré une prose plus littéraire qui m’aurait vraiment embarquée plus profondément dans les entrailles de High Place.

Ce livre clôt la trilogie “Capitale du Sud” que Guillaume Chamanadjian a composée pendant que Claire Duvivier écrivait “Capitale du Nord”. La résolution de l’histoire est tout à fait satisfaisante, même si je n’étais pas suffisamment attachée aux personnages pour ressentir tout à fait le maëlstrom d’émotions qui peut accompagner la fin d’une trilogie. Quelques allers-retours dans la temporalité m’ont un peu décontenancée, mais rien de grace.

Bien que ce ne soit pas un coup de cœur, je trouve que cette trilogie est d’une grande qualité et je ne manquerai pas de la recommander à celleux que les longues listes de personnages n’effraient pas !

I was going to write a very different review of this book and then I read the postface and it left me sooo frustrated. But let me backtrack and hype you about this book first.

This novel is a sequel to Into the Forest, which was written 20 years ago and has left a deep impact on me. Jean Hegland’s prose is gorgeous and poignant, and it is just as powerful in this new novel. The funny thing is that it isn’t published in English yet. The French translation is the first time this book gets read. Ever. So thank you @editions_gallmeister for making it possible for us to read this gem.

Le Temps d’Après is about life after the collapse of civilisation, when humans have had time to adapt to this new world. We follow the slow, daily life of Burl and his two mothers Eva and Nell, who live alone in the Forest and have been careful not to cross paths with other humans. Their language has evolved, but one thing remains: their love of stories. And so, to Burl, other humans are no more real than Smaug or Don Quichotte. Each year, the three of them walk up to a clearing in the forest and light a bonfire. One year, Burl spots another fire in the distance.

This novel is really stunning. It is slow and takes its time weaving a picture of what human life could be in harmony with nature. Into the Forest was all about the two sisters losing what made their lives little by little, grieving but adapting. It was a rather anxious novel. Le Temps d’Après is a lot more peaceful. There is danger, of course, but life as it was before is but a distant memory and the characters have mostly adapted, treating nature with infinitely more respect than they used to. So all in all, it’s a really masterful novel that I heartily recommend.

And then I read the author’s postface in which she explains that the way Burl’s language had evolved included neutral pronouns. And despite the French translator’s fabulous job, this choice wasn’t translated into French. True, French is a heavily gendered language and it makes life very difficult for inclusive speech. But it’s not impossible, and my experience of the book would have been even better had the language been gender-neutral.

Personally, I don’t think the future will be binary. No matter how long it takes, I think we’ll shed binaries as something that might have served us in the past but that we are now better without. And so now I feel like I’m grieving what this book could have been. To be fair, it wouldn’t have changed the deep meaning of the story that I already resonate with. But there are so few novels in French with gender-neutral language that it would have meant even more for me.

This delightful little cloth-bound book has 56 poems carefully picked to answer a specific prescription. For instance, a poem for Fear of the Unknown, for Displacement, for Loss of Zest for Life, for Hopelessness or for Self-Recrimination (hint: this one is Wild Geese by Mary Oliver).

Each piece is introduced by thoughts from the editor, William Sieghart, who first set up the Poetry Pharmacy in a literary festival in which he invited people to sit across from him, tell him their woes, and he’d prescribe a poem for them. How delightful is that?

Of course, you may not resonate with all of the choices, or all of the ways the editor contextualises his picks, but I do think it is a marvellous little book that will make the perfect gift even for people who aren’t used to reading poetry. Most of the poems in there are very easy to read, and the texts written as introductions, often a little longer than the verses themselves, are really good at helping you make the most of the reading experience and not pressure you in any way.

Le rythme s’apaise nettement dans ce tome 2, ce qui n’est pas pour me déplaire ! L’ambiance est également plus sombre, car après tout ce n’est pas de la cosy fantasy donc les choses ont plutôt tendance à empirer qu’à s’améliorer. Ce volume introduit une réflexion bienvenue sur la xénophobie, ce qui ne pouvait manquer d’arriver après nous avoir fait découvrir cette cité entièrement repliée sur elle-même.

Ayant enchaîné directement depuis le tome 1, il m’a été très facile de plonger dans l’histoire, et j’ai apprécié qu’un nombre limité de nouveaux personnages soient introduits. Si je suis un peu restée sur ma faim dans le dernier chapitre, qui reproduit la structure du premier tome, je suis néanmoins curieuse de lire la suite car l’intrigue promet de se renouveler assez drastiquement. Je n’entre pas plus dans les détails pour ne rien divulguer de l’intrigue !

 

Book received via NetGalley

Clara is a student at the Art Academy of York, where she strives everyday for perfection. She has an eye for composition and details, and even though she won’t limit herself to pretty watercolour landscapes, she is happy to follow the Academy’s curriculum. So why is she so unsettled when she discovers the works of a group of young artists who defy the laws of property? And especially Evelyn, with her piercing gaze and outrageous costumes. Soon, Clara finds herself drawn into their midst where she might start to question everything she’s ever been taught.

This novel is a real page-turner. The writing flows by effortlessly while not being simplistic in the slightest. The prose was really what drew me in. But before I knew that, I’d requested this book on NetGalley because of the artistic setting (1920s England) and queer themes, and it also delivered on those aspects. True, there were a couple of anachronisms. But really, who cares when the story is so engaging? I even enjoyed the romance, which is rare for me. What worked really well for me was that despite the fact that there is a “seducer” character who is more knowledgeable, and one who is seduced and new to romance, the power in their relationship is always very balanced. The former never takes advantage of her situation, and I was very grateful for that.

I would even have been happy without the final, final twist, but it provides the characters with a little more depth (which they were not lacking) so I’m not mad.

Rep: sapphic characters.