Thank you Graywolf Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available August 1st 2023.

Evocative and endlessly imaginative, Sally Wen Mao's The Kingdom of Surfaces crosses time and space to bridge together the migration story of East Asian American women and femmes. Using fashion and art as her portals to the past, Mao effortlessly crosses through different eras of Chinese and American history. By juxtaposing past and present, she creates a "looking glass" distortion, showing how the distant past is very much still alive today. I was constantly looking up the artwork she was referring to, which made for a fun scavenger hunt type of reading experience. Somewhere between poetry and prose, between art history lessons and fiction, Mao's women demand to be seen, heard, and respected.

Thank you to Catapult Press and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available May 3rd 2022

Like a millennial Socrates, Pyae Moe Thet War sets out to question modern life in her debut nonfiction collection, "You've Changed." The book covers everything from periods to baking to class and gender roles and of course, colonialism and its modern spawn, capitalism. What I love most is how Mynmar plays a complicated role throughout the book. At parts, Myanmar is an outdated villain that holds the narrator back from achieving her full potential with its stringent gender roles. In other parts, Myanmar is a much beloved and comforting home. The complexities and nuances of what we call home, what we love and what we must reckon with are approached with care and attention. I loved this book!

What happens if you stick to the bit? What makes Nana Kwame Adjei's Chain Gang All Stars so engrossing is the fact that this world is so well thought out. From little snippets of branding to the contracts to the way blood dries on the character's bodies after each gruesome Battle Match, every little detail is thoughtfully presented. This is an important, timely book on the commercialization of American prison system, especially with the rise and popularity of singing competitions in prisons in North America.

An absolutely scathing read about the publishing industry, white fragility, and victimhood. I loved the main character & the way Kaung deftly navigated the idea of stereotypes in writing. Though some of the secondary characters felt like throwaways, the writing progressed at a quick pace and kept you hooked til the end.

It was not my favorite - mainly because the context of the story lacked specificity to a certain place which left me unmoored and confused.

As a long term admirer of Zadie Smith, I wish this collection was fleshed out more! I think what I love most about Smith is her ability to sustain complicated character development in multicultural settings over extended generations and this format didn't allow for any of that complexity to be properly conveyed.

I loved Salman Rushdie growing up, he was one of those authors I looked up to! There was a pleasure in indulging in a novel like Midnight's Children or Empress of Florence that grappled with the power behind stories and those who tell them. Victory City is a nod back to Rushdie's original style, but feels more pessimistic and, in some ways, hollow? Pampa Kampana is a 9 year old Indian girl who possess a great and terrible desire for power. Bisanga, or Victory City, is created b Kampana as a way to assert equality in the world. But what happens when you know you must live to over 300 years old and long past anyone who you've ever loved? How does it temper your relationship with the world and with yourself? What happens when power is unchecked? These are some of the questions Victory City grapples with in an imaginative way that only Rushdie can. I enjoyed this read for the most part and look forward to Rushdie's next work.

I really loved Box Office Poison but Tricked felt very jaded and exhausted. Did not finish.

It is a true pleasure to live when Ishion Hutchinson is writing. More than the historic legacy and family memoir Hutchinson is engaging in this text, there is a sense of vivid and lively quality to the poems. Whether it's the use of ootomonopeias or locational directions, Hutchinson roots us in a very specific place and time while allowing us to sense the very impetuous nature of memory. I enjoyed this collection greatly!