sandro_reads's reviews
102 reviews

I knew little about Trust before going into the book outside of it winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. And, I would suggest the same even if you, like me, might be confused during the first half. 

Diaz has created an engrossing, slow-burn puzzle, revealing more with each of the four sections but ultimately leaves the reader to decide what we can trust when it comes to the truth and how history gets written. 

I rarely read a book after already having seen the film adaptation but this novel was a whole different experience.

Told from an older Elio, reflecting on the summer in Northern Italy when he met Oliver, it perfectly captures the battling, all-encompassing thoughts of youth around identity and shame and love (and takes the reader well past that fateful summer’s events). 

It’s that rare book that you can’t put down but want to savor. Beautifully poetic - it’s perfection. 

The Glass Castle is the memoir of Jeanette Walls who somehow managed to survive her unconventional (to say the least) upbringing to become a gossip columnist in New York City.

Walls’ matter-of-fact prose does not overly sensationalize the narrative to garner pity. Rather, it examines the complexity of family dynamics and the human capacity for love even in the face of neglect, alcoholism and more.

I kept putting off The Nightingale despite many recommendations given the WWII subject matter and the 580 page length. Now that I am on the other side, I can see why people praise it but I just did not connect with it in the same way

I found both sisters insufferable for the plodding first half of the book, each one-dimensional in their persona: Vianne the anxiety-ridden mother and Isabelle, the reckless rebel. We are told countless times how beautiful they both are and they seem to fall in love the way that only happens in romance novels (with some truly cringey dialogue). 

The second half picks up the pace as each does their part to rebel against the war and I found the perspective from an occupied France to be a part of history I knew little about.  I appreciate that the book does not shy away from the brutalities of war and the end is beautiful. A mixed bag but worthwhile read. 

Eleanor Oliphant, as the title wrongly states, is most certainly not fine. But, her journey to getting fine is captivating.

When Eleanor and her coworker, Raymond, help an elderly man, Sammy, who collapsed, the three form a bond that propels Eleanor to examine her life and the childhood trauma she experienced.

Eleanor is downright funny at times, extremely touching at others and also quite difficult but, it beautifully illustrates how small acts of kindness can cause huge ripple effects in someone’s life. 

I had enjoyed Murata’s Convenience Store Woman so decided to pick up Earthlings. Both deal with the societal pressures of Japan but where Woman was almost quiet, Earthlings takes it to the absurd.

Natsuki suffers abuse from everyone in her life but finds kindred spirits in her cousin Yuu and her husband Tomoya - all aliens from Popinpobopia. That is all I will say of the plot but it is a challenging read and will leave you with a WTF feeling. 

The title, Vampires of El Norte, does the book an injustice. It is really a mash up of genres: part romance, part historical fiction and part horror - though the horror is not as prominent as the title suggests. 

The main focus is Nestor and Nena, childhood sweethearts separated for 8 years by a misunderstanding and who can’t ever seem to say what they want, against the backdrop of early 1800s American colonization of Mexico. 

An engrossing read but the pacing is a bit off with the first half of the novel moving slowly then picking up when the forlorn lovers encounter the animalistic depiction of vampires only to rush the ending. 

Told in the first person, My Husband reads like one long downward mental spiral - full of neurosis and obsessive compulsions - both funny and disturbing. A quick, enjoyable ride that has forever changed how I will view a clementine. 

Homegoing is an ambitious generational saga that begins with two sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to one another in Africa in the 1700s. Each chapter then follows a subsequent descendant covering such topics as colonialism in Africa, the slave trade, and racism in the Jim Crow south to 1980s Harlem. 

Yaa Gyasi has a matter-of-fact writing style and the format can lend itself to read more like a collection of short stories. But, the power of Homegoing lies in the totality of the book over some of its individual chapters. 

The Reformatory tells the story of Robert Stephens Jr. who is unjustly sent to the Gracetown School for Boys and his sister, Gloria, who is desperately trying to get him out.

The school is full of ‘haints’ or ghosts but the true horror is the action of men in the Jim Crow-era south. Tananarive Due has created a fully realized world that will infuriate and shock but ultimately stands as a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. 

And, although a work of fiction, it is based on Due’s own connection to the very real horrors that took place at the Dozier School for Boys - which adds another layer while reading.