sarahxify's Reviews (703)

This tells the story of Maggie, a missing person in Australia who is in reality living in the states with a new identity. From Maggie's perspective, we hear how she got there, and the awful circumstances that drove her to make such a desperate move. She recounts her time in foster homes in Australia, and the sexual abuse and trauma she suffered at the hands of the people that were supposed to protect her. The writing is perfect; it's controlled, tight, and impeccably timed.  Easily one of the most assured and compelling pieces of literature I have read for a long time. Is "phenomenal" too strong a word? 

Lots of content warnings for sexual assault and child death for this one, but if these themes are okay for you, I really could not recommend it more. 

The murder scenes in this were too much for me, so I stopped reading around 25% of the way through. 

An intriguing and thought-provoking story about the way we can take mothers and parents for granted. Really enjoyed this and can recommend the audiobook as well. 

I picked this book up on a total whim after spotting it in the library. It's a set of interconnected short stories mostly focused on different women and their conflicted feelings about being mothers. It beautifully and sensitively captures the unique experiences of different people when it comes to wanting children, and how each person can have such a complicated relationship with parenting. 

Beautiful complex story about 2 older women who have been friends for a long time. One of them is dying of cancer and is desperately trying to get treatment from an alternative medical centre. Her friend is looking after her and is secretly highly skeptical of the treatment, and battles with herself about whether she should say anything or what she can really do to intervene. Gorgeous writing, understated and effective. 

I loved the first three-quarters of this, the writing is beautiful and Powers has such a captivating way of writing about nature and our relationship with it. I felt that the plot let the book down a lot, where towards the end it felt like it dribbled to a conclusion. There were parallels in the plot with the way a tree grows and I'm sure a lot of readers would say that this is why the plot sort of spreads back out and separates, but I didn't feel that this was done tightly enough. 

 Sula follows life in a small town over a few generations, focusing mainly on Sula, a woman who is largely disliked and shunned by her community. It follows her as she grows up and does weird and dislikeable things, all set in the background of a segregated America.

For me, there is no writer quite like Toni Morrison. I got goosebumps listening to her read this; her writing is beautiful, simplistic, and effective. Sula as a character is a masterstroke; she is self-sabotaging, cold, and difficult to sympathise with, yet also engaging and interesting