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2020: I liked this fun romp through historical New York City! This is my second Gilbert novel of the year (and third of her books) and I feel that she really overextended this story, very similar to how I felt after I finished The Signature of All Things. I understand that the premise was a retelling of Vivian's whole life, but there was so much detail in the denouement that I really didn't care about. The plot and climax and all the interesting stuff was over before Chapter 30, so the last three were a slog that left a boring taste in my mouth.
The pop culture references were (of course) from before my time (I needed to Google who Jean Harlow was), and I really felt like my mom is the target audience of this book. I did love Gilbert's inclusion of Vivian's chosen family as a major part of the story, as well as her lesbian aunts. I also had a blast listening to all of her time spent working in the theatre, which was right up my alley. Overall, an enjoyable novel that tried a little too hard to include an overabundance of details about one woman's life.
The pop culture references were (of course) from before my time (I needed to Google who Jean Harlow was), and I really felt like my mom is the target audience of this book. I did love Gilbert's inclusion of Vivian's chosen family as a major part of the story, as well as her lesbian aunts. I also had a blast listening to all of her time spent working in the theatre, which was right up my alley. Overall, an enjoyable novel that tried a little too hard to include an overabundance of details about one woman's life.
2021: I think I did this book a disservice by listening to the audiobook version (even though it was read by Morrison herself!) and I look forward to revisiting it in its paper form at some point in the future.
Morrison's novel is centered on the story of Pecola Breedlove, but the ever changing narration and points of view mean that you often do not know exactly how this newly introduced character fits into Pecola's life until after the new storyline had concluded. I learn better by reading (as opposed to by listening), so this was particularly challenging for me to follow in the audiobook.
That being said, Morrison's descriptions are some of the most beautiful I've ever read. The beauty of her written word almost make you forget the disparity and horrible things that she's describing. The constant bombardment of whiteness as the ideal, both physically and socially, wears down her characters throughout the story. It's powerful and horrible and unending and overwhelming all at once.
I did not expect the novel to be so sexual, simply because I had this sitting in my brain as "books that were assigned in high school that I somehow missed". That should definitely be adjusted to "assigned in college", and I would also put a big trigger warning alongside that description. Morrison touches on some heavy topics (including going into a pedophile's thought process). Slightly overwhelming at times, it certainly left me with the feeling that institutional racism and intergenerational trauma is also overwhelming. Because it is.
An important and absolutely essential reading for anyone looking to understand racism in America today. Topics such as Black maternal medicine are still (unfortunately) extremely relevant today!! Would recommend the paperback version (unless you learn better aurally!)
Morrison's novel is centered on the story of Pecola Breedlove, but the ever changing narration and points of view mean that you often do not know exactly how this newly introduced character fits into Pecola's life until after the new storyline had concluded. I learn better by reading (as opposed to by listening), so this was particularly challenging for me to follow in the audiobook.
That being said, Morrison's descriptions are some of the most beautiful I've ever read. The beauty of her written word almost make you forget the disparity and horrible things that she's describing. The constant bombardment of whiteness as the ideal, both physically and socially, wears down her characters throughout the story. It's powerful and horrible and unending and overwhelming all at once.
I did not expect the novel to be so sexual, simply because I had this sitting in my brain as "books that were assigned in high school that I somehow missed". That should definitely be adjusted to "assigned in college", and I would also put a big trigger warning alongside that description. Morrison touches on some heavy topics (including going into a pedophile's thought process). Slightly overwhelming at times, it certainly left me with the feeling that institutional racism and intergenerational trauma is also overwhelming. Because it is.
An important and absolutely essential reading for anyone looking to understand racism in America today. Topics such as Black maternal medicine are still (unfortunately) extremely relevant today!! Would recommend the paperback version (unless you learn better aurally!)
2021: I know that a lot of people have found this book to be very polarizing, and yet I find myself uniquely in the middle!
I overall enjoyed the novel. Backman is FANTASTIC when it comes to characterization and this interweaving web of characters is kept firmly on track. There were so many opportunities for this novel to slide off the rails, or to slip into impossibility, but Backman keeps it together. The ending was so very satisfying to get to, with all of the tales and subplots neatly wrapped up.
However, it is a stressful ride to get there. I've said this before about books where the main character is an anxious person (all of the narrators, in this case) - it's not a pleasant time to be inside their head. This book should come with a big content warning; there are multiple characters who discuss their own suicidal thoughts. The title should give readers a big tip here: these are very anxious people. They present as pretty awful people for the first half of the book, but an engaging plot kept me invested, and I was thrilled with the revelations presented in the last quarter of the story.
My final takeaway is how nice it was to hear about a society in which you CAN belong to different political parties and still hold the same values as your partner. It was difficult to listen to that kind of talk in the year 2021 in the US, but I am optimistic that we can escape the Republican/Democrat binary and get to a similar mindset soon. Also, minor fact checking issue here: the English translation continues to refer to Jack's mum as a "priest", but the Church in the US does not allow for female or married priests. Looking forward to the day when that's changed! But until then, I would have advocated for a different word to be used to translate her profession.
I overall enjoyed the novel. Backman is FANTASTIC when it comes to characterization and this interweaving web of characters is kept firmly on track. There were so many opportunities for this novel to slide off the rails, or to slip into impossibility, but Backman keeps it together. The ending was so very satisfying to get to, with all of the tales and subplots neatly wrapped up.
However, it is a stressful ride to get there. I've said this before about books where the main character is an anxious person (all of the narrators, in this case) - it's not a pleasant time to be inside their head. This book should come with a big content warning; there are multiple characters who discuss their own suicidal thoughts. The title should give readers a big tip here: these are very anxious people. They present as pretty awful people for the first half of the book, but an engaging plot kept me invested, and I was thrilled with the revelations presented in the last quarter of the story.
My final takeaway is how nice it was to hear about a society in which you CAN belong to different political parties and still hold the same values as your partner. It was difficult to listen to that kind of talk in the year 2021 in the US, but I am optimistic that we can escape the Republican/Democrat binary and get to a similar mindset soon. Also, minor fact checking issue here: the English translation continues to refer to Jack's mum as a "priest", but the Church in the US does not allow for female or married priests. Looking forward to the day when that's changed! But until then, I would have advocated for a different word to be used to translate her profession.
2020: Well, this was a surprise. I've heard nothing but good things about this book, and I'm honestly stunned by those rave reviews. I was deeply disappointed by this new installment from Malcolm Gladwell; it makes me wonder if I should revisit some of his earlier works to see if they still hold up.
My first point of contention: this book should have about 75 trigger warnings, blasted across its cover. I went into the book ignorant of the types of "stranger interactions" it contained, and was shocked by the graphic descriptions of pedophilia, torture, racism, rape, and suicide, just to name a few. (Also, how is suicide a "stranger" interaction? Great question). Be prepared for heavy topics treated with scientific coldness, and an oversimplification of some high profile traumatic events.
It seemed like Gladwell was trying to get to a point, but kept using such sensational and extreme examples that he lost his thesis in the emotions of the stories. He starts off by telling us that "strangers are not easy", but fails to define what he considers a stranger. He gives us examples of how difficult it is to tell when people are lying, and concludes that we should look at a scene from the tv show Friends to better be able to read those around us (um, what?).
The storytelling, in typical Gladwell style, is thorough and compelling. Even if you don't remember every detail of these examples from the news, Gladwell covers them in a way that brings right back to the moment you first heard about Jerry Sandusky, Larry Nassar, or Brock Turner. But in the context of the book, especially with its title and the other examples provided, Gladwell left the horrible taste in my mouth that the atrocities committed by these men can be boiled down to "communication issues between strangers" (completely ignoring the fact that the victims of both Sandusky and Nassar were not strangers of the perpetrators). I was really done with the book the moment it was suggested that the "real victims" of Sandusky & Nassar were the parents who "defaulted to truth" when they didn't believe their children, who told them that trusted adults in their lives were assaulting them. DONE.
The whole book is a complete oversimplification of the biggest headlines of the past couple of years, attempting to convince us that people lie and memory is fallible. Gladwell claims that Turner's raping of Chanel Miller was a communication misunderstanding due to alcohol, and gives the horrible impression that it was not as big of a deal as it was made out to be. He tries to "solve" what happened between Brian Encinia and Sandra Bland, while completely skating over any mention of the racism inherent in the story. There's barely a footnote at the end of the chapter that mentions the fact that black and Hispanic drivers are stopped at much higher rates than those of white drivers, and that their stops lead to eventual arrests of the drivers at much higher rates as well.
I don't know what Malcolm Gladwell wanted me to walk away with after reading this book. Maybe that means I missed something, but I would also encourage you to peruse Andrew Ferguson of The Atlantic's review: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/when-malcolm-gladwell-says-nothing-at-all/597697/
I added one full star to this review for the exemplary audiobook, and I highly encourage you (if you are going to read it) to listen to the book. Gladwell narrates the book, and has the actual people he's quoted read their own words as much as possible. He has actors portray court transcriptions, and includes "Hell You Talmbout", performed by Janelle Monáe, as the book's theme song. It includes the real sound and dialogue clips from the Friends scene critiqued above. It's as close to a podcast-style audiobook I've ever heard, and I would love to see many more audiobooks created in this style.
In conclusion, Black Lives Matter.
My first point of contention: this book should have about 75 trigger warnings, blasted across its cover. I went into the book ignorant of the types of "stranger interactions" it contained, and was shocked by the graphic descriptions of pedophilia, torture, racism, rape, and suicide, just to name a few. (Also, how is suicide a "stranger" interaction? Great question). Be prepared for heavy topics treated with scientific coldness, and an oversimplification of some high profile traumatic events.
It seemed like Gladwell was trying to get to a point, but kept using such sensational and extreme examples that he lost his thesis in the emotions of the stories. He starts off by telling us that "strangers are not easy", but fails to define what he considers a stranger. He gives us examples of how difficult it is to tell when people are lying, and concludes that we should look at a scene from the tv show Friends to better be able to read those around us (um, what?).
The storytelling, in typical Gladwell style, is thorough and compelling. Even if you don't remember every detail of these examples from the news, Gladwell covers them in a way that brings right back to the moment you first heard about Jerry Sandusky, Larry Nassar, or Brock Turner. But in the context of the book, especially with its title and the other examples provided, Gladwell left the horrible taste in my mouth that the atrocities committed by these men can be boiled down to "communication issues between strangers" (completely ignoring the fact that the victims of both Sandusky and Nassar were not strangers of the perpetrators). I was really done with the book the moment it was suggested that the "real victims" of Sandusky & Nassar were the parents who "defaulted to truth" when they didn't believe their children, who told them that trusted adults in their lives were assaulting them. DONE.
The whole book is a complete oversimplification of the biggest headlines of the past couple of years, attempting to convince us that people lie and memory is fallible. Gladwell claims that Turner's raping of Chanel Miller was a communication misunderstanding due to alcohol, and gives the horrible impression that it was not as big of a deal as it was made out to be. He tries to "solve" what happened between Brian Encinia and Sandra Bland, while completely skating over any mention of the racism inherent in the story. There's barely a footnote at the end of the chapter that mentions the fact that black and Hispanic drivers are stopped at much higher rates than those of white drivers, and that their stops lead to eventual arrests of the drivers at much higher rates as well.
I don't know what Malcolm Gladwell wanted me to walk away with after reading this book. Maybe that means I missed something, but I would also encourage you to peruse Andrew Ferguson of The Atlantic's review: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/when-malcolm-gladwell-says-nothing-at-all/597697/
I added one full star to this review for the exemplary audiobook, and I highly encourage you (if you are going to read it) to listen to the book. Gladwell narrates the book, and has the actual people he's quoted read their own words as much as possible. He has actors portray court transcriptions, and includes "Hell You Talmbout", performed by Janelle Monáe, as the book's theme song. It includes the real sound and dialogue clips from the Friends scene critiqued above. It's as close to a podcast-style audiobook I've ever heard, and I would love to see many more audiobooks created in this style.
In conclusion, Black Lives Matter.
Think Week 2021: Overwhelmingly middle of the road. I had heard great things, but ultimately, this book just didn't do it for me. Not even with a Sara character who spells her name without an H.
Keane tried to cover too much ground, and ended up diluting the story. I felt that the pace of the plot seriously dragged at certain points, and in others, I had to double back to check what was really happening. I felt like I only got to know Kate & Peter, which would have been fine, except why then was so much of the book dedicated to other narrators?
Perhaps I just read this at a point in time where I'm disinclined to be sympathetic to cops, and I might have felt differently if I read this a couple years ago. At least [redacted] is 100% fired and not just transferred to another department. I finished the book completely on Team Kate (but not even on Team Francis, which just how sad!)
For a realistic fiction novel, where the author has described the characters as some of the realest she's ever written, I just couldn't believe that this was the plot she threw them into. I didn't buy it! It felt superficial, which is crazy because there was a lot of heavy stuff in this book. At the end, I felt like I was finishing this book just to finish it (never a good vibe).
Keane tried to cover too much ground, and ended up diluting the story. I felt that the pace of the plot seriously dragged at certain points, and in others, I had to double back to check what was really happening. I felt like I only got to know Kate & Peter, which would have been fine, except why then was so much of the book dedicated to other narrators?
Perhaps I just read this at a point in time where I'm disinclined to be sympathetic to cops, and I might have felt differently if I read this a couple years ago. At least [redacted] is 100% fired and not just transferred to another department. I finished the book completely on Team Kate (but not even on Team Francis, which just how sad!)
For a realistic fiction novel, where the author has described the characters as some of the realest she's ever written, I just couldn't believe that this was the plot she threw them into. I didn't buy it! It felt superficial, which is crazy because there was a lot of heavy stuff in this book. At the end, I felt like I was finishing this book just to finish it (never a good vibe).
Think Week 2021: A absolute must read. Am I now debating law school? 100%.
The amazing thing about this book is the number of times I wrote "ugh" or "OMFG" or "this is extremely frustrating" or "see, this is why we need to fucking legalize abortion" in the margins, and yet I walked away from this book feeling hopeful. I thought this book would follow more of Stevenson's life path, but it really follows Walter McMillian's story, with Stevenson's thoughts and philosophies thrown in. It's very admirable of him to decenter himself, but it left me wanting more.
Stevenson includes a perfectly balanced recap of how legal proceedings work for us novices, without getting bogged down in the minutia that could slow down a book that's FULL of court cases. This book makes it very clear that Alabama is our worst state by a large margin. And not simply because it's hot all of the time and has a terribly funded public school system, but legally, it has the worst laws. A thirteen year old will be sentenced to die in prison simply because the crime he was involved in happened in AL instead of another state? How do we increase the accountability of Republican lawmakers (looking at you, Jeff Sessions) without stooping to their level?
I would highly recommend following up this read with both films that have been adapted from it - Just Mercy, the 2019 film with Michael B. Jordan playing Bryan Stevenson, and True Justice, the HBO documentary that also came out in 2019. Both show different sides of Stevenson's life and journey that add to and complement this book. Plus, Michael B. Jordan, saving lives and fighting for equality?! Sign me up.
The amazing thing about this book is the number of times I wrote "ugh" or "OMFG" or "this is extremely frustrating" or "see, this is why we need to fucking legalize abortion" in the margins, and yet I walked away from this book feeling hopeful. I thought this book would follow more of Stevenson's life path, but it really follows Walter McMillian's story, with Stevenson's thoughts and philosophies thrown in. It's very admirable of him to decenter himself, but it left me wanting more.
Stevenson includes a perfectly balanced recap of how legal proceedings work for us novices, without getting bogged down in the minutia that could slow down a book that's FULL of court cases. This book makes it very clear that Alabama is our worst state by a large margin. And not simply because it's hot all of the time and has a terribly funded public school system, but legally, it has the worst laws. A thirteen year old will be sentenced to die in prison simply because the crime he was involved in happened in AL instead of another state? How do we increase the accountability of Republican lawmakers (looking at you, Jeff Sessions) without stooping to their level?
I would highly recommend following up this read with both films that have been adapted from it - Just Mercy, the 2019 film with Michael B. Jordan playing Bryan Stevenson, and True Justice, the HBO documentary that also came out in 2019. Both show different sides of Stevenson's life and journey that add to and complement this book. Plus, Michael B. Jordan, saving lives and fighting for equality?! Sign me up.
2021: Whew, what a whirlwind of a book.
Here's the deal: I was straight up lost for the first 150 pages of this book. I guess I am not super into fantasy, but I especially don't love being dropped straight into the middle of a new world with zero signposts. There were quite a few characters introduced in the first ~50 pages or so for flavor, that are never heard from again. Bardugo was also giving me major Russian novel vibes, with everyone having names, nicknames, job titles, and nicknames for their job titles. It took me a while to sort all of the proper nouns out.
That all being said, once I got into the vibe of what was happening and could more easily follow along with who was where, I enjoyed this story. Well, maybe "enjoyed" is not the right word - it's very dark, and the trigger warnings mentioned across this website and Twitter are warranted. A lot of very scary things happen to this poor main character, and most of them are not very pleasant to read about.
I did love how liberal / modern / woke the storyline was. Bardugo makes several great comments on racism, wealth, and victimization that made me snap my fingers in complete agreement. It was maybe a little incongruous that the people who can do magic couldn't solve all of their money problems, or that they still had to deal with sexism in a world where the power seemed more to reside with who was better at magic, not your gender.
Did I write myself a note around page 430 saying "Who the fuck is Isabel?" and I still can't answer this question to this day? Yes. But if you enjoy a good puzzle and don't mind spending a lot of time in the dark in the middle of a fantasy novel, and you want a smart, progressive world to inhabit, I definitely think you should give this a shot. If you're more like me, and don't enjoy feeling lost or not being able to follow what the main character is doing, maybe skip this one. It's definitely all puzzle-out-able (except for Isabel!), it just took a little longer than I was willing to tolerate.
Here's the deal: I was straight up lost for the first 150 pages of this book. I guess I am not super into fantasy, but I especially don't love being dropped straight into the middle of a new world with zero signposts. There were quite a few characters introduced in the first ~50 pages or so for flavor, that are never heard from again. Bardugo was also giving me major Russian novel vibes, with everyone having names, nicknames, job titles, and nicknames for their job titles. It took me a while to sort all of the proper nouns out.
That all being said, once I got into the vibe of what was happening and could more easily follow along with who was where, I enjoyed this story. Well, maybe "enjoyed" is not the right word - it's very dark, and the trigger warnings mentioned across this website and Twitter are warranted. A lot of very scary things happen to this poor main character, and most of them are not very pleasant to read about.
I did love how liberal / modern / woke the storyline was. Bardugo makes several great comments on racism, wealth, and victimization that made me snap my fingers in complete agreement. It was maybe a little incongruous that the people who can do magic couldn't solve all of their money problems, or that they still had to deal with sexism in a world where the power seemed more to reside with who was better at magic, not your gender.
Did I write myself a note around page 430 saying "Who the fuck is Isabel?" and I still can't answer this question to this day? Yes. But if you enjoy a good puzzle and don't mind spending a lot of time in the dark in the middle of a fantasy novel, and you want a smart, progressive world to inhabit, I definitely think you should give this a shot. If you're more like me, and don't enjoy feeling lost or not being able to follow what the main character is doing, maybe skip this one. It's definitely all puzzle-out-able (except for Isabel!), it just took a little longer than I was willing to tolerate.
2021: very big [b:Ask Again, Yes|42201996|Ask Again, Yes|Mary Beth Keane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557052821l/42201996._SY75_.jpg|60897878] vibes from this book (is there a cop named Eddie O'Donoghue in it? Why yes, yes there is).
The premise here is that four siblings go and visit a psychic when they are young, she tells them when each of them is going to die, and then each of the siblings narrate separate sections until (you guessed it) they die. For a book that's meant to be about familial ties, I think Benjamin did the narrative a disservice by separating each of the characters into sections. She silos each of her main characters to deal with their own problems and it ultimately loses any of its "family is important" narrative.
It's a very Jewish book overall. This is not a criticism for sure, just something I didn’t know going into it. Not only are the main characters all raised in the Jewish faith, but a lot of the metaphors have Jewish references: "there were times he thought of his siblings and felt love sing from him like a shofar".
Lots of little things bothered me about this book - there are a lot of very sexual references that feel out of place with the rest of the story. The second line of the book is about the fur between the legs of a thirteen year old, and goes on to describe her nipples. This continues throughout - random sexual descriptions of the characters, without the characters being involved in any sexual activity at the time.
Mostly, the deaths are very incongruous to how the characters are set up (imho). I won't drop all the spoilers here, but Daniel is a fucking doctor, there's no way he would die like that. Also, Klara's death really came out of nowhere; I thought it was very poorly set up. Even the smaller characters die in these extraordinary ways without any preamble (Asher?!) Overall, there's just a ton of death in this book, without the emotional weight to back it up.
The premise here is that four siblings go and visit a psychic when they are young, she tells them when each of them is going to die, and then each of the siblings narrate separate sections until (you guessed it) they die. For a book that's meant to be about familial ties, I think Benjamin did the narrative a disservice by separating each of the characters into sections. She silos each of her main characters to deal with their own problems and it ultimately loses any of its "family is important" narrative.
It's a very Jewish book overall. This is not a criticism for sure, just something I didn’t know going into it. Not only are the main characters all raised in the Jewish faith, but a lot of the metaphors have Jewish references: "there were times he thought of his siblings and felt love sing from him like a shofar".
Lots of little things bothered me about this book - there are a lot of very sexual references that feel out of place with the rest of the story. The second line of the book is about the fur between the legs of a thirteen year old, and goes on to describe her nipples. This continues throughout - random sexual descriptions of the characters, without the characters being involved in any sexual activity at the time.
Mostly, the deaths are very incongruous to how the characters are set up (imho). I won't drop all the spoilers here, but Daniel is a fucking doctor, there's no way he would die like that. Also, Klara's death really came out of nowhere; I thought it was very poorly set up. Even the smaller characters die in these extraordinary ways without any preamble (Asher?!) Overall, there's just a ton of death in this book, without the emotional weight to back it up.
2020: Please do not be dissuaded by comparisons of this book to Bridget Jones' Diary; that would sell Queenie Jenkins short, and she is so much more that just a chick-flick rom-com. Carty-Williams is following in the footsteps of modern British women crushing the tragicomedy game, specifically Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Michaela Coel (I swear, Kyazike is literally Terry from I May Destroy You.) Queenie suffers a series of trash men one after the other, but it's worth suffering with her for her granddad's redeeming of the male gender at the end of the novel.
The book spends a lot of time on the importance of mental health, and how therapy can help to heal. There are some graphic descriptions of what it can be like to be suffering from anxiety. It touches on how therapy is still frowned upon in many communities, in particular in Black communities, and how that stigma can really prevent Black women from getting the help they need. It also highlights how difficult it is for Black women to find therapists who have the same background (while simultaneously making a STRONG argument for universal healthcare and the NHS).
I enjoyed reading this book in 2020, as it doesn't shy away from current topics such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, but rather incorporates them into the daily conversations between the friends. I found this to be very true to life, without it being the main conflict in the story. I thought the inclusion of emails and texts into the novel was also an accurate reflection of millennial life (and especially during a pandemic, when more than 75% of my communicating with friends happens via my phone). My favorite scene was Queenie inviting her three best friends to finally meet each other, having gathered them from different areas of her life, but them already having been in a group chat together for months.
The book spends a lot of time on the importance of mental health, and how therapy can help to heal. There are some graphic descriptions of what it can be like to be suffering from anxiety. It touches on how therapy is still frowned upon in many communities, in particular in Black communities, and how that stigma can really prevent Black women from getting the help they need. It also highlights how difficult it is for Black women to find therapists who have the same background (while simultaneously making a STRONG argument for universal healthcare and the NHS).
I enjoyed reading this book in 2020, as it doesn't shy away from current topics such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, but rather incorporates them into the daily conversations between the friends. I found this to be very true to life, without it being the main conflict in the story. I thought the inclusion of emails and texts into the novel was also an accurate reflection of millennial life (and especially during a pandemic, when more than 75% of my communicating with friends happens via my phone). My favorite scene was Queenie inviting her three best friends to finally meet each other, having gathered them from different areas of her life, but them already having been in a group chat together for months.
2019: So...like I'm still not really sure what happened in this book. Which I think was the author's intention. But it did not work for me. Really enjoyed the premise and was excited to read about two female superhero/villains and their antics. Turns out it was mostly about the creepy guy who recruits the women to the Regional Office. Figures. Don't waste your time on it.