Wow! 

I heard about this from TIBAL on IG and it was available from Libby with no wait. The basic plot is Caro is a world record marathon holder and has an accident that puts her in a lavish rehab where she meets Prince Finn.  We watch them fall in, then out of, love. It never stops feeling modern and feels a lot more like Gone Girl than Sleeping Beauty. I found myself thinking of Princess Kate Middleton, Taylor Swift, and the idea that no one that rich is a benevolent leader, despite the optics and posturing. The afterword was actually meaningful - the writer took a trip through these land's castles and aristicracies, she says something like, 'seeing [my friend's] face light up while I read the opening pages in a castle in Portugal kept me going through this whole writing process'. Like how cool is that, to dream up this plot, take a research trip and fuel the creation of this work with your friends' support buoying you. I really loved this book and I would not say I'm normally a princess girl. This book let me look at Caro smugly telling myself, "thank God I'm not one of those girls" but I also saw the beauty in her character and why that made her the perfect spouse for Finn. 

This was an okay book. It was mentioned in a vlog from Malissa (bewareofpity) and sounded interesting. An adult daughter and her mother go on a 2 week trip to Japan. The concept is hard for me to imagine so I wanted to immerse myself in that world. While the characters do bop around Japan, the real plot is their internal thoughts. Daughter striving for connection, mother feeling lost(?). We never get too terribly much insight to the mother, it's definitely more daughter perspective. That being said, I did enjoy it. I liked the writer's simplistic way of distilling ideas. I tend the ramble and read much longer books and it's really nice to read this style. That's not a dig at all, it's a dig at the writers who can't stfu. This author evokes the swedish or the Japanese minimalist style of only using what's exactly required and dispatching everything else. I really enjoyed the imagery of the Crater lake, and the streets of Tokyo at night, a quiet bookstore open at dark and two women browsing art books. 

This was a bit austere for me at times. Frugal, totally, let's do it, dumpster diving, less so. The writer kept the tone fun but there are just some bridges that are too far. 

I wasn't ever a playboy fan but as a 20something  in the naughty aughties, I'm well-versed in Girls Next Door lore and I have read the other girls' books. Didn't Bridget write one? I read Holly's and I didn't read Kendra's cuz it seemed like it was more life AFTER the mansion. 

This book confirmed my suspicion in a failing America honestly. We live in a capitalist pit where men like Hugh Hefner get the glory and girls doing the labor of bedding that old troll get nothing. His "mansion" was infested with black mold. He was controlling to a fault, to an Aviator Howard Hughes degree. And a stunning lack of emotional depth, not dissimilar from our buffoon of a President. This was probably the wrong time for this book to find me; I've been feeling an overwhelming sense of "one voice doesn't matter, against such oligarchy, wealth, and corruption". It was depressing that women are what made his career soar to the heights it did, but Crystal left the mansion after Hef died because he left his money to his kids and his foundation, and sold his house a year before he died, to some Hostess co-owner who let him live out his days in peace. Once he died, Crystal got the boot. She talked about after a few years, she just treated it like a job, and that sounds jarring out of context, but Hef was prone to radical mood swings when attention wasn't on him (sound like anyone else we know?) or when he couldn't have total control. Also pretty unfortunate, the toxic environment of the mansion meant not really trusting the other girls either, tattling was rewarded and there was extreme competition for what felt like limited resources (but was not in any way limited, in reality). Also as an INTJ, my sense of justice was incensed knowing the house staff fell behind for years on mansion upkeep. Like, what we're all those people being paid for? The real house business was churning and burning these hopeful women. 

This was similar to the other book I've read from this author, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. I can see some through lines in the body horror and dark romance. 

However this one was a miss for me. I thought of abandoning it around 50% and at the conclusion, I don't feel I gained anything by finishing it. I don't think I'd visit this author again. Maybe therapy is helping me? 😂

I heard about this book on a YouTube video. It sounded like House of Leaves, Horror Movie (Tremblay) or Night Film. A mysterious shrouded filmmaker staying one step ahead of being understood. The atmosphere of the book was suffocating and mildewy but the plot wore kind of thin for me. Maybe I just didn't get it. I'd like to read some other reviews or insights about it. It was spooky but in a half finished way. I think if you enjoyed any of the aforementioned titles, you'd like this. 
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After reading some other reviews, I'm relieved to see others citing its opaqueness and meandering plot, but echoing the success of the atmosphere it created. Read it for the vibes, not for the plot. 

I thought the writing was pretty funny! The characters felt nuanced in their dialogue. The plot felt flimsy or deux ex machina at times but I didn't hate it! 

This was a recommendation from a YouTube video, and it was a short book! The part of the rec that intrigued me was reading it made the reader worried about their partner who wasn't home, and made them want to call their partner and make sure they were okay. I read half in one bath, and the other half in the same day. I liked the length, it was a very tight story. I read I Who Have Never Known Men and The Wall in the last 6-12 mo and it's interesting how in all three, the construct of time falls away so quickly, reduced to sweeping seasons and major plot points. 

Basic idea is something happens to take out the power, phones, cell towers in short order to a family living on a reservation in remote Canada. Two people come back to the rez after things fall apart and tell them what the city was like. Visitors arrive on the rez seeking refuge to varying degrees of success. The winter is long and cold, and resources are pooled. 

I thought this was an interesting story. It felt claustrophobic - the vignette's aperture(?) kept closing, smaller and smaller, the longer the story went on. It felt wholly unsustainable. I thought it was interesting white men forced Natives onto the rez, hundreds of years ago, and they learned to survive and adapt. And the same thing happened here. White men brought in modern luxuries like hydroelectric power, landlines, internet, cell towers, then took it away. I wonder what caused the big event? I feel like somehow it was white people's fault. 

The fairness part of me was definitely triggered when the laziest people were "rewarded" so to speak by getting rations. It's nice to live in a community where we help the weakest members but it was personally triggering to me, why these people couldn't help themselves. It feels like a statement about society but I have seen it play out in much smaller dynamics. The idea that a well prepared person gets punished with no rations because they did what they were supposed to do. But I wouldn't expand that out to the macroeceomocs level of welfare. 

I felt like the dreams weren't given enough credence. A few people had dreams right at the start and they were basically ignored. People should give more credence to their dreams in a situation like this! 

I loved this book. I highlighted many passages. I find Halle Butler's writing style hilarious. It can be very dry, straight, poignant observations on life, followed by something totally irreverent. 

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"The bus was the same as always, the elevator and the halIway were the same as always, the greeting from Jillian was the same as always, the way her desk felt was the same as always, the slowness of the
computer was the same as always, and as always Megan's mind idlyfloated to the subject of suicide." 

----

"She made her browser window as small as she could, paused for a second, and then looked up Carrie Wilkins. She found Carrie's website, and on it, this bio: 

Hi, my name's Carrie. I'm 26. I make things. I paint and I write, but mostly I design. I like
to make things beautiful, or creative. I make my own food and I'm trying to grow my own beets. A lot of people around me seem unhappy and I don't understand why. I
freelance because I know I'd go insane if I couldn't make my own schedule-I believe variety is the zest of life. I know I want a dog
some day soon, and sometimes I make lunch at 3:00 a.m. I believe in the power of collaboration, and I'd love to work with you! 

What a total asshole. What does she have, some kind of a pact with Satan?"
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"What would be the most just vehicle to wrest me from this mortal coil? A Vespa? Yes, I want to be hit in the neck by the front tire of a Vespa, that way my face won't be covered by a car when I die." 
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"Infinity's moment sounded like the jargon of a pedophile, and the phrase repulsed Megan, but she couldn't stop thinking it"

I don't know, something about it, I just love. It's so cutting and dark. It feels like the way I thought in my 20s, or even now. I would absolutely read more work from Halle Butler. The only thing I think could be better is the plot could be a little more driving, there wasn't a huge story arc for some of the character's. The character development eclipsed the plot in this case but I enjoyed the journey from a to b. 

This book was kind of boring. I heard about it from a YouTuber who named dropped Monsters by Claire Dederer in relation to this book. It is tangentially related but this book was a sad slog. I am not sure if I would read anything else from this writer. It was very introspective and I think I prefer less rumination and more plot propulsion. It was okay.