wordsofclover's Reviews (2.16k)

Crimson is a short novel following the lives of 5 different people living in Nuuk, Greenland, and all of them are exploring their queer identity in some way.

The chapters are very slice of life, and while the stream of consciousness might not work for everyone and in other books, I haven't always liked this style, I really enjoyed the writing style in Crimson. I found the book so easy to read, and I really flew through everyone's chapters, and I did feel like I got a brief glimpse of who each character was and what drove them. I do think one of my favourite chapters was the first chapter with Fia, and her realisation of her queer identity which she had never truly acknowledged before. The joy within Fia when everything clicked into place was lovely to read.

I wish we had more time with Ivik, especially after he accepts his trans identity (though it is strange that Ivik had to be 'told' about his identity rather than coming to it himself. And was then dumped because of it. Maybe all slightly problematic). I think we really only got the tip of the iceberg with Ivik and there was so much more to uncover.

I really enjoyed this. The writing flowed really well, and the translation was good. The language was on the crasser side of things so maybe not one for someone who prefers to read 'clean' books. I'm definitely interested in reading more from the author when her work is further translated into English. 

Yinka is a 31-year-old English-Nigerian woman who despite her success in her work life, has been single for over 3 years and is now feeling the pressure from her family, friends and society in general to couple up. When her friend/cousin gets engaged, Yinka decides that in six months time, she will have a plus one for the wedding, and so operation find huzband begins.

This was fun, vibrant and contained so many bits and pieces I love in a story. I felt for Yinka as someone who despite successful in her work life, is still measured up by her family as lacking because of her lack of a partner - while Yinka is feeling this pressure due to cultural norms, I think this is something that transcends into every aspect of life no matter your background. How many people have been made to feel less than because they don't have a significant other?

I enjoyed learning more about Nigerian culture in this book, and I liked how close Yinka is to her friends and family. There are some really sad but poignant moments in this book where Yinka has to confront her own lack of self-confidence which includes internal colourism. We also see her experiment with weaves instead of her preferred natural hair because she feels it's what men would prefer, and also her fears when on dating apps that white men are only messaging her because they have a fetish.

It was refreshing to have a character with strong faith like Yinka, who didn't really drink and also was saving herself for marriage. You don't see this a lot anymore and it's so unusual to meet people who feel like this. But Yinka was strong in her convictions, and I was impressed by her. I also liked her easy relationship with her former co-workers and how they learned a bit more about African culture from Yinka and her friend Nana.

Some of the parts of this book that let me down a bit included a general air of immaturity around Yinka and some of her actions and reactions to people. For a 31-year-old professional woman, there were times she felt very schoolgirl especially when she was interacting with her 'best friends' Rachel and Ola, and even sometimes Nana. And then the way she jumped the gun a lot when it came to her dating life was just that little bit cringe too- play it a little bit cool Yinka!

I did like this and it was a fun read, and I'd recommend it! 

Set in 1985, this novella focuses on a small Irish town, and a coal miner called Furlong for whom the Christmas season is bringing up memories of his mother, his childhood and his own experience as a father and husband to a family of young girls. But on the outskirts of the town, there's a Magdalene Laundry, the goings on within are ignored by the townspeople for fear of retaliation from the Catholic Church and other selfish reasons.

This short story was beautifully told, and I really enjoyed learning about Furlong, a simple, gentle man who gets on about his business, and tries to help rear his family as best he can - be a good husband and father, especially seeing as he's had no experience of the latter being born out of wedlock to an unmarried woman. During the story, we see Furlong continue to struggle with the unknowns of his own history - never finding out who is father is, and wondering about that part of himself and even as a grown man in his 40s, he yearns for that connection.

Furlong's own history and the what could have been if his mother's employer hadn't taken her in, and helped her in the rearing of her son, makes the shadow of the laundry and the treatment of the girls and babes all the more poignant as Furlong really begins to figure out the terrible things behind the door. And the story also shows the terrible power the church had in Ireland at the time - how people turned a blind eye out of cruelty, ignorance or most of the time fear because the Church had a hand in literally everything and could ruin lives as easy as that.

I would have loved for this to be longer, as I really felt a connection with Furlong - such a simple, nice soul - an ordinary gent who can no longer stand by and do nothing for those more unfortunate - and I could have stayed with him for another 300 pages. I would have loved to have seen the effects of his actions though I know they are heavily implied within the story already. Enjoyed this a lot but sad it was as short as it was. 

Breasts and Eggs is a Tokyo-based story set in two different parts. The first section (Breasts) follows the narrator Natsuko as she is visited by her older sister Makiko and her teenage niece Midoriko. Makiko has come to Tokyo to look into breast augmentation surgery, and Midoriko is having a hard time with this, alongside all the other horrors of being a young teenage girl on the verge of a whole load of body/hormonal changes. The second part of the book (Eggs) follows Natsuko on her own, around 10 years later, as she continues to pursue her career of being an author and looks into finally having her own child via IVF which is complicated in itself as a single woman.

This story was just so interesting and well-written with a character who I felt was peeled back and revealed to us layer by layer as she continue to dive into the core of her being, and examining her wishes and desires. First off, the translation of this book is really excellent. I'm no expert by any means but I found it just so easy to read, the language and writing flowed really, really well. Absolutely seamless.

I thought the exploration of Natsuko in this book was so thought-provoking and hard-hitting as well as just all kinds of raw. The book very much explores what it means to be a woman, particularly in Japanese society, and everything that comes with that mark of being a woman - being young and beautiful, and if not young, making yourself look as perfect as you can through beauty treatments and invasive surgery. The fears of growing older but also just growing up - how terrifying it can be to be on the periphery of girl to woman, and knowing all the different things your body will go through for years and years, and feeling disconnected from that body somehow because of the horror of it all. And then making decisions about motherhood, how womanhood and being a mother are linked in different ways whether you have a child, or remain childless. How it can define you even if you don't want it to.

One of the things I found very interesting was the discussions around IVF/sperm donation and women choosing to have children without a partner. I didn't know there was so much red tape for single women who wanted to have a child and the sometimes dangerous ways women would have to choose to have a child via sperm donation if they want one. Loads of big questions here too around the population of the world and if it's ethical to have any children at all seeing as no-one asks to be born. You can take a lot from that, and everyone will probably have a different opinion.

Natsuko goes through a lot in this book, and I feel like we just see her on the edge of a lot of things all the time. I just wanted her to keep going, and trying and believing in herself. I always felt like she could give a little bit more to everything.

I did think for a while this would be a 5-star read for me but it did lose me near the end, as I felt just a little bit fatigued by the story I think. I also did miss the inclusion of Makiko and Midoriko in the later story as I felt like they were so interesting in the first half and they both had great but different dynamics with Natsuko.
 

Maddy and Caitlin are still in Ballyfran after moving there to live with their new stepdad. In Perfectly Preventable Deaths, the twins got to know their new town, its strange inhabitants and while Maddy began to realise she possessed skills of witchcraft, Caitlin became distracted by a new, dangerous relationships. In Precious Catastrophes, the reader follows the twins as they deal with the fall out of the previous book and all the traumas that entails.

I very much enjoyed this. I listened to this on audiobook narrated by Alison McKenna and she was absolutely fantastic. Her tone of voice for Caitlin in particular was so spot on, the characters really jumped to life for me.

The exploration of trauma and a trauma victim in this book is done so well and in a way that I can only describe as being incredibly Irish. The way Caitlin is still able to be utterly herself -sarcastic, dry, witty and sensual - while inwardly dealing with the mess that Lon made of her and using the incident to her advantage in ways that are genuinely funny, is just all written really well. Caitlin turns to prayer and the church in a way she hasn't done before - and I actually surprised myself, by really loving the local priest. His kindness and support of Caitlin in a difficult time was lovely to read, as was his frankness about aspects of religion and priesthood. I really appreciated as well seeing some of the effects of Caitlin's trauma come to her when she attempts to 'move on' with Eddie, a perfectly nice boy who would never hurt her. But that doesn't mean Caitlin's mind and body are unable to forget what had happened to her and the moments she freezes and panics in situations is very understandable and realistic. Also cheers for Caitlin explaining to Eddie that she doesn't feel up to things and him respecting that.

Caitlin's POV, which we didn't have in the first book, brought a lot to the story as a whole. Maddy is a lot more of a busy character in this now she has 'sold her soul' and begun her training with Mamo. Which means she doesn't always get some of the exciting scenes but I actually very much enjoyed having Caitlin and her humour in the driver's seat, as it was balanced out well by Maddy's shyness.

I did find myself wondering when the story was going to end in the last part of the book - mostly because there had been the pivotal activity with Our Lady of Ballyfran, Lon, and Brian and I still had 4 hours of audiobook and I couldn't understand why. It did feel a bit dragged out from the caves to the actual end of the book.

Still enjoyed this a lot. Deirdre Sullivan is able to write Irish witchy-ness and supernatural so, so well and she also really brings to life a great teenager which I have seen so many authors fail at. 

Cecily Neville, granddaughter of John of Gaunt, wife of King's Heir, Richard of York, and future mother to Kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. But Cecily was not just wife and mother in a tumultuous time in English history - she was also a political schemer, a confidante and later enemy of the Queen, a trusted advisor to her husband and sons. She was a determined, strong woman and this is her story.

Having read some fantastic novels about the War of the Roses and King Edward IV's reign, as well as the Princes in the Tower, I was really eager to read Cecily as soon as I found out about it, as I think she has always been a fascinating character in the other novels I've read but always one from a far and I've never known her story which turned out to be really interesting for a variety of reasons from her own ancestry to how educated and respected she was with all political movements from her husband. In other novels, she has always been portrayed as a cold, cruel woman who turned on her sons in the wrong moments and while the latter wasn't covered in Cecily, the former could technically be true. She definitely appeared in this novel as cold and almost cruel at times, especially in her often matter of fact way of birthing children and handing them over as quick as possible.

I think this portrayed a fictionalised but grounded in truth version of Cecily that felt very realistic. I loved her marriage to Richard - arranged but turned to a deep love, and how well respected and listened to she was in the marriage which was very, very rare for the time. I knew what would happen with the War of the Roses, and who some of the victims were yet I found myself somehow wishing for a different outcome reading this book.

This is a great one to read for anyone who loves historical fiction from the likes of Phillipa Gregory or Anne O'Brien, and I really enjoyed it as another element to the York stories I've read before, a bit more exciting than ones following Edwards IV as they grew a bit stale for me (because I read too much of them).