The last time a book was simultaneously nominated for the Women's Prize and the Carol Shield's Prize, it won both prizes (I'm looking at you, BrotherlThe last time a book was simultaneously nominated for the Women's Prize and the Carol Shield's Prize, it won both prizes (I'm looking at you, Brotherless Night). Let's see if this mega-hyped, dual nominated, allegedly raw & sexy book could take home both prizes too...
CHP 01 We get a pretty clear picture of our protagonist: a forty-five-year-old nameless woman (let's call her "Nameless"), lonely in her (loveless?) marriage, whose vaguely identified job keeps her too busy to fix her wobbly desk. Possibly bored by her life. Regularly exchanges naked selfies with her friends (you do you, babe).
The inciting incident is a neighbor telling Nameless that he saw someone with a telephoto lens taking pictures of her through her windows from the street.Intriguing...
There's a brief masturbation scene that manages to be 100% unsexy, but maybe that's the point? And afterward she merely wipes her fingers on her T-shirt, so I think this is supposed to be an unlikeable protagonist (because damn, girl, go wash your hands if you don't want us to be repulsed).
The first chapter is only about nine pages long, but I confess my mind wandered numerous times while reading. I'm not drawn to this protagonist yet, but let's see if her story gets more interesting.
CHP 02 Getting a clearer picture of Nameless. She's anti-pet (but pro animal), depressed, and used to being a third wheel. No wonder this woman needs to shake things up.
So Nameless goes on the dance floor at a party and describes her actions as"I fucked the air". A bit odd, but I thought maybe July means her protagonist is thrusting her hips, but NO. It says:
All my limbs were in motion, making shapes that felt brand-new.
^ So why are we describing this as fucking the air? Are we just trying to be edgy?
CHP 03
Sometimes I could hear Harris's dick whistling impatiently like a teakettle, at higher and higher pitches until I finally couldn't take it and so I initiated.
On this installment of PROJECT CLASSICS (in which I read the classics everyone and their mom has read but, strangely, I never have), I'm checking out On this installment of PROJECT CLASSICS (in which I read the classics everyone and their mom has read but, strangely, I never have), I'm checking out Orwell's 2025. Oops! Make that 1984.
Let's take surveillance of this book and see what we find......more
Bleak, tragic, and beautifully written. My interest waned somewhat after the midpoint, but Plath drew me in again by the final page. Love the ending! (Bleak, tragic, and beautifully written. My interest waned somewhat after the midpoint, but Plath drew me in again by the final page. Love the ending! (extended thoughts below ...more
I'm RSVPing "No" to this wedding invitation. Alison Espach does a superb job of writing a depressing, hopeless protagonist in Phoebe, but I'm not findI'm RSVPing "No" to this wedding invitation. Alison Espach does a superb job of writing a depressing, hopeless protagonist in Phoebe, but I'm not finding her story (or the characters around her) compelling enough to hold my interest. I gave it eighty-five pages before accepting this isn't the book for me. Some extended thoughts below......more
Academic yet informative. This book serves firstly as a biography of five women behind Wages for Housework (a radical campaign launched in the 1970's)Academic yet informative. This book serves firstly as a biography of five women behind Wages for Housework (a radical campaign launched in the 1970's) and secondly as an introduction to the political goals of the movement....more
A sweet memoir that explores how one woman’s relationship with cats transformed her life.
“I loved cats but I had never loved cats like this: at theirA sweet memoir that explores how one woman’s relationship with cats transformed her life.
“I loved cats but I had never loved cats like this: at their wildest, their most brutal, the way nature had overtaken them and left only suffering, only starvation and death.”*
Courtney Gustafson moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, unaware that the house was the stomping grounds of 30 feral cats. While she at first kept her distance, hesitant to break the rules of her lease, she eventually succumbed to the pleading eyes of the starving, malnourished cats and opened her heart to them.
Gustafson soon found herself intrenched in animal rescue work that extended well beyond her home. With brutal honesty and insightful compassion, she shares how her work saving feral cats overlapped with her work at a food bank and within her local community, where she saw humans suffering in equal measure. She reflects briefly on humanity’s willingness to help animals in need and their staunch unwillingness to show that same compassion for other people.
Each chapter oscillates between Gustafson’s experience with a particular group of cats and how it relates to an experience in her past, this ranges from an abusive relationship and body-image struggles to her experience striving for her PhD and achieving financial security via sharing the cats on Instagram and TikTok.
I appreciate that Gustafson limited the saddest stories about the cats to one chapter and gives us a warning by titling it “In This One the Cats Don’t Survive.” My favorite aspect of the novel is the revelations Gustafson makes about her encounters with men while working in animal rescue and their absolutely appalling behavior.
Don’t pick this up if you only want to read about cats. Do pick this up if you enjoy heartfelt stories of overcoming hardship by connecting with animals and one’s community.
*Note: Quote taken from an advanced reading copy and is subject to change at publication. ...more
Small town murder mystery meets graphic horror in this story of the Evans women, who keep the undead in check.
"...every now and then a body would risSmall town murder mystery meets graphic horror in this story of the Evans women, who keep the undead in check.
"...every now and then a body would rise, unfinished and hungry for a second bite at the life it had left behind."
I learned the hard way that I shouldn't read this mystery-horror novel right before bed. When I say that's it's graphic, I mean Gory with a capital G (which I loved; chants: bring on the gore!). Think faces eaten off, brain matter splattered, and internal organs spilling out of razed corpses, etc. Lindy Ryan is so adept at crafting these scenes that I saw these bleeding bodies in my dreams nightmares. ...more
Enjoyed this but was sad to see Kepnes abandon the second-person "you" perspective that made the first book so damn good. Enjoyed this but was sad to see Kepnes abandon the second-person "you" perspective that made the first book so damn good. ...more
This book is all sharp edges that lance and scar the skin, and a sliver of light that shines bright with hope.
"Twenty years ago I began writing this This book is all sharp edges that lance and scar the skin, and a sliver of light that shines bright with hope.
"Twenty years ago I began writing this memoir as a suicide note and as I was trying for hours to sum up my life in one small letter all I could think was — is that it?"
Jenni Fagan was born in an old asylum to a mentally ill mother and immediately became property of the state. In Ootlin, she gives a devastating account of her experience growing up in the UK's broken care system.
The book covers her life from birth to age 16, giving account of the years of neglect and abuse she suffered while being shuffled through various homes. Her name was changed multiple times. Her sense of rootedness was nonexistent. And she was often assaulted, isolated, and even given dog food to eat.
Her story is nothing short of heartbreaking. And the revelations she makes about the care system's failings are astounding. It truly is a wonder that she not only survived her childhood but went on to have a successful career as a writer.
There's so much to admire about Ootlin. For starters, Fagan's writing style. She writes in short, sharp bursts, crafting sentences that convey her childhood anguish so acutely as to be painful to read.
Second is the amount of courage and vulnerability required to not only write this story, but also put it out into the world. I'm thrilled that the book was nominated for as significant a literary prize as the Women's Prize for Nonfiction. It deserves to reach a broad audience and will hopefully stir compassion for our youth and spur change in the UK care system.
Finally, I admire Fagan for closing the book with an impassioned plea for a brighter future. She reminds us that we are all writing our story right now and can make it whatever we want (i.e., make it better than the often times scary and hurtful world in which we currently find ourselves).
After all that she's been through, Fagan leads with hope and reminds us that after the dark comes the light....more
The River's Daughter is a touching memoir about overcoming abuse and ending the cycle of generational trauma.
A considerable portion of the book is deThe River's Daughter is a touching memoir about overcoming abuse and ending the cycle of generational trauma.
A considerable portion of the book is dedicated to Crocker's career guiding rivers, so if white water rafting interests you (and your heart can handle stories of childhood abuse and SA) then this is the book for you....more
“We have to find ways to improve and recalibrate the criminal justice system so that it can identify and tackle those in ouAs expected, rage-inducing.
“We have to find ways to improve and recalibrate the criminal justice system so that it can identify and tackle those in our society who present a real risk and stop expending resources on prosecuting those who are essentially victims.”
If you want to read a book that will make your blood boil, look no further than Sister in Law in which human rights lawyer Harriet Wistrich interrogates legal injustices in the UK, especially as they pertain to women.
Here are some of the topics you can expect to read about in this book and the questions Wistrich provokes in writing about them:
[1] women who have killed their abusers and how the laws are designed “around male behavior and responses”.
[2] police brutality and how UK law allows legal immunity to officers who shoot innocent people while in the line of duty.
[3] immigrant detention centers, failed asylum seekers, and society’s proclivity to salivate at the thought of punishing people who seek refuge (legally or otherwise).
[4] police bias when women report SA and the devastating long-term consequences of not believing women.
[5] an astounding case of a woman’s alleged r*pist filing charges against her and terrorizing her family without repercussions.
[6] undercover cops having intimate relationships with women, the questions it raises about consent.
[7] Wistrich’s fight to set a legal precedent for “coercive control,” which recognizes that an abused partner can be slowly pushed to commit manslaughter (not murder).
[8] how abused women who kill their perpetrator are rarely let out of prison, yet r*pists are repeatedly let out. (Who do you think is more likely to reoffend?)
[9] legal bias against female sex workers vs the men who pay for them.
Wistrich closes with sharing her work to found the Centre for Women’s Justice. Her book is very procedural, outlining all of the legal footwork necessary to fight these injustices, often across decades.
But the revelations Wistrich makes about incompetence, bias, exploitation of power, and the people who suffer because of it are nothing short of astounding.
By sharing details of myriad cases she’s worked on, she shines a glaring light on the justice system’s moral failings in the UK, where Wistrich is based. But of course many of these injustices extend far beyond the UK, making this an important read regardless of where you live.
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