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bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This was a fever dream and a bit hard to follow for my pea-brain. However, take this with a grain of salt because I am trying to diversify my genres and I have not read TOO much magical realism, surrealism or fabulism. I am continuing to dip my toes deeper and deeper in, but I am still at the beginning of my journey lol!
I appreciated the vivid illustrations of the culture on the island of Popisho, from the fruits to the land, to the sounds/music, and beyond. Ross did such a beautiful job of writing with such animation and delight. I will definitely check out more of Ross's work!
This was a fever dream and a bit hard to follow for my pea-brain. However, take this with a grain of salt because I am trying to diversify my genres and I have not read TOO much magical realism, surrealism or fabulism. I am continuing to dip my toes deeper and deeper in, but I am still at the beginning of my journey lol!
I appreciated the vivid illustrations of the culture on the island of Popisho, from the fruits to the land, to the sounds/music, and beyond. Ross did such a beautiful job of writing with such animation and delight. I will definitely check out more of Ross's work!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Addiction
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Suicide
Minor: Misogyny, Rape, Child death, and Sexism
thewellbitch's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don't know what to say about this book. It's unique and I'm glad to have read it because it's a whole-ass experience, but at the same time I don't think I can recommend it because I can't think of anyone who would enjoy it lmao. The writing is poetic and musical, the characters are vibrant, the plot was interesting, but it was still hard. Listening to the audiobook at the same time I was reading was definitely the right choice for me, I couldn't have finished it if it was one or the other.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Infidelity
faithe's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Animal death, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide, Homophobia, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Religious bigotry
audreyxine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I haven't the faintest idea even where to begin. This book was so brilliant, so challenging, and so bizarre. It covers cast grounds and explores so many corners of the human experience. I have so many quotes from this book that will stick with me forever. The world of Popisho is so surreal and yet it feels so tangible.
My biggest criticism is the length. I would have preferred about 50 less pages. The momentum was hard to keep up, especially with all the jumping around between characters.
For anyone thinking about picking this one up, I strongly recommend binging it. It needs to be a fever dream in order to make sense.
My biggest criticism is the length. I would have preferred about 50 less pages. The momentum was hard to keep up, especially with all the jumping around between characters.
For anyone thinking about picking this one up, I strongly recommend binging it. It needs to be a fever dream in order to make sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Classism, Excrement, Infidelity, Grief, Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Child death, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
thunderousdandelion's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Pregnancy, Suicide, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child death, and Death
infectiousreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Popisho
Leone Ross
★★★★★
"Generally, men told stories to boast, but women were different. They wanted to look at their words in the air and extract the meaning, and if you shut up and listened, they’d tell you very interesting things indeed."
In this delightful tale, Popisho, you will enter a magical world so vividly that it will fill you with awe, fear, and enchantment: "The warehouse yawned before her, like church. The walls, a perfect, pale blue." Though the experience with Popisho reminds you of the corruptions of the world, it also makes you feel young and free of them. It offers elements that no other book has been able to provide - regardless of its genre. The world of Popisho is rich with natural, tangible experiences.
Popisho provides an interconnected storyline, interwoven throughout a series of individual stories that are quite engaging; the audiobook only enlarges this world. I closed my eyes - often - and drifted into Popisho connecting with its voice, and magical aura 🏔
"Xavier hadn’t realized a grown woman could be so soft-eyed and succulent, especially this one, who scared grown men." Because each character's point of view is integrated and enchantingly conveyed, it becomes a whole, cohesive, familial structure that penetrates your brain and resides there even when you are distant from the book's realm. Popisho is a narrative of gentrification, feminism, masculinity, epochs, and tenderness, as well as an exploration of the in-between: "Most Popisho people left their doors unlocked, but this was Intiasar-Brenteninton property and things weren’t how they used to be."
There is an element of cultural influence to this fairy tale, giving it a fresh and robust nature. There are words in Popisho that seem ambiguous at first, but as the words, characters, and love flow through it, this ambiguity takes on a greater significance. I feel that I am being embraced by a dream that I never wish to leave. I am gutted that, now, having completed Popisho, I now exist as an outsider to it. I miss it terribly so, so I will leave with this: "It seemed outrageous to feel happy, but she was.”
Leone Ross
★★★★★
"Generally, men told stories to boast, but women were different. They wanted to look at their words in the air and extract the meaning, and if you shut up and listened, they’d tell you very interesting things indeed."
In this delightful tale, Popisho, you will enter a magical world so vividly that it will fill you with awe, fear, and enchantment: "The warehouse yawned before her, like church. The walls, a perfect, pale blue." Though the experience with Popisho reminds you of the corruptions of the world, it also makes you feel young and free of them. It offers elements that no other book has been able to provide - regardless of its genre. The world of Popisho is rich with natural, tangible experiences.
Popisho provides an interconnected storyline, interwoven throughout a series of individual stories that are quite engaging; the audiobook only enlarges this world. I closed my eyes - often - and drifted into Popisho connecting with its voice, and magical aura 🏔
"Xavier hadn’t realized a grown woman could be so soft-eyed and succulent, especially this one, who scared grown men." Because each character's point of view is integrated and enchantingly conveyed, it becomes a whole, cohesive, familial structure that penetrates your brain and resides there even when you are distant from the book's realm. Popisho is a narrative of gentrification, feminism, masculinity, epochs, and tenderness, as well as an exploration of the in-between: "Most Popisho people left their doors unlocked, but this was Intiasar-Brenteninton property and things weren’t how they used to be."
There is an element of cultural influence to this fairy tale, giving it a fresh and robust nature. There are words in Popisho that seem ambiguous at first, but as the words, characters, and love flow through it, this ambiguity takes on a greater significance. I feel that I am being embraced by a dream that I never wish to leave. I am gutted that, now, having completed Popisho, I now exist as an outsider to it. I miss it terribly so, so I will leave with this: "It seemed outrageous to feel happy, but she was.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Child abuse and Child death
kayesomething's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood, Death, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Body horror, and Infidelity
Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Misogyny
hollyd19's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Reading Popisho felt like a tripping headfirst into an adult version of The Phantom Tollbooth set to a soundtrack of "For The Benefit of Mr. Kite."
Set in a fictional Caribbean archipelago called Popisho, this delightful and kaleidoscopic book takes place over the course of a day and follows a chorus of magical characters as the impending wedding of the Governor’s daughter approaches. At the center of it all is Xavier Redchoose, the macaenus (a role appointed-by-the-gods to prepare a meal for every Popisho resident over his tenure).
This was easily one of the most creative books I’ve ever read. Everyone in Popisho is born with “cors,” another word for some sort of magical endowment. But not in a predictable witchcraft/sorcery way. Cors are as varied as people; some people have extremely long limbs, others can detect when you lie, others can change the colors of random objects. Author Leone Ross also committed impressively to world-building. There were so many invented words that I gave up on looking up definitions and just leaned in to the disorientation. And every plot turn felt completely original and entrancingly chaotic.
Set in a fictional Caribbean archipelago called Popisho, this delightful and kaleidoscopic book takes place over the course of a day and follows a chorus of magical characters as the impending wedding of the Governor’s daughter approaches. At the center of it all is Xavier Redchoose, the macaenus (a role appointed-by-the-gods to prepare a meal for every Popisho resident over his tenure).
This was easily one of the most creative books I’ve ever read. Everyone in Popisho is born with “cors,” another word for some sort of magical endowment. But not in a predictable witchcraft/sorcery way. Cors are as varied as people; some people have extremely long limbs, others can detect when you lie, others can change the colors of random objects. Author Leone Ross also committed impressively to world-building. There were so many invented words that I gave up on looking up definitions and just leaned in to the disorientation. And every plot turn felt completely original and entrancingly chaotic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Drug use
Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Infidelity
Minor: Suicide, Child death, Colonisation, Sexism, and Pregnancy
2treads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The dialogue is sharp, fluid, lyrical, rhythmic, vibrant, and vibrates with the spirit of a culture and people that we are intimately linked to.
The prose is heady with meaning, reaches out to steep the reader in emotion, place, and space; the characters feel known and the smells of the world are rich.
The characters are central to the themes, setting, and world that Ross creates. They are our sisters, brothers, friends, and neighbours; all infused with a magic that is heavily influenced by our culture.
The diligence imparted in creating this story is palpable and every emotion is engaged while reading. It is impossible not to acknowledge the beauty found within these pages, the heart and empathy, the love, loss, and pain; how each serve their immense purpose of combining to culminate in true storytelling prowess.
Each page takes us from strength to strength and leaves us in awe of Ross' ability to weave a tale so unique yet marked indelibly with her heritage, her Caribbean, paying homage to the breadth of imagination that most assuredly is gifted from the ancestors.
Every once in a blue moon a book comes along with a story on its pages that drips pure concentrated sugar, sugar that is so sweet it hurts, so sumptuous and sensual, so bawdy and real, so mystical and magical. This One Sky Day is that book. A story of people that could fall from our grandmother's lips. There's no greater praise we could give a book.
The prose is heady with meaning, reaches out to steep the reader in emotion, place, and space; the characters feel known and the smells of the world are rich.
The characters are central to the themes, setting, and world that Ross creates. They are our sisters, brothers, friends, and neighbours; all infused with a magic that is heavily influenced by our culture.
The diligence imparted in creating this story is palpable and every emotion is engaged while reading. It is impossible not to acknowledge the beauty found within these pages, the heart and empathy, the love, loss, and pain; how each serve their immense purpose of combining to culminate in true storytelling prowess.
Each page takes us from strength to strength and leaves us in awe of Ross' ability to weave a tale so unique yet marked indelibly with her heritage, her Caribbean, paying homage to the breadth of imagination that most assuredly is gifted from the ancestors.
Every once in a blue moon a book comes along with a story on its pages that drips pure concentrated sugar, sugar that is so sweet it hurts, so sumptuous and sensual, so bawdy and real, so mystical and magical. This One Sky Day is that book. A story of people that could fall from our grandmother's lips. There's no greater praise we could give a book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny, Drug abuse, and Child death
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