A review by lrb0135
Lone Women by Victor LaValle

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I wanted to like this book-- the beginning was clumsy but worked up to an intriguing premise that reminds me of the movie Colossal with Anne Hathaway, where the monster was a metaphor for alcoholism, but I guess the author declined to attribute any meaning to the evil steamer trunk other than using it as a plot device. Unfortunately the plot's fragmented nods to diversity are weakly sewn together in the end, providing no real lesson or moral insight. This book was really trying to do the most and had way too much going on that didn't tie in to its already weak through-line. I imagine a lot of it was intentional filler because the author just did not have this concept fleshed out enough.

This is also the billionth book I've ready lately with

a trans reveal

, and it's getting old. It's gimmicky and disrespectful to the community and is lowering the quality of contemporary writing. I really should have listened to my gut at the beginning of reading this when it told me to put this book down.