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abbynlewis's reviews
387 reviews
Vulnerable AF by Tarriona Ball
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Tarriona “Tank” Ball is a slam poet and a Grammy-Nominated recording artist with her band “Tank and the Bangas.” I had never heard of Tank before reading her debut poetry collection, so, naturally, after finishing her collection, I looked into her music, and she’s an amazing singer! Check out the music video of her song, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” for an example of what I mean.
As a poet myself, I have always been fascinated by slam poets. They are so emotive and performative in such a genuine way, but because of that much of their work falls flat on paper since it’s missing that essential spark of delivery that comes with the live performance. Tank’s poetry, though, didn’t seem to have that problem. I looked up a video of her performing one of her poems, “What You Tell Yourself When You Think No-one’s Watching,” to see how the oral delivery of her poems compares to the written work, and she’s somehow managed to imbue the same level of emotion in her written work as she does in her oral performances.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/26/book-review-vulnerable-af-tarriona-tank-ball/
As a poet myself, I have always been fascinated by slam poets. They are so emotive and performative in such a genuine way, but because of that much of their work falls flat on paper since it’s missing that essential spark of delivery that comes with the live performance. Tank’s poetry, though, didn’t seem to have that problem. I looked up a video of her performing one of her poems, “What You Tell Yourself When You Think No-one’s Watching,” to see how the oral delivery of her poems compares to the written work, and she’s somehow managed to imbue the same level of emotion in her written work as she does in her oral performances.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/26/book-review-vulnerable-af-tarriona-tank-ball/
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Ari wants to move away from home and make it big with his band. Hector is taking a break from baking school to clean a recently deceased relative’s house. Ari needs to convince his parents they don’t need his help at their family bakery, and Hector is looking for a job. The two meet during the job interview and grow close as they work side by side morning after morning.
The drawings and the color scheme of this graphic novel are delightful. Just look at the page for July below. The pacing of this book felt great–nothing moved too fast or dragged on for too long. Hector is a great character, sort of the lovable teddy-bear style guy next door. Ari is your typical angsty teenager who is angsty because he feels trapped and as if he has no control over his life. Together, Hector helps keep Ari calm and remember to find happiness in the everyday moments, while Ari helps Hector find love again.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/19/book-review-bloom-kevin-panetta-illustrated-by-savanna-ganucheau/
Looker by Laura Sims
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Looker is a case study at its core, a novel that hones in on motherhood, infertility, and the concept of “having it all.” Our female narrator is unnamed; her husband has left her and she has had zero luck conceiving a child. After her husband leaves, her life unwinds thread by thread and her obsession with the actress who lives next door grows into dangerous territory. Her job is threatened at work, and now her husband is calling, demanding she return the cat he left behind.
The base concept of this novel is one that we’ve all heard before–a woman alone slowly goes crazy. The added twist here is the obsession with the actress, but even that element is not too enticing. I found myself morbidly reading this novel. The narrator is unlikeable in many ways, and while I was comfortable with her narrative voice, I found the woman’s actions and behavior to be so embarrassing that I read with a permanent cringe on my face.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/14/book-review-looker-by-laura-sims/
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/14/book-review-looker-by-laura-sims/
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Little Fires Everywhere received massive attention when it was published in 2017, garnering over 59,000 reviews on Goodreads and winning the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award. At the time, I remember watching the publicity for the book grow, and I even read an article that broke down its marketing success. Reese Witherspoon chose it as a book club pick and subsequently developed and starred in mini series Hulu adaptation. Despite all the attention the title was receiving in 2017, I still wasn’t positive what the book was about. I added it to my TBR pile, then promptly forgot about it until I glimpsed it on my shelf a few weeks ago as I was selecting my next read.
Ng’s second novel takes us to the suburbs of Shaker Heights in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a real place where Ng grew up. Everything in Shaker Heights is planned, from how high the grass can grow to how residents must place their trash bins behind their houses to who is allowed to live where. Essentially, it’s an upper-class neighborhood, filled with people whose lives are meant to be conducted just so. Therefore, any deviant behavior is deemed unusual and therefore suspect. When Mia arrives with her daughter Pearl, it’s clear their lifestyle does not fit the mold. But Mia promised Pearl they would finally settle down somewhere, and Shaker Heights is where they landed. But when Mia finds herself wrapped up in a coworker’s crisis and Pearl learns that the Richardson kids are not as kind as they seem, staying becomes more and more of a challenge.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/06/book-review-little-fires-everywhere-by-celeste-ng/
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/06/book-review-little-fires-everywhere-by-celeste-ng/
In the Body of the World by Eve Ensler
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Note: this book and review contain discussions of domestic abuse, mental health, malpractice, and trauma
Eve Ensler, known for The Vagina Monologues, writes about her struggles with cancer and her tentative relationship with her own body. Raised in an abusive home where she was sexually assaulted by her father, Ensler has spent much of her life separating herself from her own body. In fact, The Vagina Monologues came about largely because of Ensler’s obsession with her own vagina and her desire to understand it, which led her to seek out and interview as many women as she could about their own experiences with their vaginas.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/02/book-review-in-the-body-of-the-world-by-eve-ensler/
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/07/02/book-review-in-the-body-of-the-world-by-eve-ensler/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cancer, and Body horror
Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Where the World Ends is set on the island of St. Kilda, off the coast of Scotland. A group of boys and three adult men are delivered to Warrior stac, which is less of an island and more of a rock (featured on the book cover) jutting out of the ocean. On the stac, the boys and men are meant to harvest the local birds for profit. This includes killing gannet, puffin, and garefowl for meat and for the oil in the birds’ stomachs, which they will sell when they are picked up and returned to the main island. This is how the people of the St. Kilda archipelagos make a living. However, this time, no one comes to pick them up.
There’s a lot to love in this book, but there are also several drawbacks. The writing itself is lovely, and the book design is gorgeous in terms of the cover art and the inner binding (pictured below). The genre of historical young adult fiction is a hefty challenge in and of itself to write. Historical fiction alone is a difficult subject to craft, but to then add the feat of making the historical facts and setting palatable and even entertaining for a younger audience is not a simple task. McCaughrean does a valiant job of incorporating terms of the time, such as “bothy,” “cleit,” and “kirk”–which are helpfully included in a glossary at the end of the book–and a specific dialect that isn’t too hard to understand. For a book based in the year 1727, the tone was deceptively modern.
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/06/24/book-review-where-the-world-ends-by-geraldine-mccaughrean/
Continue reading: https://freeairforfish.com/2021/06/24/book-review-where-the-world-ends-by-geraldine-mccaughrean/