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alexandriaslibrary's reviews
226 reviews
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A messy, sapphic romp! Greta is a 40-something yr old with some major mommy and abandonment issues). After a breakup she impulsively moves cross country to upstate New York where the people are more woo-woo hipsters than those in LA. She gets hired by the town's sex therapist to transcribe his sessions and becomes obsessed with the voice and sessions of Big Swiss (a local married Swedish woman who was brutally attacked a decade prior and has never felt a big O) who she then meets in town and begins an affair with.
I found the transcription writing super interesting. The dialogue is so sharp, witty, and insightful and it helps move the plot. There were some subplots that felt a little distracting/heightened for the sake of heightening. Also the sexual dynamic between Greta and Big Swiss was a bit peculiar and robotic, but I think the bright point of their relationship was more about the sneaking/trauma/reveals/and the chance to hear the uncensored inner thoughts of your partner.
I found the transcription writing super interesting. The dialogue is so sharp, witty, and insightful and it helps move the plot. There were some subplots that felt a little distracting/heightened for the sake of heightening. Also the sexual dynamic between Greta and Big Swiss was a bit peculiar and robotic, but I think the bright point of their relationship was more about the sneaking/trauma/reveals/and the chance to hear the uncensored inner thoughts of your partner.
Women: A Novella by Chloe Caldwell
emotional
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Heartbreakingly gay! A gut punch to anyone who has experienced a less-than-healthy sapphic relationship. The obsession, the shame, the lust. A young woman moves to a new town and starts an affair with a lesbian who is 19 years older (and in a relationship). The narrator didn't even realize she was queer prior to this relationship, so it's utterly devastating to see how much your identity can be wrapped up by someone else.
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
A really beautiful, tense story of a young woman and an older man/husband who have a strained years-long affair. Set in East Berlin, it’s heavily about German and USSR culture and I think maybe I’m just a lil dumb or not that knowledgeable
Real Women Have Curves by Josefina López
emotional
funny
fast-paced
4.0
A delightful, quick read about a group of Mexican/Chicana women (including two sisters and their mother) working in a clothing factory in 1980s LA. Touching relationships between the women and a nice display of more authentic Spanglish!
Also adapted into a 2002 movie featuring America Ferrera <3 Def gives Ladybird
Also adapted into a 2002 movie featuring America Ferrera <3 Def gives Ladybird
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
A well-crafted and driven novel about a 20-something year old love addict. With deep mommy issues, our Palestinian-American narrator questions her worthiness in relationships, about her ancestral homeland, and belonging in general.
Super solid plot and movement and I really felt for our narrator! She was funny, insightful, yet troubled! It was a joy to see her growth
Super solid plot and movement and I really felt for our narrator! She was funny, insightful, yet troubled! It was a joy to see her growth
Where You'll Find Me and Other Stories by Ann Beattie
reflective
The sort of collection where every story has been in the New Yorker & is taut, driven, and introspective
Massively impressive & a feel for structure that is sorely missed in contemporary collections
Massively impressive & a feel for structure that is sorely missed in contemporary collections
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver
lighthearted
reflective
It was a great joy to sit with Mary Oliver for so long. I tackled Devotions a few poems at a time and each were so grounded, wise, and appreciative. Her dedication and reflection about nature (from the wind to the animals to the plants) is really profound! Great work to study non autobiographical poetry!
Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen by Suzanne Scanlon
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
No words! Just the awe of seeing your most inner thoughts reflected back to you.
Scanlon does so much in 350 pages. Her personal tragedies, the history of women institutionalized and “crazy” women artists. Her long-term institutionalization during college at the end of the era of long-term psychiatric care. The performance of “sickness” and how you choose to live
“We felt helpless, and yet this wasn't linked to the growing inequality and social isolation of the 1980s postwelfare state. The aggressive backlash to the gains of feminism and the civil rights movements of the sixties. We needed help and felt shame for asking. We had failed in some sense of an American individualist imperative. We had an obligation to recover. The narrative of progression. This was not only for the medical-pharmaceutical establishment which required our before and after stories, but also for a culture that locates mental illness in the self and not the society. If it doesn't quite work this way, there was no acknowledgment of that. There weren't stories of the ones who don't recover, or get better and worse over and over again.”
Scanlon does so much in 350 pages. Her personal tragedies, the history of women institutionalized and “crazy” women artists. Her long-term institutionalization during college at the end of the era of long-term psychiatric care. The performance of “sickness” and how you choose to live
“We felt helpless, and yet this wasn't linked to the growing inequality and social isolation of the 1980s postwelfare state. The aggressive backlash to the gains of feminism and the civil rights movements of the sixties. We needed help and felt shame for asking. We had failed in some sense of an American individualist imperative. We had an obligation to recover. The narrative of progression. This was not only for the medical-pharmaceutical establishment which required our before and after stories, but also for a culture that locates mental illness in the self and not the society. If it doesn't quite work this way, there was no acknowledgment of that. There weren't stories of the ones who don't recover, or get better and worse over and over again.”
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Willa!!!!!!!!
For lesbian fans of Steinbeck! O Pioneers! follows Alexandra, the oldest girl of a Swedish family in during the pioneer days. Alexandra is a daughter but her brothers lack the pioneer spirit. We follow her throughout her life as her family grows with the land.
You can feel how much Willa gets it....human suffering, the beauty of the land, remaining optimistic in spite of it all because of her love and deep appreciation for humanity. She was also a closeted lesbian and you can sense the beauty she found within women.
For lesbian fans of Steinbeck! O Pioneers! follows Alexandra, the oldest girl of a Swedish family in during the pioneer days. Alexandra is a daughter but her brothers lack the pioneer spirit. We follow her throughout her life as her family grows with the land.
You can feel how much Willa gets it....human suffering, the beauty of the land, remaining optimistic in spite of it all because of her love and deep appreciation for humanity. She was also a closeted lesbian and you can sense the beauty she found within women.
Interpreter of Maladies: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
emotional
hopeful
reflective
Exactly what a short story collection should do! Stories that breathe on their own but are all thematically linked. Loved “Sexy”, “This Blessed House” and the titular “Interpreter of Maladies”
All of these stories have raw depictions of Indian/Bengali womanhood. From women who remain unmarried and outcasts, to young women who enter reluctant relationships with men they don’t respect. The emotional arcs of these stories make it clear why it won the Pulitzer!
All of these stories have raw depictions of Indian/Bengali womanhood. From women who remain unmarried and outcasts, to young women who enter reluctant relationships with men they don’t respect. The emotional arcs of these stories make it clear why it won the Pulitzer!