bookreviewswithkb's reviews
558 reviews

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.5

i really appreciated the themes centered in this book, particularly around cultural identity, difficult family relationships, and exploring Vietnamese history 

i struggled to follow the plot at times

someone birthed them broken by Ama Asantewa Diaka

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

thank you to @netgalley and @amistad for the review copy 🩷

this collection of interconnected short stories about the lives of Ghanaian youth explores the complexities of what it means to be a human being, our brokenness, the ways we hurt each other, the ways we get in our own way. how we navigate romantic, platonic, and familial relationships, through shame and neglect and trauma, through misogyny and body shame and low self-esteem

“there’s something about brokenness that makes you want to pass your fingers on cracked surfaces and trail them on their sharp edges, you know?”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Suicide and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

reflective

4.5

this is for the music lover. for the one who hears a song and suddenly feels seen, feels like someone peered right inside of their soul, like if they just close their eyes they might find the world a little more tolerable while they’re swaying and singing. this is for the people growing up Black in america, feeling seen in the lyrics of a song. for the poets and the essayists. for the poets. for the hopeful, for the lovers. this is for you, you should read this 

A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

this is a beautiful novel of a young girl’s life during the war in Lebanon ignited by the Israeli invasion in the 1980s. it’s about the ways we move through grief and heartache, how we have no choice but to break under the weight of unimaginable atrocities. how we can pick each other up, how we can make space for love and care even when all seems lost 

“but war isn’t only in the soldier’s heart[]. that’s what most people don’t see. it’s in the heart of the man in the suit - the man with the fat wallet, the smiling mouth and the sweet tongue - in his heart maybe most of all. perhaps he pulls more triggers than anyone, even though his finger never once touches a gun.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Injury/Injury detail

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

cw: descriptive scene of rape, murder, torture 

i have such a love hate relationship with this book. did i enjoy reading it? absolutely not. do i think it is an extremely important read? absolutely yes. 

i appreciate how intelligently the sympathizer is written. it uses elements of satire and irony to make points about the Vietnam War, Communism, the aftermath of war. it is clever and insightful and certainly not written to appease and entertain the white audience

butttt it was often too intelligent for me to understand (which admittedly is a me problem, not a book problem). and although i can understand the use of sexual inferences and misogynistic viewpoints in order to make a point, i don’t always agree that it’s necessary, which i found true several times throughout this book. it is also pretty devoid of any emotion at all 

i don’t know, that’s all i have to say 

Wait: A Novel by Gabriella Burnham

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

thank you so much to @oneworldbooks for the #gifted copy 🧡

“how long until their roots, planted in soft soil, are washed up my another rainstorm?”

this is a book that explores the local side of Nantucket - the side that lays the foundation for the white wealthy people to “summer” in their 2nd, 3rd, 4th house, the side of immigrants, of working hard in exchange for low wages, of holding onto the minimal amount of affordable housing left. it examines wealth disparity, racism, and gentrification all through deeply meaningful relationships. 

Burnham doesn’t answer our questions or provide us the insights - she leaves it bare for us to infer based on the conversations, the betrayals, the longings, allowing space for each reader to look inside of themselves and to the broader scope of the way our society operates 

i really enjoyed this novel

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deportation

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

emotional reflective

4.5

this is a reflective, thought-provoking, and insightful collection - on what it means to be visible in a society that’s done everything it can to make you invisible, the compounding effects of racism at the individual and societal level, the aggression towards Black people in america, and the way Black people move through and manage pain. it’s an exploration of the connections between the everyday inflictions of racism and the tragedies created through that giving way for Hurricane Katrina and the murder of Trayvon Martin and so much more 

The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

i really loved this novel. it felt so empowering to read. the characters are relatable and lovely and the neurodivergent representation is so good. it’s for the ones who are afraid to speak up, or who can’t. for the ones who are trying to put words to an experience of rape that they didn’t define as rape when it happened because the conditioning we are all exposed to makes us deny our own experiences. for the ones who want to be a voice. for the ones who are angry and the ones who are tired

and also love the author’s content warning at the beginning and the inclusion of resources for anyone who might read this book and need support 

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

this review contains heartfelt vulnerability, rambling included. the short version - i cannot recommend this book enough

We Were Once a Family is a searing work of journalism. Asgarian takes such great care in her writing, tenderly examining the intricately tied systemic issues that present themselves within the child welfare system, the unimaginable harm that the system inflicts on the children and families it claims to protect, and then pathologizes their responses to that harm. it’s a system filled with racism and abuse that needs to be abolished just as every other system in the united states needs to be abolished. the pain and the hurt experienced by the birth families of the 6 adopted children who were murdered by the Harts absolutely bleeds off the pages. i could feel my heart racing, constricting, each time i picked this book up. and i really appreciated the willingness to explore the harm adoption can create and of the protection that adoptive parents often hide behind because of the narrative ascribed to them

on a more personal note, Asgarian stamped down everything i see and feel on a daily basis working as a therapist in a residential treatment facility. i see the very abuse and harm she exposes, in real time and i vacillate constantly between staying and going, between thinking i must be wrong and knowing i’m not, between wanting to provide trauma treatment and knowing you can’t be treated in the same system that’s causing your trauma. blurring between complicity and dismantling from the inside so much that i feel like i can’t see through

i’m doubled over with a constriction in my heart 

My Side of the River by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

fast-paced

3.75

i appreciated reading the author’s story as she explored the expectations placed upon her by herself, her family, and society, particularly as it relates to her education and career in order to provide the life of her parent’s dreams. Guitierrez makes some astute observations about separation, longing, and mental but it lacks the level of reflection and detail that i enjoy in memoirs. it was interesting, but not compelling. it almost reads more like a young adult memoir