charlieri's reviews
16 reviews

The Performance by Claire Thomas

emotional reflective 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

3.75

I miss plays. 

The Performance by Clare Thomas has conjured the inner lives of three women. All of different generations; all in the same theatre, watching the same Beckett play; all whilst there is a wildfire taking hold of the natural land around Melbourne. 

This second novel by Clare Thomas recreates the reflective experience of watching a play with three women from three generations. Margot, a proud college professor in her seventies with bruises covering her arms. 
Ivy, an investor in the theatre, and new mother in her thirties with a less-than-affulent start to life. 
Summer, a black lesbian theatre usher, whose girlfriend is currently driving straight in the direction of the wildfire. 

As these women experience the play, we hear their troubled pasts, their very present worries, and their anxieties (or denials) of the future in their reflections on the climate crisis. 

The beckett play they are watching is Happy Days, where Winnie is muddling through her existence whilst stuck in a mound of mud, her husband crawling around seemingly unable to help her. 

This book is introspective look at the lives of women, all who connect with Winnie in their own very different ways. It's a love letter to plays, to beckett, and to women themselves. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Grief, and Miscarriage

Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You by Jenara Nerenberg

informative medium-paced

3.0

A good collection of viewpoints, activists, to normal neurodivergent people, to experts in the field. I'm quite familiar with a lot of this stuff, but if I found this book a couple of years back I'm sure it would have blown my mind. 

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a fantastic book. It's linguistic form is well considered. The use of fragmented writing and second person really worked to emulate the dissociation that comes with trauma and abuse. Genuinely inspiring on a level I've not found in other books. This style of memoir brought out memories and images of my own past to the surface in an unexpected way. It makes me want to write, and books never really do that for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Physical abuse

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

4.5

I adore Becky Chambers work. She is one of the only writers that feels like she is from the same zeitgeist as me. Her writing of other races is fantastic, her exploration of the world through the eyes of someone who is overstimulated by it all is beautiful. Even through the difficult parts, this series feels like a warm hug. A small scale exploration of life in a sci fi setting. 

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

The gorgeous insight into the details of working class life in Glasgow are what struck me most. So much contemporary fiction starts from a comfortably middle class place, and I think the popularity of shuggie bain goes to show the hunger for people looking for stories that show another kind of reality. This isn't a sob story, this isn't an emotionally manipulative book. It's a true telling of a hard life, and the little boy at the centre of it who refuses to give in to cynicism. 

The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Very French, very grandfatherly telling of a fable set during the holocaust. It is challenging and emotional, and also evokes the feeling of being told a story, sat on the floor next to an armchair of a man who has a message to spread, a tongue in his cheek. 

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I found this book most interesting in the reflections on a womans experience, I found it shocking how relatable it was, from 90s Korea to my own experience as a girl/woman in the 2000s in the UK. 

PET by Akwaeke Emezi

adventurous dark inspiring fast-paced

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

3.75

Fantastic YA book. I'm so glad the parents were somewhat involved, as often children's stories get rid of the parents somehow. 

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Fantastic. Witchy, a little queer, set in the early suffragists movement, the villain is creepy as heck, and the magic is wonderful. 

What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami

funny inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0

Fantastic book, loved Haruki Murakami's non-fiction voice. Charming, informative, not just about running but about writing and growing and changing and ageing. Fantastic audiobook to run to.