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emilyinherhead's reviews
1143 reviews
Phoebe's Diary by Phoebe Wahl
4.5
Bought this as a gift for a friend and of course read through it myself before I gave it to her. So sweet! So tender! So relatable! So good.
Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig
3.0
I didn’t love this as much as some people seemed to, but maybe it was a me thing? When I found the story dragging as I read it on the page, I switched to audio and that helped a little (though I had a little bit of trouble differentiating between characters in that format). Solidly okay, just not my personal jam.
Am I Alone Here?: Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live by Peter Orner
Overall, though, I found myself losing interest and having trouble sticking with this. I didn’t know many of the books Orner is writing about, which made it difficult to follow along.
2.5
Particular sections of writing really stood out and resonated—
And think about it: if you pause a little and simply watch people, doesn’t the world have a way of turning miraculous? (75)
Aren’t we perpetually, one way or another, trying to solve loneliness? The loneliness we feel? The loneliness we know is coming? (153)
And yet I have come to the conclusion that reading keeps me alive, period. I wake to read and sleep so I can get up in the morning and read some more. (239)
Overall, though, I found myself losing interest and having trouble sticking with this. I didn’t know many of the books Orner is writing about, which made it difficult to follow along.
Table for Two by Amor Towles
4.5
Really loved this story collection, even the novella following a character from Rules of Civility, which I haven’t read (but now I want to)!
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie
4.0
I enjoyed this, a whimsical story about a few lovable weirdos.
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
The observations Adina sends through her fax machine are all so straightforward, but somehow in their simplicity they take on a poignancy and profundity that I didn’t expect. Her description of a friend moving away reminded me a little of a particular Mountain Goats lyric (“an astronaut could have seen the hunger in my eyes from space”) that always knocks me flat:
Just like the humans she encounters in her day-to-day life, Adina feels lonely, sad, and sometimes homesick, more so as her life continues and she experiences loss and begins to question her purpose. She is such a relatable character, and Marie-Helene Bertino portrays her so tenderly—the writing is truly gorgeous.
By the end of Adina’s story, I was sobbing, feeling seen and less alone, overcome by life’s brevity and beauty. It feels impossible to do it justice in a short review, so I will just say: what a special book. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
5.0
What follows is a copy-paste of my original review because after reading Beautyland a second time several months later, I fully agreed with my past self. Can’t wait to read this book a third time, a fourth…
Adina is an alien. She arrives to Earth, born to a single mother in Philadelphia who almost dies giving birth, the same day the Voyager 1 is launched. Her job is to observe humanity, and she takes constant notes which she then transmits to her supervisors via an old fax machine. On the surface, it’s a wacky premise. There is indeed a lot of humor in this book! But it’s so much less wacky than it sounds. And so much deeper, too.
Adina is an alien. She arrives to Earth, born to a single mother in Philadelphia who almost dies giving birth, the same day the Voyager 1 is launched. Her job is to observe humanity, and she takes constant notes which she then transmits to her supervisors via an old fax machine. On the surface, it’s a wacky premise. There is indeed a lot of humor in this book! But it’s so much less wacky than it sounds. And so much deeper, too.
If she believed the T-shirts sold on the boardwalk, a woman was a ball or chain, someone stupid you’re with, someone to lie to so a man can work out or drink beer. If she believed fathers on television shows, women were a constant pain, wanting red roses or a nice dinner out. If she learned how to be a girl from songs, it was worse. If she learned from other girls, worse still.
The observations Adina sends through her fax machine are all so straightforward, but somehow in their simplicity they take on a poignancy and profundity that I didn’t expect. Her description of a friend moving away reminded me a little of a particular Mountain Goats lyric (“an astronaut could have seen the hunger in my eyes from space”) that always knocks me flat:
The car is one of many chugging toward the boulevard, but it contains one of the only humans Adina loves. It is a family moment. She wonders if Hubble can see them with its powerful eye. Five people waving toward a retreating car.
Just like the humans she encounters in her day-to-day life, Adina feels lonely, sad, and sometimes homesick, more so as her life continues and she experiences loss and begins to question her purpose. She is such a relatable character, and Marie-Helene Bertino portrays her so tenderly—the writing is truly gorgeous.
The human lifespan was perfectly designed to be brief but to at times feel endless. A set of years that pass in a minute, eternity in an afternoon.
By the end of Adina’s story, I was sobbing, feeling seen and less alone, overcome by life’s brevity and beauty. It feels impossible to do it justice in a short review, so I will just say: what a special book. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld
3.0
What I remember are the feelings, which were melancholy and bleak. I was expecting a lot based on my love of one of Wyld’s other novels, All The Birds, Singing, but it just didn’t hit the same.
McSweeney's #23 by Ann Beattie, Roddy Doyle, Dave Eggers, Caren Beilin, Chris Bachelder
4.0
Favorite stories:
- “Black Hoodie” by Roddy Doyle
- “The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller” by Christopher Stokes
- “The Butcher Shop” by April Wilder
Y/N: A Novel by Esther Yi
Also, fodder for one of the more spirited and memorable discussions my book club had this year.
2.5
Overall, a bit confusing and chaotic for my taste, though I did love the writing on a sentence level.
A few quotes I wrote down:
A few quotes I wrote down:
I hugged the books to my chest until I could feel my heart knocking against their covers. (40)
He learns that she is not much of anything; she describes herself as empty spaces gathered into the shape of a human body. (43)
I couldn’t imagine a better death than falling over from walking too much. (117)
“Still, I would love for all of you to go on living. I encourage it very much. Not because it’s any fun. We know better than most how stunning the despair can be, perfect in its meaninglessness like the structure of an ice crystal. But we must see our miserable experiences through to the end.” (160)
Also, fodder for one of the more spirited and memorable discussions my book club had this year.