gwendle_vs_literature's reviews
117 reviews

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This story was a slow burn, and took me longer than I would have thought to read. I enjoyed it, but didn’t feel compelled to read it, as I sometimes do. The story is beautiful, and the idea of speaking to dead loved ones via the disconnected telephone is beautiful and poignant — I like that it’s based on a real place that actually exists.

The storm and the events it leads to felt a little bit contrived or melodramatic, but real people do stupid melodramatic things sometimes, so that didn’t fully spoil it.

The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle

2.5

I was so excited to read this book, (I’d seen the film adaptation years ago, and it came highly recommended by another member of the silent book club) but sadly I was left disappointed. 

The prose was fine (no glaring grammatical errors or anything, which it why it gets a 2.5 and not lower) but the story was not as engaging as I expected, and the humour was not to my taste. I realized after finishing and looking at a list of the author’s other works that I’d read one (A Little Water Music) about fifteen years ago and not enjoyed it. If I’d realized this was by the same author I might not have bothered. 

Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton

lighthearted reflective slow-paced

3.5

My mum recommended this book to me nearly twenty years ago, and I finally got around to reading it. It’s a nice story, well written, and a quick read. I didn’t find it groundbreaking or life changing, but if you’re in the mood for a reflective narrative about a former teacher at the end of life it’s worth picking up. 

Cautionary Fables and Fairytales: Asia by Kel McDonald, Kate Ashwin

fast-paced

2.5

I bought this book several years ago, but previous attempts to read it weren’t successful because comics are a form that I struggle with — but since I found and read Understanding Comics I was able to follow and interpret the stories more easily. 

Unfortunately this book was a bit of a disappointment. Although it’s a collection of Asian folk- and  fairytales, i’m not sure that any of the authors or artists are of Asian descent, which makes it feel like a big exercise in appropriation (especially since many of the writers claim authorship, although a few at at least say “adapted by”.   I was particularly disappointed that there was no history or other information given regarding the stories — what regions they’re from and when they’re believed to have originated. The former English Major in me expects that kind of information in an anthology of this sort. 

All of that aside, the quality of the writing and artwork varies. 

Altogether I’d say give this one a pass. 

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This novel is mainly about relationships, with the murder mystery plot as more of a framing device (it’s also a good mystery, but the relationships are definitely central to the plot). 

It was a quick, fun, easy read, and I would recommend it to most people. 

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.

The writing is mediocre (I noticed several misused words the most glaring of which was using “infer” when the author meant “imply” three times in three consecutive sentences.) 

Nearly a hundred pages in I have no attachment to any of the characters (whose dialogue and actions all sound like they come from a middle-school play written by the students), and very little interest in seeing where the story goes. 

There are too many books that I will never have time to read, so I no longer feel obligated to finish one just because I started it.

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a whirlwind of a story told in the voice of a highly distractable eight-year-old.  Some people might find the stream of consciousness challenging, but I’ve read two other stream of consciousness books in the past year or so, and this one sticks with a single narrator throughout, so it wasn’t too bad. 

I really felt connected to the characters; the specifics weren’t relatable to me, but the humanity and the crazy interpersonal dynamics of the family were. 

I highly recommend this book, and I don’t doubt that I’ll revisit it in the future. 

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

4.0

I’m not usually into love stories (and this is undeniably a love story) but Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is much more than that.  It’s a historical fiction about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War Two told from the perspective of a young Chinese boy who loses his best friend and first love because of bigotry and betrayal, and what happens nearly a lifetime later. 

I definitely recommend this book.

My favourite part is the metaphor of the broken record that cannot be repaired, but can exist in another form, just as beautiful.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

4.0

I frequently find Japanese literature in translation a bit challenging (probably because I don’t know enough about Japanese social norms. The dialogue is somewhat abrupt, and characters state that they are feeling big emotions that they don’t often emote, and which don’t (for me) match up with the situation. 

That said, I enjoyed this book.  It’s a beautiful story about family and love and figuring out who you want to be in life — not in a contrived, grand way; in a subtle, human way, in an ordinary life. 

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley

4.25

I have interacted with the Beowulf story in the original Old English, four or five modern English translations, two other text re-tellings, three film versions, and one Star Trek: Voyager episode — this is my favourite re-telling, and rivals my tied favourite translations (Seamus Heaney’s and the one by the author of this novel). 

Casting Grendel’s Mother as a veteran with PTSD and associated memory loss is a stroke of genius that resolves the questionable translation discrepancies when the same words (albeit in different gendered forms) are used to describe both her and Beowulf. Headley even maintains some of the alliterative rhythms in her prose interpretation of the poem, and keeps the story moving at a slightly more modern pace so that it doesn’t drag the same way that the original can. 

I highly recommend this book (with the caveat that it is definitely a re-imagining, and not a direct analogue for the original story — for that, go to Headley’s translation).