halfextinguishedthoughts's reviews
28 reviews

Joan by Katherine J. Chen

Legend becomes flesh and blood. I think I really liked this book. It reads fast even though it’s dense with detail and story. The end feels a bit abrupt but still, my heart goes out to Joan and it’s because of the writing here. 

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

LOVED this one. A book all about lying and the consequences it passes down to us. 

The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin

Another great essay from Baldwin. While the overarching topic is the Atlanta murders of 1979-1981, Baldwin addresses this and zooms out to look at the greater context of race and culture. He has a way of writing about heavy and complex matters in a clear and almost conversational way. 

Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt

Wow. Really good. There were so many lines I wanted to write down. 

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo

Loved this one ! Great interconnecting stories in a neatly written book. Always so impressed how concise but full these books are. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

medium-paced

Always a pleasure to read. Funny, smart, and reflective; there's a reason Pride and Prejudice is beloved by so many and for so long. 

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

Haunted house stories create a setting that often becomes its own character in the story. Model Home certainly knows the genre and uses its tropes and certainties to its advantage. 

I listened to this book and was at the edge of my metaphorical seat the whole time. Solomon not only captures the voice of their characters but creates the world in a way that feels like you could walk into it and be there.

That place makes the ambiance of the book what it is. It is that which lets the horror creep out and into your spine. When a character steps into a seemingly innocuous house during the day, you can feel the underlying menace. When family members talk, the tension of years seeps into their words. The nuanced way the presence of Ezri’s mother makes itself known  and yet Ezri, at times, feels themselves as not whole and overshadowed by a long-gone person. 

All of this complexity is created in the prose. A mixture of clinical and luscious language put us in a vivid and inescapable place. In which terror is right around the corner and trauma is omnipresent. 

So much of the book felt like a dream, or really a nightmare. The ghosts that haunt the siblings are many: supernatural parental, generational, historical, and personal. Whiteness is a monster, a predator. The expectations and parent’s guidance become more of a burden than motivation. We cling to dreams even if they hurt us. We become so poisoned by our own grief, that we might not be able to see and help those around us. The most ordinary can hide the most hideous. Family inheritance can cause its own pain.

This is a book about a monster that grooms you to feel like you’re the monster. That we, in turn, become a haunting. The monsters of our childhood follow and haunt our actions and steps. 

All of this culminated in an ending you won’t soon forget. I felt it was a bit rushed, it didn’t take its time like the rest of the novel, and (this is more a fault with me as the reader) the movie watcher in me wanted everything to be tied into a bow. I wanted the monsters to be forced into the light and help to save the day. 

Solomon delivers on the promises they make in the beginning. We are left with humanity, pared down and ripe with horrors.

I can’t stop thinking of Ezri, the Maxwell family, and how Solomon wrote their haunting. But, I also can’t stop thinking of the quiet moments. 

Thank you to Rivers Solomon, Macmillan Audio, Farrah, Straus, and Giroux, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

Full review on halfextinguishedthoughts.com

Out by Natsuo Kirino

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

The book is a slow, relentless mess. It’s filled with the smallest details that at first are inconsequential until they collide with others and later on, even more to create a strange anticipation. 

The book itself is long and the pace meanders along. The story lingers on scenes and small moments. For a murder mystery, it takes time to get to each step of the plot. For me, I like that about this book. I felt truly immersed in the story. Masako, the leader of our characters, showed strength in adversity and vulnerability in her courage. 

The ending (no spoilers here) just didn’t live up to the rest of the novel. It felt rushed and didn’t pay off like I thought it would. In saying that, I think this novel is still worth reading. The characters are unique and complex, their relationships change and grow over the story, and the commentary on what it means to be a woman and the violence forced on them creates a dark, gritty story. 

If you want something fast-paced with a killer end, this may not be your pick. But, if you’re looking for a languid, immersive thriller about gender and economic inequality, this is your book.

Check out halfextinguishedthoughts.com for my full review.

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

(tw, murder, rape, genocide, kidnapping, colonization) 

 

This book was on my radar for a long time and while in Europe, I looked for it. Finally, after many bookstores, I got a copy of Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. 

 

From the first pages, this book haunted me. The details and repetition employed in this novella become like a pair of glasses. They created a lens to guide the reader’s attention while obscuring things left out of our line of sight. This style was a way to both conceal and show; a way to connect events and people between time leaving us like the young woman in the second part. Both of us tried to follow the details and reveal the truth. 

 

The first section of Minor Detail narrates the story from the view of the perpetrators. We see the brutal murders, kidnappings, and rape through the eyes of the men doing the crime. The focus is on what they want it to be. We are forced to be aware of only what the Israeli soldier notes and everything else is left unsaid. A dichotomy arrives. The horror at the actions, thoughts, and words of the soldiers, and the horror at what they don’t notice or don’t care to. We are forced to find all that lies between the lines because of this point-of-view. There’s almost no emotion in the officer in charge’s narration and because of this, I felt my own multiply. 

 

The second section begins years later. The perspective shifts to that of a young woman. She tries to uncover the details of the rape and murder of the woman in the first part. In this section, we not only see how the young woman lives under occupation in Ramallah but also see how the events of the first part are published and what the Israeli journalist leaves out. She says “If one wants to arrive at the complete truth, which, by leaving out the girl’s story, the article does not reveal.” 

 

The woman becomes obsessed with finding out the whole truth but, the closer she gets, the more dangerous it is for her. The reader can see the danger ahead. Although we can stop reading at any time, the young woman, aware as she is of the danger, doesn’t stop. She can’t stop, looking for the truth. 

 

This is a harrowing book about the truth, how it connects us, and how those in power use it. Shibli masterfully creates these connections in almost suffocating detail and impact. I read this book in December of 2023 and have been thinking about it ever since. Shibli creates a tension that threatens to snap throughout. 

Of One Blood; Or, the Hidden Self by Pauline E. Hopkins

TW: Death, Racial slurs, Murder, Domestic abuse, Incest, Animal death, Mentions of Rape, Doctor/Patient relationship, Colorism 

 

Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkins is an interesting mix of Gothic, romance, Afrofuturism, and adventure. The beginning half is set in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1880s. The second half transitions to Africa as Reuel Briggs, our main character, journeys to Ethiopia on an archaeological expedition. 

Reuel’s introduction comes after some beautiful but desolate descriptions of scenery, November rain, and freezing temperatures. These match Reuel’s mood and his outlook on life. He thinks, “Briggs could have told you that the bareness and desolateness of apartment were like his life, but he was a reticent man who knew how to suffer in silence” (1). This is our look at the world through his eyes. 

 

The beginning half sets us up with a look into Boston society and Reuel’s place in it. He is a medical student with financial troubles and a secret he staunchly ignores leaves him separated from those around him. His friend, Aubrey Livingston, tries to help Reuel when possible leading them both to meet the Black, Southern singer, Dianthe Lusk. 

 

There’s this almost meandering pace to the beginning. Reuel uses mysticism and the supernatural atmosphere places an uncanny air. He goes to a dinner party where they tell ghost stories, and has visions in his sleep. Hopkins highlights the supernatural elements with nods to Frankenstein and Lovecraft. The love story, with these uncanny elements as well, is the focus and it feels like what you would typically think of as a classic literature book. 

The bridge between the two halves is almost shocking when it comes but that lends itself to the continuous twists and turns. 

 

As Reuel journies to Nubia, his group runs into many dangers. The archeologists hypothesize that the civilization they are looking for was more advanced than even the Egyptians and gave birth to civilization. The tonal shift adds an adventurous excitement to the novel and takes on a more ‘fun’ reading experience. 

 

What he finds there will have Ruel facing his identity and redefine what his place is. 

 

Without going into spoilers past that, I thought the second half was a bit rushed at times, especially towards the end which caused everything to come together a bit chaotically. There are plot points that come up and are never seen again, and drama that extends longer than its stay. I’ve seen several critiques of this book and others applauding it outright. I sit in between these. It is no perfect novel, and this read through the weaknesses were more obvious, but Of One Blood meditates on our world and creates additions that were thought-provoking, difficult, and in some cases fun to read. 

 

This was a reread for those who followed my reading journey in my Instagram stories. I think this book benefits from discussion (which I had during school). If you can find some reading questions of companion I think that would make your read even better. 

Read the full review on halfextinguishedthoughts.com