heelturn2's reviews
84 reviews

Strangers I Know by Claudia Durastanti

emotional reflective slow-paced

3.5

Started very lukewarm on this and then ended up enjoying it! Pleasantly surprised 

The dreamy non-chronological structure worked well for me. lots of interesting thoughts about family, disability and deafness, class, love and relationships. Repetitive at times but in the way where your friend is telling you a story in a kind of meandering way; I wasn’t mad about it. 

Would happily pick up another Claudia Durastanti book over lots of other contemporary literary fiction (autofiction?) authors. I’m often a hater in this category though so don’t listen to me!!!

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Jeanette Winterson’s writing is so good and dreamy. I love her surreal asides and touches in books that are otherwise grounded in history. 

The Doloriad by Missouri Williams

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

3.0

Enjoyed the act of reading this but I don’t think I “liked” this book. I don’t think I will ever tell someone to read it. But it’s full of some very beautiful strange language. Very wretched subject matter and story - it’s not that I can’t abide incest, violence, ecological disaster, human cruelty, etc. in the books I read but rather that the whole situation described here seems totally abject, unescapable. Like that Claire Denis movie about prisoners lost in space. Also highly whack in its depiction of fat characters. Idk I liked this a lot more than most things I rate 3 stars though. If you like destitute little myths and fables pick this up I guess. 

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Nobody does utopias like Ursula K LeGuin :’•) beautiful and complex. due to science fiction I’ve been forced to admit that the anarchists are right but don’t tell them I said that 

so many beautiful thoughts on human connection, kinship, solidarity, brotherhood and the little moments that make up life and community and society. True journey is return!! I always cry reading LeGuin. 

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

ok. good. solid. not as gripping as Manhunt or as tight. no real complaints either - just felt a bit less developed! way less hopeful in the end than I felt Manhunt was, too, despite the bleakness of both books. 

enjoyed the weird gross cosmic horror stuff. uh oh awful meat world!

2666 by Roberto Bolaño

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

expansive. funny and dark. mystery that isn’t a mystery. sometimes strangers are connected by fate, but for no reason or purpose. this book does so many interesting things with narration and point of view. all its protagonists are extremely compelling. if I was an english lit student I’d be making a Bolaño thesis my personality for the next 4 years

The Town by Shaun Prescott

dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

mysterious little book. very lovely writing - kind of childlike narrator and surreal setting. I think if I was Australian I would have understood a little more of this but at any rate this is actually exactly what living in a medium sized rural town is like. 

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

solid post apocalypse zombie genre entry but the Dynamics (queer, gender, power) at play are obv the star here. lots of characters I’m going to think about for a while. interesting, flawed POV characters. totally despicable villains. I think this book like… “gets gender” (what a stupid phrase, hear me out) in the sense of it being a social alignment with other people, politics, community, and simultaneously just like a thing about a person that is fundamentally not that interesting or defining. also does some really fascinating work in the realm of terf psychology… like why tf are they like that? Gretchen Felker-Martin has thought about it. the terf chaser character… greasy little worm trainwreck you can’t look away from. really really interesting. much to think about here. a really brutal book with a lot of interesting stuff going on. 

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
Did not finish book. Stopped at 52%.

Slow! Not my thing!

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

SUCH a stressful and tense reading experience. George Orr and Heather Lelache are just like… utterly likeable characters. Dr. Haber is such an interesting exploration of ambition & the desire for power. This is perfect sci fi to me - pulpy concept taken to philosophical and ethical extremes. I loved this!!!