hrstarzec's reviews
106 reviews

Census by Jesse Ball

4.5

 If the two novels of his I've read (this and How to Set a Fire and Why) are any indication, Jesse Ball is not the sort of author to fall into the comforting trap of repeating the same voice over and over again. These two books have been extremely distinct from one another, both melancholy but in different ways. Census is riddled with tangents and seems to eventually grow disinterested with its own conceit (that of visiting one town each chapter, with the towns simply named A to Z in order as they travel), chapters becoming shorter and less focused on the present until it all comes to an abrupt yet expected end, with no attempt along the way to conceal the fact that it's purely an emotional and metaphorical journey. 

A Cure for Suicide by Jesse Ball

5.0

 "She said, now that we are grown so close, I have begun to include you in my hopes."

5/5

Shattering.

A Cure for Suicide, the third novel I've read from Jesse Ball, is similar to his later book Census in that it takes place in a vague, allegorical world that exists somewhere between surrealism/absurdism and dystopia. The largely unspecified organization looming over this novel is not so much explicitly evil as they are somewhat implied to be philosophically misguided, holding the belief that those who ideate suicide would benefit from the chance to end their current "life" and be given a new one with more guidance in hopes of preventing whatever spawned those ideations to begin with. This first section of the novel, which has whiffs of existing dystopian literature like 1984 (primarily in the secret affair that occurs in that book), is compelling in its own right, starting off gentle before implanting tiny seeds of doubt, but it reaches a different level of humanism when taken in tandem with the second section of the book, which is a long, rambling conversation in which a man recounts the events of his life that led him to seek suicide, or this "cure" for suicide. Portions of this section, as well as the short final chapter of the novel, became so vividly affecting to me that the images invaded my dreams. 

Sea Change by Gina Chung

4.0

 Weirdly this book won me over precisely *because* (not despite) the various threads it sets up don't lead to particularly grand plot revelations -- Tae's trip to Mars, Ro's relationship with the octopus, the missing father -- and instead everything feels like it's constantly in motion in a consistent, gradual sort of way. It's all calmer and simpler than I would have expected, having a subtle effect. That extends to its use of sci-fi: I love that it takes place in a world virtually unchanged compared to our own, allowing something like a human trip to Mars to seem essentially mundane, or at least no less mundane than the beauty that can be found on Earth, like tiny organisms lighting up the shore.

Thank you to Netgalley and Vintage for the eARC 

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

4.0

I feel like this novel shouldn't work as well as it does, because a few of the plot beats feel inorganic or contrived enough to threaten to sink it, but in some ways those flaws are also what make it such a pageturner and nearly impossible to put down. It somewhat annoyed me when chapters ended with cliffhanger plot revelations (especially when it happened multiple chapters in a row), but I can't say it didn't work. Beyond all that, though, O'Donaghue's writing style is so effortlessly witty and allows the character of Rachel to become a rich and well-examined one. It's not an especially long read, just a hair over 300 pages (ostensibly-- I read it digitally), but it feels like quite the journey. The first portion of the novel, outlining a devious bookstore-related plan to court a professor, feels like a good, lighthearted trial run for what the rest of the novel would be, which was a lot of reading through parted fingers due to awkwardness or spiraling decisions.

I find it a little funny that the cover to this book looks considerably like a reversal of the cover of My Last Innocent Year (a book I loved, and to be honest I think the main reason I requested this one was due to the cover similarity sparking recognition in me) both featuring a painted girl but one facing forward and the other backwards. In a way, that's fitting, because My Last Innocent Year is about a college student having an affair with her professor and this one is, well, to avoid spoilers, I'll just say it's like multiple reversals of that concept.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for the eARC. 

Flux by Jinwoo Chong

4.5

 Ambitious, resonant sci-fi that pulls from a multitude of tropes (some sections are scenes from a television show that exists in-universe, which I'm sure the author had some fun writing) in service of something that feels very unique. There's something very specific about the tone that I don't tend to find in what I read, where it feels somewhat hardboiled and self-serious, taking place in a compelling but thinly constructed universe that's really just a light backdrop for psychological shenanigans. For lack of a better description, this novel felt very cinematic to me, at least in the way scenes are structured, and not just in those TV show sections. I suppose it's something about the way Jinwoo Chong approaches writing some of the more abstract moments, where there's enough focus on the visual and auditory details that something that would otherwise be obtuse is actually very vivid. None of the individual concepts at play here are particularly novel, but it all comes together into something I can't say is like anything I've read before. The arresting cover art is also very fitting. I feel like it sets the tone for the novel as a whole.

That bolded blurb at the top of the Goodreads description, just don't read that. And if you already have, just forget about it. I wouldn't even really say it's a spoiler, per se, but I also wouldn't exactly say that it effectively communicates what the bulk of the book is about and I feel like you're better off taking the reveals on their own terms within the novel. I get it, though, this book is hard to condense into a sellable little blurb.

Thank you to Melville House Publishing and Netgalley for the eARC. 

Silver Repetition by Lily Wang

4.0

 What begins as a Bae Suah-esque wandering through contemporary life grows into a somewhat more conventional piece of childhood reminiscence, albeit not without the dreamlike blurring of memories into each other and memories with the present. This is a style that is typically very much up my alley, and this was no exception, as I adored these sad-nostalgic vignettes sandwiched between present-day introspection. Some passages did feel a bit overwritten to me, sometimes explaining too much or somehow putting too fine a point on the characterization, grasping at adjectives and adverbs to do so. But for every moment that may feel stylistically somewhat generic, there's another that feels utterly specific and yet another that feels genuinely inventive. I'm excited to see where Lily Wang goes from here, as this debut full-length novel was very compelling and showed promise in a style that can be difficult to inhabit.

Thank you to The New Press and NetGalley for the eARC. 

Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson

3.5

 Unsurprisingly, what made the first book a strange delight is still here to some degree, and I'm glad for the kind of sequel this is, taking the opportunity to tell a different story that in some ways is a direct continuation yet in others feels utterly disconnected. Science and mythology/religion continue to merge in interesting ways, and the worldbuilding (well, universe-building. or multiverse-building) is as strong as ever. I appreciate too that the edges of this novel are even more gnarly than the first. Maybe it overcorrects in that regard, but Johnson's ability to write a strange sort of tenderness into an incredibly dark story comes through a lot here. That all being said, what I loved about the first book is definitely here to a smaller extent. It takes around half the book for a lot of those elements to really kick in, and the multiversal exploration of technology and spirituality is less present overall in favor of a focus that isn't as up my alley. For the first half of the novel, the voice felt somewhat more generic than in the first, making it hard for me to fully connect with Scales. I mentioned about the first that the revelations could be somewhat unnatural, and here I feel that extends to much of the backstory and exposition around the main character, whereas Cara's story felt more casually intertwined with the narrative in the first. Still, the web of characters and relationships is well-done here, and I'm impressed with how clearly the complex feelings characters have for one another are conveyed.

I'm not usually one to read sequels, but this one is very strong, and I continue to relish in the weird, dark vibes Micaiah Johnson concocts.

Thank you to Random House/Del Rey for the eARC. 

Milena, Milena, Ecstatic by Bae Suah

 Gotta love some bitesized Bae Suah weirdness. It has everything you'd expect from her longer form work, from surreal street-wandering to Kafka references, basically the pure concentrated essence of her style. Lovely work published as a beautiful chapbook. I'm also just a sucker for literature about making movies.

Now I'm curious about the rest of this Yeoyu chapbook series. I don't think I've read from any of the other authors. 

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

4.0

 Much like Emily Austin's previous novel, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, this one is good in a sneaky sort of way. There are some weird plot developments, and some of the writing feels like it's just repeating internet clichés, but ultimately Austin once again manages to take a style that would become grating under some authors and turn it into something a bit less conventional and a lot more compelling. The relationships between characters are wonderfully constructed, and Enid's journey feels realistic and earned, which ultimately pushes off any fair comparison to some other not-as-great popular novels.

The synopsis really emphasizes this being "hilarious" and "brimming with quirky humor," and it does have that (like the character of Maveric, who might as well have been plucked from a workplace comedy), but I don't think I was quite prepared for how intense and anxiety-inducing the book would be. Well, I didn't read the synopsis anyways, so I guess I wouldn't have known either way, but I think I expected something more generally wholesome and less "keeps me up for hours after reading it because I'm caught it an anxiety spiral." Maybe you can find some humor in the character's quirks, but they're also kinda a little too real for that, and there's this constant sense of tension and desperation throughout. The darkness here is not hidden behind quirkiness or the facade of a lighthearted romp.

I'd consider this a step up from Emily Austin's previous effort. Unlike with that book, I didn't feel the need for any relationships to be further fleshed out, nor did I feel like the ending was quite as overly clean or rushed, and the positive aspects of that book are only enhanced here, as there's a little more space to deeply explore the characters, and a little more ambition to do so, for that matter. 

You Never Get It Back by Cara Blue Adams

4.5

 Tender, rich collection of scattered vignettes, which all center the same character except for an opening story that curiously carries a magical realism that acts as a sort of guiding influence on the strict realism of the rest of the book. (There is also a story that focuses on the main character's mother rather than herself.) Despite largely following one person, this book resists the constraints of a novel, as each vignette is more or less independent of the rest, displaced in time rather than following a logical chronology, often introducing new side characters and having standalone conflict and messaging. I found the stories that detailed Kate's relationship with her family the most compelling. Early on, there's a wonderfully affecting story of a childhood Christmas, and later on there's one of a young adult Kate visiting the beach with her family, and in each her sister and mother are portrayed with such complexity and feel so real. There are inevitably a couple vignettes that aren't quite so compelling, but as a whole this collection/book/whatever you call it is very strong.