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jessdekkerreads's reviews
596 reviews
Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
3.5
I buddy read this one with Noelle and we both really enjoyed it.
A modern day/contemporary retelling of the Persephone and Demeter myth. — Cory is young, lost after graduation with no plan in sight, just that she knows she doesn’t want to return home from summer camp (as a camp counselor) to her mother, who has high expectations for her. Instead, Cory takes an offer from an older man, a CEO of a large pharmaceutical company, to come to his remote, private island to care for his children. Cory’s mother knows something is amiss, and desperately begins to search for her daughter.
A page turner of sorts; a story of feeling lost, addiction, desire, and complicated mother/daughter dynamics. I found Lyon’s use of comparing genetically modified things in the modern world, to immortality described in the Greek myth, to be really interesting. I also really enjoyed the alternating POVs, it made the story feel more compelling and propulsive.
I loved how sensory it felt, I could feel the sticky heat, taste the bitterness. This is very much a book that should be read in the summer. Full of lush and vivid prose, I was in awe of Lyon’s writing style.
I’ll be keeping this one on my shelf, and looking forward to more of Lyon’s work in the future.
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
3.0
Not for me. I respect the way the author showed us the nitty gritty, downright tough early days of motherhood, but I have read so many books that have done the same thing and this one didn’t offer up anything new. It became repetitive as well, just watching the constant resentment against her husband, against men in general, which is realistic sure, but it felt like it was just on a constant loop. Idk.
The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
I think this book is too smart for me…..
Splinters: A Memoir by Leslie Jamison
5.0
I have a hard time answering the question “what’s your favorite book?” - it seems impossible to me, but now, 30 pages away from finishing this book, Splinters by Leslie Jamison, I know I can definitively say this is my favorite nonfiction book. I’ve underlined almost every page, I’ve read passages out loud to my four month old daughter, I’ve reread lines over and over, I’ve carried it with me everywhere I go, and I don’t want it to end.
It’s Jamison’s memoir, about the grief that came at the end of her marriage, about her intense love for her newborn daughter, about how as a woman you splinter yourself and try to be so many things to so many different people.
Jamison’s prose is so evocative that I often have to remind myself I’m not reading a novel.
In my eyes, as a mother to two young girls, this memoir is perfect to me. Absolutely perfect.
Thank you so much @littlebrown for this ARC.
It’s Jamison’s memoir, about the grief that came at the end of her marriage, about her intense love for her newborn daughter, about how as a woman you splinter yourself and try to be so many things to so many different people.
Jamison’s prose is so evocative that I often have to remind myself I’m not reading a novel.
In my eyes, as a mother to two young girls, this memoir is perfect to me. Absolutely perfect.
Thank you so much @littlebrown for this ARC.