Maggie Laurence is a mother to a lot of the literary fiction girls out there today and they don’t even know it. This novel is hilarious, simple but well-crafted. Rachel’s inner dialogue is startlingly authentic, so much so that I was shocked seeing this described as “a woman hovering on the brink of madness” in the introduction because this is literally just girlhood to me.

She becomes a fool for love, after spending her entire life disgusted by the “fools” of the world; those who wear emotions on their sleeves, those who wear unflattering clothes, those who aren’t conscious of sticking out, those who do not make their every decision in life to align seamlessly with the world around them. Rachel tells herself she could never be like them, it would be a jest of God to ever end up in a similar way. Then, she meets a man. For the first time in her life, she has an outlet for the emotions she keeps locked away. For the first time, she chooses on pure desire. For the rest of the novel, it’s as Jacqueline Novak put so eloquently: “I, too, hear the jingle of bells upon my hat.”

At her most foolish, most irrational and unwise, Rachel is so sympathetic. Her bitterness starts to melt away and, finally with a life of her own to deal with, she becomes less critical of everyone else. Slowly, she sees how her terrible insecurity is killing her inside out:

“Go on, Rachel. Apologize. Go on apologizing for ever, go on until nothing of you is left. Is that what you want the most?”

and…

“No, I have no pride. None left, not now. This realization renders me all at once calm, inexplicably, and almost free. Have I finished with façades? Whatever happens, let it happen. I won't deny it.”

Rachel realizing the futility of living for anyone but yourself is extremely gratifying to read because it’s such a relatable trap. We have literally all been there. We’ve all had these growing pains. Rachel’s second adolescence is just happening a little later than she might have wished.

“God’s mercy on reluctant jesters. God’s grace on fools,” the final lines of the book, one of my favourite lines of prose of all time. It’s just so deeply true!!! I could scream it from rooftops.

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

Thank you netgalley for providing me an ARC for my most anticipated read this year! “everyone in this room will someday be dead” altered my worldview dramatically. The line “Now, do you ever think about how some people might wish that for you?” completely winded me in the moment and it’s sat in the back of my head for the two years since I first read it. Reading Emily Austin novels feels like a fourth wall break. it literally feels like someone, every other chapter, pulls the covers from above my head and shines a flashlight directly on my face in the night.

I have two half-siblings and a mom I feel guilty talking about them with. I hope I never see people again after a good time. I was lonely a lot as a kid. I avoid relationships because I believe I’m not made for them. I’ve always done things because I thought I was supposed to. Enid is one of, if not the most, personally identifiable character I’ve ever read and I don’t know how to thank Emily Austin for writing her. I can’t even put to words the things I didn’t love about this book because the good is so good. Reading this was a form of therapy and I wish I could have it in my hands right now to highlight and cry into.

Emily, I’m begging. Please do a reading or a signing or some kind of event here in Ottawa. If there’s one person in the audience, it’ll be me. My head is spinning.

The Double Hook by Sheila Watson

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

i understand the importance of this book to canadian literature. i understand the story, symbolism, characters well enough. but it’s not always a matter of “understanding” with modernist literature. yes, the writing is elusive and poetic and i can appreciate it but i also have to like it. this lacks the capacity her inspirational texts have for evoking feeling and connection in the reader; the story just isn’t all that.

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this is soooo my horror vibe. the gore is sublime. the horror itself is surreal and somewhat unintelligible. there is a strong, human story at the center. there has to be a word for this subgenre; i want it all.

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junosdaughter's reviews 114 reviews

junosdaughter's reviews
114 reviews