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The Worst Woman in London by Julia Bennet
emotional
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Finishing off the series and I must say, this is my favorite of the three. The yearning and the obstacles felt much more substantial in this book, and I'm a sucker for a good pine, so I enjoyed myself. I could nitpick, but overall, this was a good romance.
WRITING: I don't have much to say about the writing style that I haven't mentioned in previous reviews. Bennet writes clearly and keeps the pace quick - perfect for an audience who loves these aspects of the romance genre.
PLOT: The non-romance plot of this book follows Francesca Thorne, a thirty year old woman who is trying to obtain a divorce from her philandering husband, Edward. Unfortunately, a divorce is hard to come by in the late 19th century, and her already uncertain future is threatened by her growing affection for James Stanton - Edward's close friend.
What I liked most about this plot was that the stakes felt very high and not manufactured. It's very clear that the forces working against Francesca are not merely her own biases and flaws, but the sexism embedded in society and the legal system. I enjoyed watching Francesca weigh her options and ultimately desire to live according to het values, and I liked seeing how chasing her own happiness (unfairly) put all of that at risk.
I also appreciated the subplot involving Sylvia, a young debutante who finds herself to be the object of Edward's affections. Her plot didn't detract from the main narrative, but it did offer some interesting opportunities to compare Edward's behavior and character development to that of Francesca and James. It also prevented parts of the plot from feeling slow and dragged out, so that was nice.
I do think, however, that the plot could have been improved just a touch. There were some scenes that felt a little bit like filler, amd I would have liked to see more legal drama as a way to drive up the tension. As it stands, it feels like the legal aspect gets pushed to the background at times, and since Francesca cares more about that than her social status, I think bringing the visciousness of the court case to the front could have been more powerful.
CHARACTERS: Francesca, our heroine, is easy to sympathize with in that she is both tired of her husband's affairs yet also tired of confining herself within the expectations for and "ideal Victorian wife." Even though she had a few liasions of her own, it was easy to root for her, and I admired the way she stuck to her principles.
James, our hero, is interesting in that he is forced to decide which he loves more: Francesca or his lifestyle. As the heir of a wealthy aunt, James has enjoyed being a man of leisure, but must ultimately act the way his "proper" society aunt wants. When he falls for Francesca, he realizes the ways in which he too is confined by expectations, and watching him overcome his selfishness and laziness was narratively very satisfying.
Edward, Francesca's husband, was suitably horrible without being overly abusive. I was surprised by how things turned out in the end and how his character arc progressed, and to be honest, I think I found it more interesting than if he had just been defeated without much ado. The fact that he was James's friend also made things interesting, and watching characters try to balance loyalties was extra angst.
Sylvia was fine and I was pleased that she wasn't written as a dupe. She seemed smart and wholly aware of things, which made me feel better about her arc.
Caroline, Francesca's friend, was fine, but didn't seem to be used much. I was glad Francesca had someone to lean on and someone who offered some insight into middle class life.
I was probably most surprised by Mrs. Mackenzie, one of Edward's mistresses. I dreaded her being used to prop up Francesca as "more virtuous," but I was pleased that Bennet forged a meaningful relationship between the two.
ROMANCE: A lot about this romance was satisfying, in part because both characters had their individual arcs and it was easy to see how they enriched each other's emotional lives. Francesca motivated James to seek fulfillment in something other than money and James made Francesca feel worthy and supported when almost all of society cast her out.
The angst and the yearning was also really great, but I'm biased because I'm a sucker for the kinds of tropes in this book.
TL;DR: The Worst Woman in London is a satisfying romance that focuses on sexism in the legal system while also mirroring the individual arcs of the two protagonists.
WRITING: I don't have much to say about the writing style that I haven't mentioned in previous reviews. Bennet writes clearly and keeps the pace quick - perfect for an audience who loves these aspects of the romance genre.
PLOT: The non-romance plot of this book follows Francesca Thorne, a thirty year old woman who is trying to obtain a divorce from her philandering husband, Edward. Unfortunately, a divorce is hard to come by in the late 19th century, and her already uncertain future is threatened by her growing affection for James Stanton - Edward's close friend.
What I liked most about this plot was that the stakes felt very high and not manufactured. It's very clear that the forces working against Francesca are not merely her own biases and flaws, but the sexism embedded in society and the legal system. I enjoyed watching Francesca weigh her options and ultimately desire to live according to het values, and I liked seeing how chasing her own happiness (unfairly) put all of that at risk.
I also appreciated the subplot involving Sylvia, a young debutante who finds herself to be the object of Edward's affections. Her plot didn't detract from the main narrative, but it did offer some interesting opportunities to compare Edward's behavior and character development to that of Francesca and James. It also prevented parts of the plot from feeling slow and dragged out, so that was nice.
I do think, however, that the plot could have been improved just a touch. There were some scenes that felt a little bit like filler, amd I would have liked to see more legal drama as a way to drive up the tension. As it stands, it feels like the legal aspect gets pushed to the background at times, and since Francesca cares more about that than her social status, I think bringing the visciousness of the court case to the front could have been more powerful.
CHARACTERS: Francesca, our heroine, is easy to sympathize with in that she is both tired of her husband's affairs yet also tired of confining herself within the expectations for and "ideal Victorian wife." Even though she had a few liasions of her own, it was easy to root for her, and I admired the way she stuck to her principles.
James, our hero, is interesting in that he is forced to decide which he loves more: Francesca or his lifestyle. As the heir of a wealthy aunt, James has enjoyed being a man of leisure, but must ultimately act the way his "proper" society aunt wants. When he falls for Francesca, he realizes the ways in which he too is confined by expectations, and watching him overcome his selfishness and laziness was narratively very satisfying.
Edward, Francesca's husband, was suitably horrible without being overly abusive. I was surprised by how things turned out in the end and how his character arc progressed, and to be honest, I think I found it more interesting than if he had just been defeated without much ado. The fact that he was James's friend also made things interesting, and watching characters try to balance loyalties was extra angst.
Sylvia was fine and I was pleased that she wasn't written as a dupe. She seemed smart and wholly aware of things, which made me feel better about her arc.
Caroline, Francesca's friend, was fine, but didn't seem to be used much. I was glad Francesca had someone to lean on and someone who offered some insight into middle class life.
I was probably most surprised by Mrs. Mackenzie, one of Edward's mistresses. I dreaded her being used to prop up Francesca as "more virtuous," but I was pleased that Bennet forged a meaningful relationship between the two.
ROMANCE: A lot about this romance was satisfying, in part because both characters had their individual arcs and it was easy to see how they enriched each other's emotional lives. Francesca motivated James to seek fulfillment in something other than money and James made Francesca feel worthy and supported when almost all of society cast her out.
The angst and the yearning was also really great, but I'm biased because I'm a sucker for the kinds of tropes in this book.
TL;DR: The Worst Woman in London is a satisfying romance that focuses on sexism in the legal system while also mirroring the individual arcs of the two protagonists.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Classism
Minor: Cursing, Infertility, Alcohol
The Madness of Miss Grey by Julia Bennet
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I liked the second book in this series enough that I wanted to go back and read book 1, so here we are. I was a little afraid that the doctor-patient dynamic would be a problem for me, but fortunately, I think Bennet handled it well. My reason for the 3 star rating, therefore, has more to do with the plot and character development. While not a dull book, I do think more could have been done to enhance the narrative and make it really dig into the themes it presents. That way, our characters could have also grappled with their own insecurities in a much more high-stakes situation.
WRITING: The prose in this book is generally fine - it's what you'd expect of the genre, which means it knows its audience. The writing is quick and clear, but also does a good job balancing interiority and exteriority. It's not overly laden with description or figurative language, but it provides enough detail to set the mood.
I wouldn't call this book "Gothic," despite the book advertising itself as a Gothic romance. Sure, it's set in an old building, and technically there's a terrorized heroine, but that's about as Gothic as it gets. The mood is also way too light for Gothic, and there's not any mystery element or supernatural occurances.
PLOT: The non-romance plot of this book follows Helen Grey, a woman who has been institutionalized in a private psychiatric asylum for the past 10 years. Helen has tried to escape numerous times, but when new hire Dr. William Carter shows up, he feels honor-bound to help her. Doing so, however, not only risks his career, but the wrath of the mysterious benefactor keeping Helen imprisoned.
Overall, I found the plot to be just ok. It wasn't dull, but it wasn't as exciting as I hoped. There are some repetitive elements, such as Helen being near-frozen a few times and constantly being terrorized. It got a little tedious, as did the moments when characters simply bided their time. I would have liked to see a plot where characters were a little more agentive or butted heads with the senior physician a little more. Something to make it feel like the characters were working against something or someone specific.
I also think the themes in this book could have been strengthened. The plot seems to be trying to make a feminist point about female sexuality, but the message feels a little awkward and could have been more forceful. Given the setting, I would have liked to see Bennet explore the nuances of pathologizing female sexuality and weaponizing institutionalization against women, specifically.
Lastly, I think the plot with Dr. Vaughn could have been stronger. As it stands, Vaughn just comes out of nowhere and his motivations feel random, like he was just there to cause conflict at the 75% mark. It didn't feel quite natural, and if Bennet wanted to go this route, I think more work needed to be done to make it feel cohesive.
CHARACTERS: Helen, our heroine, is admirable in that she doesn't let anyone intimidate her and seizes every opportunity she can to assert agency. Though she has been subjected to years of abuse, she doesn't let that dampen her determination. She does seem to be in need of rescuing a lot, though, which was a little repetitive; I think more could have been done to show her struggling with the other patients against institutionalization. Something to make her seem less of an individual in a bad situation and more of one among many.
Will, our hero, was likable in that he was honorable, but his character arc wasn't very strong. He doesn't seem to grow much as a person and doesn't necessarily have any flaws that need reforming; if anything, his flaws come from being too understanding, so there wasn't much growing he needed to do. I would have liked to see more pressure put on his insecurities so that his growth would be focused on overcoming those.
Side characters are fine, but many felt underutilized. I liked the friendships and alliances Helen formed with staff, but they didn't have much bearing on the plot or character growth. Antagonists were fine, but also underutilized; Dr. Sterling, the senior physician, doesn't seem to pose much threat because he's mostly all talk. Dr. Vaughn, another physician, feels too random, like he was injected just to enhance the drama towards the end. Fletch, Helen's abusive nurse, is just terrible and I wish more was done to examine how people are complicit in abusive systems.
ROMANCE: The romance between Helen and Will was ok. I thought I would have a problem with the doctor-patient dynamic, but Bennet writes Will so honorably that nothing in that regard felt problematic.
Instead, I think more work should have been done to explore the characters' insecurities as individuals and how their relationship e chances their emotional lives. Bennet does give us something to chew on: Helen has been so accustomed to manipulating people in the past that when real feelings get involved, she doesn't quite know how to act. That I did like - questioning whether or not the romance was real or just another desperate bid for freedom felt like an interesting hurdle.
But not much was done to actually show how that hurdle was overcome; it just seemed to not be a problem anymore given enough time. I wanted the characters to grapple more with Will's insecurity about his looks and class (since both are points of pride and shame for him) and I wanted them to bring out the best in each other. As it stands, ot didn't feel like they did that so much as they were already good people who just happened to find each other.
TL;DR: The Madness of Miss Grey is fine, but doesn't quite sink into the themes or characters it presents.
WRITING: The prose in this book is generally fine - it's what you'd expect of the genre, which means it knows its audience. The writing is quick and clear, but also does a good job balancing interiority and exteriority. It's not overly laden with description or figurative language, but it provides enough detail to set the mood.
I wouldn't call this book "Gothic," despite the book advertising itself as a Gothic romance. Sure, it's set in an old building, and technically there's a terrorized heroine, but that's about as Gothic as it gets. The mood is also way too light for Gothic, and there's not any mystery element or supernatural occurances.
PLOT: The non-romance plot of this book follows Helen Grey, a woman who has been institutionalized in a private psychiatric asylum for the past 10 years. Helen has tried to escape numerous times, but when new hire Dr. William Carter shows up, he feels honor-bound to help her. Doing so, however, not only risks his career, but the wrath of the mysterious benefactor keeping Helen imprisoned.
Overall, I found the plot to be just ok. It wasn't dull, but it wasn't as exciting as I hoped. There are some repetitive elements, such as Helen being near-frozen a few times and constantly being terrorized. It got a little tedious, as did the moments when characters simply bided their time. I would have liked to see a plot where characters were a little more agentive or butted heads with the senior physician a little more. Something to make it feel like the characters were working against something or someone specific.
I also think the themes in this book could have been strengthened. The plot seems to be trying to make a feminist point about female sexuality, but the message feels a little awkward and could have been more forceful. Given the setting, I would have liked to see Bennet explore the nuances of pathologizing female sexuality and weaponizing institutionalization against women, specifically.
Lastly, I think the plot with Dr. Vaughn could have been stronger. As it stands, Vaughn just comes out of nowhere and his motivations feel random, like he was just there to cause conflict at the 75% mark. It didn't feel quite natural, and if Bennet wanted to go this route, I think more work needed to be done to make it feel cohesive.
CHARACTERS: Helen, our heroine, is admirable in that she doesn't let anyone intimidate her and seizes every opportunity she can to assert agency. Though she has been subjected to years of abuse, she doesn't let that dampen her determination. She does seem to be in need of rescuing a lot, though, which was a little repetitive; I think more could have been done to show her struggling with the other patients against institutionalization. Something to make her seem less of an individual in a bad situation and more of one among many.
Will, our hero, was likable in that he was honorable, but his character arc wasn't very strong. He doesn't seem to grow much as a person and doesn't necessarily have any flaws that need reforming; if anything, his flaws come from being too understanding, so there wasn't much growing he needed to do. I would have liked to see more pressure put on his insecurities so that his growth would be focused on overcoming those.
Side characters are fine, but many felt underutilized. I liked the friendships and alliances Helen formed with staff, but they didn't have much bearing on the plot or character growth. Antagonists were fine, but also underutilized; Dr. Sterling, the senior physician, doesn't seem to pose much threat because he's mostly all talk. Dr. Vaughn, another physician, feels too random, like he was injected just to enhance the drama towards the end. Fletch, Helen's abusive nurse, is just terrible and I wish more was done to examine how people are complicit in abusive systems.
ROMANCE: The romance between Helen and Will was ok. I thought I would have a problem with the doctor-patient dynamic, but Bennet writes Will so honorably that nothing in that regard felt problematic.
Instead, I think more work should have been done to explore the characters' insecurities as individuals and how their relationship e chances their emotional lives. Bennet does give us something to chew on: Helen has been so accustomed to manipulating people in the past that when real feelings get involved, she doesn't quite know how to act. That I did like - questioning whether or not the romance was real or just another desperate bid for freedom felt like an interesting hurdle.
But not much was done to actually show how that hurdle was overcome; it just seemed to not be a problem anymore given enough time. I wanted the characters to grapple more with Will's insecurity about his looks and class (since both are points of pride and shame for him) and I wanted them to bring out the best in each other. As it stands, ot didn't feel like they did that so much as they were already good people who just happened to find each other.
TL;DR: The Madness of Miss Grey is fine, but doesn't quite sink into the themes or characters it presents.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping
Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Mental illness, Blood
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
3.25
This book is difficult for me to evaluate. On the one hand, I really do like the ideas it plays with and the way it puts Mary Shelley's Frankenstein into 2005 Baghdad. On the other, I struggled to engage with the prose and wasn't sure if it was because of the translation or different aesthetic preferences. So a 3 star rating feels appropriate to me, even if the rating is entirely subjective.
WRITING: I can't say whether or not Wright's translation is accurate, so my evaluation will be based on the impressions and experiences I had with the English version of this novel.
Personally, I found the prose to be somewhat difficult to engage with. It relies on a lot of telling, especially when it comes to emotions, and had more than a few passages when it just relayed a series of actions that did little to shape the mood or the plot or what have you ("he did X then Y. Then he did Z."). Moreover, this book makes use of a lot of filter words, such as "This character saw" or "This character knew." As an English-speaking reader, these kinds of phrases make me feel distanced from the characters, so overall, the reading experience felt a bit tedious. Granted, given the ending (which I won't spoil), the style makes a kind of sense - the novel does kind of read like a report or field notes. But this style just isn't for me.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows a number of characters living in Baghdad in 2005. One of these, a junk dealer named Hadi, gathers together various body parts following a deadly bombing and makes a complete corpse. But when the spirit of one of the victims enters the corpse and begins enacting a series of murders for revenge, the whole city is left feeling terrorized.
I really did enjoy the themes and ideas that Sawadi plays with in this novel. The creature being made of body parts that decay and constantly require replacements, for example, was a fascinating way of exploring cycles of violence. The exploration of what it means to be "a criminal" was also intellectually compelling, as well as the idea that the creature, made up of body parts from people of various ethnicities and beliefs, constituted the first true "Iraqi citizen."
However, much of my enjoyment of this book is hampered by the prose and the structure of this plot. Not only did I feel like I was being kept at a distance from the characters and was being told rather than shown things, but the multiple perspectives made it difficult to feel the build up of suspense or tension. Don't get me wrong - I do like books with multiple perspectives, and I think this one could have worked well. Telling the story by using multiple POVs around the creature rather than solely through the ideas of Hadi and the creature could have been fascinating. But as it stands, I think this book is written in a way that makes it hard to connect with.
CHARACTERS: There are a lot of characters in this book, so I'll only speak of them generally.
I liked that most characters in this book felt like ordinary humans with their own strengths and flaws. Some of them are deeply unlikable but still compelling on account of their motivations making sense, and I kind of enjoyed following people who didn't always act heroically or what have you.
However, it was difficult to feel emotionally connected to the characters on account of the prose style. I didn't feel like I was experiencing things with the characters so much as I was being told about them, and while it makes some sense given the ending of this book, I'm not sure it was my favorite way of storytelling.
TL;DR: I'm sure there's a great story buried in Frankenstein in Baghdad, but I personally found the prose so tedious that it was hard to focus.
WRITING: I can't say whether or not Wright's translation is accurate, so my evaluation will be based on the impressions and experiences I had with the English version of this novel.
Personally, I found the prose to be somewhat difficult to engage with. It relies on a lot of telling, especially when it comes to emotions, and had more than a few passages when it just relayed a series of actions that did little to shape the mood or the plot or what have you ("he did X then Y. Then he did Z."). Moreover, this book makes use of a lot of filter words, such as "This character saw" or "This character knew." As an English-speaking reader, these kinds of phrases make me feel distanced from the characters, so overall, the reading experience felt a bit tedious. Granted, given the ending (which I won't spoil), the style makes a kind of sense - the novel does kind of read like a report or field notes. But this style just isn't for me.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows a number of characters living in Baghdad in 2005. One of these, a junk dealer named Hadi, gathers together various body parts following a deadly bombing and makes a complete corpse. But when the spirit of one of the victims enters the corpse and begins enacting a series of murders for revenge, the whole city is left feeling terrorized.
I really did enjoy the themes and ideas that Sawadi plays with in this novel. The creature being made of body parts that decay and constantly require replacements, for example, was a fascinating way of exploring cycles of violence. The exploration of what it means to be "a criminal" was also intellectually compelling, as well as the idea that the creature, made up of body parts from people of various ethnicities and beliefs, constituted the first true "Iraqi citizen."
However, much of my enjoyment of this book is hampered by the prose and the structure of this plot. Not only did I feel like I was being kept at a distance from the characters and was being told rather than shown things, but the multiple perspectives made it difficult to feel the build up of suspense or tension. Don't get me wrong - I do like books with multiple perspectives, and I think this one could have worked well. Telling the story by using multiple POVs around the creature rather than solely through the ideas of Hadi and the creature could have been fascinating. But as it stands, I think this book is written in a way that makes it hard to connect with.
CHARACTERS: There are a lot of characters in this book, so I'll only speak of them generally.
I liked that most characters in this book felt like ordinary humans with their own strengths and flaws. Some of them are deeply unlikable but still compelling on account of their motivations making sense, and I kind of enjoyed following people who didn't always act heroically or what have you.
However, it was difficult to feel emotionally connected to the characters on account of the prose style. I didn't feel like I was experiencing things with the characters so much as I was being told about them, and while it makes some sense given the ending of this book, I'm not sure it was my favorite way of storytelling.
TL;DR: I'm sure there's a great story buried in Frankenstein in Baghdad, but I personally found the prose so tedious that it was hard to focus.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Police brutality, Murder, Alcohol, War
Minor: Torture, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
As a disclaimer, I've been a fan of John and Hank Green for well over a decade now, so my review may or may not have some bias as a result.
I can't say that I ever had a huge interest in global health, per se, but I do care deeply about injustice. This book, then, was a compelling case study for how Healthcare and injustice (particularly in former colonized countries) are intertwined. As Green shows us, the story of tuberculosis in the 21st century is the story of both human ingenuity and human failure: while we have developed effective treatments for what has been humanity's deadliest infectious disease, systemic racism and putting profit above people has ensured that millions still die from tuberculosis every year.
Green makes his case by focusing primarily on humans. There is some science in this book, and lucky for me, it's simplified enough where I can understand it without being overwhelmed. But Green stirs a passionate response in readers not by relaying the science, but by offering a social or cultural view of the history of the disease. He tackles 19th century beliefs about tuberculosis and art, linguistic roots that shape the way different cultures thought of the disease, and the way germ theory changed the way tuberculosis was perceived by rich, primarily white countries.
Even more powerful is the story of Henry Reider, a teenager in Sierra Leone who survived a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis. Henry and Green are friends in real life, which shows me that Green is using his platform to boost marginalized stories. But Henry's story is a powerful statement not just about the injustice of Healthcare in impoverished nations, but about the humanity of those infected and the hope that a better world is possible. It also serves as a nice foil to the macro-view of tuberculosis treatment elsewhere in the book: while it's easy to lose the humanity in a survey of statistics and historical trends and "fun" facts, Henry reminds us that everyone who has had the disease is a full person as complex as you and I.
My criticisms regarding this book are minimal and probably have to do with personal preference. Mainly, I wanted a little more prolonged discussion from Green on certain topics; this book moves fast in part because sections (and chapters) are short, and while that might be fine for casual readers, I was hoping for a more sustained train of thought or argument. I was also mildly annoyed by the formatting of the Further Reading section, but I'm a crotchety old ex-academic, so take that as you will.
TL;DR: Everything is Tuberculosis is a powerful call-to-action against the injustices within global health. Looking at the history of tuberculosis through a human (and societal) lens ensures that people like Henry don't slip through the cracks, and I think this book serves as a good introduction to one of our many global health crises.
I can't say that I ever had a huge interest in global health, per se, but I do care deeply about injustice. This book, then, was a compelling case study for how Healthcare and injustice (particularly in former colonized countries) are intertwined. As Green shows us, the story of tuberculosis in the 21st century is the story of both human ingenuity and human failure: while we have developed effective treatments for what has been humanity's deadliest infectious disease, systemic racism and putting profit above people has ensured that millions still die from tuberculosis every year.
Green makes his case by focusing primarily on humans. There is some science in this book, and lucky for me, it's simplified enough where I can understand it without being overwhelmed. But Green stirs a passionate response in readers not by relaying the science, but by offering a social or cultural view of the history of the disease. He tackles 19th century beliefs about tuberculosis and art, linguistic roots that shape the way different cultures thought of the disease, and the way germ theory changed the way tuberculosis was perceived by rich, primarily white countries.
Even more powerful is the story of Henry Reider, a teenager in Sierra Leone who survived a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis. Henry and Green are friends in real life, which shows me that Green is using his platform to boost marginalized stories. But Henry's story is a powerful statement not just about the injustice of Healthcare in impoverished nations, but about the humanity of those infected and the hope that a better world is possible. It also serves as a nice foil to the macro-view of tuberculosis treatment elsewhere in the book: while it's easy to lose the humanity in a survey of statistics and historical trends and "fun" facts, Henry reminds us that everyone who has had the disease is a full person as complex as you and I.
My criticisms regarding this book are minimal and probably have to do with personal preference. Mainly, I wanted a little more prolonged discussion from Green on certain topics; this book moves fast in part because sections (and chapters) are short, and while that might be fine for casual readers, I was hoping for a more sustained train of thought or argument. I was also mildly annoyed by the formatting of the Further Reading section, but I'm a crotchety old ex-academic, so take that as you will.
TL;DR: Everything is Tuberculosis is a powerful call-to-action against the injustices within global health. Looking at the history of tuberculosis through a human (and societal) lens ensures that people like Henry don't slip through the cracks, and I think this book serves as a good introduction to one of our many global health crises.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content
Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Classism
The North Water by Ian McGuire
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
The AMC adaptation of this book is on my to-watch list, so when the ebook was available at my library, I figured I'd go for it. I like a good whaling mystery, and like many, I have a fascination with stories like the Franklin Expedition. While parts of this book were atmospheric and I think the author achieved a desired bleak tone, I found it overall hard to enjoy because of the racism and homophobia. I know a lot of people might say it's "historically accurate," but if you know me, you'll know that "accuracy" is not a good argument.
WRITING: The parts of this book I enjoyed most were the descriptions of the environment and states of being. McGuire has a knack for crafting vivid and unique similes, and I think he does a good job of not only communicating the appearance of the world, but it's particular mood. He also does a good job communicating bodily sensation, and I found the similes coupled with stark, punchy sentences to be particularly compelling.
PLOT: The plot of this book generally follows Patrick Sumner, an Irish surgeon who takes a job aboard a whaling ship after he is discharged from the British military. Sumner is put through a number of wringers, from surviving freezing waters to wrestling with hunger to sniffing out a murderer who has killed an innocent cabin boy and may be out for him next.
This book isn't really focused on the murder so much as it is a story about survival. The point is to show how lucky Sumner is and all the ways he survives war, ambush, and other things. If you like a good survival tale, you'll probably like this plot; but if you're looking for a thrilling murder mystery, this isn't the book for you. McGuire puts no stock in drawing out the tension and the suspense, so if anything, this book is mostly a disaster tale.
As a result, the tone of this book is bleak, and it's made even breaker by its racism and homophobia. I know what some people might say: 19th century Europeans were racist and homophobic. And that's true, but I think it was overdone in this book. The opening chapter, for example, left a bad taste in my mouth, and honestly, the racism and homophobia did little for me than to add unwanted "texture."
CHARACTERS: Sumner, our protagonist, is somewhat likable, but also goes along with things that made me not entirely want him to succeed. I appreciated that he stuck up for the cabin boy and wanted to protect him, but his complicity in the British colonization of India was... eh. It would have been one thing if Sumner grew as a person and saw non-British people more favorably, and granted, he does seem to form positive relationships with the Indigenous people of the Arctic. But it didn't strike me as character growth. He doesn't really seem to see the British troops as the bottom of the barrel of humanity, and he doesn't seem to reflect on his own failures while in India. He more seems angry that his superior didn't protect him.
Still, there was something about Sumner becoming a hardened, pessimistic fellow that was satisfying. He seems to start his journey as someone wanting a new start and has some optimism about him; by the end, he's jaded and loses a lot of faith in humanity. That was well done, though again, I don't think we needed so much racism and sexism to do that.
Personnel aboard the ship were fine. Cavendish was suitably annoying and easy to dislike for his ruthless ambition. Otto was a beacon of light amidst a sea of drudgery, and I genuinely enjoyed his banter with Sumner. Brownlee, the captain, was interesting in that he was determined to make up for past failures, and various other crew members were distinct enough to be characters yet didn't steal the spotlight from the main action.
I was, however, confused as to why we needed POV chapters and passages from Drax. Drax's perspective seemed to destroy the tension, but maybe McGuire wasn't setting out to write mystery or suspense. If that's the case, then fine, but honestly, I think the book might have benefitted from developing Drax more as either Sumner's foil or a stronger architect of the ship and crew's downfall. The description seems to suggest that Drax and Sumner are circling each other, but I didn't get that sense at all because it didn't feel like the crew or even Sumner himself was being hunted.
TL;DR: The North Water is a fairly bleak tale of survival with interesting similes and a satisfying downward spiral into pessimism. However, much of my enjoyment of this book was dampened by the racism and homophobia, and more so the sexual assault and death of children.
WRITING: The parts of this book I enjoyed most were the descriptions of the environment and states of being. McGuire has a knack for crafting vivid and unique similes, and I think he does a good job of not only communicating the appearance of the world, but it's particular mood. He also does a good job communicating bodily sensation, and I found the similes coupled with stark, punchy sentences to be particularly compelling.
PLOT: The plot of this book generally follows Patrick Sumner, an Irish surgeon who takes a job aboard a whaling ship after he is discharged from the British military. Sumner is put through a number of wringers, from surviving freezing waters to wrestling with hunger to sniffing out a murderer who has killed an innocent cabin boy and may be out for him next.
This book isn't really focused on the murder so much as it is a story about survival. The point is to show how lucky Sumner is and all the ways he survives war, ambush, and other things. If you like a good survival tale, you'll probably like this plot; but if you're looking for a thrilling murder mystery, this isn't the book for you. McGuire puts no stock in drawing out the tension and the suspense, so if anything, this book is mostly a disaster tale.
As a result, the tone of this book is bleak, and it's made even breaker by its racism and homophobia. I know what some people might say: 19th century Europeans were racist and homophobic. And that's true, but I think it was overdone in this book. The opening chapter, for example, left a bad taste in my mouth, and honestly, the racism and homophobia did little for me than to add unwanted "texture."
CHARACTERS: Sumner, our protagonist, is somewhat likable, but also goes along with things that made me not entirely want him to succeed. I appreciated that he stuck up for the cabin boy and wanted to protect him, but his complicity in the British colonization of India was... eh. It would have been one thing if Sumner grew as a person and saw non-British people more favorably, and granted, he does seem to form positive relationships with the Indigenous people of the Arctic. But it didn't strike me as character growth. He doesn't really seem to see the British troops as the bottom of the barrel of humanity, and he doesn't seem to reflect on his own failures while in India. He more seems angry that his superior didn't protect him.
Still, there was something about Sumner becoming a hardened, pessimistic fellow that was satisfying. He seems to start his journey as someone wanting a new start and has some optimism about him; by the end, he's jaded and loses a lot of faith in humanity. That was well done, though again, I don't think we needed so much racism and sexism to do that.
Personnel aboard the ship were fine. Cavendish was suitably annoying and easy to dislike for his ruthless ambition. Otto was a beacon of light amidst a sea of drudgery, and I genuinely enjoyed his banter with Sumner. Brownlee, the captain, was interesting in that he was determined to make up for past failures, and various other crew members were distinct enough to be characters yet didn't steal the spotlight from the main action.
I was, however, confused as to why we needed POV chapters and passages from Drax. Drax's perspective seemed to destroy the tension, but maybe McGuire wasn't setting out to write mystery or suspense. If that's the case, then fine, but honestly, I think the book might have benefitted from developing Drax more as either Sumner's foil or a stronger architect of the ship and crew's downfall. The description seems to suggest that Drax and Sumner are circling each other, but I didn't get that sense at all because it didn't feel like the crew or even Sumner himself was being hunted.
TL;DR: The North Water is a fairly bleak tale of survival with interesting similes and a satisfying downward spiral into pessimism. However, much of my enjoyment of this book was dampened by the racism and homophobia, and more so the sexual assault and death of children.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
I must have come across this book when searching for more Gothic books. I'm a Gothic girlie, and I'm always up for some messed up little story about a troubled past and possible ghosts. While I did enjoy some aspects of this book, I ultimately found it to be middling on the whole. It seemed to invoke a lot of Gothic elements without tying them together, and the frame narrarive didn't do much to serve the themes.
WRITING: Van Veen's prose is fine. It's not overly atmospheric or lyrical, but it does have some interesting descriptions that keep it interesting. I liked the way she portrayed the spirits; their mannerisms and appearances were almost surreal, and I got the sense that they were both otherworldly yet still strongly tethered to earth.
I do think some of the prose could have been tightened up. There are a few instances when Van Veen seems to describe processes that don't need detail or attention. There also seems to be some repetition (such as constant vomiting) that makes the story feel rote at times.
Overall, it's fine, as I said. Not terribly inspiring, but functions as it needs to and is easy to get through.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows Roos, a twenty-one year old woman living in 1950s Netherlands and has a spirit companion named Ruth. Roos works as a medium holding seances at the behest of her abusive "Mama" - though Roos can see Ruth, she never sees any other spirit, so the seances are a sham to get money. One day, Roos performs a seance for a wealthy heiress, Agnes Knoop, who wishes to contact her dead husband, Thomas. Agnes is immediately drawn to Roos and offers to take her away from Mama, only to plunge Roos into the mystery of Thomas's death.
This plot also exists along a kind of frame story set after Roos has been arrested and committed to psychiatric care. Every few chapters, we get transcripts of a doctor interviewing Roos about her experiences, and frankly, I don't think they did much for the story. If anything, they killed a lot of the suspense (rather than building it) by "spoiling" some of the buildup. These episodes were useful in framing the theme of trauma, but they might have been more interesting had they not dissipated a lot of the tension.
As for the plot itself, I'm of a few minds. On the one hand, I do like the idea of exploring trauma and how it is akin to being haunted by spirits. I also appreciated Van Veen's deliberate choice not to have the antagonists be fully present in the story as another way of exploring how trauma works.
The relationship between Roos and Agnes was also good; I liked seeing Roos become attached to Agnes and Roos's constant need to please felt very much like a trauma response.
However, I do think there were some things just kind of thrown in because they were "Gothic." The stone saints and religious fanatacism felt a bit underdeveloped, and Willemijn (Thomas's sister)'s obsession with dynasty and bloodlines - as well as how that manifests in her racism - didn't feel very integrated. Madness was present, but I feel like more could have been done to explore the link between trauma and women being dismissed as insane (especially through male-dominated institutions, like medicine). To be fair, there was some of that, so maybe I'm just being picky.
Perhaps my biggest gripe is that the last 20ish percent of the story seemed to have an odd pace. I didn't much like that Agnes reveals her past with Thomas as a big monologue, and when things start to go haywire, I felt like the moments that should have been shocking or emotionally weighty just weren't (perhaps because they were spoiled in the transcripts?). The fact that one spirit seems to have different abilities from the others also feels a bit convenient, so I don't know. The end was thematically appropriate (feeling trapped, etc) but narratively a little empty.
CHARACTERS: Roos, our POV character and protagonist, was well written in that she carried her trauma with her in a compelling way. She is constantly plagued by memories of her past and acts in ways that make sense: hoarding food, avoiding male company, etc. Her eagerness to please Agnes also felt like an extension of her trauma, which was appropriate. I guess where Roos let me down was in her general arc: her relationship with Ruth didn't punch me in the gut as much as I hoped, and part of that might be because of the spoiler-filled transcripts.
Ruth, Roos's spirit companion, is fun in that she has a dreadful appearance that is at times quite beautiful, and she has mannerisms that are disturbing and endearing at the same time. I liked this juxtaposition of traits and the way spirits in general kind of felt like cats: partially aloof yet deeply attached to their humans. I just don't think her bond with Roos was possessive enough to make the events towards the end feel shocking or the very end of the book feel like Ruth and Roos were in some messed-up relationship.
Agnes is interesting in that she is also affected by her trauma, but hers also has a racial dimension on account of her being half Indonesian. I liked Agnes's attempts to recover her mother's culture, but ultimately, a lot of it didn't feel fully explored. Her hunt for the family's kris (dagger) felt like an afterthought, and I really wanted a more nuanced exploration of what it meant to have trauma based on racism.
Mama and Willemijn are two antagonists of sorts, and both are generally unpleasant. Mama is Roos's abuser, while Willemijn hurls racial slurs at Agnes and does everything she can to hurt her. Both were believable in their horribleness, but I do think Willemijn's role could have been explored more.
Male antagonists were kept to the periphery very deliberately, as Van Veen discusses in her author interview. I do respect the purpose of this choice: to show how trauma is experienced even after an abuser is no longer physically present. But I'm also not sure if Van Veen still made Thomas in particular feel real.
TL;DR: My Darling Dreadful Thing does some interesting things with trauma and the Gothic genre, but the frame narrative transcripts undercuts a lot of the tension. Some themes, I felt, also could have been explored more, but ultimately, this was a fairly interesting take on the supernatural.
WRITING: Van Veen's prose is fine. It's not overly atmospheric or lyrical, but it does have some interesting descriptions that keep it interesting. I liked the way she portrayed the spirits; their mannerisms and appearances were almost surreal, and I got the sense that they were both otherworldly yet still strongly tethered to earth.
I do think some of the prose could have been tightened up. There are a few instances when Van Veen seems to describe processes that don't need detail or attention. There also seems to be some repetition (such as constant vomiting) that makes the story feel rote at times.
Overall, it's fine, as I said. Not terribly inspiring, but functions as it needs to and is easy to get through.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows Roos, a twenty-one year old woman living in 1950s Netherlands and has a spirit companion named Ruth. Roos works as a medium holding seances at the behest of her abusive "Mama" - though Roos can see Ruth, she never sees any other spirit, so the seances are a sham to get money. One day, Roos performs a seance for a wealthy heiress, Agnes Knoop, who wishes to contact her dead husband, Thomas. Agnes is immediately drawn to Roos and offers to take her away from Mama, only to plunge Roos into the mystery of Thomas's death.
This plot also exists along a kind of frame story set after Roos has been arrested and committed to psychiatric care. Every few chapters, we get transcripts of a doctor interviewing Roos about her experiences, and frankly, I don't think they did much for the story. If anything, they killed a lot of the suspense (rather than building it) by "spoiling" some of the buildup. These episodes were useful in framing the theme of trauma, but they might have been more interesting had they not dissipated a lot of the tension.
As for the plot itself, I'm of a few minds. On the one hand, I do like the idea of exploring trauma and how it is akin to being haunted by spirits. I also appreciated Van Veen's deliberate choice not to have the antagonists be fully present in the story as another way of exploring how trauma works.
The relationship between Roos and Agnes was also good; I liked seeing Roos become attached to Agnes and Roos's constant need to please felt very much like a trauma response.
However, I do think there were some things just kind of thrown in because they were "Gothic." The stone saints and religious fanatacism felt a bit underdeveloped, and Willemijn (Thomas's sister)'s obsession with dynasty and bloodlines - as well as how that manifests in her racism - didn't feel very integrated. Madness was present, but I feel like more could have been done to explore the link between trauma and women being dismissed as insane (especially through male-dominated institutions, like medicine). To be fair, there was some of that, so maybe I'm just being picky.
Perhaps my biggest gripe is that the last 20ish percent of the story seemed to have an odd pace. I didn't much like that Agnes reveals her past with Thomas as a big monologue, and when things start to go haywire, I felt like the moments that should have been shocking or emotionally weighty just weren't (perhaps because they were spoiled in the transcripts?). The fact that one spirit seems to have different abilities from the others also feels a bit convenient, so I don't know. The end was thematically appropriate (feeling trapped, etc) but narratively a little empty.
CHARACTERS: Roos, our POV character and protagonist, was well written in that she carried her trauma with her in a compelling way. She is constantly plagued by memories of her past and acts in ways that make sense: hoarding food, avoiding male company, etc. Her eagerness to please Agnes also felt like an extension of her trauma, which was appropriate. I guess where Roos let me down was in her general arc: her relationship with Ruth didn't punch me in the gut as much as I hoped, and part of that might be because of the spoiler-filled transcripts.
Ruth, Roos's spirit companion, is fun in that she has a dreadful appearance that is at times quite beautiful, and she has mannerisms that are disturbing and endearing at the same time. I liked this juxtaposition of traits and the way spirits in general kind of felt like cats: partially aloof yet deeply attached to their humans. I just don't think her bond with Roos was possessive enough to make the events towards the end feel shocking or the very end of the book feel like Ruth and Roos were in some messed-up relationship.
Agnes is interesting in that she is also affected by her trauma, but hers also has a racial dimension on account of her being half Indonesian. I liked Agnes's attempts to recover her mother's culture, but ultimately, a lot of it didn't feel fully explored. Her hunt for the family's kris (dagger) felt like an afterthought, and I really wanted a more nuanced exploration of what it meant to have trauma based on racism.
Mama and Willemijn are two antagonists of sorts, and both are generally unpleasant. Mama is Roos's abuser, while Willemijn hurls racial slurs at Agnes and does everything she can to hurt her. Both were believable in their horribleness, but I do think Willemijn's role could have been explored more.
Male antagonists were kept to the periphery very deliberately, as Van Veen discusses in her author interview. I do respect the purpose of this choice: to show how trauma is experienced even after an abuser is no longer physically present. But I'm also not sure if Van Veen still made Thomas in particular feel real.
TL;DR: My Darling Dreadful Thing does some interesting things with trauma and the Gothic genre, but the frame narrative transcripts undercuts a lot of the tension. Some themes, I felt, also could have been explored more, but ultimately, this was a fairly interesting take on the supernatural.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Cannibalism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I learned of this book while watching a "best books of 2024" YouTube video, and the premise was appealing. I love a bit of supernatural fiction, and I don't think I've read anything with Sri Lankan characters and folklore before. Upon reading, I can definitely see why this book was on that "best reads" list. It's funny, it's heart-wrenching, it's weird... basically everything I enjoy in my literary fiction.
WRITING: Karunatilaka's prose is interesting in that it creates very vivid pictures of the afterlife (called the "in between") while also feeling kind of hazy by using second person. Normally, second person is a huge turn off for me, but I think it did interesting things here. Still, I think second person did make it harder to connect with characters, but that might just be my personal bias.
I really enjoyed the mix of humor, horror, and magic throughout the book, and how easily Karunatilaka moves between them and juxtaposes them. There are parts of the narration that feel heavy and bleak, but then it will be met with humor or something absurd. Some of this reinforces the theme in this book that some lives are insignificant or meaningless - almost nihilistic. But some of it is also full of meaning in itself, causing the reader to look at things a new way.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows Maali Almeida, a photographer who is killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War in 1989. Upon "awakening" in the waiting room of the afterlife, Maali finds that he has no idea who killed him and that he has only 7 moons (nights) before he loses his chance to pass on. Maali has taken some photographs that could anger a lot of people, so the list of suspects is long. Meanwhile, his photos have put his still-living best friend and his lover in the line of danger.
The description of this book makes the plot out to be a thriller or mystery, and while there is a mystery element, the focus is less on who-dun-it and more on reflecting on war and bloodshed. Maali has seen a lot of horrifying things and there are a lot of players in the ongoing conflict, and a huge part of this book is devoted to thinking through allegiances, power, justice, revenge, and so on.
Because I know very little about the history of the Sri Lankan Civil War, I found it difficult to keep track of all the players and motivations. But to be clear: that's my own failure, and I don't think it would be fair for Karunatilaka to hold my hand and explain everything to me. I think this book will feel more weighty once I am more familiar with the history, and I am grateful that I have the opportunity to read outside my comfort zone and be motivated to learn new things.
CHARACTERS: Maali, our protagonist, is interesting but also a little hard to get to know due to the second person narration. That may be my own bias talking, so take that with a grain of salt. Still, I liked following a character who was doing something arguably noble and important yet also was kind of spiraling in his personal life. I loved Maali's relationships with Jaki and DD, and how he constantly reflected on both his love for them and how he failed them. It made me think of Maali less as this brave journalistic and more of a person who struggles to maintain relationships during a time of chaos.
Jaki, Maali's roommate and best friend, is admirable in that she does everything she can to learn what happened to Maali. I loved her bravery and how she seemed to be the person who was most invested in finding the truth. I was rooting for her the whole time.
DD, Maali's lover, was sympathetic in that he wanted to make his own life and struggled to openly accept his queerness. I liked that he had a connection to politics and that put some pressure on Maali's activities, and I enjoyed the parts where he and Jaki teamed up to get answers
.
.
There are a lot of other characters in this book - too many to name. But broadly, I do think all were as simple or complex as they needed to be. Personally, I think I wanted a little more depth from the supernatural characters, but I also could have been missing something that's obvious to people who know about the folklore.
TL;DR: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a stunning portrait of the Sri Lankan Civil War and three people at the heart of it. My criticisms are mostly to do with my own preferences and lack of familiarity with history, but those aside, this is a very moving, very bleak, and yet very funny book that tackles horror and humor with skill.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, War
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Infidelity, Racism, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Torture
Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling
dark
mysterious
2.5
I enjoyed The Death of Jane Lawrence so I decided to see what other books by Starling my library had on offer. I picked up this novella, hoping for some more spooky times, and I got that - at least at first. While individual parts of this book were interesting, as a whole, the story just did not cohere for me. Thus, my rating of 2.5 stars.
WRITING: Starling's prose in this book is ok. There are some things that are done well and some things I wish were different. I did like the gradual spread of the "plague" and the way the victims were described - Starling is good at creating some unsettling imagery. But when it came to crafting emotionally-resonant passages, I was left feeling a little empty. Pretty much everything that was supposed to have an emotional impact - Evelyn's past, her relationship with her family, her relationship with Violetta - felt told to us rather than shown, and on top of that, some of the prose buried us in overexplaining Evelyn's thoughts and reasoning. So while sentences themselves were clear and weird (in a good way), on a macro-level, I wanted a little more planning and less explanation of every little thing.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows Lady Evelyn Perdanu, a shipping magnate in the fictional city of Delphinium. Delphinium is the last city standing against an enemy force, coming to conquer their territory. Meanwhile, Evelyn notices one of her ships has brought in a "plague" that seems to be making its victims fixate on her. Evelyn becomes obsessed with deflecting attention away from her lest she be accused of bringing a plague to the city, and moreover, she becomes increasingly paranoid that the plague will uncover some of her past sins.
I liked the premise of this plot, but in practice, it seemed to be trying to take on too much. It wanted to be part political intrigue, part plague story, part supernatural, etc with some murder and eccentricity and plant stuff to boot. I never felt like all these elements cohered into something; I was pulled in so many different directions that by the end, I wasn't quite sure what was going on or what I was supposed to get out of everything.
I think this story could have been more successful if it had picked just a couple things and really focused on Evelyn's paranoia. Trying to do politics and poison and supernatural stuff and plague and police investigations and whatever else just stretched its themes too thin.
CHARACTERS: Evelyn, our protagonist, has a lot going on so it's hard to pin her down. One minute, she's a ruthless shipping magnate with a fierce determination to keep herself afloat. She has no qualms killing people who get in her way and cultivates a garden of poisonous plants to aid her. The next minute, she's an anxious mess who can't act and who bestows tinctures and herbal remedies on her fellow aristocrats as a means to ingratiate herself to them. Personally, I found her to be full of contradictions, and her spiral downward doesn't so much show a devolution in character as it does tell us that Evelyn has too many secrets to keep up with.
Violetta, Evelyn's assistant, is ok, but her relationship with Evelyn isn't as well-developed as I would have liked. This book advertises itself as queer horror, but personally, the queerness felt shallow since all the romantic (or potentially romantic) aspects of the relationship were told to us rather than shown. Violetta's role as a loyal employee was much stronger.
Other characters were fine, if under-used. The strange man that Evelyn and Violetta find on the side of the road seems to be an afterthought for most of the book, and we don't really see Evelyn try to use him to the degree that she wants to. The police officer (or equivalent, in this fantasy universe) is also too besotted with Evelyn to be seen as a real threat, and I would have liked to see his suspicion be used to heighten Evelyn's anxiety more and to create some tension. True, Evelyn does do her best to keep her secrets from him, but as a reader, I didn't feel like he was truly someone I had to worry about.
TL;DR: Yellow Jessamine is a novella that tries to do too much at the expense of creating a coherent narrative. While some of the creepier elements were fun and I loved the idea of a character being brought down by their own paranoia, there were simply too many elements that competed with one another.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Violence, Blood
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
3.0
I was aware that Cooper was writing a memoir, but I picked it up now because I wanted to think about birds. It's cold where I am, and I haven't seen birds in my backyard since it dipped below 20 degrees.
This book did have Birding in it, but it's not a Birding guide. It's more of a memoir that includes Birding in addition to stories about traveling the world, living in NYC, being Black and queer, and working for Marvel in the 1990s. All of this is very interesting - as a nerd myself, I liked reading inside stories about what working for Marvel was like, and I think if I ever met Cooper, we'd have a lot to geek out about.
The strongest parts of this book, in my opinion, were when Cooper connects what's happening in his life to something that goes beyond just him. For example, I loved the way he described a particular bird using a self-invented myth: it brilliantly captured his emotional reaction to the animal without merely describing what it looked like. His insights into what happened to him in Central Park was also good because he grappled with a lot of complex things: his personal feelings, the expectations of other people, the broader social context of Black suffering and racism. In these moments, I felt like I was reading about how one man experienced the world, and that deeply personal take was inspiring.
The chapter on other birders in Central Park is also pretty fun. I loved learning not just about Birding but about the Birding community. The insight into this niche hobby is so wonderful, and I wish more communities were as lovely as Cooper describes.
I do think, however, that the framing of this book could be a little confusing. This book is framed as lessons learned from Birding, and while there is some of that, Birding sometimes disappears for long stretches at a time. From all the Birding tips and the list of the seven joys of Birding, I thought most of this memoir would be told with Birding as a recurring theme, and while that happened sometimes, I think travel is much more central.
I'm also not the biggest fan of Cooper's prose. It's fine - it does what it needs to do. And there are some good descriptions of the natural world. But it didn't wow me, which is unfortunate since so much of the memoir involves the awe of nature and Cooper's fierce determination to stand up for civil rights.
Lastly, I think there needed to be a bit more reflection. Much of the memoir flits from story to story with only a sentence or two that reflects on why it matters. Personally, I think memoirs are strongest when the author gives some kind of insight or lesson learned from the situation - something other than a recollection of facts and events.
TL;DR: Christian Cooper's memoir makes the author sound like a cool person who I'd love to hang out with. But it didn't wow me to the extent I was hoping.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality
The Ruin of Evangeline Jones by Julia Bennet
emotional
4.0
This book was recommended by a friend (the one with whim I share a historical romance novel blog). I generally trust her judgment, so here we are. Though I can't say this book was Gothic (as the cover advertises), I did have great fun watching our characters spar and then turn into partners. I'll be checking out more from this author, too, since my first exposure to her work is this 4 star read.
WRITING: Bennet's prose is about what you'd expect of the romance genre. As I've said before, this isn't a bad thing: Bennet knows her audience and her genre, and I appreciate a romance that's clear and quick.
PLOT: The plot of this book follows Evangeline "Evie" Jones, a spiritualist/medium in Victorian London who holds seances to keep herself off the street. Unfortunately, she has attracted the attention of Alex, Duke of Harcastle - famous for his ruthless exposures of fake mediums. Evangeline must find a way to avoid his meddling while also obeying the commands of her mentor, a powerful criminal named Captain.
One thing I really appreciated about this plot was the pace. I felt like events progressed at just the right speed, and I further appreciated that a wrench was thrown into the narrarive at about the 50% mark rather than closer to the end (like a lot of romances). The pace did slow for the last 10-20%, however, when it felt like Evie and Alex were just waiting around for action. But up until then, I never felt rushed.
I also appreciated the class consciousness in this book and that no one ever shamed women for sex work. Evie challenges a lot of Alex's ideas, pointing out where his privilege makes him blind to certain things. It was very satisfying to me because I've read a lot of books where class is barely considered.
CHARACTERS: Evie, our heroine, is sympathetic in that she's just trying her best to make a living. Her backstory is understandable and informs her current choices: not only is she determined, but she also doesn't get close to a lot of people for fear of losing them. I especially liked the complexity of her relationship with Captain; as both her mentor and her tormentor, Captain inspires loyalty, fear, and gratitude, and watching Evie wrestle with these emotions made for a richer character arc.
Alex, our hero, was fun in that he has a single-mindedness that gets challenged in so many ways. I did feel some sympathy for him when I learned of his past, though I wish his past had informed his choice to pursue mediums a bit more strongly. I also wish more was done to develop the sense of responsibility he had regarding his estate. His estate is a major barrier to his marriage to Evie, and frankly, I wasn't altogether convinced he cared enough.
Supporting characters were sweet. I loved Evie's relationship with Mags, her roommate. I also loved Evie's affection for Jack, one of the younger boys in Captain's employ. Alex's sister and her husband will probably have more significance once I read book one in this series, and my guess is that Ellis, Alex's cousin, will get his own book as well.
Captain as an antagonist was fine. Though I liked the relationship he had with Evie, his motivations were a little iffy to me. I wish he had been a bit more active, especially towards the end when Alex and Evie seem to be waiting for him to make a move.
ROMANCE: The romance between Alex and Evie was fun. I liked how they started out as adversaries and bickered with one another, only to learn to trust each other and open themselves up to emotion. The way they mirrored each other in that regard was satisfying; both learned through the romance that being vulnerable can be ok and that people of all backgrounds need a little compassion.
TL;DR: The Ruin of Evangeline Jones is an adventurous tale of a duke and a medium going head-to-head, only to fall for one another and turn against one of London's most powerful criminals.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Physical abuse