pecsenye's reviews
213 reviews

Passing by Nella Larsen

5.0

Wow. 

Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen

4.5

These get better and better. This one is my favorite yet, as Andy works through his own problems and has time to realize that other people have problems, too. I love the resurfacing of Pat in this one, too. 

Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection by Jia Jiang

3.75

The big examples are outdated and clichéd stories of mostly white men who've fallen up, but Jiang's own stories and project are fascinating. 

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

4.75

I really enjoyed the narrator's voice. 

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

4.5

I liked this way more than I thought I would, because the premise was kind of formulaic but then it had these truly loopy, layered moments that made it richer than its structure. 

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.75

This is a bunch of short stories, some interlocking but mostly not, about cats and their people. 

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession

5.0

What a sweet, gentle, lovely, real book about real, kind, gentle people. 

All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

The way Kawakami writes women is unflinching and raw. The narrator of this book feels so empty and hollow, but likeable somehow at the same time. What a beautiful story. 

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I get why people didn't love this book, but I think it's the most crystalline, distilled description of untreated menopause I've ever read, and the way she loves her children feels so familiar. I just thought it explained how women's fertility is so chaotic and both generative and a huge personal liability. Any plot or characterizations other than the narrator are just logistical because it's the narrator and her feelings that are the whole point. 

Norway to America: A History of the Migration by Ingrid Semmingsen

hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

It's important to note that this book was written in 1975 by a Norwegian for a Norwegian, not American, audience. It's still the best book on Norwegian immigration to the US (and a little bit about Canada) out there. It's readable like any history or textbook, and backed with a ton of research. The first few chapters really drag, and one wonders why the author mentioned all those early immigrants without putting them in context with each other (maybe the Norwegian audience at the time would have known their names?). But overall you get a great picture of immigration from Norway to the US, along with the effects that immigration had on Norway. 

If you're choosing between this one and anything by Odd Lovell, choose this one.