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porgyreads's reviews
145 reviews
Overspill by Charlotte Paradise
4.0
Had the pleasure of reading a proof copy and this book far exceeded my expectations. The emotional heart of the novel did not lie within the romance but the surfacing of Sara and it was cathartic to read her journey.
When I finished reading the rush of hope building over the final pages made me want to cry - I didn’t but as someone who isn’t a particularly emotional reader it really moved me.
When I finished reading the rush of hope building over the final pages made me want to cry - I didn’t but as someone who isn’t a particularly emotional reader it really moved me.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
5.0
Fond of Suzanne Collins YA packaged messaging here as always:
The path to freedom is littered with failed rebellions.
Narrative is a liberator AND a fascist tool
There are many shades of complicity and many shades of resistance but all are effective when adopted by the many.
The call to arms for community and collective action is crystal clear.
Learning about the ways in which the victors paths crossed prior to the third quarter quell really warmed and broke my heart in equal measure. Beetee, mags and wiress are family fr fr. Effie calling out his name during the third quarter quell reaping ON his birthday?
Haymitch has suffered more than Jesus.
Not only does haymitch’s story further illustrate the crimes of the Capitol, strengthening the world-building as you find more and more similarities to the present, it exposes just how fragile the spirit of rebellion can be as it works through a person in real time.
Suzanne Collins has (a la Dostoyevsky) used the prequels to highlight the figures of the Christ figure and devil figure in narrative and as a result, the last the OG trilogy is only strengthened. Dystopian queen. You can’t outdo the doer.
The path to freedom is littered with failed rebellions.
Narrative is a liberator AND a fascist tool
There are many shades of complicity and many shades of resistance but all are effective when adopted by the many.
The call to arms for community and collective action is crystal clear.
Learning about the ways in which the victors paths crossed prior to the third quarter quell really warmed and broke my heart in equal measure. Beetee, mags and wiress are family fr fr. Effie calling out his name during the third quarter quell reaping ON his birthday?
Haymitch has suffered more than Jesus.
Not only does haymitch’s story further illustrate the crimes of the Capitol, strengthening the world-building as you find more and more similarities to the present, it exposes just how fragile the spirit of rebellion can be as it works through a person in real time.
Suzanne Collins has (a la Dostoyevsky) used the prequels to highlight the figures of the Christ figure and devil figure in narrative and as a result, the last the OG trilogy is only strengthened. Dystopian queen. You can’t outdo the doer.
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
4.25
I was unfamiliar with Miss Hobbs game but rest assured it dialling up the next one in the series.
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
4.75
Mieko kawakami’s writing is lightweight, functional, and breathable - the literary equivalent to gore-tex. She manages to create a fable-esque narrative that is morally complex but so quiet you don’t fully register the allegorical might until the end.
I agree with the Saint. I agree with the villain. I agree with our main character, who is the most literal version of first person. He IS our Eyes. Through him we see ourselves in all our weakness and confusion, the frustration of reason and inaction. When the time comes, we see Kawakami’s intent clearly.
Kojima and her relationship with the main character is almost like a Trojan horse for her full-bodied appearance. She is fascinating and terrifying and encapsulates the wisdom (misplaced or otherwise) of a defiant teenage girl. She is a juggernaut saint intent on getting to heaven. She is a sin-eater. She does not want to be fixed.
Amid the biblical allusions the story still stands, the ending felt inevitable and still shocking. It is is brilliant, especially when contextualised by the sensory descriptions we get especially around smell versus sight. The idea that we could gain isn’t even a consideration (or even a thought) when we surrender to an act of transformation is the most brilliant and beautiful truth.
I would like to read it again just to get a feel for every sentence without the wonder of the unexpected and see how or if my feelings change. Exceeded my expectation.
I agree with the Saint. I agree with the villain. I agree with our main character, who is the most literal version of first person. He IS our Eyes. Through him we see ourselves in all our weakness and confusion, the frustration of reason and inaction. When the time comes, we see Kawakami’s intent clearly.
Kojima and her relationship with the main character is almost like a Trojan horse for her full-bodied appearance. She is fascinating and terrifying and encapsulates the wisdom (misplaced or otherwise) of a defiant teenage girl. She is a juggernaut saint intent on getting to heaven. She is a sin-eater. She does not want to be fixed.
Amid the biblical allusions the story still stands, the ending felt inevitable and still shocking. It is is brilliant, especially when contextualised by the sensory descriptions we get especially around smell versus sight. The idea that we could gain isn’t even a consideration (or even a thought) when we surrender to an act of transformation is the most brilliant and beautiful truth.
I would like to read it again just to get a feel for every sentence without the wonder of the unexpected and see how or if my feelings change. Exceeded my expectation.
The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
5.0
Interestingly this stands out to me more than anything as an original and imperfect read. Jelinek writes in such a lyrical and conversational manner it is breathtaking, spellbinding at times. But her metaphors and abstraction do skew a tad too much at points forcing the meaning to be lost or grappled with, diluting its power.
“No artist tolerates anything incomplete or half baked in his work”
“A world opens up to HER… the pustules with which the world can be joined together release an equally tiny world of music.”
“Health-how disgusting. Health is the transfiguration of the status quo… well, health always sides with the victors; the weak fall away”
I could spend hours typing out quotes I highlighted or finding ones I couldn’t highlight because I didn’t have a pen with me and fell ill about leaving behind as I turned the page on my commute.
It is such a considered and harrowing piece of work that doesn’t shy away from its horror. And even in rereading lines from the earlier half of the book the foreshadowing and inevitability of Erika’s fate - deemed not by her but by Klemmer’s hidden nature of cruelty and narcissism only rocks me more.
I held back from reading the final few pages because I wanted clarification on what the characters were thinking to compare to the later scenes of the film and was almost scared to be proven right but also scared to be proven wrong.
The piano teacher is about abuse. It is about art as shelter and romance as a “Trojan horse.” It is characterised by Erika, whose earnest and repressed longing for mutuality and dictated tenderness, after years of parental imprisonment and arrested development, is met with misunderstanding, cowardice, unwarranted humiliation and abuse.
“If you weren’t a victim, you couldn’t become one.”
Both book and film have taken over my entire January and though it wasn’t exactly “fun” or entertaining to engage with and pick apart, it was necessary.
“No artist tolerates anything incomplete or half baked in his work”
“A world opens up to HER… the pustules with which the world can be joined together release an equally tiny world of music.”
“Health-how disgusting. Health is the transfiguration of the status quo… well, health always sides with the victors; the weak fall away”
I could spend hours typing out quotes I highlighted or finding ones I couldn’t highlight because I didn’t have a pen with me and fell ill about leaving behind as I turned the page on my commute.
It is such a considered and harrowing piece of work that doesn’t shy away from its horror. And even in rereading lines from the earlier half of the book the foreshadowing and inevitability of Erika’s fate - deemed not by her but by Klemmer’s hidden nature of cruelty and narcissism only rocks me more.
I held back from reading the final few pages because I wanted clarification on what the characters were thinking to compare to the later scenes of the film and was almost scared to be proven right but also scared to be proven wrong.
“If you weren’t a victim, you couldn’t become one.”
Both book and film have taken over my entire January and though it wasn’t exactly “fun” or entertaining to engage with and pick apart, it was necessary.
The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn
5.0
I had a feeling this would be a five star read about 30% in but I also knew the ending would be the determining factor. The form and voice used in this novel is so interesting and inventive. The way that it allows for detatched omniscient narrative, first person accounts, mimics speech patterns of so many different kinds of person, and then interweaves poetic lines like:
“It’s as if everything passes into me and splits me open from inside, but it’s a very slow rupture and I feel as though I’m being transformed into a piece of music.”
So philosophical and strange and subtle in its brilliance.
I was premature when I said I can’t do shorter scifi because there’s nothing to sink your teeth into, this was plenty.
“It’s as if everything passes into me and splits me open from inside, but it’s a very slow rupture and I feel as though I’m being transformed into a piece of music.”
So philosophical and strange and subtle in its brilliance.
I was premature when I said I can’t do shorter scifi because there’s nothing to sink your teeth into, this was plenty.
Thrum by Meg Smitherman
3.75
I don’t think short scifi works for me I’m coming to realise I need to sink my teeth into the jugular!!!!
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
5.0
Ignoring the last chapter which was confusing and frankly unnecessary, this was sensational. Delicious prose. Characters you want to root and commiserate for. The transition between girl and woman is a process that you enter and cannot leave unscathed. A boxing tournament is perfect allegory and clever way to shape structure and form. Rita you’ve charmed me!
Paradise by Toni Morrison
5.0
God-ni Morrison don’t make that face :(
On a real: there were sentences in this that took my fucking breath away. Not only is it exquisite on a molecular level, the narrative is a sprawling portrait of an ancestrally rich town whose inhabitants are spoiled by their history of exclusion, their inability to adapt, and a collective dedication to a utopian ideal that will never and can never be - but somehow almost was.
I’m always of two minds about Toni Morrison because I want to take my time working through her backlist - there are only so many books and only one first read of each but I also have finished three works of hers now and the moment I closed each book I thought I have to reread this asap to figure out how the Fuck she did that???
On a real: there were sentences in this that took my fucking breath away. Not only is it exquisite on a molecular level, the narrative is a sprawling portrait of an ancestrally rich town whose inhabitants are spoiled by their history of exclusion, their inability to adapt, and a collective dedication to a utopian ideal that will never and can never be - but somehow almost was.
I’m always of two minds about Toni Morrison because I want to take my time working through her backlist - there are only so many books and only one first read of each but I also have finished three works of hers now and the moment I closed each book I thought I have to reread this asap to figure out how the Fuck she did that???