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porgyreads's reviews
140 reviews
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???
Such Small Hands by Andrés Barba
5.0
How have I never heard of this before. I was struck by its title and the cover and wanted something creepy and short to delight me. But I wasn’t just delighted I was mesmerised. The sensory descriptions veer quickly into the unreal: marina hears sights, she watches words, her entire internal world is a process of creation. There’s a line “perhaps it was just creative thinking” and that sums up the beauty and allure of marina as well as spelling out her demise. Her creative thought is her weapon and the weapon used against her. There are so many quotes in this that I have to write out just to really allow myself time with the words. The way that love is portrayed and described especially by the chorus of girls blew my mind a bit. Such clever use of form and voice. A book I have read and will re-read.
Fragile Animals by Genevieve Jagger
4.75
Devastatingly beautiful but requires surrender. If you concern yourself with what you think is going to happen I fear you won’t get anything from it.
I read this because I’m attempting my own vampire novel and was intrigued but I did not expect to be confronted with myself in ways that were quite scary. The last few chapters felt like a purge. Like I was in the tide of Noelle’s emotions and mine.
The second half of this book flew and in comparison the first half dragged, I can’t tell if that’s a me problem or a words problem - don’t care!
Moses, what a construction. A dangerous, perfect figment of imagination.
I won’t use other adjectives because my brain just thinks beautiful beautiful now it is over.
I read this because I’m attempting my own vampire novel and was intrigued but I did not expect to be confronted with myself in ways that were quite scary. The last few chapters felt like a purge. Like I was in the tide of Noelle’s emotions and mine.
The second half of this book flew and in comparison the first half dragged, I can’t tell if that’s a me problem or a words problem - don’t care!
Moses, what a construction. A dangerous, perfect figment of imagination.
I won’t use other adjectives because my brain just thinks beautiful beautiful now it is over.
The Poisoner by I.V. Ophelia
3.0
Read this to kick start spooky season and to get out of a slump, Huzzah! Biblically accurate reptilian vampire man was intriguing from a purely anthropological perspective even though he was archetypal in personality and that’s why this works. Was it reinventing the wheel? No. Did I have fun and will I read the next one? Sure :)
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
2.75
It should not have taken me so long to read a book this short but it lacked intrigue even as I pushed to create it myself. I tried hard to give it the benefit of the doubt and finish it because that’s what qualifies its mastery for some people but… not for me. Numb dissociative prose to evoke a numb dissociating main character I get it!. Through clays drug infused haze you hear terrible things and then see terrible things. This escalation doesn’t induce any tension just sadness - if that. The disarming recreation of upper class LA teen coked out nonchalance made me feel nothing and so when things did happen I didn’t feel more than a light shock. I see this is what is to be praised about the novel but that would require an investment in any character described. I couldn’t keep track of the names of clays friends because neither could he. I felt nothing about his girlfriend because neither did he. I was not mesmerised by clays blank slate personality or his repetitive days of driving and eating and sniffing and drinking. I can’t say this doesn’t represent a certain person in a certain time because it does, it’s a period piece (again, I get it!) and I guess the preoccupation with death in Beverly Hills makes sense considering it was at that time one of the safest places to live is interesting. But for all the drugs and horror and haunting echos of desert it wasn’t captivating. Finishing a book as a apathetic as I began is an insult!