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pushingdessy's reviews
444 reviews
All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I started reading this book on a whim on Valentine’s Day. This had been on my TBR for years - previously, I’d only read “Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics” and I admit I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. Would I like a different bell hooks book?
Yes, I quite did!
📝 The book is split into 13 chapters where hooks explores the topic of love based on her own life journey as well as words from other thinkers, through different facets: clarity, honesty, childhood, friendship, self-love, community love, spirituality, romance, grief…
💬 I found it illuminating and inspiring in certain aspects, and even cathartic in others. I really liked the concept of love that hooks introduces based on other authors: love as verb, as intention and action with the purpose of nurturing your and someone else’s growth, rather than an indefinable emotion someone “falls into” helplessly. hooks is adamant that this goes beyond/has little to do with the romantic notions of love we’re constantly being fed, but also with the idea that we all know instinctively how to love, which I think is so important.
⚠️ One thing that bugged me was the religious undertones that become a little wilder towards the end. I don’t mind spirituality being included because, even though I struggle with it, I think it’s important to the self and agree with hooks that modern society has lost touch with true spirituality. But she lost me in the last chapter when she began to talk about literal angels and discussing a legend from the Bible, and I was annoyed when she talked about biblical scripture almost as if it were facts of nature and not something someone made up.
tl;dr love is scary but it’s worth it! (but tbh, I’m still scared lol.)
Yes, I quite did!
📝 The book is split into 13 chapters where hooks explores the topic of love based on her own life journey as well as words from other thinkers, through different facets: clarity, honesty, childhood, friendship, self-love, community love, spirituality, romance, grief…
💬 I found it illuminating and inspiring in certain aspects, and even cathartic in others. I really liked the concept of love that hooks introduces based on other authors: love as verb, as intention and action with the purpose of nurturing your and someone else’s growth, rather than an indefinable emotion someone “falls into” helplessly. hooks is adamant that this goes beyond/has little to do with the romantic notions of love we’re constantly being fed, but also with the idea that we all know instinctively how to love, which I think is so important.
⚠️ One thing that bugged me was the religious undertones that become a little wilder towards the end. I don’t mind spirituality being included because, even though I struggle with it, I think it’s important to the self and agree with hooks that modern society has lost touch with true spirituality. But she lost me in the last chapter when she began to talk about literal angels and discussing a legend from the Bible, and I was annoyed when she talked about biblical scripture almost as if it were facts of nature and not something someone made up.
tl;dr love is scary but it’s worth it! (but tbh, I’m still scared lol.)
The Waves Take You Home by María Alejandra Barrios Vélez
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I received this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So… this book was very frustrating to me. But let’s start from the beginning: 18-year-old Violeta Sanoguera prepares to leave her home in Barranquilla, Colombia, broken-hearted, to go to college in the US, following her grandmother’s wishes.
Ten years later, when her strict but beloved grandmother passes away, Violeta goes back home for the funeral and decides to stay and try to save the family’s restaurant from bankruptcy with the help of her mother and Anton, her friend and grandmother’s protegé. But home brings up a lot of feelings for Vi, in particular for the boy whose proposal she rejected: Rafa. Problem is, both of them have moved on with other partners… or have they?
I liked the main plot of Vi wanting to save the restaurant and in the process finding out more about her grandmother, repairing family bonds, and discovering more about herself. But, frankly, I found that the addition of her grandmother’s *ghost* cheapened the story unnecessarily. So did the love triangle.
I understand that Vi and Rafa are ~star-crossed lovers~, but they were 18, and Vi is shown to be in a healthy relationship with someone who met her as an adult. Yet the moment she steps in Barranquilla, Rafa is all she can think about. I felt like the author didn’t want to paint Vi’s current partner as a bad guy, but then she also had to make him less appealing somehow, but did so in ways I just didn’t buy. For example, in one conversation, Liam is 100% behind Vi’s decision to save the restaurant, he believes she can do it… until somehow *she* voices the idea that he doesn’t think she can do it, and then it’s like “gotcha! I think you’re crazy and you won’t do it”. Or he sees the ghost and believes is a ghost, until Vi is like “ay he doesn’t believe in ghosts!” and then he doesn’t. Suddenly he “doesn’t understand her”… but Rafa does? The guy who doesn’t know her as an adult?
I just… this was an insane plot line done badly for me. It would have worked better if Vi and Rafa had reconnected as friends and then slowly realized that they also clicked as adults, but instead it felt like two people who’d never been able to move on and clung to a high school relationship. And it muddied Vi’s intentions of going back to Colombia.
I also took issue with this: most of the story is set in Colombia, a Spanish-speaking country, and features many characters who are presumably speaking in Spanish to each other, translated to English for the benefit of the book’s audience. Except… the dialogue is actually done in Spanglish, *heavily*. I love it when authors include some of their native language in their books, but this was a lot, it made no logical sense, and it didn’t have consistent rules for when to use Spanish and when to include a translation. Vi was bilingual; every other character she spoke to while in Colombia was not. I underlined so many examples of why this was done so poorly, so here are some:
“Ni sé. I don’t think I’m made para este calor anymore.” - The character is bilingual but talking to a native Spanish-speaker who isn’t bilingual, and they’re in Colombia.
”In Colombia, we took care of our muertos quickly.” - Muertos isn’t really a word that has reason to be in its native language.
”I could still hear Mami: Por qué couldn’t I stay for more than two weeks? Was I alérgica to Barranquilla?” - See examples 1 and 2 above.
”'Claro. Y quién más?' Who else? he said” - It repeats the sentence in English here and in a few other places even when it’s unnecessary, and not in other places where the translation might not be as clear.
I’m a native Spanish-speaker and this lack of logic was off-putting to me. I also thought it could have done with more edits, as parts of it felt repetitive, some *were* actual repeated facts that didn’t need to be, and there were issues with the timelines - at one point, Vi is 18 when Rafa is 21, but then it says they’re the same age; Vi’s mother remarried ten years ago, but Vi was 13 when she was actually 18.
Overall, I just couldn’t connect with the story or the characters because those things bugged me too much, and I considered DNF’ing several times - even though the main premise was interesting.
So… this book was very frustrating to me. But let’s start from the beginning: 18-year-old Violeta Sanoguera prepares to leave her home in Barranquilla, Colombia, broken-hearted, to go to college in the US, following her grandmother’s wishes.
Ten years later, when her strict but beloved grandmother passes away, Violeta goes back home for the funeral and decides to stay and try to save the family’s restaurant from bankruptcy with the help of her mother and Anton, her friend and grandmother’s protegé. But home brings up a lot of feelings for Vi, in particular for the boy whose proposal she rejected: Rafa. Problem is, both of them have moved on with other partners… or have they?
I liked the main plot of Vi wanting to save the restaurant and in the process finding out more about her grandmother, repairing family bonds, and discovering more about herself. But, frankly, I found that the addition of her grandmother’s *ghost* cheapened the story unnecessarily. So did the love triangle.
I understand that Vi and Rafa are ~star-crossed lovers~, but they were 18, and Vi is shown to be in a healthy relationship with someone who met her as an adult. Yet the moment she steps in Barranquilla, Rafa is all she can think about. I felt like the author didn’t want to paint Vi’s current partner as a bad guy, but then she also had to make him less appealing somehow, but did so in ways I just didn’t buy. For example, in one conversation, Liam is 100% behind Vi’s decision to save the restaurant, he believes she can do it… until somehow *she* voices the idea that he doesn’t think she can do it, and then it’s like “gotcha! I think you’re crazy and you won’t do it”. Or he sees the ghost and believes is a ghost, until Vi is like “ay he doesn’t believe in ghosts!” and then he doesn’t. Suddenly he “doesn’t understand her”… but Rafa does? The guy who doesn’t know her as an adult?
I just… this was an insane plot line done badly for me. It would have worked better if Vi and Rafa had reconnected as friends and then slowly realized that they also clicked as adults, but instead it felt like two people who’d never been able to move on and clung to a high school relationship. And it muddied Vi’s intentions of going back to Colombia.
I also took issue with this: most of the story is set in Colombia, a Spanish-speaking country, and features many characters who are presumably speaking in Spanish to each other, translated to English for the benefit of the book’s audience. Except… the dialogue is actually done in Spanglish, *heavily*. I love it when authors include some of their native language in their books, but this was a lot, it made no logical sense, and it didn’t have consistent rules for when to use Spanish and when to include a translation. Vi was bilingual; every other character she spoke to while in Colombia was not. I underlined so many examples of why this was done so poorly, so here are some:
“Ni sé. I don’t think I’m made para este calor anymore.” - The character is bilingual but talking to a native Spanish-speaker who isn’t bilingual, and they’re in Colombia.
”In Colombia, we took care of our muertos quickly.” - Muertos isn’t really a word that has reason to be in its native language.
”I could still hear Mami: Por qué couldn’t I stay for more than two weeks? Was I alérgica to Barranquilla?” - See examples 1 and 2 above.
”'Claro. Y quién más?' Who else? he said” - It repeats the sentence in English here and in a few other places even when it’s unnecessary, and not in other places where the translation might not be as clear.
I’m a native Spanish-speaker and this lack of logic was off-putting to me. I also thought it could have done with more edits, as parts of it felt repetitive, some *were* actual repeated facts that didn’t need to be, and there were issues with the timelines - at one point, Vi is 18 when Rafa is 21, but then it says they’re the same age; Vi’s mother remarried ten years ago, but Vi was 13 when she was actually 18.
Overall, I just couldn’t connect with the story or the characters because those things bugged me too much, and I considered DNF’ing several times - even though the main premise was interesting.
Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation (Voice of Witness) by Cate Malek, Mateo Hoke
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
❌️ CEASEFIRE NOW ❌️
It's nothing short of surreal to be reading books about an ongoing genocide of +70 years that is currently more deadly than ever... and it continues to go largely unpunished; rather, continues to be financially backed by governments around the world. The act of reading about Palestine feels almost silly - why not just turn on the news?
But the battle !srael is waging is also cultural: that's how propaganda takes root. And a lot of us are digging it out; by reading and listening, we're taking up arms against beliefs that would have us justifying the massacre of an entire country.
This is a collection of sixteen stories compiled by Cate Malek and Mateo Hoke between 2011-2014 in Gaza and the West Bank. The stories offer a glimpse at the lives of people from diverse backgrounds: laborers, professionals, homemakers, activists, lawyers, among others.
All of them share the same fears and anxieties of life under occupation and constant threat, but also the same sense of pride and resistance, of community, of love for their land. In their stories, the violence is made flesh in the most basic, daily experiences a person can have. This is a good reminder that, yes, governments set the structures that make settler colonialism possible, but civilians are not innocent insofar as they uphold those structures for personal gain - and that’s also true for people in the West. This is a highly recommended read for me.
*Note: Two of the interviewees are Israeli, a decision that is explained by the editors in the intro. Personally, I was okay with this, as I didn't feel like it shifted the focus from Palestinian voices. One of them is an anti-occupation activist who shares the perspective of being raised in Israeli society and why things are as they are, something I thought was valuable. The other is a proud settler, but even then, reading that story among all the others only uplifted the truth of the Palestinian experience, imo.
⚠️ In solidarity with Palestine, versobooks is currently offering this and other books for free at their website.
It's nothing short of surreal to be reading books about an ongoing genocide of +70 years that is currently more deadly than ever... and it continues to go largely unpunished; rather, continues to be financially backed by governments around the world. The act of reading about Palestine feels almost silly - why not just turn on the news?
But the battle !srael is waging is also cultural: that's how propaganda takes root. And a lot of us are digging it out; by reading and listening, we're taking up arms against beliefs that would have us justifying the massacre of an entire country.
This is a collection of sixteen stories compiled by Cate Malek and Mateo Hoke between 2011-2014 in Gaza and the West Bank. The stories offer a glimpse at the lives of people from diverse backgrounds: laborers, professionals, homemakers, activists, lawyers, among others.
All of them share the same fears and anxieties of life under occupation and constant threat, but also the same sense of pride and resistance, of community, of love for their land. In their stories, the violence is made flesh in the most basic, daily experiences a person can have. This is a good reminder that, yes, governments set the structures that make settler colonialism possible, but civilians are not innocent insofar as they uphold those structures for personal gain - and that’s also true for people in the West. This is a highly recommended read for me.
*Note: Two of the interviewees are Israeli, a decision that is explained by the editors in the intro. Personally, I was okay with this, as I didn't feel like it shifted the focus from Palestinian voices. One of them is an anti-occupation activist who shares the perspective of being raised in Israeli society and why things are as they are, something I thought was valuable. The other is a proud settler, but even then, reading that story among all the others only uplifted the truth of the Palestinian experience, imo.
⚠️ In solidarity with Palestine, versobooks is currently offering this and other books for free at their website.
Brotherhood by Mike Chen
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
One thing about me is that I’m an Original Trilogy fan first and fore-all. I’m not a prequels hater (I am a sequels hater), I appreciate the place of that trilogy in the overall story, but I’m not particularly attached to any of the characters from that era (except for Bail & Breha!)
That’s where Brotherhood comes in. I’ve always meant to dig into more prequels stuff, but so far haven’t finished reading the novelizations, haven’t finished watching The Clone Wars, and did not like 2/3 of the Padmé trilogy. When I won a copy of Brotherhood last year, I thought it was a great chance to fill in some gaps!
📝 This story is set soon after AotC, as Anakin is made Jedi Knight and moves out of Obi-Wan’s shadow and mentorship. The plot revolves around Obi-Wan going alone to investigate a terrorist attack on Cato Neimodia to clear the Republic of any suspicion. But as things get more complicated, Anakin is the only one who can get him out of hot water, and they’ll have to learn how to work as equals rather than Master and Padawan.
💬 This was entertaining and well-written! I'll admit that, since these are not my blorbos, I didn’t nitpick it as much. But I enjoyed the characterization of Anakin and Obi-Wan and their changing dynamics. I also liked the way Chen dealt with Anakin/Padmé, subtly waving the red flags while also showing us how that relationship came to be even though it makes no sense. I’m not an Anidala shipper so I was mostly cringing and nodding at the red flags, but not because it was poorly done - like a certain other book. For example, we see Anakin and Padmé enjoying some time together, and it’s quite sweet, they both sound like themselves - but we also see how deeply it affects Anakin that he can’t be a normal married guy and that Padmé can’t divorce herself from her work. We see how they barely know each other and what they like, and we also see that Padmé is a bit of a thrill seeker and looks at things/people/situations to see how she might fix them, both of which add some logic to her whirlwind wedding.
I’m also not a fan of Anakin’s, but I thought he was written fairly, showcasing his positive attributes while also deftly hinting at the way he’ll let them consume him in the future. Although, I’ll say that by the end I was quite sick of the whole sun-dragon thing.
We also see some of Obi-Wan’s flaws in the ways he raised Anakin (jk he’s flawless 😉), and how both Anakin and Obi-Wan remember Qui-Gon and his teachings.
👁️🗨️ The story is split into four POVs: besides Obi-Wan and Anakin, we see Ruug, a Neimodian soldier who helps Obi-Wan, and Mill Alibeth, a young Zabrak initiate that teams up with Anakin. I really appreciated that the author kept to just these POVs and each was relevant to the story. Ruug was badass, but I particularly appreciated Mill - it was really interesting to explore what it must be like for someone who is particularly sensitive to suffering, and I enjoyed seeing the prelude to Anakin getting a Padawan.
Overall, I had a fun time reading this even if I’m not a prequels girlie! Obi-Wan was great, I really liked the original characters, the plot was fun even if it was predictable, and I liked the commentary on war, the role of the Jedi, the clones, and so on 🙌
That’s where Brotherhood comes in. I’ve always meant to dig into more prequels stuff, but so far haven’t finished reading the novelizations, haven’t finished watching The Clone Wars, and did not like 2/3 of the Padmé trilogy. When I won a copy of Brotherhood last year, I thought it was a great chance to fill in some gaps!
📝 This story is set soon after AotC, as Anakin is made Jedi Knight and moves out of Obi-Wan’s shadow and mentorship. The plot revolves around Obi-Wan going alone to investigate a terrorist attack on Cato Neimodia to clear the Republic of any suspicion. But as things get more complicated, Anakin is the only one who can get him out of hot water, and they’ll have to learn how to work as equals rather than Master and Padawan.
💬 This was entertaining and well-written! I'll admit that, since these are not my blorbos, I didn’t nitpick it as much. But I enjoyed the characterization of Anakin and Obi-Wan and their changing dynamics. I also liked the way Chen dealt with Anakin/Padmé, subtly waving the red flags while also showing us how that relationship came to be even though it makes no sense. I’m not an Anidala shipper so I was mostly cringing and nodding at the red flags, but not because it was poorly done - like a certain other book. For example, we see Anakin and Padmé enjoying some time together, and it’s quite sweet, they both sound like themselves - but we also see how deeply it affects Anakin that he can’t be a normal married guy and that Padmé can’t divorce herself from her work. We see how they barely know each other and what they like, and we also see that Padmé is a bit of a thrill seeker and looks at things/people/situations to see how she might fix them, both of which add some logic to her whirlwind wedding.
I’m also not a fan of Anakin’s, but I thought he was written fairly, showcasing his positive attributes while also deftly hinting at the way he’ll let them consume him in the future. Although, I’ll say that by the end I was quite sick of the whole sun-dragon thing.
We also see some of Obi-Wan’s flaws in the ways he raised Anakin (jk he’s flawless 😉), and how both Anakin and Obi-Wan remember Qui-Gon and his teachings.
👁️🗨️ The story is split into four POVs: besides Obi-Wan and Anakin, we see Ruug, a Neimodian soldier who helps Obi-Wan, and Mill Alibeth, a young Zabrak initiate that teams up with Anakin. I really appreciated that the author kept to just these POVs and each was relevant to the story. Ruug was badass, but I particularly appreciated Mill - it was really interesting to explore what it must be like for someone who is particularly sensitive to suffering, and I enjoyed seeing the prelude to Anakin getting a Padawan.
Overall, I had a fun time reading this even if I’m not a prequels girlie! Obi-Wan was great, I really liked the original characters, the plot was fun even if it was predictable, and I liked the commentary on war, the role of the Jedi, the clones, and so on 🙌
The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Who in Latin America hasn’t heard of La Llorona? In Argentina, she’s often one of the ghouls invoked to scare children into taking a siesta. The basics of her story are echoed across countries, although it originates in pre-Hispanic mythology: in a bout of madness, a woman drowns her two children, then kills herself, and is cursed to wander as a ghost, forever crying as she looks for her children.
📝 Here, we follow Alejandra and her cursed lineage of “bad mothers”: women struggling with motherhood, fighting a darkness that takes the shape and voice of La Llorona, telling them they’re better off dead so she can prey off their suffering.
This was another book where the premise sounded great, but the execution didn’t fully deliver for me. I thought it was a good exploration of the pitfalls of motherhood and gender roles, of mental health, generational trauma, colonization, and the ways those things and the social stigma they carry play into our collective imagination when it comes to folk stories. We see Alejandra’s POV but also visit other women from her lineage, including the original Llorona, weaving Mexican myth with history.
💬 However, the book had too much exposition and felt repetitive and too heavy-handed in places. The dialogue didn’t always feel natural, and Alejandra’s husband was a man-child, but came off as cartoonish at points. I could see real life men and relationships reflected in this fictional couple, but it was hard to believe why Alejandra would fall in love with such a guy because we’re *told* her reasons, we’re not really shown (he’s always been a major asshole!)
The main horror element also had strong “It” vibes, which might have been easier to digest if it hadn’t had its own, at times a little ridiculous, POV and dialogue. I also thought the therapist character was highly unethical and it grated me 😬
Overall, I feel lukewarm about it; it was just ok 😕
📝 Here, we follow Alejandra and her cursed lineage of “bad mothers”: women struggling with motherhood, fighting a darkness that takes the shape and voice of La Llorona, telling them they’re better off dead so she can prey off their suffering.
This was another book where the premise sounded great, but the execution didn’t fully deliver for me. I thought it was a good exploration of the pitfalls of motherhood and gender roles, of mental health, generational trauma, colonization, and the ways those things and the social stigma they carry play into our collective imagination when it comes to folk stories. We see Alejandra’s POV but also visit other women from her lineage, including the original Llorona, weaving Mexican myth with history.
💬 However, the book had too much exposition and felt repetitive and too heavy-handed in places. The dialogue didn’t always feel natural, and Alejandra’s husband was a man-child, but came off as cartoonish at points. I could see real life men and relationships reflected in this fictional couple, but it was hard to believe why Alejandra would fall in love with such a guy because we’re *told* her reasons, we’re not really shown (he’s always been a major asshole!)
The main horror element also had strong “It” vibes, which might have been easier to digest if it hadn’t had its own, at times a little ridiculous, POV and dialogue. I also thought the therapist character was highly unethical and it grated me 😬
Overall, I feel lukewarm about it; it was just ok 😕
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A fun and creepy read!
I'd never seen the movie and only knew the general plot from pop culture references, so it still retained plenty of surprise for me. Then I watched the movie and immediately became zealous of the book against the changes in the adaptation lol.
I'd never seen the movie and only knew the general plot from pop culture references, so it still retained plenty of surprise for me. Then I watched the movie and immediately became zealous of the book against the changes in the adaptation lol.
The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a diverse friends-to-lovers romance with disability representation. I discovered it through a rec list of books with main characters with cerebral palsy. Since I haven’t read many books with disability rep written by own voices and this had a cute premise, I picked it as one of my summer reads.
📝 The MC is Andrea Williams, a 17-year-old girl planning The Best Summer Ever with her BFF Hailee after spending the previous summer recovering from surgery. But there’s a secret item in their list: Andrea must fall out of love with Hailee, as their friendship is too important to mess up.
🙌 The good: This is really a very diverse book, featuring Black, Chinese-American and Latine characters, a wide spectrum of queerness, and disability. Most of the parents (and the other adults, too) are depicted as close-knit, loving and supportive of their kids. I appreciated the resolution of Andrea and Olivia’s relationship. Most of all, I loved reading a story from the POV of a teenager with a disability and how that impacts the way she moves in the world, and I loved that she had a tight support system to help with what she needed, when she needed it.
😐 The eh: The characters are supposed to be 17, but they sounded and acted a lot younger. For some reason, everybody burst into singing in the middle of conversations. The miscommunication was exaggerated imo, and the narration sometimes went step by step with what the characters were doing, unnecessarily. Overall, the writing
📝 The MC is Andrea Williams, a 17-year-old girl planning The Best Summer Ever with her BFF Hailee after spending the previous summer recovering from surgery. But there’s a secret item in their list: Andrea must fall out of love with Hailee, as their friendship is too important to mess up.
🙌 The good: This is really a very diverse book, featuring Black, Chinese-American and Latine characters, a wide spectrum of queerness, and disability. Most of the parents (and the other adults, too) are depicted as close-knit, loving and supportive of their kids. I appreciated the resolution of Andrea and Olivia’s relationship. Most of all, I loved reading a story from the POV of a teenager with a disability and how that impacts the way she moves in the world, and I loved that she had a tight support system to help with what she needed, when she needed it.
😐 The eh: The characters are supposed to be 17, but they sounded and acted a lot younger. For some reason, everybody burst into singing in the middle of conversations. The miscommunication was exaggerated imo, and the narration sometimes went step by step with what the characters were doing, unnecessarily. Overall, the writing
Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is an anthology of short stories that mix fantasy, sci-fi, horror and Caribbean folklore, and deal with issues of colonialism, race, class, gender, body image, womanhood and sexuality. I had this on my tbr for some years (I think it must have been a pick in Emma Watson’s book club?) and finally decided to read it for Short Story September last year. But at 15 stories, and having read other short stories that month, I was feeling like they were all beginning to blur into one another, so I took a break and finished it in December.
My overall impression was that it was a lot. Some stories were hard to follow and lost my attention, while others attempted realspeak in ways that came off as annoying and infantilizing imo.
That said, my favourite stories were:
❇️ Snake: This follows a pedophile’s POV so it was tough to read, but it has a satisfying ending.
❇️ The Glass Bottle Trick: Really good retelling of Blue Beard exploring womanhood, gender roles and domestic abuse.
❇️ Fisherman: Smutty exploration of sexuality and gender.
❇️ Greedy Choke Puppy: Creepy folkloric story about the vampiric soucouyant and the consequences of greed.
❇️ A Habit of Waste: Features body-hopping to explore issues of body image and racism, and how sometimes changing your appearance will never be enough.
❇️ Precious: A retelling of the fairytale story of the girl who was blessed to pour out gold and gems whenever she opened her mouth.
My overall impression was that it was a lot. Some stories were hard to follow and lost my attention, while others attempted realspeak in ways that came off as annoying and infantilizing imo.
That said, my favourite stories were:
❇️ Snake: This follows a pedophile’s POV so it was tough to read, but it has a satisfying ending.
❇️ The Glass Bottle Trick: Really good retelling of Blue Beard exploring womanhood, gender roles and domestic abuse.
❇️ Fisherman: Smutty exploration of sexuality and gender.
❇️ Greedy Choke Puppy: Creepy folkloric story about the vampiric soucouyant and the consequences of greed.
❇️ A Habit of Waste: Features body-hopping to explore issues of body image and racism, and how sometimes changing your appearance will never be enough.
❇️ Precious: A retelling of the fairytale story of the girl who was blessed to pour out gold and gems whenever she opened her mouth.
The Punishment of Gaza by Gideon Levy
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
4.5
It’s not an easy feat to wake up and rebel against the insidious programming you were born into and raised with, to try to expose the propaganda machine that made it possible, even at the risk of your own life, your reputation and livelihood. But that’s exactly what Gideon Levy, a self-described Israeli patriot, does through his war journalism and denouncement of the Israeli government and society both.
📝 This book in particular is a collection of essayistic reports from the ground beginning in 2006, after Israel’s alleged withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Hamas' rise to government, and through 2009, during the invasion of Gaza and the following ceasefire.
This was a tough read. Levy doesn’t mince words to describe the reality of Israel’s disproportionate violence towards Palestinians, and it was jarring to read something that could have been easily written these past four months. I don’t know how it could be anything less than eye-opening to the politics and propaganda behind this so-called conflict if you still have even a smidge of doubt at this point.
I find that it’s important to hear the dissenting voices of Israeli Jews when anti-Semitism is so freely used against any kind of criticism, so this was a valuable and much highlighted read.
⚠️ In solidarity with Palestine, versobooks is currently offering this and other books for free at their website!
📝 This book in particular is a collection of essayistic reports from the ground beginning in 2006, after Israel’s alleged withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Hamas' rise to government, and through 2009, during the invasion of Gaza and the following ceasefire.
This was a tough read. Levy doesn’t mince words to describe the reality of Israel’s disproportionate violence towards Palestinians, and it was jarring to read something that could have been easily written these past four months. I don’t know how it could be anything less than eye-opening to the politics and propaganda behind this so-called conflict if you still have even a smidge of doubt at this point.
I find that it’s important to hear the dissenting voices of Israeli Jews when anti-Semitism is so freely used against any kind of criticism, so this was a valuable and much highlighted read.
⚠️ In solidarity with Palestine, versobooks is currently offering this and other books for free at their website!
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Did not finish book. Stopped at 52%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 52%.
Thanks to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for approving this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I was very excited to get the chance to delve into Afrofuturist horror that seemed to deal with so many interesting topics - bodily autonomy, power, feminism, racism, classism, criminality. Unfortunately, I'm choosing to leave this unfinished at 52%.
This had a really intriguing premise with a lot of potential. Set in Motswana, we’re thrust into a dystopic surveillance state where people’s consciousness can body-hop through multiple lifetimes, and certain bodies are microchipped and interrogated under the excuse of preventing potential crime.
We meet Nelah, a famous architect in someone else’s suspect, microchipped body, married to a policeman who reviews her thoughts and activities daily, and waiting for her lab-grown daughter to reach full term. When Nelah and her lover accidentally kill someone, and her microchip fails to report the crime, they think they can get away with it… until a vengeful ghost appears and threatens everyone in Nelah’s life.
This was… a lot. While interesting, the dystopic worldbuilding was incredibly complex. People’s consciousness can be transplanted into someone else’s body, so someone could have had multiple lifetimes and bodies - this in particular was very confusing to me, as I didn’t understand how Nelah could be in her third lifetime but only first body-hop and be 428 years old but also 28.
Even though the narration was very repetitive, some things were just not explained clearly enough and I couldn't make sense of them - it even seemed to contradict what already had been said at points. That might just be that I never understood it in the first place, but I think the poor editing was also to blame.
The character of Nelah was at turns a poor subjugated woman who couldn’t do anything, to a bad bitch who could break the rules and maybe even get away with it. And obviously, that duality can be part of the character’s nuance, but it wasn’t done in a way that felt natural. This was also an issue with the characterizations of Nelah’s husband and her lover. Even Nelah’s relationship with Janish was very confusing at first: I wasn't sure if Nelah had actually been sleeping with him or not, if she liked him or not, if there was another person...
As if all of that wasn’t enough, then there was the issue of the ghost. I believe the story in itself was complex enough without a paranormal horror crossover. There was an attempt at a sci-fi explanation for the existence of a ghost that could cause physical damage, tied to Nelah’s DNA, but again, this was both unnecessarily repeated and yet didn’t make much sense to me.
And on top of all that, there were old gods involved… somehow?? The whole Matsieng references didn’t make a lick of sense to me. Again, everything was just too much, and not delivered in a deft, consistent way.
Maybe I got a very early ARC and some of the bigger issues I found (including misspelled/misused words) were later fixed, but my reading experience suffered a lot from the lack of a more thorough editing process.
I was very excited to get the chance to delve into Afrofuturist horror that seemed to deal with so many interesting topics - bodily autonomy, power, feminism, racism, classism, criminality. Unfortunately, I'm choosing to leave this unfinished at 52%.
This had a really intriguing premise with a lot of potential. Set in Motswana, we’re thrust into a dystopic surveillance state where people’s consciousness can body-hop through multiple lifetimes, and certain bodies are microchipped and interrogated under the excuse of preventing potential crime.
We meet Nelah, a famous architect in someone else’s suspect, microchipped body, married to a policeman who reviews her thoughts and activities daily, and waiting for her lab-grown daughter to reach full term. When Nelah and her lover accidentally kill someone, and her microchip fails to report the crime, they think they can get away with it… until a vengeful ghost appears and threatens everyone in Nelah’s life.
This was… a lot. While interesting, the dystopic worldbuilding was incredibly complex. People’s consciousness can be transplanted into someone else’s body, so someone could have had multiple lifetimes and bodies - this in particular was very confusing to me, as I didn’t understand how Nelah could be in her third lifetime but only first body-hop and be 428 years old but also 28.
Even though the narration was very repetitive, some things were just not explained clearly enough and I couldn't make sense of them - it even seemed to contradict what already had been said at points. That might just be that I never understood it in the first place, but I think the poor editing was also to blame.
The character of Nelah was at turns a poor subjugated woman who couldn’t do anything, to a bad bitch who could break the rules and maybe even get away with it. And obviously, that duality can be part of the character’s nuance, but it wasn’t done in a way that felt natural. This was also an issue with the characterizations of Nelah’s husband and her lover. Even Nelah’s relationship with Janish was very confusing at first: I wasn't sure if Nelah had actually been sleeping with him or not, if she liked him or not, if there was another person...
As if all of that wasn’t enough, then there was the issue of the ghost. I believe the story in itself was complex enough without a paranormal horror crossover. There was an attempt at a sci-fi explanation for the existence of a ghost that could cause physical damage, tied to Nelah’s DNA, but again, this was both unnecessarily repeated and yet didn’t make much sense to me.
And on top of all that, there were old gods involved… somehow?? The whole Matsieng references didn’t make a lick of sense to me. Again, everything was just too much, and not delivered in a deft, consistent way.
Maybe I got a very early ARC and some of the bigger issues I found (including misspelled/misused words) were later fixed, but my reading experience suffered a lot from the lack of a more thorough editing process.