sharkybookshelf's reviews
511 reviews

all this here, now by Anna Stern

2.0

The premature death of Ananke rips a hole in the lives of their friends, one of whom reflects on their shared lives…

I love a grief book, but this was far too much hard work. I think it might have been too avant-garde for me…or trying too hard to be so, I can’t decide. I kind of appreciate what the author was trying to do, but the writing and stylistic choices started to feel laboured and got in the way of the story itself.

The entire thing is written in lowercase, which I suspect is more of a statement in the original German - in English, it’s mostly a mild inconvenience. Crucially though, there are no gender pronouns. Which I initially didn’t notice (in a good way - it shows the sentences flowed naturally). But it started to feel contrived when every character was solely referred to by name - it took me quite some time to realise that some of the characters were in fact parents and not part of the friend group, and I’m not sure what this lack of clarity really achieved. Nouns are gendered in German, so I’m terribly curious about how Serre approached that - by using only neuter nouns?

The story bounces between the past and the present, and the formatting was very clever - the vignettes from the present are printed in black on even pages and, facing them on the odd pages, the memory vignettes are in a dark grey. It’s subtle, but I loved the idea of a visible contrast between a clear present and fading memories.

A demanding story of overwhelming grief, friendship and different forms of love, but the author’s stylistic choices ended up feeling contrived, somewhat obscuring the point.

The National Telepathy by Roque Larraquy

2.0

September 1933, the Peruvian Rubber Company delivers nineteen indigenous people to Buenos Aires, accompanied by a box containing a sloth which, it transpires, can create erotic telepathic connections between people…

This one was…an experience.

It’s a satirical commentary about many things, including colonialism, the treatment and fetishisation of indigenous peoples, “civilisation”, power structures and how these all intertwine with each other. There’s also a brief bit about Argentina’s dictatorship in the late 1950s, though this felt rather under-developed relative to the rest of the book.

Now, perhaps I picked this up when I was simply too tired for it, but for the entirety of the book, I found myself thinking “wtf am I reading?!” Ultimately I think it was just too clever and experimental and out there for me and I felt I rather missed the point of the whole frankly bizarre erotic sloth idea.

A bonkers, experimental satire of colonialism, civilisation and power in South America that rather went over my head.

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

3.0

On doctor’s orders to find a quiet place to recuperate from an accident, Jerry Burton moves to the tranquil village of Lymstock with his sister - but appearances are deceiving, with various villagers targeted by a series vicious anonymous letters, with fatal consequences…

Thus begins the second half of my SharkyReadsChristie project, and I hate to admit that I just wasn’t that wowed by this one. The solution was as clever as I’d expect (and so irritatingly obvious once revealed!), but for some reason I simply didn’t feel that invested in the story.

Maybe it’s that this is billed as a Miss Marple mystery but she doesn’t make an appearance until three-quarters of the way through, hardly does anything and her main contribution, though crucial, is entirely off-page. I’m not even a Miss Marple fan and found that rather underwhelming.

A clever, if slightly uninspiring, anonymous letter mystery.

Djinns by Fatma Aydemir

4.0

After working himself to the bone in Germany for thirty years, Hüseyin has finally saved enough to buy a flat back in Istanbul to retire - on the cusp of his dream, his heart fails…

I enjoyed this portrait of a Turkish/Kurdish family in Germany. The story explores the weight of family secrets, complicated family dynamics, the suffocation of silence and multiple layers of identity - from the family’s life in Turkey through to navigating life in Germany as immigrants, and how different members of the family experienced the transition. I do wish there had been a bit more depth though - a few things were alluded to or vaguely mentioned and then never revisited.

It took the story a while to get off the ground but it came together into a bit of a rollercoaster (and not in a way I was expecting) - I liked the little tidbits of information sprinkled throughout that made sense at the end. Each section is told from the POV of a different member of the family, and I most enjoyed Peri’s part.

An engaging family story of secrets, the toll of silence, immigration and layers of identity.

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

I haven’t rated this one because I read it purely for fun and with zero critical thinking 🤷🏼‍♀️

It was entertaining and pacy, and reading this series is a little reminiscent of the way I devoured fantasy books as a teenager. It feels like Yarros has hit her stride with this one - the writing has vastly improved from the first and the pacing was more even-keeled than the second.

It’s also been fun seeing all the theories online. Thanks to Del on Instagram for dealing with my unsolicited brain vomit thoughts upon finishing.

My only real quibble is that I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the timelines of the books - so much happens over such a short course of time.

Darkenbloom by Eva Menasse

4.0

1989, in Darkenbloom, a small Austrian town on the border with Hungary, nobody talks about the war, but its spectre looms large as East German refugees start amassing at the border and a stranger turns up asking questions…

This was a good, complex historical fiction. For some reason I expected the story to be far more about events in 1989, but it is principally concerned with WWII and the immediate aftermath. I’ll be honest, I might not have picked it up if I’d realised (I feel I’ve reached saturation with European WWII novels), but it was refreshing to read about Austria rather than Germany.

Anyway, it’s very well written - there are many threads to the overarching story, and Menasse doesn’t necessarily spell out the connections between different strands, so there’s plenty for the reader to piece together. The result is a sweeping tapestry of a small town and an exploration of secrets, village complicity, things known and hidden, the impunity of perpetrators and the complexities of reckoning with the past and whether it truly brings closure - not everyone wants the same thing from any such reckoning, or even wants one at all, but not necessarily through guilt.

I did the book a disservice by initially trying to read it in short snatches of time around Christmastime with a lot of other things going on - the story benefits from dedicated chunks of time, because there is a lot going on and a lot of characters to keep track of. Don’t let that put you off, just plan your reading accordingly, because you’ll be rewarded with a rich story, setting and set of characters.

I found the ending dissatisfying - not only was I left with a number of unanswered questions, it also felt like we were privy to information about various characters which they themselves hadn’t figured out. It was messy, but that’s more reflective of real life than a neatly tied-up ending.

A rich, sweeping and slightly mysterious tapestry of secrets, reckoning with the past and community complicity in a small Austrian town buffeted by times of change.

ARC gifted by the publisher

Stay with Me by Hanne Ørstavik

4.0

A year after the death of her husband, the narrator falls in love with a man fifteen years younger - it’s an intense connection, but one laced with insecurity…

I really appreciate Ørstavik’s writing - it’s emotionally astute without being overly sentimental - and I enjoyed this exploration of a darker side of love and relationships. Tackling a complicated and complex subject, it’s an introspective dive into how our childhood and resulting insecurities shape us and our approach to relationships, the way we love, and crucially, what we accept as love. There’s an undercurrent of fear and violence throughout.

The narrator is an author and the story jumps between hers and the characters she is writing, as well as between her childhood and present. It felt a bit jumbled together, which does reflect the messiness of real life, particularly when abuse is involved, but it was a lot for my tired brain when I follow and I found myself a little confused at times.

Reading Ti Amo before this one isn’t necessary as Stay With Me stands up on its own, but it does give some context to the narrator’s previous relationship and emotional landscape.

A charged, introspective exploration of how our childhood and insecurities affect our approach to relationships and acceptance of love.

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan

In a land where dragons have been hunted to extinction, royal whipping girl Tamsyn is married off in a bit of political wordplay and must rapidly find her feet in unfamiliar surroundings…

I borrowed this one on a whim, and it turned out to be ideal for the period between Christmas and New Year, with a lot of people at the bach and concentration in short supply. I haven’t rated it since I read it purely for fun.

It was reasonably predictable, but I didn’t mind because it was pacy and thus kept me entertained and interested. My only real quibble is that, based on the title, I was expecting rather more on the dragon front.

After finishing, I found out that this is a prequel to the YA Firelight series. I haven’t read Firelight (but likely would have, had it been published a few years earlier - it sounds right up teenage Mel’s alley) but evidently it’s not necessary as I got on just fine with this one, but it is worth noting that this new series is very much aimed at adults, not YA.

A pacy, entertaining romantasy - perfect for any situation requiring a brain break.

Silken Gazelles by Jokha Alharthi

3.0

Ghazaala and Asiya spend their childhood together like sisters until tragedy strikes - Asiya’s subsequent absence from Ghazaala’s life quietly continues to haunt her…

This was…fine. Solidly lacklustre. I enjoyed the glimpses of everyday life both in the village and later when the story moves to Muscat.

But I wasn’t really gripped by the story itself, because whilst there was a lot going on, nothing really happens. The different strands of the story were too disjointed, never quite coalescing into something cohesive.

A lacklustre story of friendship, resilient women and loss.

Last Date in El Zapotal by Mateo García Elizondo, Robin Myers

3.0

A junkie rents a room in El Zapotal for one last fix - although determined to die, he finds himself desperately clinging to the past…

This is a story of missed love, living on the margins and the tenacity of life, blurring the boundary between life and death - at what point does a living death tip into a ghostly haunting?

It’s undeniably skilfully written (and translated!) with a clever interplay of language and rhythm during the drug-fuelled highs versus the lows. The writing is visceral, too, occasionally making me feel physically sick. But here’s the thing - it’s essentially a series of back-to-back heroine/opium trips featuring a bunch of ghosts, and unfortunately that’s a double-whammy turn-off for me because neither drug trips nor ghosts particularly interest me.

So very much a “it’s not the book, it’s me” situation - don’t write this one off based solely on my review (unless ghosts also tend to ruin a story for you), because objectively, it IS an accomplished book.

A skilfully-written story of the spiralling grip of heroine and opium addiction and the tenacity of life.