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torchlab's reviews
129 reviews
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
4.0
Brandon Taylor is the real fucking deal guys. Forget all the neurotic white ladies of autofiction: Brandon Taylor is where it’s at. Side note if you aren’t reading his newsletter already you need to remedy that ASAP. He has the best Substack out there.
The Masker by Torrey Peters
3.0
I picked this up after reading Detransition, Baby earlier in the year because I was so intrigued by Torrey Peters’ writing. It honestly isn’t much like DTB—it’s way shorter, for one thing, and it doesn’t feel as thoroughly developed or wide-ranging as the character in that book. But I still found it a worthwhile read, simply because I think Torrey Peters as a writer is refreshingly courageous and also wholly unpretentious, which is a rare combination. The ending of this book is one of those haunting and painfully inevitable ends that you see coming a mile away but wish you didn’t.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
3.5
I am not a habitual reader of romance, so my initial rating/review of this book was unenthusiastic. However, after reading more within the genre, I have come to appreciate this book quite a bit. The prose style is snappy and fun, the main characters are extremely charming, and the world they live in feels believable and rich. I still don’t think romance is really my thing - if it were I’d probably rate this book 4 stars or above - but this was solid.
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
4.0
Genuinely fucking haunting. Bone-chilling. Etc. What all these tech dudes (and yes they are pretty much all dudes for reasons made extremely clear in this book) have done to, in no particular order, the Internet, American politics, San Francisco, consumer privacy, right-wing extremism, and content moderation practices is beyond unforgivable. Made me want to throw my phone into a lake.
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
2.5
I liked this a lot while I was reading it and then like never thought about it again once I was done.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion
3.0
Pretty decent collection—not the best Didion book, but then Didion at her not-best is better than most essayists at their best. I liked the one about why she writes.
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee
5.0
Alexander Chee is one of the greatest essayists alive. This collection would be worth it purely for the one about gardening and the one about writing his first novel. The fact that there are several other uniformly excellent essays in here too is just astounding. If you want to write nonfiction, or anything really, these are essays to, like, study.
Self Care by Leigh Stein
2.0
Like, it was fine. Farcical, and unrealistic, and only sometimes 100% on the mark in its satire, but fine.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
4.0
I didn't buy into this fully until the main character got her agent but from that point on I was ALL IN. Last chapter or so I just raced towards the end with tears in my eyes to see if she would get everything she wanted. As a young and somewhat broke writer working on my first novel while holding down a full-time job I derived a lot of hope from this book.