wtb_michael's reviews
2165 reviews

State of Grace by Joy Williams

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.25

Bleak, hallucinatory novel about a young woman's inability to escape the orbit of her awful father - brilliant, challenging writing, telling a pretty grim tale 

Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

4.5

Absolutely no memory of who recommended this to me, but the library reservation came through and it's a banger: short, almost surreal, claustrophobic and mysterious 

Get 'em Young, Treat 'em Tough, Tell 'em Nothing by Robin McLean

challenging dark medium-paced

3.5

 The first of the paperback books subscription - off kilter writing, surprising stories, occasionally thrillingly good 

Jack of Hearts QX11594 by Ngaire Jarro, Jackie Huggins

emotional informative lighthearted fast-paced

2.75

 Conversational history of an Jack Huggins, an Aboriginal soldier and POW. It's an important story, and you can feel the authors' enthusiasm for it 

Decadence by Thuy On

funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

3.5

 Witty and charming, an accessible collection on writing, romance and creativity 

Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim

emotional informative medium-paced

3.25

Comprehensive look at Hong Kong's contested history and present. Lim's research is incredible, but sometimes I got a bit bogged down in detail and wanted a more dynamic read 

The Exclusion Zone by Shastra Deo

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

4.75

 Radiation and decay, video games and bodies, animals and family, survival and memory - this stretched my brain out in all kinds of directions 

In the Distance by Hernán Díaz

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

4.0

Beautiful, brutal and sad, this feels almost like a film, with astonishingly beautiful set pieces, vivid landscapes and a solitary life slowly unfolding 

The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins

informative sad medium-paced

4.0

A forensic, scathing polemic about the US' support for violent anti-communism in Indonesia, Brazil and much of the developing world. A much needed perspective on the cold war and its global impacts 

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

challenging dark funny fast-paced

3.75

Enjoyably strange shorts, disconnected narrators, surreal moments, vivid images, but didn't quite measure up to the incredible Severance for me