Retro Review: The Paying Guests

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. I have so much praise for this book, I hardly know where to begin.

First of all, Waters has a tremendous ability to build tension and maintain suspense without being predictable. It’s a story we’ve all heard: an affair, a murder, a cover-up, a scandal, heartbreak, social constraints … and yet somehow, it reads like a smooth thriller. A thriller of the heart, or something. I realize that makes it sound like a soap opera - and maybe it’s a little pulpy, but emotionally it’s incredibly sophisticated.

I am also particularly impressed by Waters’ ability to flip the lesbian historical novel upside down. I am certainly not an expert in LGBT literature, nor can I comment from a homosexual perspective, but it was refreshing to read about a protagonist who had already “discovered” her orientation, had already experienced her first lesbian relationship, had already come to terms with her identity. We see the confusion, fear and crisis normally found in a historical (or modern) novel like this instead in her love interest, Lillian.

This is a simple story, really. It’s contained. It goes deep instead of wide, which is why I have trouble understanding the comparison to Dickens. To Rebecca, certainly, although Waters I think is a little more straightforward (no hidden undertones here!). She drives things forward without sacrificing delicious details; in fact, the details are what drew me in - the glances, the moments of incredible anxiety, the nature of a smile - Waters examines huge themes by focusing on the cracks in the wall rather than the foundational issues. And it really works.

I have almost nothing to say about the language, which is a great thing. Waters is superb. She was born to write novels like this.

This is the type of book I might have enjoyed as a teenager, the type of book that maybe/possibly/probably should be taught to young people to expand their idea of sexuality through a historical lens. But it’s also quite simply about people - good people, decent people, admirable people - who do something wrong.

The Paying Guests on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal]

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 RE-READ PER MONTH 03 / 12

5 stars. I LOVE THIS BOOK. This was my third re-read and I couldn't put it down. It always sends tingles down my spine in the best way. Smart, accessible, darkly funny.

It essentially tells the story of a student-teacher affair through the eyes of an abhorrent, deeply unreliable narrator. Barbara Covett is her name, Covett being a clever twist on her voyeuristic, overwhelming desire to ... control, be noticed by, be consumed by, be desired by the target of her obsession. She is an arrogant, pretentious stalker who happens to fixate on the lovely and naive Sheba Hart, a new art teacher at her school. When Sheba embarks on a dangerous and elicit affair with a student, Barbara utilizes the situation to her advantage until everything explodes in a disastrous and life-altering climax.

I just LOVE THIS BOOK. It checks all the boxes for me: unreliable narrator, snappy British writing, scandalous details about a tantalizing affair, deep exploration of the female identity, comprehensive exploration of the female identify including how foolhardy and clueless and selfish and competitive women can be, repressed homosexuality, fierce and bold emphasis on appearance versus reality, crisp, page-turning prose, the list goes on. 

And Barbara, oh Barbara, what a beautiful character. So fucking critical of everyone. She's so transparent it makes me laugh, out loud. How often do you suspect that someone is a creepy hypocrite and get an unlimited peek behind the curtain to confirm? Constantly accusing others of self-deception and playing the victim and she's the worst offender. Nobody - nobody - is safe from her zingers. Actually, I tend to see a little bit of Barbara in all of us, mentally putting others down, reading and re-reading and over-analyzing and judging other people. We all take a bit of comfort building our own illusions and living in them.

(Pay close attention, because there are other little lessons like that embedded in these pages. Lessons about marriage and monogamy and children and friendship and female friendship and aging and sex.) 

I think part of the brilliance, too, is that Barbara rather honestly depicts how people react to her, and does so indignantly. Can you believe he said that? Can you believe he treated me in such a manner? As though outrage is the only acceptable reaction. Ironically, by depicting these interactions so honestly we are able to see the truth - that she's actually awful. We see this through her attempts to obscure it, through her lack of self-awareness.

I could go on and on and on. The movie adaptation is also fantastic if you're interested in a less darkly humorous version of the story. Truth be told I can't picture anyone but Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench in the roles of Sheba and Barbara, even if I try. This is just a truly amazing story - an incredible character study and a genius piece of writing with a sick ending. I can't wait to re-read it again.

Clever and nasty is what this book is. Clever and nasty.

What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Cross Her Heart

4 stars. I see why there were mixed reactions to this book. Yes, it's completely ridiculous and unrealistic and perhaps even predictable for those of us well-versed in the twists and turns of psychological thrillers. But look, I think I may have liked it for those reasons...? I really enjoyed turning the pages of this one, I really felt the drive to keep going. The writing was great, the characters were distinct and the ending was surprisingly satisfying.

Cross Her Heart is a multiple-POV thriller with flashbacks. In short, concise chapters (which I personally love), Sarah Pinborough tells the story of Lisa and her daughter Ava and how they cope when they are threatened by a seriously masterful villain from Lisa's past. The story unfolds through the eyes of Lisa, Ava and Lisa's best friend Marilyn, each of whom has secrets of their own. It's a classic, twisty, fast-paced mystery with a heart-stopping (if somewhat tidy) conclusion.

As others have pointed out, things do feel a bit forced here. Characters have questionable motivations. Characters fall in love after one date. Characters are generally stupid, fooled and tricked into scenarios I could see coming a mile away. But this is a popcorn book, and I was willing to suspend belief just to let the intensity of the story wash over me. It's a tight plot, you have to admit. Maybe it's cliche at times, but the writing is solid. And there are some fantastic girl power moments.

Maybe you will see it coming. Maybe you won't. Just enjoy the ride. I've certainly read worse.

Cross Her Heart on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Jurassic Park

2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 03 / 12

4 stars. This was so awesome. My heart is still pounding! 

I can't believe I haven't read this before, which makes it perfect for my 2019 challenge. Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies of all time (I say that like it's weird - is there anyone who doesn't love Jurassic Park?!), but I didn't expect that reading this would lend so much interesting context and perspective to the A+ premise.

I'm not even sure what I can say about this, other than holy shit, dinosaurs are so cool. Even after personally witnessing how scary and terrible they can be, I can't promise that if I had the ability to clone/create them/bring them back from extinction, I wouldn't. I totally perceive the dangers of hubris and greed but COME ON! DINOSAURS! <- I will be the downfall of the human race.

Docking a star for some outdated stuff, including sexism, mild racism and fat-shaming, plus the preachy speeches from Dr. Malcolm (he wasn't wrong, but he was super annoying). The movie essentially corrects all of this and improves on some of the superfluous plot points. Otherwise, this is a suspenseful, scientific masterpiece. I will read this aloud to my kids. 

Jurassic Park on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: Menagerie

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. Very entertaining. Rachel Vincent paints a creative, character-driven world dripping with fantasy and charm. Her presentation is impeccable and the reader doesn't have to make leaps and bounds to buy in to the magic. By the end of this story I was really rooting for the characters and hoping for the best.

I do have a few things to grumble about (sorry, it's what I do):

Menagerie has dark moments, but I wouldn't consider it to be that dark, necessarily. I wanted it to really go there and felt a little unsatisfied. The writing itself felt way too YA/amateur at some points and the pacing/transitions could've been smoother.

In the beginning, we spend a lot of time watching Delilah push and get pushed back, and while I admire her moxy, her actions came off as so incredibly dumb. She often chose to be loud instead of smart, and again, while I love the fact that she's a fighter, I would've loved better strategy a lot more.

Lastly, the ending felt incredibly rushed and - almost - predictable.

But hey, what do I know? I have a thing for circus/carnival books and overall, this book is so fun. The Night Circus did a better job of putting me in the story, but I loved the flavor here. I couldn't put it down and I will definitely be reading more. Bring on the magic.

Menagerie on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: See What I Have Done

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

3 stars. This historical fiction novel focuses on a crime we all know and love: Lizzie Borden took an ax...

In See What I Have Done, we hear directly from a confused and criminal Lizzie, her well-intentioned but misguided sister, the traumatized household maid and a nefarious stranger, flashing back and forth between the morning of the murders, the days prior and the days that followed. 

This is weird in that I can see why those who loved this loved it, and also why those who hated it hated it. Promising premise, but I could smell the tryhard fumes a mile away. Halfway through I texted my sister and said, "This is unusual, but the author is obsessed with vomit and other bodily fluids. I am 50% in and every character has vomited in great detail at least once. It's like a motif with no purpose other than gross shock." She clearly tried to channel Gillian Flynn, who is excellent at peppering in grotesque details without being gross, and WAY overshot. That ball flew off the court, out of the field, and into the great beyond. There's a lot of barf.

Still, there's something so fascinating about this crime and I couldn't look away. We all can't really look away from the mystery of the Borden murders - the violence of the crime, the oddball characters, the twists and turns of the investigation. I enjoyed the different approach here and appreciated the attempt to draw a new picture. The uniquely-written perspectives bring depth to the characters we pull from history and the voices are distinct, if not a little cartoonish (again with the gross details - must EVERYONE have bad breath? Must EVERYONE have something stuck in their teeth?).

I have to say, it's an impressive debut. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting take on this case. There is always more than one side to the story, and we encounter several here. The writing is solid, with a few really stand-out moments, and the structure is unusual in a good way. It’s cool in that there are perhaps no good guys or bad guys, just troubled, troubling humans. It’s very vivid.

Open only if you have a strong stomach. 

See What I Have Done on: Amazon | Goodreads

Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree

5 stars. WELL THAT WAS A VERY TALL MOUNTAIN. I climbed The Priory of the Orange Tree and survived! Apologies to all the other books rotting away on my Kindle, had to take a little break from my two-books-a-week pace to tackle this. No regrets.

First things first - I enjoyed but did not love The Bone Season, and REALLY disliked its sequel, so I went into this with low expectations. Samantha Shannon seems like a talented, intelligent, delightful person, but I've reacted negatively to her writing style in the past (more on that later). I'm happy to say that her ability has grown and I give this, with no hesitation, a full five stars.

The book is long and there are a lot of characters, but the premise itself is fairly simple: a group of kingdoms (countries?) must prepare for the destructive awakening of an evil dragon. Rules must be cast aside, myths must be dusted off, and enemies must join together (etc. etc.) to ward off this threat and maintain the state of the world.

It sounds kind of cliche, maybe even a little too casual, but I promise it's very engaging. We have dragons, sorcery, secret societies, alchemy, pirates, monsters, and more. It's a good example of complex but accessible worldbuilding - accessibility being my #1 criteria for fantasy. I could actually remember where we left off with characters from three chapters ago, I didn't encounter impossible vocabulary terms, and I didn't have trouble grasping the intricate cultural details. So many authors try to show off their worlds, and Shannon isn't one of them. Mostly.

In fact, I can see this appealing to a huge audience - even those who aren't drawn to fantasy. The feminism is bright neon, and the central love story is queer as queer can be. It's a satisfying girl power book. The characters are easy to root for and the action sequences are really compelling. It isn't juvenile, in my opinion, as some have implied, although it doesn't get very nasty (I would've loved chapters from the POV of a [true] villain). It's similar to a TV show in which characters experience long arcs and slowly congregate towards each other, spiraling around the central threat.

Okay, now that I write this, maybe it is a little juvenile. There are a lot of blatant “lessons” about acceptance, tolerance and friendship (although these days it’s sadly necessary to hit people over the head with stuff). And at times I felt it was maybe even a little TOO simple. Shannon created an old and complex map here, complete with mythology and lore and traditions and religions and everything in-between, but it felt like the window was small, like everything important operated among a small circle of folks. Like I was reading about a place the size of Ohio, instead of the size of the world.

And it's a slow burn, for sure. It's enormous. The prose teeters on the edge of purple for me - something that was really irritating in The Mime Order (if she "crowned her bread with butter" one more time...) but appeared toned down in this book. Still, the descriptions of the food, plus sentences like "Its paths were honeyed by the sun, and the roses that trimmed its lawns held a soft blush" and "Dawn cracked like a heron's egg over Seiiki. Pale light prowled into the room" were jarring for me, and eye-rolly. The sex scenes were flowery to a fault. That might be a personal preference, though.

ALL THAT being said, I can’t give this anything but five stars. I'm probably just nitpicking because I spent SO MUCH TIME with this thing. It's clear that so. much. thought. and care and deliberation went into this book - it's an incredible accomplishment and deserves all the praise. It's a very long, very detailed collection of fairy tales, woven together in a beautiful tapestry. It's an epic adventure that WILL find it's place on the classics shelf. I can't wait to see the inevitable adaptation.

The Priory of the Orange Tree on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. Absolutely brilliant. The instant this started I didn’t want it to end. It’s so beautiful in its simplicity, in the subtle characterizations and casual unfurling of the plot. It really appealed to the part of my brain that craves a scientific way of thinking. It was also super entertaining, like an episode of The X-Files or Black Mirror or something. I loved the distance you feel from the action, which mirrors the narrator’s. I loved the way things started to feel a little … off. Yes, it’s a little slow, maybe, but I really enjoyed it.

Looking at this through a blatantly subjective lens, I think I also really appreciated Annihilation because of the narrator’s personality. At the risk of getting really personal: like this book’s protagonist, I am incredibly, severely introverted. Not only do I actively avoid interaction with others, I often … do not even see the point. I despise small talk especially - I despise any interaction without a specific purpose or direction. It stresses me out, it’s exhausting to act “in the moment” all the time, and I feel better when I can take a methodical approach to things. Like the biologist, I prefer solitude and I prefer to keep personal details to myself (except on rambling Goodreads reviews, apparently). I’m also baffled by anything overly sentimental; there’s a line in this where the narrator states that she hates the word “love.” Same, same.

Seriously. I’m lucky, I have a partner who understands and accommodates my need for independence and “separate time,” but the struggles exhibited by the main character and her husband were … extremely familiar to me.

So, as I said, from a personal perspective, the writing resonated and I was almost grateful to read about someone so like me, no matter how off-putting or unlikeable she is. Because in the end, she wins.

Yes - she learns, she accepts, she adapts. She is confronted with the impossible and almost appreciates it. It’s admirable and refreshing and her cold-blooded nature felt right. I'm not saying we should all be like her, but she is on top of her shit and maybe we could all learn from her.

This book is so creepy and interesting and different; a truly penetrating form of horror. There's a lot to be said about the other messages - the political, the environmental, the scientific, etc. I'll leave those observations to to others. The movie is sure to be very different and I look forward to the interpretation, but I can tell this book is always going to be something intimately special, to me.

Annihilation (Southern Reach #1) on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: The Goblin Emperor

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

5 stars. In this quietly epic political fantasy, an unprepared half-goblin named Maia inherits the throne as the rightful heir to his father's kingdom. Thrown into a world of political intrigue, Maia struggles to evaluate his court, thwart assassination attempts, and learn who to trust.

So, I really liked this. I liked the writing, the characters, the setting (as envisioned by my imagination, I guess), and the plot. It was refreshing to read from the perspective of a personality that is complex but reliable. By reliable, I mean reliably good. Is Maia perfect? Absolutely not. Does he make mistakes? Frequently. But ultimately, he is a strong, admirable hero who listens to his instincts and does not succumb to temptation or corruption. So many times I open a book and cringe at the actions of the protagonist - which isn't a bad thing, because that technique keeps things interesting and is there anything better than an antihero? - but this book provided the break from epic fantasy darkness that I didn't know I needed.

I truly admire successful world-building, as indicated in my reading interests and habits. Sometimes I get frustrated, though, when authors get too caught up in the building - and essentially neglect the storytelling. Yes, it's impressive that you constructed a society, developed a language, and thought through so many details. You know what's even more impressive? Effectively including those details in a narrative. This book just barely achieved that balance (just barely), and while at times the language and naming system was confusing, the point of the story came across strong.

It didn't rip me apart from the inside. I wasn't beside myself with anxiety for the characters. I wasn't totally moved. But I was absolutely captivated. This little story is CREATIVE, gripping, fun, well-written, and includes tremendously important themes to consider in today's age of social unrest. There's something for everyone and I highly recommend.

The Goblin Emperor on: Amazon | Goodreads

Retro Review: The Golem and the Jinni

When I started this blog, I had been posting reviews on Goodreads for about 6 months. In the interest of having all of my book writing in one place, I will post one of these old reviews every Friday. They weren't written with a blog in mind, so please forgive the lack of summary and off-the-cuff tone.

4 stars. I would go so far as to say that certain aspects of the golem and the jinni's experiences are very relatable. We have all felt like outsiders. We have all felt frustrated with our natural inclinations or limited by our tendencies. We have all felt restless or stuck by societal constraints. We have all, at some point, lived in fear of judgment by others. Why is it so challenging, then, to apply this mutual understanding - this compassion - to people who don't look like us? Who don't talk like us? Who don't share our religious beliefs?

It's a complicated and disheartening question that's easy to pull from this seemingly quiet narrative. Helene Wecker uses the perspective of an outsider - not only a cultural outsider, but a physical one - to whisper insights about our differences and our similarities and especially our rush to judge.

Yes, the message is critical in that sense. But I was struck by the depiction of goodness in this book; the resilience of human nature and the strength of human kindness. For some reason, we are prone to reject those who are different. But some of the characters in this story demonstrate a deep consideration for others despite (because of?) their differences.

Logistically - this book ran a little long for me. It drags in the middle, as many others have pointed out here. It perhaps could have benefited from some narrative editing. But the writing is so simple and elegant it almost feels suited for a slower, luxurious pace. The author develops her characters with tender loving care and dedicates space to illustrate their thoughtful layers.

Along those lines, the author, in my opinion, successfully demonstrates female complexity - especially when it comes to sexuality. We have several characters here that serve as willing, enthusiastic participants in sexual activity. No bewitched, confused victims here. There's ignorance maybe, or a disregard for consequences, but these women experience sexual pleasure and in some cases even initiate it. More of that, please.

I am neither Jewish nor Arabic, so forgive my error if I observe incorrectly here: the author seems to depict these cultures lovingly, carefully, and (unlike her obvious encouragement of tolerance and open-mindedness) without agenda. The customs and beliefs and traditions portrayed aren't labeled as right or wrong - they are simply vehicles for comfort, familiarity and perhaps true magic. I don't know if it is pro-religion, per say, but it certainly isn't anti. It's just part of the story.

I felt this book as a woman, and as an American.

The Golem and the Jinni on: Amazon | Goodreads