ALIENATION
Symptomatic by Danzy Senna
“Every day in this new city I was trying to live in the purity of the present, free from context. Contexts, I knew, were dangerous: Once you put them into the picture, they took over.” As with her latest novel New People, Symptomatic presents its readers with a claustrophobic and disquieting narrative that becomes increasingly […]
MoreAftershocks: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Identity by Nadia Owusu
“To heal, I would need to look inward as well as outward. I would need to examine my memories. I would need to interrogate the stories I told myself—about myself, about my family, about the world.” Unflinching and elegant Aftershocks is an impressive, engrossing, and deeply moving memoir by a promising author. In her memoir, […]
MoreHeaven by Mieko Kawakami
A few weeks ago I read Mieko Kawakami’s acclaimed Breasts and Eggs and suffice to say that I was not a fan. While Heaven was clearly written by the same author of Breasts and Eggs (both novels implement similar imagery and even use the same metaphor comparing the legs of a young girl to poles) […]
MorePretend I’m Dead by Jen Beagin
Pretend I’m Dead was 50 shades of fucked up but boy was it funny. “When he went to order their drinks, he asked, “What’s your poison?”“Oven cleaner,” she’d said with a straight face.Her sense of humor sometimes made people—herself, included—uncomfortable.” This novel is divided in four chapters, each one focusing on a particular relationship of […]
MoreQuicksand by Nella Larsen
“As the days multiplied, her need of something, something vaguely familiar, but which she could not put a name to and hold for definite examination, became almost intolerable.” Similarly to Passing, Quicksand is a study of ambivalence. But whereas Passing centered on the complex dynamic—which ranges from enmity to a kinship of sorts—between two light-skinned […]
MoreNew People by Danzy Senna
“When she was just a kid, Gloria told her never to trust a group of happy, smiling multiracial people. Never trust races when they get along, she said. If you see different races of people just standing around, smiling at one another, run for the hills, kid. Take cover. They’ll break your heart.” A disquieting […]
MoreMy Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
“Sleep felt productive. Something was getting sorted out. I knew in my heart—this was, perhaps, the only thing my heart knew back then—that when I’d slept enough, I’d be okay. I’d be renewed, reborn. I would be a whole new person, every one of my cells regenerated enough times that the old cells were just […]
MoreThe New Me by Halle Butler
The New Me is a book that has been on my periphery since it first came out. The cover, title, and summary were relatively intriguing as they gave me some very strong Ottessa Moshfegh/The Bell Jar vibes. Still, it wasn’t anywhere close the top of my TBR until I saw that Halle Butler is going […]
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