contemporary malaise
Pretend 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 […]
MoreIf I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
Engaging and insightful If I Had Your Face is a solid debut novel from a promising writer.If I Had Your Face follows four young women trying to navigate everyday life in contemporary Seoul. They live in the same building but to begin with are not exactly friends. We have Ara, a mute hair stylist who […]
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 […]
MoreMilk Fed by Melissa Broder
(heads up: this review contains mentions of eating disorders and body dysmorphia as well as explicit language) While I doubt that Milk Fed will win many awards, I sure hope that it wins the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. It 100% deserves to. “Was it real freedom? Unlikely. But my rituals kept me skinny, and […]
MoreThere’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura
Comparing this novel to the work of Ottessa Moshfegh or Sayaka Murata seems somewhat misleading, if a bit lazy.There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job has elements that may bring to mind certain aspects of Convenience Store Woman but it has almost nothing in common with My Year of Rest and Relaxation. Still, I […]
MoreLuster by Raven Leilani
“I think to myself, You are a desirable woman. You are not a dozen gerbils in a skin casing. Luster is a deliriously enthralling and boldly subversive debut novel. I was dazzled by the author’s prose, which is by turns dense and supple, by Edie’s sardonic and penetrating narration, and by the story’s caustic yet […]
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