Writers & Lovers by Lily King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Writers & Lovers seemed to give a true glimpse of the life of a typical starving artist. It felt true and genuine to me and I felt myself wanting to know more. The novel is very accurately about writers and lovers and I loved the simplicity and complexity of these things. Here’s is another great novel for fans of slow burn literary fiction! Thanks to Grove Atlantic for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
Home making is a quiet literary fiction novel written in a stream of consciousness style. I don’t think this will be for everyone but I appreciate this stylistic choice. There were a lot of passages that I enjoyed. The novel is told from multiple perspectives. The chapters signify who we are following but sometimes it is not always clear to the point where I had to flip back and re-read parts just to make sure I was following the right person. The main character, Chloe, is recently separated from her husband and is living on her own with her dog. She is setting up her home and we follow this theme of home making throughout the book. We also hear from her mother Cybil who is a half Japanese and half French war child. We also hear from Chloe’s best friend Beau who had a complex upbringing in the South. I would have liked to have had both of these character’s explored more because they were much more interesting to me than Chloe. Although this novel is not without its faults I still thought it was a great debut and will be happy to read more from this author.
This book is out on Feb 18, 2020 by Harper Perennial. Thank you to the publisher for an early e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Long Bright River by Liz Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ever since I read The Unseen World I have been looking out for more books by Liz Moore. So when I heard about this I was eagerly waiting for it and it did not disappoint. While this is a mystery/thriller novel it also felt very literary to me which I loved. It was plot focused but not to the determent of character development. The themes of addiction, dysfunctional families and sibling dynamics combined with great writing is why I gave this 5 stars. If these things interest you I highly recommend you check this out!
Title: Family Trust by Kathy Wang
Short Goodreads Synopsis:
Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he’s worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley’s family is nervous.
Review:
Many reviews compare this novel to The Nest however I found it to be a much better version of The Nest. I actually couldn’t even get through The Nest so I’m just assuming it’s better but that’s just my opinion. I would also compare this to Crazy Rich Asians as a deeper, more twisted version. The book chapters alternate between the perspectives of each of the family member’s. My favorites to read about were the mother and daughter (Linda and Kate.) And I especially enjoyed Mary’s perspective although we didn’t reach hers until the end.
Character studies are my favorite thing.
Like with a lot of novels it got plot heavy toward the end as the author tried to tie up all the loose ends. So this why I kept my rating a little low although its still a great read that I would recommend. I try to be critical with my reviews so I can reserve my 5 stars for the best of the best, for me that is.
There were a few quotes that had me reaching for a pencil so that I cold underline them and remember to include them here. Hope you enjoy!
Because how could she possibly explain anything to her mother, who already thought her life so easy – high pay, appreciating home values, loose moral standards and all? That her world was in fact not simple but filled with violent, thin skinned men who behaved only when the threat of exposure was dangled above them? And that to wield public shame was the only reliable way to hurt them in the same tender places they wished to bring harm onto you, for no reason except that they were furious at a world they felt had slotted them in the wrong place.
And this one.
When did it become so difficult to say certain things to old friends? …
Sometimes during the journey into adulthood these details had become too burdensome to share; the dread of the stressed silence that usually followed such admissions, the subsequent awkward straining of friends to reveal a secret of their own. So now Kate opted not to see those who’d known her in a better period in favor of someone who’d started off meeting her at her worse.
*Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher through a Goodreads Giveaway. This has no impact on my review. All opinions are my own.
I’m kicking off the blog with one of my favorite reads of 2018!
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
by Ottessa Moshfegh
Publisher: Jonathon Cape
Release Date: July 12th, 2018
Genres: Literary Fiction
Pages: 304
Add on: Goodreads
Rating: 5/5
Although I should have been rolling my eyes while reading this book (I studied pharmacy) it was actually pretty fun reading about the mix of real and made up medications. I enjoyed the author’s previous book, Eileen, so I figured I’d like this too and I was right! There is something about the raw, unlikeable characters that makes for a very compelling read! Really loving this author so far and can’t wait for what she comes up with next.
preeti reads 