What's the harm in a pseudonym? New York Times bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not …
This author has a LOT of opinions about authenticity and racism in the publishing industry, as well as how social media commentary influences the literary world. While the book is entertaining, the story and characters mostly serve as a vehicle for the author to share those opinions. As a result, it comes off as very heavy-handed, the plot is thin, and I saw the ending coming a mile away.
You have to enjoy this type of novel to make it through the 600+ pages — a multi-generational epic made up of what are somewhat independent stories about more than a dozen characters, interconnected to form a tapestry. Verghese’s prose is a joy to read, and I found myself rooting for the complex, fully-formed characters he has created. The book tells the story not just of their lives, but of the history of southern India and the development of modern medicine during the 20th century.
4 stars. A lyrical family drama that’s essentially a modern retelling of “Little Women,” I appreciated how the author allowed the reader to fully inhabit each of the characters and understand each of their perspectives. The story and characters felt very real, and I found myself rooting for each of them. A great, all-around read.
3 stars. No spoilers, but I found this book very frustrating because I feel like the protagonist did the wrong thing in the end. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining whodunnit that kept me engaged. The relationship between Hannah and Bailey feels lacquered-on, as if the editor pushed the author to play it up in order to give the book more of a “literary fiction” gloss, and it doesn’t quite work. But I enjoyed reading it, and it would make an absorbing beach or airplane read.
4 stars. This book shouldn’t have been nearly as captivating as it was. The feeling of “The Guest” reminded me quite a bit of “The Stranger,” as Alex meanders from moment to moment, always existing entirely in the present, without any future or past. Her past is, actually, gradually unveiled over the course of the book, and the way Emma Cline unspools Alex’s backstory held my attention, but what really kept me turning the pages was Cline’s immaculate eye for detail. She paints such a vivid picture of the world Alex inhabits. i really felt what it’s like to be there, in Alex’s slightly uncomfortable sandals, living this strange lifestyle, with the murmur of Alex’s interior thoughts running through my head.
As Cline writes, “They had vacated some major part of themselves, ready to be moved in any direction; it didn’t matter, really, who approached them.” Alex tried to make …
4 stars. This book shouldn’t have been nearly as captivating as it was. The feeling of “The Guest” reminded me quite a bit of “The Stranger,” as Alex meanders from moment to moment, always existing entirely in the present, without any future or past. Her past is, actually, gradually unveiled over the course of the book, and the way Emma Cline unspools Alex’s backstory held my attention, but what really kept me turning the pages was Cline’s immaculate eye for detail. She paints such a vivid picture of the world Alex inhabits. i really felt what it’s like to be there, in Alex’s slightly uncomfortable sandals, living this strange lifestyle, with the murmur of Alex’s interior thoughts running through my head.
As Cline writes, “They had vacated some major part of themselves, ready to be moved in any direction; it didn’t matter, really, who approached them.” Alex tried to make herself a blank canvas onto which others project their desires, but despite herself, her humanity — and fallibility — bleeds through.
I’d sum this book up as “Sex and the City” meets “Murder, She Wrote.” I’ll preface my review by saying that I always appreciate it when a novel center its story on women’s experiences, and women my age are portrayed as strong and capable. I love that all the meaningful relationships between characters are between women. But it is just SO heavy-handed, I kept cringing as I read.
If this had been written in the 1980s, I would have cut it more slack — but as a recent novel, I was shocked by how dated the story, characters, and situations are. I kept time-traveling back to when I was a kid and I’d see older women wearing t-shirts that said things like, “They’re not hot flashes, they’re power surges!” I feel like these women from 40 years ago are the ones both writing, and portrayed in, this novel. I could …
I’d sum this book up as “Sex and the City” meets “Murder, She Wrote.” I’ll preface my review by saying that I always appreciate it when a novel center its story on women’s experiences, and women my age are portrayed as strong and capable. I love that all the meaningful relationships between characters are between women. But it is just SO heavy-handed, I kept cringing as I read.
If this had been written in the 1980s, I would have cut it more slack — but as a recent novel, I was shocked by how dated the story, characters, and situations are. I kept time-traveling back to when I was a kid and I’d see older women wearing t-shirts that said things like, “They’re not hot flashes, they’re power surges!” I feel like these women from 40 years ago are the ones both writing, and portrayed in, this novel. I could tell the reader was supposed to be cheering every time a newly-empowered woman stood up to a one-dimensional, villainous male character, but I found myself just rolling my eyes.
Here in 2023, as a 49-year-old woman, I can assure younger readers that we talk about perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms openly, and have good medical options for managing them. While there is certainly plenty of age and gender-related discrimination in the workplace, blatantly passing over women in the peaks of their careers happens much less often than it did decades ago. And in perhaps the most dated part of the book, most of us are not housewives who resent our controlling and/or cheating husbands — we have strong partnerships that evolve over time — and, for crying out loud (!!!) don’t believe we are “too old” to have sex (I wish I were kidding).
For crissakes, if your doctor tells you there’s nothing you can do about irregular, heavy periods and hot flashes that interfere with your daily life, find a new doctor! If your co-workers make blatantly misogynist, dated jokes in front of you, take legal action. If police ignore the fact that young women are being picked off by a potential serial killer… okay, this still happens a lot. But if novelists pander to you with this sort of silliness, read a different book (I might suggest “Circe” by Madeline Miller or “Matrix” by Lauren Groff).
I appreciate that this book was largely an allegory and thus, had to end a certain way, but as a reader, I’m so angry about the ending that it’s hard for me to look back and appreciate the extremely artful writing that I thoroughly enjoyed while I was reading it. That ending, though.
An enthralling account of a modern voyage of discovery as we meet the clever, social …
4.2 stars. This fascinating book covers not only caracaras, one of the world’s most interesting bird species, but the colonial history of South America, evolutionary biology, and the colorful field researchers who have dedicated their lives to studying South American wildlife. And unlike many wildlife books I’ve read in recent years, it ends on a note so hopeful and charming it brought tears to my eyes. A terrific, layperson/oriented read, and one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read this decade.
When Jancee Dunn hit her mid-forties, she was bombarded by seemingly random symptoms: rampant insomnia, …
As with the also-excellent “Menopause Manifesto,” I bought a hard copy of this book so I could keep it as a resource as I go through #perimenopause and beyond. Both have been a wealth of information I haven’t found elsewhere, including from doctors who have blown off my symptoms with “but you’re still having periods?” Her folksy detours into conversations with her sisters and friends are annoying, but don’t take away from the value of the factual information. There are also a number of passages I’d characterize as “pep talks,” such as a script for talking to your partner about hormonal changes, and will just be silly for most adult women with basic communication skills. Additionally, if you already work out daily, eat right, and don’t drink, as I do, the “pep talks” for these health habits take up a lot of wasted space. However, I just skimmed over these …
As with the also-excellent “Menopause Manifesto,” I bought a hard copy of this book so I could keep it as a resource as I go through #perimenopause and beyond. Both have been a wealth of information I haven’t found elsewhere, including from doctors who have blown off my symptoms with “but you’re still having periods?” Her folksy detours into conversations with her sisters and friends are annoying, but don’t take away from the value of the factual information. There are also a number of passages I’d characterize as “pep talks,” such as a script for talking to your partner about hormonal changes, and will just be silly for most adult women with basic communication skills. Additionally, if you already work out daily, eat right, and don’t drink, as I do, the “pep talks” for these health habits take up a lot of wasted space. However, I just skimmed over these parts and still got a lot of useful information, including from the thorough list of references at the back. I prefer “Menopause Manifesto” over “Hot and Bothered,” but I think both are worth reading.
Fake Accounts is the 2021 debut novel by American author and critic Lauren Oyler. It …
2.7 stars. This book is best described as “Sex and the City for the Extremely Online.” It’s an entertaining beach read for someone who enjoys her prose style, a chronicle of being a single foreigner living in Berlin. If you are annoyed by her writing style, as I imagine many readers are, it will be unbearable. I absolutely loved “No One is Talking About This” by Patricia Lockwood, a far superior novel that shares a lot of style aspects with this one, so how you felt about Lockwood’s book will probably give you an idea of how you’ll feel about “Fake Accounts.” I enjoyed it, but it’s definitely not a must-read.
4.5 stars -- I loved it! An amazing, true story, expertly told. I was on the edge of my seat, and loved the detailed description of what it was like to sail across the world in the 1740s.
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the …
4.6 stars. I loved it, one of the best novels I’ve read in a while. Unlike some of my other recent favorites (such as “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”), this book is also very accessible for all audiences, I’d recommend it to everyone from my BFF — an English teacher — to my mother. It’s just a delightful story that works on many levels, with wonderful characters (even a child character I found likable, which never happens!). Strongly recommended.
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Spanish: Cien años de soledad, American Spanish: [sjen ˈaɲoz ðe …
Still one of my favorite books, although in this read-through, I was more aware of some of the creepier parts, notably Aureliano, an adult, falling “in love with” Remedios while she was still a child. But this classic of magical realism, an allegory for the history of Latin America, is still a joy to re-read.
