6.01.2017

Books I Read in May

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
The hype and marketing surrounding this book has served it well. I don't know if I would have been curious enough to read it without all the social media chatter over the hashtag #WTFthatending. Trying to figure it all out was rather fun! Had I gone into it not expecting something crazy, the main character's unending stupidity and repetitive destructive behavior would have probably driven me to give it a one star rating. Alas, it was entertaining and definitely a surprise ending. Although so completely outlandish that I can see someone throwing the book across the room upon completion...

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
It's been a while since I read a sweet, heartwarming YA story and this fit the bill. I liked that it wasn't a love story where the hot guy takes the length of the book to figure out how great the main character is - he's got her number from the beginning. Ostensibly, she also seems accepting of her body from the beginning. Yet, clearly she deals with insecurity about her body and how it affects the way she sees her relationship with her best friend and said boy, as well as dealing with her mother's own insecurities. I thought Murphy created complex characters and relationships that rang true of teen-hood. I'm eagerly anticipating the movie version, and will likely read the sequel.

The Rules Do Not Apply: A Memoir by Ariel Levy
I'm beginning to wonder if memoirs are just not my jam... I have been trying to get into more audiobooks, and I think memoirs are well suited for listening, especially when read by the author. There were a few parts where I chuckled, and certainly felt a gut punch of sadness for the losses Levy faced. However, calling it a tale of overcoming loss seems misguided. I'd say 75% of the book is her life story: about her upbringing, career and love life - certainly interesting material. The self realization and 'overcoming' after she loses her baby and, eventually, her spouse seems hurried at the end. Though there were a handful of searingly accurate and beautiful bits of writing, overall I felt it detached and clinical.

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
This was probably the most complex fantasy world building I have ever read. A futuristic planet plagued by seismic activity is controlled by people with the gift to move earth, yet they are reviled and revered in equal measure (kinda like X-Men). It took me awhile to get my bearings and immerse myself in it, but I'm glad I put in the work for the payoff of masterful narrative plotting. Jemisin also infuses the novel with much to think about on themes that affect us in the real world: motherhood, slavery, feminism, LGBTQ, and the environment Now that I understand this world, I think the subsequent books will go down a little easier. Though, I'm guessing she's the kind of author that will always make you work for the payoff and it may be awhile before I'm ready - definitely not summer reading material...

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
This was my Newberry honor pick for this month (among many other honors that have been bestowed upon it), and honestly, there isn't much I can add to the plethora of already glowing reviews. I have never read a book written in verse, and it was jarring at first. Yet, once I got the rhythm of it, I couldn't put it down. I could FEEL that South Carolina air, the splash of water from the 'johnny pump' in New York and taste allll the food - so beautiful and evocative in so few words. And I will leave my review at these very few words, other than to add - READ IT.

I'm linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's quick lit - check it out here!

6 comments:

  1. I'm in that throw the book across the room camp for Behind Her Eyes! And I did love Levy's memoir, but I read it in print. I heard her speak in person at our local library and can absolutely see how she could come across as clinical on audio. She was sort of dryly funny...even when talking about the worst thing that ever happened to her.

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    1. I wonder if I might have liked it better in print. Audiobooks are a double edge sword in many ways, and this is definitely one of them!

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  2. From Goodreads, it appears I was in the minority of people who didn't like Fifth Season. I was continuously distracted by the present tense and the second person and while I liked how LBGTQ relationships were no big deal (seriously my favorite thing that has come out (no pun intended) of newer fiction - gay relationships, bi relationships aren't hip or novel, they just ARE, like real life!). I really thought the world building was stellar but I wish that the story was just written differently.

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    1. I was slightly annoyed by the second person for much of the book - but when it came together was kind of cool. But, yeah, it was hard to just ENJOY in the way that it was written.

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  3. I agree with your review of Brown Girl Dreaming. I had never read a book in verse until that one but I LOVED the audiobook, read by the author. It brought the story to life and kept it from being jarring with the poetry prose. I tried her next book, Another Brooklyn, and I had to stop because I wasn't as interested for some reason

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    1. Oh no! I'm bummed to hear that, as I definitely put that one on my TBR...

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