Thank you Harper Perennial for an advanced copy of this book <33
She’s Always Hungry is a weird, bleak, gore-y, real but not so real short st3.25 stars
Thank you Harper Perennial for an advanced copy of this book <33
She’s Always Hungry is a weird, bleak, gore-y, real but not so real short story collection which explores personal themes along with a lot of broader societal themes like the perceptions of beauty, patriarchy (and if it was reversed), human vices (like most of them), global warming, the notion of power etc.etc. which are weaved within these absolutely bizarre stories.
I liked the author’s vision for the book — the way the stories touched genres like fantasy and sci-fi ever so slightly, while still maintaining their true essence of social commentary was something that gave me fresh perspective on each of these issues. I personally love short stories and it’s truly so amazing to see such a small piece of media have such a big impact on you — and that’s the beauty of it all I think.
I loved two stories from this collection ‘She’s Always Hungry’ and ‘Extinction Event’. [Also honorary mentions to ‘Shake Well’, ‘The Shadow Over Chitaly’, and ‘Hollow Bones’.]
She’s Always Hungry explores a matriarchal society and what would happen if women created outlandish rules for their communities to follow. The women in this story create their own terms of addressing each other, their own myths and legends, and societal roles for the different genders, and men are essentially seen as breeding machines. I liked how this short story had it’s own sub-plot while having the overarching plot of a matriarchal society. It was a little crazy and big brained and I was so so impressed.
Extinction Event is set in a world where pollution has marred the world to a degree that the Earth is about to self-destruct. This story was a horrifying reality check of the lengths humans would go to to hide from their mistakes, and the further destruction they’re willing to bring about to “make up” for their previous ones. It also traverses through this system of hierarchy that we’ve built and somehow sworn to stuck by, and how authority figures will only do what they want. The moral of the story was that we’re fucked so that’s that.
I did rate this book higher when I just finished it but the rating solely dropped because I really disliked this one short story which made me go all ...more
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book!
Women is a book about identity, self-exploration, obsessive attachments and Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book!
Women is a book about identity, self-exploration, obsessive attachments and grief. It made me feel such a range of emotions and I can’t decide which one of those would describe my opinion the best.
“She was alone in battling the heartache, along with facing an overwhelming identity crisis, in a place that was not yet her home.” (this book in one sentence if you don't wish to read further)
I think what really affected my experience of reading Women was the main character herself. It felt as if we never explored her life and her thoughts completely, especially since she is a writer. Everything felt as if it was left at the surface level so I couldn't fully empathise with the fmc at all. After a point, I started feeling like the author wanted the reader to feel bad about their mc but there was no rational reflection or contemplation by the mc on her own actions; if the tone of the book is reflections on a past relationship, I believe it was fair for me to expect that. The characterisation did not set well with me in this regard.
Further, the fmc’s exploration of queerness and queer culture felt so out of depth? Even her conversations with other queer characters about her identity was just non-existent. The book is clearly about coming into being within one’s identity so this was kind of lacking. At the same time, I wish we explored Finn’s story more but I understand that this is a novella, and going into so much detail wouldn’t have been possible.
However, I will say that the way the mc and Finn’s relationship panned out made me miserable? I was constantly sad as the book progressed, and also mad at the same time. We know from the get go that their relationship is extremely toxic and the mc alternating from one addiction to the other did not help this at all.
Mostly, I wish the book was more substantiated because as much as I love no-plot-just-vibes books, I don’t particularly like it when books give you nothing at all. I wasn’t aware of the cultural relevance of this book and by the end of it, I enjoyed reading the author’s reflection on writing and publishing Women (the book was published in 2014) more than I enjoyed the book in itself; or at least her reflections are what I’ll be keeping with me more than anything else....more
Shanghailanders was a book with no plot, just vibes and the vibes were comforting, maddening and gut-wrenching, all at the same time.
This book exploreShanghailanders was a book with no plot, just vibes and the vibes were comforting, maddening and gut-wrenching, all at the same time.
This book explores the lives of the Yang family (a very rich family) and the day-to-day ups and downs they face living in Shanghai. However, instead of showing its readers how a once happy, picture-perfect family can slowly become fragmented and distant, this book shows us the exact opposite. Chapter one starts in the year 2040 and the book takes you all the way back to 2014, and I think this is such an interesting way to tell a story. Somehow going from the future to the past makes the story so much more sadder than it would’ve been otherwise — I may have disliked a character at the start but I felt so sad for them later (yes, even for Leo).
The character that had the biggest impact on me was the mother, Eko. I think we often don’t think of the lives our moms must’ve had before they decided to start a family; what were their dreams? their beliefs? their personalities? etc. etc. when they were not bound by such big responsibilities. Through the course of this book we see Eko go from being a mom of three daughters, wife of Leo, owner of an embroidery business to a woman who likes listening to The Strokes, who coloured her hair blue on a whim, and who slept with a guy because he had beautiful eyes. The juxtaposition of it all just made me sad.
While Leo and Eko grew up seeing financial difficulties, their daughters grew up in an extremely comfortable farmhouse with their own rooms, their ponies in a stable and unlimited access to a nearby hotel. Consequently, the book shows us how the daughters’ childhoods, where they had everything they wanted, impacted their lives as teenagers and soon-to-be young adults. Yumi, Yoko and Kiko all sought different experiences as they slowly grew up and grew apart. These three girls and their bond with each other and their parents makes you so nostalgic but at the same time, the flaws in their lives back then become extremely evident and I was left with mixed feelings in the end.
Overall, Shanghailanders felt like a big character study into seemingly unassuming yet big roles within families. It was a story about two people in love who slowly grew out of love and yet they started a family; it was about sacrifices we make or are expected to make throughout our lives. But mostly, it was a story about belonging.
I loved reading Shanghailanders and 10/10 would recommend to everyone!!!...more
Thank you NetGalley for giving me a chance to read an advance copy of this book! (ngl I really want to read Dante next)
This book is one big character sThank you NetGalley for giving me a chance to read an advance copy of this book! (ngl I really want to read Dante next)
This book is one big character study about a woman, Ophelia, suffering from repressed childhood trauma long into her adulthood. Her husband leaves her for someone else and slowly we discover how abandonement from your loved ones can really turn the tide over everything you considered right or wrong. I liked that Opehlia was consistently aware of the fact that what she’s doing is not “normal” at all but borderline obsessive, yet she seemingly had no control to stop herself, to put a pause on everything that would decide her fate; it felt as if years of feeling helpless as a child suddenly gave her some sort of courage to ask her husband *Why*. There were a lot of interesting themes to unpack in this book - nature vs nurture (in this case, Ophelia’s circumstances made her who she is), abandonement and dealing with subsequent abandonement issues your whole life, how the after-effects of trauma impacts even the way people perceive you in normal settings etc. etc. I felt sympathy for Ophelia because I really don’t think she wanted things to end as they did, but she really was utterly unhinged.
However, I will say that this book fell a little flat for me in terms of the plot direction and the writing. The book is written in first person and I did not mind the use of the word ‘you’ to refer to the husband, however, I would’ve liked it if it wasn’t this way. This is just my personal preference. Moreover, the dialogue got very repetitive after a while. I’m not sure if the author meant to signify how immersed the main character was into her relationship and her husband, and saw nothing else, but it was tiring to read the same things constantly. Overall, I liked what the book was trying to explore but I just wish the author did something more with it....more
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