When I started to see this book around my local independent bookstores, I was intrigued but unsure. The blurb does not give much away so you might not think it is a book about grief, alien eggs, or magic realism. It wasn’t until a friend of mine read this book and told me about it, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: contemporary literature
A Review of Donal Ryan’s “Strange Flowers”: race and sexuality in 1970s Ireland
This novel is about all the things that families don’t say to each other. It explores the things that are left unsaid, and how that can shape ideas of identity, family, love, and home. Continue reading
Review of “The Last Children of Tokyo”: dystopias as social commentary
In Tawada’s world, the old don’t age or die, and the young are cursed with ill-health and short life-spans. Learn more about why this dystopian novel haunted me for months after I read it. Continue reading
A Review of “Such A Fun Age”: talking about white fragility in literature
I loved Such A Fun Age. This book was so easy to read. It had me laughing and cringing from beginning to end. It has been a while since I couldn’t put a book down, and this book was definitely that — un-put-down-able. The book offers up so many interesting discussion points but I wanted … Continue reading
Reading Class: A review of Sally Rooney’s “Normal People”
That’s money, the substance that makes the world real. There’s something so corrupt and sexy about it. Sally Rooney’s novel, Normal People, follows the lives of Connell and Marianne, two high school students from Sligo, West Ireland, and their journey’s of self discovery, love, and friendship. The story is built on the foundations of class … Continue reading
Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments”: did we need this sequel?
Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale was groundbreaking when it was published. The story still resonates today, and the novel being turned into a T.V. series only further solidifies its importance in contemporary culture. When Margaret Atwood said she would follow up her novel with a sequel, The Testaments, I was pretty excited to see … Continue reading
4 Easy Steps to Improve Your Foreign Language Reading
As some of you might already know, I have lived in Switzerland for the last six years. Before that, I lived for one year in Austria, which means that I have lived in German-speaking countries for a little over seven years now. In this time, I worked in multi-lingual companies as well as completing a … Continue reading
Review of Sayaka Murata’s “Convenience Store Woman”: fitting into the capitalist ideal
I am a lover of Japanese literature. I studied Japanese in primary school (but it sadly is not one of the languages that stuck in my head), and I have had an affinity for Japanese culture, art, and food. When I came across Sayaka Murata’s work, Convenience Store Woman, I knew I had to get … Continue reading
Complicated families and letting go: a review of Sarah Haywood’s “The Cactus”
The Cactus is the debut novel from Sarah Haywood which is about letting go of who people want you to be and who you have made yourself become because of your past experiences. It is about family conflict, death, grief, secrets, and forgiveness. It is not your typical contemporary fiction novel for all the right … Continue reading
“Pride & Prejudice & Passports”: a review of Corrie Garrett’s immigrant retelling of Jane Austen’s classic
I’ve read some modern re-tellings of classics that have just fallen flat. Sometimes classics are named classics because they are indeed just that: stories that transcend time. They shape our culture and understanding of the past. They also help us shape our future and in particular the way authors and readers write and engage with … Continue reading
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