QUICK REVIEWS pt XVII

Hello my lovely readers! More quick reviews?? Yup! 

Little Faith by Nickolas Butler
A Wisconsin family grapples with the power and limitations of faith when their adopted daughter falls under the influence of a radical church.

*This was alright. I liked that this featured an elderly narrator, but the story fell short for me. I wanted a bit more drama. 3 out of 5 stars.

Every Story is a Love Story by Imobolo Mbue
Three years ago, Wolo’s pregnant wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future: the twins they were expecting, the PhD she was on the cusp of finishing, and the house they’d just bought in New Jersey. Now the woman who killed his wife comes to Wolo asking for forgiveness.

*Sigh. I enjoyed Mbue's last novel Behold the Dreamer but I felt it could've done without a certain storyline with the wife. I felt the same way with this book. A rape storyline and a romance angle? Meh. Mbue is a solid writer, but this novel disappointed me. 3 out 5 stars.

A Girl in Exile by Ismail Kidare

Hello my lovely readers! Another day, another book. Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
A Girl in Exile, first published in Albanian in 2009, is set among the bureaucratic machinery of Albania's 1945-1991 dictatorship. While waiting to hear whether his newest play will be approved for production, playwright Rudian Stefa is called in for questioning by the Party Committee. A girl - Linda B. - has been found dead, with a signed copy of his latest book in her possession.

He soon learns that Linda's family, considered suspect, was exiled to a small town far from the capital, and that she committed suicide. Under the influence of a paranoid regime, Rudian finds himself swept along on a surreal quest to discover what really happened to Linda B. Through layers of intrigue, her story gradually unfolds: how she loved Rudian from a distance, and the risks she was prepared to take so that she could get close to him. He becomes captivated by her story, and disturbed at how he might be culpable for her fate.

Infants of the Spring by Wallace Thurman

 

Hello my lovely readers! Welp, I do declare that October will go down as the month of great reads for Naomi! I've been on absolute TEAR this month and I make no apologies for it. 

SYNOPSIS
It's 1920s Harlem, and man, the joint is jumpin'. Folks are coming and going and everything's copacetic as long as the gin keeps flowing. This is the scene Stephen Jorgenson dives into when he arrives from Canada for the first time. He is taken to "The Niggerati Manor," an apartment building in Harlem inhabited by aspiring artists whose true talents lie in living, and where everything's black and white--with a lot of grayness in between. Counterbalancing Stephen's embrace of these folks is Raymond Taylor, a writer who is the only truly talented artist in the manor. Raymond's cynical take on the "new Negro artist" is the tightrope he walks between the love and hatred of himself and his people. Characters representing Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alain Locke all appear, and part of the fun of this book is figuring out who's who.

The Burial Tide by Neil Sharpson

 

Hello my lovely readers! Tell me, why are all the books I've read recently absolute BANGERS? Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
A woman who can’t remember her death.

On an eerily quiet island off the coast of Ireland, a woman with no memory claws her way out of her grave and back to life. But not everyone welcomes the return of Mara Fitch.

An island with a terrible secret.

Inishbannock. Where strange misshapen figures watch from the trees and the roads are covered in teeth. Where two brothers gamble for nothing, the doctor only treats one patient, and the pub owner speaks in riddles. Where a poet loses and finds his soul. And a man without a heart claims he’s the key to unlocking Mara’s secrets.

A past that refuses to stay buried.

As Mara returns to her life on this upside-down island, her memories begin to leech their way back to the surface. The more she remembers, the more the village will do anything to stop her . . .

But the sea remembers it all.

Rattlebone by Maxine Clair

 

Hello my lovely readers! Another PHENOMENAL read this month. Let's get into it!

SYNOPSIS
Irene Wilson knows that a “no-name invisible something” has settled over her parents’ marriage and suspects her glamorous new teacher is to blame. Irene is not alone in her suspicions. In the town of Rattlebone, a small Black neighborhood of Kansas City, secrets are hard to keep and growing up is a community affair.

As Irene is initiated into adult passion and loss, her family story takes its place in a tightly woven tapestry of neighbors whose griefs and joys are as vivid as her own. Capturing an entire world through the eyes of its unforgettable heroine, Rattlebone is a one-of-a-kind triumph of American fiction.

QUICK REVIEWS pt. XVI

Hello my lovely readers! Let's get into some more quick reviews!

You Deserve Good Gelato by Kacie Rose
In her inimitably funny and feel-good way, social media star Kacie Rose offers a refreshingly honest take on navigating a new life abroad in You Deserve Good Gelato, covering everything from travel fails and homesickness to the joy of culture shocks and the power of doing the shit that scares you. Because life is too short not to.

*I finished this in a day. Cute little memoir for the unseasoned traveler, but for someone like myself who has been to more than 30 countries, nothing in this book truly "wowed" me. A bit too much social media speak that doesn't translate well when published in a book. If you're a seasoned traveler, skip this book and go for something with more depth. 3 out of 5 stars

Lakewood by Megan Giddings
When Lena Johnson's beloved grandmother dies, and the full extent of the family debt is revealed, the black millennial drops out of college to support her family and takes a job in the mysterious and remote town of Lakewood, Michigan. The discoveries made in Lakewood, Lena is told, will change the world--but the consequences for the subjects involved could be devastating

*The premise sounded interesting and promising, but ultimately, this novel was a complete let down. 2 out of 5 stars.

Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker

 

Hello my lovely readers! This was the last book in The Color Purple Series and I admit, I have to eat my words from my last review:

"I still plan on reading the third book in this series Possessing the Secret of Joy, but I don't have high hopes for it."

Boy, was I wrong! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
In Tashi’s tribe, the Olinka, young girls undergo female genital mutilation as an initiation into the community. Tashi manages to avoid this fate at first, but when pressed by tribal leaders, she submits. Years later, married and living in America as Evelyn Johnson, Tashi’s inner pain emerges. As she questions why such a terrifying, disfiguring sacrifice was required, she sorts through the many levels of subjugation with which she’s been burdened over the years.