afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

I read this as one of the challenges that my friends and I did to read backlist titles that had been in the Booker Prize, and I can see why it was shortlisted in 2022.

Oh William! follows the vignettes of Lucy, recounting back to her days with William, their adventures and mostly, of their stories as a whole, whilst touching on so many aspects. But what caught me was the emotional touch there is to this book.

Lucy was a character that I absolutely adored. And one of the themes brought forward by Strout was highlighting poverty - its effects and how it can shape a person as a whole. The story was written in a way that brings us along the adventure that Lucy has set upon with William, whilst learning about family histories, long-lost siblings and of relationships. I read this simultaneously with Family and Borghesia by Natalia Ginzburg, and I was reminded how these two authors had written about their characters being just that , human. And these two stories did shine through in ways that I didn't know it can.

I enjoyed this one a lot. 4.25🌟 for this gem.

How does a book has everything and nothing at the same time? And once again, it laments how much Ginzburg's writing is quite something else, and how her stories are all different from the other, but the one constant that makes me still look forward to her other works - is in the way she writes about people. And that's something that takes immense talent to write something so straightforward but also carries so much heart and soul.

Family and Borghesia - two short novellas compiled in this one edition, in which is at the core is a sordid family affair. Whilst one handles families that are found through friendships and past relationships, the other handles a family affair and the presence of animals within one. What makes them similar is how both families seemed quite uncoventional but can also be observed in any other regular family that you know of. Its a show on how every family has their own secrets and how no one is ever perfect.

In Family, Ginzburg focused more on the flaws of humans and complexity and dynamics of different relationships. Its in the everyday, of life and death, and in the mundane daily lives and stupid mistakes. I didn't bawl my eyes out from this story but I was left feeling empty and hollow at the end of the book. The relationship of Carmine and Ivana, two people who had once been together but now are friends, in their mid 30s navigating life. Its life and death and more. And I get why the novella was named as such. Sometimes, families does not necessarily have to be tied by blood, its also formed by ties of the people around that cares about you.

In Borghesia, it takes a lighter tone than Family, but has the same essence that Ginzburg wants to portray. The complex family dynamics and adding animals in the equation makes it quite entertaining to say the least. I love the question of unhapiness in here and how there is a way to avoid them. And at the end, there's no life if there is none bit of unhapiness involved.

At the end, Ginzburg has sealed a place in my heart. Her writing is simple and does not have the complex proses if we are comparing with Ferrante, but there is a constant in her works. She knows how to bring out the emotions of the mundane, the normal everyday lives of normal people and turning them into a spotlight of their own. Even flawed, messy and complicated some relationships can be, Ginzburg shows what its like to be just that - human.

4🌟 overall for this gem.

A Perfect Day to be Alone brings us through the seasons, and through the lenses an adolescence trying to make way into the world. Its a perfect coming-of-age story that is reminiscent of going through adulthood through the seasons.

We follow through the journey of Chizu in her new life in Tokyo, sharing a house with 70 year old Ginko. The story delves into the eccentric dynamics between the two of them, the exploration of complexity of human relationships and especially of a youngster trying to grasp adulthood on her own, and of humans and their need for companion.

There is nothing and everything in this book. But underneath of the light and monotonous tone of this story, there is almost a dark reflection and expectations of society to women and how at the end its of their struggles to be deemed successful or useful to society .

The writing is quite straightforward and reading it on surface level, there is nothing that likable to our main character, Chizu. She exudes a sense of an-almost arrogance and know-it-all, but beneath all of the bravado, its a girl that just didn't know how to express her feelings well. Reading about Chizu navigating through her life, and her woes and helplessness makes you feel sorry for her and also, its almost like a reminder of how some women struggle to be independent especially with Chizu who lives through a single-mother household all of her life.

I liked the dynamics between her and her house mate Ginko. Both of them are eccentric in their own way, but their friendship works well. And I feel that, Ginko was the best person for Chizu to have in her life on her own for the first time as she learns that even as a 70 year old, Ginko is living her life as she pleases.

I liked the setting of this novel that it goes through the seasons and we can see Chizu's growth through the seasons that has passed as well. From Spring - where the flower blooming is significant to the start of a new venture - to Summer - where she found love that is alive like the blazing heat - to Autumn - where the withering of leaves reflects a change in her relationships - to Winter - where the cold reflects the loneliness within and to Early Spring - where everything is starting again. The way the author has subtly integrated all of these elements made us feel like, as readers, we are growing with Chizu as well. And I felt that was one of the reasons why it won the Akutagawa Prize back in 2006/2007.

I wished we have a POV of Ginko because it will complete this novel entirely, but overall, its a read that will let you reminscene the earlier days of adulthood, the struggles and loneliness of being entirely own your own and of exploring relationships and love.

4 stars for this gem.

Thank you to Pansing for this copy! I truly appreciate it.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need this book to be LONGER :')

I feel that this book will be one of the books that will be the gamechanger for the entire series. Its the plot mover - which hence, the romance was a tad shorter than I liked (and ISTG I needed more of their characters because the three of them are something else in here).

I loved that we explore more of the Underworld in here. And we can see more of Hades and Persephone and other characters from the previous books in action. The political intrigue in this one reminded me of Apollo's book, and I was sucked into it. And again, I JUST WISHED IT WAS LONGER. Like IT ENDED JUST LIKE THAT I NEEDED MORE......

Overall, I can see how the plot of this series is playing out and I liked the power play and imbalance that we see from the 'villains' that had come to make Olympus haywire.

I just wished we have more of the three characters dynamics. It was not enough to say the least. I felt like I was left hanging and it pissed me off a bit haha.

Overall, it was a good read. I can't wait for the next two releases!!

Personal Ratings : 3.75 overall

It takes a certain patience for stories that are written with authors like Natsuko Imamura, but once you're hooked inside, there's no way out, and you find yourself falling deeper in the stories that almost felt like a fevered dream. You will ask time and time again, wether what you're reading will surpass what us, as 'normal' beings, thoroughly understand what the author is trying to say. And with stories like these, they don't necessarily need to be understood, but more of - is in the art of perception and how far are we willing to let something surpass the beliefs that we grew up with.

The book consists of three short stories , translated by Lucy North and an afterword from one of my favourite authors ever , Sayaka Murata, which was translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori. And if you're familiar with how Sayaka Murata writes, a book with an afterword from her is already so telling of what the story will take course, and it really did not disappoint me.

At the very surface of these three stories are of women, who are peculiar in their own sense. But when we looked down deeper, there is a root cause that leads from the root of society, of how women are being treated and the expectations that lies of women in society. These peculiarities stems from a deep sense of loneliness and longing that somehow will enable someone to act beyond the norms of someone normal.

In ASA: The Girl Who Turned into A Pair of Chopsticks, we follow Asa, a girl who longs to be accepted by everyone around her. Like the title, it became to a point that she became a pair of chopsticks instead. This story has a deep sense of dread, where we won't know what to expect to happen to Asa. The loneliness that has embedded way too deep and how it reflects a woman wanting to be acknowledged makes it heartbreaking to read. Even the ending had got me teary eyed as we Imamura brings us through the perspectives of abandonment and the feeling of humans to want to be cherished and acknowledged, even if, they were a pair of chopsticks that deems almost unusable to anyone.

In Name, Who Wanted to Get Hit (and eventually succeeded),is the story that got me on a roller coaster of emotions at most. Its a depiction of expectations from women in society and when its all torn down, the helplessness that happens after, where the emotional damage occurs after. The first half of the story is repetitive at the very best but the second half had gotten me so so sad. The instincts of motherhood and the fight to live as a human.

And A Night to Remember is one of those stories where you will really feel that the stories that you are reading feels like a dream. The societal expectations of a woman and where you will deem as a whole and normal once you fulfil it.

These stories sets a tone to the peculiars who didn't find a place in the world. Stories like this reminded me that you are never truly entirely alone. Some things will border through the lines of reality but its one that found me through an episode in my life in which it soothes the darkness through the stories of these imperfect characters. And at the end, like what Murata said in her afterword about this book :

This book is not for everyone, but its one for those who felt alienated and alone from the world. This book won't entirely satiate you from that fact but it gives a kind of satisfaction that is unlike any other. And that, lies the strength in Imamura's writing.

4.5🌟 for this!

Thank you to Times Reads for this copy!