You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

amyvl93's reviews
898 reviews

Love Marriage by Monica Ali

Go to review page

challenging funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
A Flat Place by Noreen Masud

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad

Go to review page

dark informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

Go to review page

dark emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I don't think I've read a book that has put me into such a state of anxiety than <i>Soldier Sailor</i> did for a long time. This is a bracing, honest and dark look at both the early months of motherhood, following Kilroy's unnamed narrator who is struggling to adapt to her new role as mother and homemaker, whilst her husband's life continues as normal, and her baby refuses to eat/sleep/insert other baby behaviour here.

For about 2/3s of the novel, Kilroy combines incredibly prescient writing with dark humour to paint a picture of motherhood which made me alarmed to see how many women have described this as relatable. I felt like I knew this woman so well that I wanted to punch her husband in the face, and was overjoyed when she found an ally in parenting who saw her for her rather than simply as a Mum. The final third, then, captures the joys of motherhood - the deep love that ties two people into having a baby, and peels back some of the moments we saw earlier in the novel described as times of immense pain, refreshed as being ultimately okay.

As someone who is decidedly unsure I want children, <i>Solider Sailor</i> definitely confirmed many of my anxieties about motherhood, but I am very grateful to Kilroy for capturing all of these complicated feelings so well within the pages of this novel.
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Chetna Maroo has had an amazing start to her career, with her debut novel longlisted for both the Booker and now the Women's Prize. Unfortunately, this means that expectations are typically raised for her novel, which in my case with <i>Western Lane</i> weren't quite met.

The novel follows Gopi, whose Mum has recently passed away, leaving her father and older sisters in something of a freefall. Her Dad throws her into an intense squash training regime, where Gopi begins to find a life outside of the roles she falls into within her family.

In terms of strengths, despite the short length of the novel the characters in its pages felt rounded and real; Maroo really manages to ground the reader in her settings. I felt like I could imagine the claustrophobia of her bedroom that she shares with her two sisters, the opening scene of the sisters helping their aunt with the cooking under critical gaze felt really fully rendered too. I also found the exploration of the migrant community and family that Gopi and her family lived within really interesting, particularly the combination of support and monitoring that impacts on all the characters in the novel.

Although marketed as a book about grief, I don't really feel like we delved that much into that feeling - we don't hear that much about Gopi's mother at all. In part this may be because it is a representation of individuals who are suppressing their grief, or have complicated feelings about this, but I didn't feel like there was much emotion explored here. 

Also, whilst I learnt an awful lot about the history of squash and squash players, a little less squash recounting to focus more on Gopi and her family would have been appreciated!

I'll definitely look into Maroo's writing in the future, which will hopefully be given a little more space to breath for a writer early in their career.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister

Go to review page

informative medium-paced

3.0

Rebecca Traister has been a writer that I've admired for a long time, and I've had Good & Mad on my to read list probably since it was first released, back in 2018.

This is a book that has not aged well, not because its content isn't interesting, but because it is so heavily rooted in its period, that reading it six years later and staring down the highly probably threat of a second Trump presidential term felt quite deflating.

Written in the immediate aftermath of Hilary Clinton losing the election to Trump in 2016, Traister uses this event as an anchor around which to talk about other times that female anger has been used as a double-edged sword to prevent progression; and times where female rage has truly had revolutionary power. This was very compelling when Traister dipped into history, or contemporary examples that were not Clinton. However, it did feel slightly repetitive to constantly return to the 2016 election - although as someone who was similarly devastated by that result I can understand the temptation. It would be interesting to read an updated version as it is clear that any rage has not made too much of a different, especially that from white women.
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

Go to review page

informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

 Sometimes when a historical fiction novel doesn't quite hit as much as I wanted it to, I wish the author had written a non-fiction piece instead - and that is the case with River Sing Me Home. The novel follows Rachel who flees the plantation she has been enslaved on after the Emancipation Act to try and find her five children who have all been taken from her. This journey takes her across Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and exposes her to the different lives that black people are attempting to find in this new context.

Shearer's close focus into the time of the 1834 Emancipation Act was very interesting to me - I didn't know about how many plantation owners, and other white business owners, essentially kept their slaves in place using loopholes which meant they could still be considered 'runaways'. Whilst I knew bits about the slave rebellions, much of the detail that was shared in this novel was new to me, and I also appreciated how Shearer also touched on the experience of those who were indigenous to the islands - who were there before colonisers arrived.

What didn't quite work as well for me was the characterisation of Rachel and others in the novel. Despite the often moving and heart-breaking content of this novel, I felt very distanced from Rachel and I felt that we were told rather than shown her emotions. She also didn't always incredibly rooted. The writing that I found the most moving was where we had characters telling their own stories, rooted in the first person, and perhaps there was a missed opportunity to truly tell Rachel's story. I also wasn't sure how I felt about a slightly unprobable romance that was thrown into the story as well.

River Sing Me Home highlights an important period of history, but wasn't a total hit for me. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer

Go to review page

challenging emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 One of the things I do miss about my old book subscription is it putting really interesting books into my hands that I may not have otherwise found, and Beatrice Porter is definitely one of those novels.

The novel follows two sisters, Zora and Sasha, living in New York with their Caribbean parents, whose lives are shaped by their parents storytelling of myths from the islands, including Anansi and Rolling Calf amongst others. As their parents marriage disintegrates and the two sisters drift from one another, these stories are how they find a way forward. Zora becomes increasingly interested in storytelling, whilst Sasha begins to explore both her sexuality and her gender.

Palmer's writing throughout this was so vivid, both in the narration from the two sisters, who feel like distinct enough characters - to the voice of the novel, who explores the stories from the Caribbean and who shines a light on the family histories of the sisters - and the cycles that the family seemed doomed to repeat. She gives even the characters who you instinctively want to turn away from nuance.

Whilst there is a lot going on within the pages of this book, it never felt like too much - and I felt like Palmer gave space to the discussions in here, particularly those around gender and mortality. Not all the magical realism worked for me, particularly towards the end but I'll definitely read more of Palmer's work in the future. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings