amyvl93's reviews
900 reviews

 Really Good Actually tells for the story of Monica Maggie, a junior academic living in Canada who after around two years of marriage but many years together is divorcing from her university boyfriend turned husband Jon. The novel follows Monica Maggie's attempts to deal, or not deal, with the emotional fall out of this decision; based on Heisey's own experience as a young divorcee (her author photo and the cover photo bear striking resemblances to each other, as do other aspects of Maggie's story).

Given the low rating on here I went into this with low expectations (I'd received a copy as part of a subscription) and so this wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Heisey is mostly experienced in writing for screen and so it feels like the novel comes more to life in its dialogue then it does in its prose.

As an examination of a woman falling into a complete black hole of her own creation, this is pretty good. However, I don't think we got enough information about the good bits of her and Jon's relationship to know why she was so devastated by the breakdown of the relationship. From what I could understand Jon seemed to be a bit of a douche, and I couldn't work out why Maggie was so sad to see the back of him.

The side characters are not always that well developed - although we are in Maggie's self-centred head which may be impacting on this - and often feel like they're rooted in stereotypes (gay bestie, emotional pal, two other friends who feel interchangeable). The only two who really feel developed are Amy - a fellow young divorcee who is a chaotic sunshine ball - and Merris, Maggie's boss turned landlord.

Whilst I think this novel did shine a light an underwritten experience, it felt like this could have been shorter and also a little deeper in the way it explored its issues. 

I was enjoying this as a cute and fluffy read, but that ending!? The Authenticity Project hinges around a notebook, originally written by Julian Jessop, a one-time famous artist and womaniser who has become incredibly lonely since the death of his wife. The notebook encourages people to capture their inner thoughts and feelings and to be truly honest - it is then picked up by Monica, a former lawyer turned cafe owner who harbours a deep desire to have children, and then Hazard, a City banker who is finally confronting his addictions. As the novel progresses, it also makes its way to an Australian surfer, a Mummy blogger and a charity volunteer.

Whilst this is a novel that explores some meaty issues; loneliness in all its guises at all ages, addiction, recovery, mental health, grief, failing marriages - all of this is done is a pretty bright and breezy way. However, for the most part it feels like quite a cosy drama that you can envision being a short Christmas film or similar. We see communities being created with nudging from the book through art classes and shared dinners - giving us almost found family vibes. Yes, there are mildly improbable relationships and characters managing to go from bigoted to campaigners in the space of 50 pages; and yes, all these characters inhabit a very specific type of London - the type where everyone can comfortably live in West London despite having either no or low income jobs. Pooley (an ex-advertising director who has also taken a sobriety journey) is clearly very committed to writing what she knows about.

This was looking to be a 3 star read, a sweet little palette cleanser after finally completing A Suitable Boy until the ending 'twists'. Whilst one was clearly bound to happen, the other had me close to throwing the book across the room. As other reviewers have said, it feels like Pooley couldn't quite trust the reader to draw conclusions and had to really hammer home what she thinks authenticity is. I honestly felt a bit cheated.

Honestly think finishing this book may rank in my 2023 achievements. A Suitable Boy is one of the longest novels in the English language, clocking in at just under 1500 pages and, to be brutally honest, really, really doesn't need to be.

Set in 1951 and 1952 in post-colonial and post-Partition India, A Suitable Boy technically follows the story of Lata, a young female student whose mother is set on finding 'a suitable boy' for her to marry. Alongside Lata's search to find a husband we also dip into the life of her brother-in-law Pran's attempts to modernise the curriculum at the university, his brother Maan's romantic entaglement with the courtesan Saaeda Bai, his father Mahesh's career in Indian politics during an especially turbulent time along with Lata's other in-laws the Chatterji's irrevent and snobby lives in Calcutta and Maan's family friends the Khans, grappling with being both Muslim and landowners at a time of significant change for both these groups. We also get detailed sidebars from musicians, tutors along with local and national politicians.

It is a truly sprawling narrative and there's much to enjoy here. Seth's prose is - usually - entertaining and humerous, especially when it comes to following the lives of his characters. When we're with Lata and her slightly ridiculous mother (think Mrs Bennet from Pride & Prejudice), the chaotic Chatterjis and generally exploring relationships; this feels very well drawn. These characters feel vibrant and their homes seemingly leap off the page. However, other characterisation is not as solid, surprisingly Lata's love interests all come across as fairly flat, and largely defined by one characteristic (Muslim, Poet, Shoemaker respectively). Given that this is the plot hook, I did expect to be slightly more interested in these characters and in Lata's ultimate choice.

Whilst the characterisation is generally strong, I felt that this novel felt at its most bloated when Seth attempts to zoom out and provide wider context; or goes on random side quests with minor characters to give us, for instance, detailed views of a local music scene, spirituality or the history of shoemaker in India. I feel that Seth was probably trying to draw comparisons with authors like Tolstoy but I just found these sections an absolute slog. Indeed, I was rarely motivated to pick up this book because I wanted to know what happened, but because I just wanted to finish the thing. It did feel to me that Seth's points could have been made with far less detail, and I wish he'd had an editor who'd trimmed some of this excess. The decades he's spent writing A Suitable Girl makes me think this won't have changed.

It's undeniable that this novel provides a detailed insight to life in India in the 1950s, to a society that is trying to work out what its identity is after colonial rule and hints at the rifts that form part of Indian society today. I would say it is worth a read if you want to get this detailed, detailed insight.

This is a short, brutal and brilliant novella exploring the experience of women living in occupied Palestine. <i>Minor Detail</i> describes the rape of murder of a Bedouin woman by IDF forces in the immediate aftermath of the expulsion of Palestinians and the establishment of Israel, and picks up 25 years later a young woman living in the West Bank who stumbles across this history and becomes obsessed with it.

Shibli does a lot with very few pages. The first section is told from the perspective of the IDF soldier, the language used from his perspective is sparse and provides some stark insight into the language of war used then and (perhaps) now. There's some quite on the nose imagery used with him regarding an insect bite, but it is an effective message that Shibli is using to indicate where perhaps the rot began. The second half has a much more engaging protagonist, and there's a mildly farcical telling to her having to deal with numerous checkpoints and administrative challenges to be able to travel slightly beyond her usual neighbourhood.

Like many people, <I>Minor Detail</i> jumped up my TBR after Shibli's award was rescinded by the Frankfurt Book Fair and I think feels like vital reading after the last month. 

 I really enjoyed Angie Cruz's Dominicana when it was nominated for the Women's Prize, so I was excited to come across another one of her books in an independent book store I was browsing a few months ago.

Let in Rain Coffee is her second novel, and follows Esperanza whose desire for the American Dream (as displayed on the TV show Dallas) propels her, her husband Santo and their children to New York where there's never enough money. The family is placed under greater strain when Santo's father Don Chan arrives to live with them after the death of his wife; beginning a push and pull between the US and the Dominican Republic.

I really enjoyed this. The whole Colon family are painted in all their shades of complexity; Esperanza who care for her family but fritters money on fancy things, Santo who is unable to stand up to his father, Bobby & Dallas the two children (named again...for the TV show) who have to adjust to growing up in their complicated neighbourhood and Don Chan, orphan-turned-revolutionary left with his memories in his old age. The only character I felt was slightly underdeveloped was Mirabel, she's important to the novel for many reasons, and her presence has a hint of magical realism about it but I didn't feel close enough to understand her motivations (view spoiler).

Every place also feels vividly drawn; every scene that Cruz described I felt I could see as I was reading. I also felt that the amount of issues she tackles her; from Dominican history, what the 'right' way of responding to government is to debt and low-income working, to young pregnancy and crime; didn't feel excessive or eye-roll inducing. Instead, it felt entirely possible that these issues could touch and circle the family.

I think I may have found a new favourite author in Cruz and I'm excited to read her other two novels. 

This was my first Ruth Ware pick as my book club chose it as their latest read. It follows Hannah who when she was at Oxford University provided eyewitness evidence that placed the college porter, John Neville, in prison for the murder of her roommate April. Many years later, Hannah is married to (April's ex) Will and they live together in Edinburgh and are expecting their first child. When John dies in prison, this sparks renewed interest in whether he truly committed the crime he died in prison for; and Hannah herself begins to review her past.

This was a fairly entertaining read. The supporting characters are by-and-large stereotypes; ranging from the one character with a working class accent to to the prickly smart girl. Hannah, our protagonist, is not like the other girls in her university years, and largely defined by her pregnancy in her later years. April is perhaps slightly more complicated, but her character type does feel familiar in many contemporary thrillers (wealthy, incredibly attractive woman who manipulates everyone around her whilst struggling with some undefined inner demons). I found the introduction of November to be quite intriguing, but she tends to serve as just a sidekick to Hannah's investigating.

There are definitely moments where both the plot and character decisions stretch reality and my personal enjoyment; Hannah is easily drawn towards believing in people's potential motives and often makes some questionable decisions as a result of this, and the last 10% really felt like it jumped off a cliff (no pun intended) which undermined some of the tension that Ware had built up.

That being said, this was a pretty entertaining read, and Ware is definitely on my list of authors to check out next time I want an easier read. 

Like many millennials of a certain age I grew up reading the OG Princess Diaries books and the film remains one of my favourite comfort films. I finally polished off the series in 2021 and was quite excited to check out the time jump release of Mia in adulthood, planning her wedding to Michael.

However, this still felt very much like a YA novel, just with more references to Mia & Michael's sex life. Mia and her friends all still feel very much like the same people they were at the end of the original series, and whilst Mia does have a joking aside about how she's only friends with people from school, it did feel like a bit of a missed opportunity to expand her circle a bit more. Her voice still feels like that of a teenager, as do some of the decisions that she makes through the novel. There's also a twist towards the end, that also results in a v frustrating time jump, which I could definitely see coming from the early pages.

From other reviews, I can see that this is largely considered a set up for Cabot's spin-off contemporary young reader series which makes sense, and there's still some fun capers in here - but it doesn't feel like a particularly needed instalment in the series.

Emily Henry has been my first real adventure in contemporary romance fiction since I read a bunch of Mills & Boon novels in my early teens. I enjoyed Beach Read and found Book Lovers to be genuinely a great time, so was excited to pick up You & Me on Vacation but unfortunately I think this was my least favourite of Henry's novels that I've read so far.

This one follows Poppy and Alex, who met on their first day at university and who become close friends who go on one big summer trip each year, which move from cheap student type trips when they first meet through to much fancier ones as Poppy starts working at a travel magazine. However, a couple of years ago something happened which meant they haven't spoken since. The action of the novel really kicks off when Poppy manages to convince Alex to go on one last trip with her, for old times sake.

One thing I think this novel taught me is that friends-to-lovers, at least over a 12 year period, is perhaps not my favourite trope. Poppy and Alex knew each other for ages, and had so many opportunities to tell the other how they felt about each other but they just...don't. I felt especially bad for Sarah, Alex's on-and-off again girlfriend who Poppy is mean about because she thinks Sarah doesn't like her (um...I'm not surprised?) and who I hope is thriving with an emotionally available man.

Unlike it seems a lot of reviewers, perhaps because I wasn't as invested in the relationship, I quite liked the details about the trips that we get over the years. I also quite liked Henry's portrayal of people who work as influencers for both Poppy and her friend Rachel. I also found that the other relationships around the couple were quite well drawn as well.

All in all, definitely going to continue to read what Henry puts out but this is probably 3 out of 3 for me.

My first experience with Maggie O'Farrell was a bit mixed, but I found Hamnet incredibly moving so I was intrigued to pick up The Marriage Portrait when it was shortlisted for the Women's Prize.

This novel tells the story of Lucrezia, a daughter of the house of de Medici in Florence, who is married off to the Duke of Ferrara at the age of fifteen - and becomes convinced that her husband is going to murder her. This is in part based on historical sources, whilst Lucrezia's death is thought to be caused by TB, there were many rumours that she was killed. Her story was also immortalised in Browning's poem 'My Last Duchess'.

Whilst there is certainly intrigue here, I think what fell down for this novel is that part of its tragedy - Lucrezia's very young age at her death - means that there isn't a great deal for the book to focus on. We get a very slow burn of her young years growing up with her wider family in Florence, where she is deemed the black sheep of the family. Like Hamnet, it is clear that O'Farrell really immersed herself in the historical context of this story, but it was a slow read for the first two thirds. Once Lucrezia enters her marriage to Alfonso there is definitely more to go at, and I found O'Farrell's writing of a claustrophobic, controlling relationship to be very effective, but it takes a long time to get there.

Overall, this novel made me feel like it would have been a great short story but the content felt overstretched.

You People is a novel that covers some serious and important topics, but was one I didn't ever quite find compelling enough to want to really pick up.

The novel is based around a pizza restaurant in London, where the staff are all people looking for a new start. The plot focuses in particular on waitress Nia, who has left her alcoholic mother behind in Wales, and chef Shan, who has fled war in Sri Lanka and is haunted by the guilt of not knowing what has happened to his wife and son. The restaurant is managed by Tuli, an enigmatic character with his fingers in many pies, and the other staff are all also migrants from various parts of the world.

There are some moments in the novel that really highlight, similar to The Beekeeper of Aleppo the experience of those seeking a new life in the UK, legally or not. The raids on businesses by Home Office staff are incredibly evocatively written. However, much of the novel is a bit of a plod through Nia trying to work out how she feels about Tuli's range of work and Shan's day-to-day life. The plot escalates quite dramatically over the final third of the novel and I was slightly unsure about how earned that felt.

Some interesting topics covered here, but there are many other novels that look at similar things in a slightly more accomplished way.