bookedbymadeline's reviews
929 reviews

Thank you netgalley and The New Press for the eARC!

As someone who studied both sociology and political science, I was really excited to read this. It was very readable and easily accessible, sometimes reading like a novel.

Hochschild interviews residents across different backgrounds- white, Black, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, middle aged, elderly, youth, republicans, liberal, moderates-across Kentucky’s 5th Congressional district, namely Pikeville. KY-5 is the second poorest and whitest district in the USA.

As she interviews people from all backgrounds to get a full picture, it also meant she interviewed neo nazis like the leader of the March. It was difficult to read his sections because of all the hate he had and denial of things like slavery and the Holocaust.

In 2017 a neo nazi group marched in Pikeville before the infamous Charlottesville March. The area has seen loss of jobs as the coal mines close as well as an increase in opioid drug use/overdoses. Hochschild looks at the residents from 2016-2023 and how they went from Democrats to Republicans so rapidly, while also looking at the history/culture of the region.

This book offers an empathetic view of why many rural residents, specifically in this district, have voted republican. Trying to bridge the gap of republicans and democrats, to approach a conversation and understand each other. Where many interviewees have expressed their feelings of shame and blame from liberals calling them names and stereotyping them as “hillbillies” as well as using ableist language as insults towards them. Hochschild offers a view into their lives to explore the culture and community of eastern Kentucky and how the pride paradox has caused a rift in the US political landscape.

One of the most interesting concepts was the “Pride paradox”- where they blame themselves for failures and have the ‘pick yourself up by the bootstraps mentality’ (Protestant Ethic) and the pride of being hard working, wanting the American dream, and hometown pride as most of the residents have been there all their lives. Essentially “if I succeed it’s because of me, and if I fail it’s my fault.”

I learned a lot of Kentucky and their politics, such as how the state gerrymanders the number of reps they get in the House by including prisoners while still excluding their eligibility to vote which was infuriating. 

Author and subjects look at issues around race, social class, and privilege. One person talked about his feeling shame and anger at stereotypes about being racist because he’s white, poor, and rural and he doesn’t feel heard by any politicians because of his social class (“republicans are rich and racist and democrats don’t seem to care about anything except race, gender, and sexual identity”). He also discussed the idea of privilege and how he feels he has more in common with poor black people than other white people of varying social classes, but because he’s white, people assume he doesn’t know what it’s like to struggle. For this it’s easy to understand because of course he has white privilege compared to POC but he doesn’t have privilege when it comes to social class, but if you just say “privilege” not everyone understands the varying levels and how different it can be even within your own race. Many in the area associate privilege with having an easy “hoity toity” life and they haven’t as many worked hard labor, suffered through addiction, lost jobs, etc.

Some interviewees even discussed how they feel like they have more in common with blue collar Black people and immigrants because of their shared class and economic struggles. But they still vote for trump because he wasn’t like other politicians. It’s a confusing paradox to be sure but it also makes some sense in a way because if your region is hard hit and politicians have been ignoring you/abandoning their constituents until election season, why wouldn’t you take a chance on someone outside of politics? 

As much as I personally disagree with Trump and will never understand how people can ignore how racist, sexist, homophobic he is and still vote for him, I can empathize with their feelings of isolation and hopelessness. Many had lost their jobs, living in poverty, and felt alienated by the Democratic Party as the candidates pushed for things like clean energy whereas these people dedicated their entire lives for generations to coal.

I’d highly recommend if you want to understand the politics and culture of Eastern Kentucky, specifically the Appalachian hollers,  and the shift they had from blue to red. 

TW/CW: racism, holocaust (and holocaust deniers), slavery, child abuse, violence, drug abuse, classism, alcoholism, addiction, suicide, domestic violence, death 

I love art history and was very excited to learn more about John Singer Sargent and his relationship/work with the Wertheimers! Unfortunately this did not work for me. The author clearly did a lot of research but at times it felt completely unnecessary to tell the story, causing the book to be slow, with dry academic writing. At times it felt like I was reading a textbook and I can appreciate the effort to create a full picture of the time period but then why discuss the parents of these figures and their familial history? Too much information led to the main “meat” of the story to be bogged down. I’d recommend if you have a background in art history either via a degree or it’s your career field, but as a casual enthusiast of art history this will not be an enjoyable read

Thank you Caitlin for the eARC! She has doen it once again with such a cute as hell romance 🥹😍

Looove the banter! I was laughing and cheering on Rhys and Paige. I related so much to them both especially Paige, she made me feel so seen as someone with ADHD!

This is my first CEO romance and it’s something I didn’t know I liked until this book 🙊 The character development is well done as we watch them grow as individuals and also as a couple! Their relationships was so cute and light, YAY FOR NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP. 

I highly recommend this book and the rest of the series if you love found family, neurodivergent and mental health rep, and don’t want third act breakups or miscommunication 😍

TW/CW: death of parent (off page), sexual content

Rep: ADHD and anxiety, biracial MC (white and Japanese)

Tropes: CEO/billionaire, found family, he falls harder, workplace romance 

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the eARC!

Intriguing start that pulled me in right away! Those Opulent Days is a historical murder mystery set in 1920s French colonial Vietnam (often referred to as Annam because of the French colonization of the region). We get switching POVs told in third person narration, mainly following the 4 friends Duy, Phong, Minh, and Edmond. But we also get some chapters from the perspectives of the women in their lives; Tattler, Hai, Marianne, and Madame Nuhr. Because of all the switching chapters it could be confusing at times- there’s just too many POVs for my taste 😅

The mystery kept me engaged as we follow the characters from the night of the murder and flashing back to the few days leading up to the tragedy! Pham creates an atmospheric drama filled with glamour, violence, and wealth. It was difficult to read at times due to the unlikeable characters, especially with how cruel Minh and Edmond could be. And two of the twists I could see coming from the beginning but it was an interesting, unique story nonetheless!

This was a strong debut novel and taught me a lot about Vietnam during the French Colonial period! I can’t wait to read more from Pham in the future.

TW/CW: death of parent, murder, animal death, colonialism, physical abuse, classism, rape, starvation, vomit, death, grief, racism, blood, self harm, alcoholism, infidelity (brief mention), medical trauma, pregnancy, childbirth 

Atmospheric setting and perfect for autumn! It could be a little slow and being at times as well as repetitive. I felt like Merricat read as being a child as opposed to 18, her voice sounded very young and immature (maybe because of the trauma?). Overall it was an interesting, unique story but I kind of wanted more since not much happens and most of the pages are just repeating things! 

Writing style isn’t for me-too much telling over showing and overly descriptive details. The final straw was the way women are being written “[she had] no hips or breasts to write home about, no junk in the trunk” 🤢 like please stop writing women like this 

The first few chapters are about how Abby and Gretchen became friends, which made for a slow start to this novel. Hendrix is always so creative though! This has a fully planned out yearbook with photos and notes to the students/quotes as if it’s a real yearbook. Plus newspaper articles, photos, cards-loved the mixed media! I also loved that the chapters are 80s song titles ☺️

Now what I didn’t like and why it’s not rated higher:

1). Very dragged out with the event that makes Gretchen possessed not happening until about 100 pages in and then only the last 100 pages have any action.
2). Overly descriptive with telling over showing at times-the book could’ve been 100 pages shorter-plus it got to be repetitive. I got to the point where any super detailed paragraphs I would skim and I couldn’t wait for this book to end 🙊
3). I finally understand when people say his female characters aren’t well written 😂 these FMCs were soo weirdly written at times and they almost don’t feel real. We get to know Gretchen but that’s it, our narrator Abby we don’t really know as well, even though we’re following her journey.
4).

Honestly with how hard core Christian Gretchen’s parents are and the fact that it’s during the Satanic Panic I don’t know how they didn’t jump to the “she’s possessed” or a satanist conclusion at all

Hendrix’s books are hit or Miss for me since I didn’t like this one very much and DNFd We Sold Our Souls, but I loved Horrostör and Final Girl Support Group. So we’ll see how I feel about his others 🙊

I loved the mythology infused with a classic love story set during WW1! I laughed and cried throughout the novel, flying through this story to see how things ended. Such a beautiful, moving story of love, loss, sacrifice, and prejudice!

The characters came to life and I loved following their journeys! I don’t have many words for this one, it was just…perfect 🩷

I started crying at the foreword by ASP 😭Loved learning about bishop’s career and childhood! Of course I mainly picked this up because of Gilmore Girls, a staple of my adolescence ❤️. And although I loved those sections, I loved getting to show Bishop even more!

I laughed, gasped, and cried-a beautiful, inspiring memoir of Bishop’s life and career in show business. I’d highly recommend especially if you’re a Gilmore Girls fan or if you enjoy celebrity memoirs getting an inside look at show business behind the scenes!

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane for the eARC!

The podcast and social media stuff feels like it doesn’t contribute to the story and as if it’s added as an afterthought. I love mixed media in books but these added no new info and just repeated what we already knew. Also I hated the podcast, which we are supposed to, they’re a parody of My Favorite Murder and just how low true crime podcasts can stoop to be more about entertainment as opposed to inform and bring awareness/justice 

The social commentary about true crime and how unethical it can be at times is not there. It’s alluded to in the synopsis but it’s surface level and doesn’t dive deep or make you think like I Have Some Questions For You (the comparison is so far off because Makkai executes it well whereas TLOLG barely scratches the surface of true crime podcasts, police incompetence, and grooming so for the “for fans of” just skip this one because Makkai does it way better and this doesn’t measure up by a long shot)

Slow paced with too much telling over showing, minute overly descriptive details (I don’t need to know why Lindsey drives a Toyota). The writing feels more like women’s fiction mixed with some romance the way the men are being described 😒 there’s no tension or suspense for a mystery?! 

Lindsey and Jessica’s POVs sound exactly the same, both are one dimensional. Lindsey constantly talks about how she doesn’t want to be treated as just the sister of a missing girl and yet she doesn’t give us anything else to her character. We don’t get any info about her OTHER than her sister’s case and how she feels about it?!

I was so bored and annoyed that I just decided it wasn’t worth it to keep reading just to find out the twists/killer but instead will skip ahead to find out if my prediction is right. Especially after reading other reviews expressing exactly how I’ve been feeling and seeing it brought up that it’s actually two authors writing this (and although I’ve seen it executed well before)  ends up with plot inconsistencies 🤷🏻‍♀️