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booktalkwithkarla's reviews
1339 reviews
Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Joan is a doctor and a workaholic. When her father dies in a fall (or a stroke that caused a fall), she travels to the funeral in China for a weekend. She knows the sizes and lives of everyone around her, yet has no deep connections with anyone. Joan struggles with her heritage and identity. As we learn her story we have inklings as to why.
Weike Wang writes a tight and great novel. She tells this story of family and grief through Joan’s eyes. The first person point of view helps Joan to be relatable and makes her loneliness and idiosyncracies more acute. Wang also writes the pandemic in an interesting way capturing key aspects that are resonant. I listened to the audio book. I liked the tone the narrator gave the book, allowing me to read Joan more clearly. I really like Joan.
Home, belonging, family, grief, migrations, love, and father-daughter relationships were all part of the story. The complexities of living on a different continent from your parents was something I never considered. And I loved the reflections on the ways for parents care for their kids. Joan’s claim that she “Made a life here!” made this a beautiful coming of age story with a great ending.
Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal
funny
informative
mysterious
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? No
2.5
Angel, Cora, and Donita are Filipina domestic workers in Singapore. This novel explores their lives before during and after a friend is accused of murdering her employer. As they try to help and also maintain their own safety and livelihoods, we get an inside look into the abuse, prejudice, and judgement heaped on domestic workers. Each of the three women deals with their treatment and own past and hurts.
Balli Kaur Jaswal’s story opened my eyes to the plight of the women. The food writing was good and I often found myself hungry while reading. Jaswal’s story took a few turns that took me out of the story and made me want to shut the book.
I cared for Cora and wanted to know how her story resolves so I ket reading. The parts of the novel about grief, injustice, and love were my favorite based on how Jaswal wrote them with respect and care. I might recommend this to the right reader but this story wasn’t for me.
Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts by Jennie Allen
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Thank God, I’m not where I used to be and not yet where I wanna be with taking my thoughts captive, so I was interested in Jennie Allen’s take on stopping the spiral of toxic thoughts. Allen lays out her own recent related experiences, offers common patterns of thinking, and strategies for different choices. The book is organized well and the graphics help to solidify Allen’s points. She also offers specific scriptures as encouragement. I liked this book and found much of it helpful including the mental map and book layout. I appreciated Allen’s reminder of what Jesus says about me (us) based in scriptures. I will refer back to the book as I practice taking my toxic thoughts captive and choosing to believe truth.
Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A wonderful and real story of mothers and daughters, learning to love, grieve, and forgive.
Thao Thai writes beautiful sentences and crafts an authentic look at the impact of secrets and the motivations of women. She captures women doing their best even when the results are painful. She shows how our plans and choices often don’t play out how we imagine. Ann, Minh, and Hu’o’ng each get a voice taking us to key moments in Vietnam during the war and to the Banyan House in Florida.
I liked learning more about this time period and the women’s experiences and culture, without losing the story momentum. I loved how Thai articulates the complicated truths of being a mother and being a daughter. And I loved the ending. This was almost a perfect book for me for its depth and authenticity and I highly recommend it.
“When I try to follow the string of one emotion to its genesis, I find another one tied right next to it, inseparable, and unable to be parsed. I’m tangled.”
“…vowed to cherish her all her days. Mothers and their promises. Unspoken covenants. Without them, we might let ourselves slip into darkness.”
“Or maybe it’s not something you inherit, but something that runs through you, another person’s trauma, their violence. It sits below the skin until you name it. And you root it out like a cancer.”
The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
What a story of the long and hard circumstances surrounding Goucher’s running journey. My favorite parts of her story are her familial closeness, her relationship with her Papa, and her college running days. As a former runner I love hearing about the training days and her introduction to running by her Papa
Goucher is strong and has achieved amazing things in her career. Her overcoming of grief and abuse plus her transformation emotionally is remarkable. Her story of loss and victimization by trusted people in authority is horrifying and makes me mad. Her current clarity and her support of keeping running pure are admirable. Her experience control at the hands of a huge brand is sad. This inside look from her experience is important and also hard to read.
I chose the audio version which affected my reading experience. I think I would have liked reading the paper version to make it less stressful and triggering to me. I am glad to be informed of how awful professional runners are treated by some companies so I can vote with my dollars. Anyone interested in running and in overcoming challenges should check out Goucher’s story in this book.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This fictional account of Queen Elizabeth discovering books and reading late in life is sweet and a beautiful tribute to books. Book darts cover the pages of Alan Bennett’s work as I noted smart sentences, books I am interested in, and brilliant replies from the Queen. I really enjoyed this book on an afternoon when I needed an emotional lift. I loved being reminded of the value of reading and how transformative books have been for me. I also liked the invitation to simply write (even when you may not publish). I recommend this for readers - worthy of an afternoon in your reading nook.
No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is a story of one writer and nine readers and the impact of one book on their lives. The diversity of experiences for each reader and their connection to the book and sometimes other characters is powerful. My emotions got a big workout reading this book. Erica Bauermeister gets and writes people well. Each character - flawed and lovable - made me what to be in conversation with them. She is masterful. I now want to go into her backlist of fiction and her memoir - and will. I loved this book so much - for the story and the feelings each person’s reading experience evoked in me. I highly recommend this book (already in my top 2024 book list). Read it without much research so you can experience it raw and real.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
challenging
dark
informative
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? It's complicated
4.25
After hearing about this book from so many I bought it and it languished on my shelf until my book club chose it. The setting of Oxford and study of languages was the original draw for me and turned out to be my favorite parts of the novel. I don’t read fantasy fiction typically.
R.F. Kuang is an incredible writer and this is a compelling story. She is gifted and brilliant. It’s hard to imagine how her mind works and how she created Babel. The evidence is in my hands and it’s massive. There were parts of where I lost focus, then would be drawn back into the story by some fascinating etymology. I found the matched pairs and translation sections the most interesting.
I recommend this for word nerds and fantasy readers. Looking forward to talking about the themes of colonialism, loyalty, friendship, slavery, ethics, and class. There’s so much to discuss, making this a fantastic read for book clubs.
The Scarlet Letter: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical Background and Critical History Plus Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives with Introductions and Bibliographies by Ross C. Murfin
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Most people know is the general plot of The Scarlet Letter. Still, I’ve long desired to read it and got the opportunity when my book club chose it recently. I’m so glad I did. Many in the group trudged through it or stopped 1/3 of the way through. All agreed that after discussing it their view of the book (and rating) went up. All of that to say, please read AND discuss this book. It’s fascinating and highly discussable, which I guess is why it remains a classic and a book assigned in high school.
I loved the writing and the storyline. I read in tandem with listening which helped me to understand the content. And the narration was fantastic. This book says so much about people and human nature and community. All topics I am very interested in. What would I do if I lived in this community? Would I do what Hester did? The crowd? So many things to consider.
I don’t know that I would read it again it, but I am grateful for the experience of reading and discussing this with other women. The edition I chose has a lengthy intro (read) and several essays at the end. I still plan to read the essays and reserve the right to update this review. 😂
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
“Child, the past is past, and furthermore it’s different every time I remember it. I’ll tell you about the future, the one you will make.”
This story spans three generations and is full of both loss and joy. I experienced all of the emotions and want readers to go in blind. The reading experience is so rich. This is an epic story of family, love, and faith. I laughed. I cried. I didn’t want it to end. And I can’t wait to read more Verghese. His writing, compassion, and care for characters are all outstanding. He writes both medical technical details and heartfelt emotional connections well. Masterful book!!!