malayapapaya's reviews
58 reviews

picked up bc of the premise and read it in a day. was not expecting to find a spooky story and be reacting out loud to some of the ways that the fucked up, lightly-scifi slack conversations could go. very interested to see the development of books like this that are so online — it felt really true to the way we use slack/the internet/messaging these days.

i do wish there was some closure (or at least a clearer cliffhanger) to lydia’s situation

this was a fun read!!

visited this bookstore and was so cool to both explore some of the work the shop does and some local writers’ work! i am not frequently a short story reader but now i’m thinking i should be. i liked seeing how each story built its world and how much they conjured up so strongly in just a short span of pages. many stories of everyday people, many with elements of dystopia or bizarre fantasy in thought provoking ways. glad i read this

absolutely gorgeous. descriptions of the world, of the food, etc were so evocative and full of life. the narrative speaks deeply of imperialism and kept me up thinking about it and being stressed by its resonance with real life and current events. the system of native magic and nature is entrancing and empowering. multiple perspectives added to the story instead of taking from it. i can’t wait to read the sequel

had to return to library. but made the chocolate pudding pie recipe and it slapped

im glad this book exists. it’s definitely a quick exploration of many topics, but directs to further resources at the end. lots of ideas introduced that you could take and reflect further on. i didn’t love how some chapters focused so much on one scenario as an example because they sometimes felt too specific, but i think it did a better job in other places of showing how the ideas were more broadly applicable and how lessons could be drawn from them.

loved returning to the humor, ensemble, escapism, and beautiful queerness of a casey mcquiston book.

was so lovely to read two characters who know each other so well getting to fall back in love. especially lovely to see kit fall in love with a theo who has discovered they are trans and read that from kit's perspective. so affirming and validating and a little magical.

the descriptions of the setting, the food, the wine were so lush and beautiful. it made me want to be a little more indulgent in my day to day life and take my time to enjoy my surroundings (the whole "light the good candles, living is a special occasion" mindset). also, kit is beautiful and reading/resonating with his point of view was so affirming, even though our specific taste isn't the same. between henry and kit, cmq knows how to write a taurus.

something about a genderqueer romance between two very genderful people, seeing the beauty in each other, and getting to face their flaws in a new light after much growth was so beautiful. also, as someone who is not a big reader and is still earlyish in unlearning a lot of internalized toxic and heteropatriarchal narratives around sex, i really enjoyed that many of the scenes were about enjoying it and being in your body instead of giving stage time to the power dynamics that seem to often come with the territory.

i did a bunch of journaling throughout this book, whether that was "what is it about kit that resonates? what aspects do i see and want to honor in myself and esp my gender presentation?", "what do i dream of that i don't let myself have?", "where am i too self-righteous?", "how do i honor these parts of me that are imperfect but that these characters have such love for anyway?" and more.

Really want to restart but got distracted again. Also was not sure I was prepared for how sad I know this book is

I enjoyed this so far and would revisit but fell into the trap of not finishing books I start

just reading doesn’t do it justice of course, but having seen it/heard the soundtrack and now getting to see how it’s written, how it changed from offbroadway to broadway, and look at moments that move quickly when you watch it is a great way to dig deeper. watching this show was incredible half because i’ve seen a lot of shows and it was really incredible to see these things being addressed and talked about like this in a broadway theatre. it’s so refreshing to see something so different from the same shit that broadway loves to churn out, that criticizes the constant centering of white queer people, and does so while making you feel literally every emotion and also showcasing so many queer (and also so many trans cast/understudies?!!) and Black artists and people being incredible!!