vanmeers's reviews
491 reviews

Izumi Suzuki is able to capture the seedy underbelly of the Japanese underground music scene of the 70s — complete with all the sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll that you can imagine in her, newly translated into English, novel Set My Heart on Fire.

This is my first time reading anything by Izumi Suzuki, in fact, I’d never heard about her until now. But I simply couldn’t resist reading Set My Heart on Fire with its promise of detailing the turbulent life of a woman in her 20s in the bar and club scenes of 1970s Tokyo. The idea of struggling through your youth, with iconic music as the background, while trying to fill the void with anything from drugs and alcohol, to sex with musicians? It sounded just up my alley. 

I’m not sure I loved this book, maybe I would’ve devoured it whole when I was in my own 20s more than I would now, but I was definitely unable to put it down. I’m not, as mentioned, familiar with Izumi Suzuki, so when I finished the book I took the liberty to read up on her — or as much as I could, there’s very little information available in english! — and it seems that Set My Heart on Fire is a sort of autofiction novel that is semi based on her own life? 

If that is the case, I do think it bumps the rating of it up a lot more for me. Seeing as it’s an exploration of her own youth, told in thirteen vignettes that stretches through her 20s and 30s. It makes it feel a lot more impactful in a way? A lot more raw and painful to read. Either way, whether autobiographical, autofiction or just plain fiction, Set My Heart on Fire is a story of a woman feeling lost in her youth and into adulthood. The feeling of losing out on life, when settling for less, and the wish to have it all back — to be young and dumb again, to not have made the mistakes you did because you didn’t think you could get better? But then again, to also not be caught in the past so you’re unable to live the future you could have.

Izumi Suzuki, despite this being written in the 80s and taking place in the 70s, still captures the worries and fears of any young person even today in 2024. The translator, Helen O’Horan, did an exceptional job bringing those feelings to life in English and it’s fantastic that the publisher is allowing for the rest of us to be able to read Suzuki’s works in English. I’m definitely curious to read her other work, which is more akin to science fiction, but which Verso has also made available in English! 

TL;DR this book captures all the emotions of being young and dumb, making mistakes, and sitting with those feelings when you’re older. Izumi Suzuki is such an interesting person, I can’t help but want to read more by her! 

/// Thank you to Verso Books for the ARC!

this is a must read for anyone who’s a fan of kolesnik’s prior work. it’s not as extreme as her other stuff, but it hits the spot when it comes to horrors that’ll haunt your mind. it’s bleak, it’s gross and it’s also (mostly) queer so it’s everything that makes horror great.  

it’s perfect for everyone who loved waif and wants to feel that familiar despair while reading. 

after all these years this is still a five star read to me. like it’s genuinely one of my favourite books of all time, the way it’s written, the characters and just the way they’re portrayed in different ways. consumed by their guilt and the consequences of their actions it’s just sooooo perfect. 

but also rereading this nearly 10 years after my first time reading it, me being older now than the characters versus back then, just gives you a whole new perspective on some things? it’s wild. love it. 

giovanni's room feels like such a must read book and i'm really glad i finally picked it up! like what an absolutely depressing story of queer denial and hiding behind a painfully fake facade that hurts not just yourself, but everyone else around you. it's heart wrenching and raw in its depiction of queer love and self hatred.

the way david is portrayed, with his self loathing and denial of who he is. how he's unable to fully be comfortable with giovanni OR hella. it was just, wow, perfection. it felt so real. like i know nothing about james baldwin, but damn could that man write something so painful yet powerful. like happy pride month to my depressed ass i guess?

(i don't know if i'm delusional, but it felt very akin to a little life by hanya yanagihara in some ways? it very much gave me the same kind of feelings overall when reading both books).

this was very much a story on family trauma and childhood abuse wrapped up in horror themed wrapping paper with a little ghostly bow tie — it might not be for everyone, especially if you’re expecting full on paranormal horror but i loved it! 

but i think it’s a perfect mix between a potentially haunted house story and the affects of childhood abuse/trauma way into adulthood. the way you’re questioning whether there’s a real evil entity in the house or if it’s just the mum’s own excuses for her what she did to the oldest son is just so 👌👌👌 

this is such a page turned and ‘impossible to put down’ book and i absolutely loved every part of it. including the ending and the insistence that whether there were ghostly entities or not affecting their mum, that ultimately she’s still culpable. 

/// ARC received through booksirens. 

This is now my second Octavia E. Butler book that I've read (Fledgling was the first!) and both times I'm left absolutely amazed by her talent as a writer and by the talent of the audiobook narrators. This, I think, is even more well done than Fledgling and it's no wonder it's such a classic.

It makes me wonder why Octavia E. Butler has yet to be translated into danish?! We're missing out on great fiction that not only draws you in, but also force you to think critically of the world. Kindred was a whole five star experience and I was absolutely hooked from page one. It's def a recommended read!

do you ever just love someone so much that you just want to open them up and crawl inside of them? to feel safe and comfortable in a loved one’s embrace? 

well, meet katrina who happen to crave a specific kind of love. the kind of love you can only get when you’re skin deep in literal skin suits stitched together with zippers. 

this was positively gross and detailed, but it somehow also hit you right in the emotions in between all the gore and flesh? huge fan of katrina’s zippered skin suits 👌

so fucked up damn check the cw bc wow ! 

This book FUCKS! With a capital F.
The description for this being "a mindbending and visceral experimental horror" is absolutely accurate, on so many levels, and it's one of those stories that will beg to be read again and again. There's so many layers to this, that I can hardly think clearly even after having sat with my emotions after having read this weeks ago? 

It's a heavy story on depression, the pain of living and the surreal nightmare of living under capitalism. The subway station feels like existential dread personified mixed with all my childhood nightmares of walking through neverending neighbourhoods with no one around – just me and my silly little fears. It's so uncomfortable and visceral, and just in your face, and it's made even better with having you decide Vicken's fate. 

The fact that we get to just decide Vicken's fate in a choose your own nightmarish adventure is a CHOICE and I'm all here for it. It feels so intentional within the context of capitalism: how we're all part of the machine, never really in charge of our own choices and the future they bring, and how ultimately we're moved by other people's choices — whether Vicken gets a happy ending or not, it all depends on the whims of the reader. 

Which also means it's a story that you can and should reread and then question your own actions? Are you making Vicken suffer or do you want the best for him, and why? It's honestly a great way to see how the choices we make, that affects others, are maybe also just affected by everything else around us? Like, maybe I'm reading too much into it but that's the beauty of stories. They take on their own lives and this one is a story that begs to live on in the minds of readers in my opinion! 

Anyway, TL;DR this is a messed up little book with a lot to say and it will make you FEEL things. It also gives off serious "when you're depressed but you grew up on Homestuck" vibes AND it mentions John Dies at the End. So if you're anything like me, consuming media that relates to other media, you should pick this up — also it's GAY and almost a tragicomedy so it's perfect.

/// ARC courtesy of Titan Books and Edelweiss.

What a perfect novelette exploring what it means to be human, the art we create and the loss of individuality in the face of capitalism (and AI). How willing we are, to lose the parts that make us human, so that we can become more efficient workers surviving under capitalism? 

I AM AI is short, but it packs a punch. It has a message that it delivers straight on, but Ai Jiang manages, as always, to bring so much soul and depth to the story that you won't be able to stop thinking about it and the characters for a long while after. 

If you're interested in anything Jiang has written, then this is a really good (and short) introduction that'll leave you wanting more (and since you're at it, why not pick up Linghun after!).