I wanted to read The Extinction of Irena Rey because of the pretty cover, but also because the plot does sound like it might be interesting: The novel is about eight translators who gather in Poland at the house of the writer Irena Ray to translate her next novel, but then Irena goes missing. The thing is, as soon as I started reading the first chapter, I knew I had made a mistake and that I was not going to like this novel.
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I was instantly drawn to the cover of Heather O’Neill’s When We Lost Our Heads. But then I read the synopsis and decided to give it a pass because the main characters sounded insufferable. I ended up buying it because of the glowing reviews, and because I needed one more book to get free shipping for my Book Outlet order. I reluctantly started reading it when nothing else in my TBR pile called out to me. I was right about the main characters being insufferable, but it turns out there is much more to When We Lost Our Heads then the loathsome relationship between the main characters, and I ended up being wholly engrossed in this novel as I read it.
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There There is the debut novel of Tommy Orange. Orange is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and he was born and raised in Oakland, California. There There is a story about the Urban Indian and is set primarily in Oakland. It is told from the different perspectives of twelve interconnected Native American characters who are all planning on attending the Big Oakland Powwow. I think Orange did a fantastic job of creating twelve distinct and compelling characters, and I appreciate being able to read about Indigenous life in an urban setting rather than a rural setting or on a reservation.
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You have probably heard of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a story about a runaway boy, Huck Finn, and a runaway slave, Jim, who decide to sail down the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered to be an anti-racist book, despite its heavy use of a certain racial slur (I should point out that this slur also appears quite frequently in James as well), and the character of Jim is depicted as honorable and intelligent, albeit gullible and loyal to Huck even after Huck plays tricks on him. James is a reimagining of Huck and Jim’s adventures told from Jim’s perspective, and it tells a more authentic story about slavery and the deep-seated racism of the South, something that I think only a Black writer can do. I found James to be an uncomfortable read, but it is also a very interesting story that I recommend whether or not you have read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
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I enjoy Kate Atkinson’s novels. She is one of those authors whose books I will always read when she publishes something new, but I was a little hesitant to read Normal Rules Don’t Apply because it is a collection of short stories, and I just don’t get short stories.
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White Teeth was originally published in the year 2000 and is Zadie Smith’s first novel. It is a pretty impressive debut considering Smith was only 24 years old when it was published. It is a thick book that took me nearly two weeks to read, and it is Dickensian with a large cast of characters. It reads like a quaint 19th or early 20th century novel even though it is set in the late 20th century. White Teeth is broadly about the immigrant experience in western culture. It took a bit for me to get into the story, but I ended up finding it to be an interesting and humorous read.
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This is the first – and most likely only – “blind date with a book” that I have purchased. A Hero of Our Time is apparently “whip smart with biting humor” but I did not find it humorous at all. It actually kind of made me feel sad – when it wasn’t making me feel so bored that I wanted to DNF it.
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I came across a collection of Maggie O’Farrell’s novels in the bargain book section of my local independent bookstore, and since I have read and enjoyed O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet, I decided to read one of her more contemporary novels. After You’d Gone, O’Farrell’s debut novel that was first published in 2000,sounded the most intriguing out of the collection. I found After You’d Gone to be just as interesting as both The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet.
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Ottessa Moshfegh is the author of the darkly funny and bizarre My Year of Rest and Relaxation, which I read back in 2022 and enjoyed. This inspired me to read Moshfegh’s Death in Her Hands, which I came across in the bargain section at my local independent bookstore. I did not enjoy Death in Her Hands. It is one of those books where the idea is better than the execution.
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The Break is the first in a trilogy of novels by Katherena Vermette that are set in Winnipeg, Manitoba and feature a recurring cast of Métis characters. The Break is a good novel that tells a powerful story, but its frank depictions of sexual assault make this novel difficult to stomach at times.
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