© 2023 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
Showing posts with label Literary Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literary Fiction. Show all posts
Simon & Schuster | 6 June 2023 | 336 pgs
Source: Library
Jess first met Josh at their college. They are completely opposites in every sense. Both of them are opinionated and it's no surprise that their views often clash during most of the talks and discussions in classes together. Jess thought she'd never meet Josh again after graduation, until her first day at work as an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Being the only Black woman on the floor, Jess is often overlooked and underestimated. She gets all the mundane work despite her qualifications, and her diligence unrecognised as well. Josh, on the other hand, is like a rising star. Given their speech sparring in college, one would've thought that they'd remain solely as working colleagues but surprisingly, Josh shows up for her in his own ways, although he could be direct and insensitive at times. It doesn't take long for them to move from being colleagues to friends, and as an undeniable chemistry slowly formed between them and becomes an attraction, it leave them both in surprise and a bit of exhilaration.
But then the year is 2016, and their relationship is challenged by the cultural and political aspect and added the forthcoming presidential election, Josh and Jess find themselves caught between their political views differences; especially Jess who question herself if it's more important to be happy than right. After all, she's brought up by her father who has a strong belief in equality and their heritage after her mother's death when she was a girl. Jess doesn't want to shun away his belief, but she finds herself in a dilemma as she's just beginning to discover who she is and who she has the right to be; and asking herself if she should choose happiness and if it's indeed everything’s fine as she dare herself to hope for the better. Unlike her, Josh is an empiricist. What the future holds for them?
This was a difficult review to write as there's sexism, racism and political elements alongside the interactions/dynamics between Josh and Jess. It isn't a book one would love for the contents, but the author's prose was clear and engaging and I find myself hooked by this story. Regarding the relationship between Josh and Jess, I just couldn't think of what to describe it. I think Josh loved Jess in a way (was it the strawberries scenario that had Jess landed in the hospital due to allergies and thereafter, Josh had stopped eating them?) but he was so full of his own ideas and theories that he couldn't allow himself to see others from their perspectives and that's his weakness. I liked Jess when she's not afraid to voice out her thoughts at times, but there are also occasions that she self-doubt about things and telling herself that everything’s fine, which in fact isn't. There's so much to talk about on this book but I think it's best that you read it yourself. Suffice it to say that this was a powerful and a thought-provoking debut which had me thinking long after I closed the book.
© 2023 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
Sceptre | 5 March 2020 | 320 pgs
Source: Library
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Custom House | May 2020 | 320 pgs
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Catherine House -- an elite school with a strict selective admission and policy hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania. Each year, they select the extraordinary pupils and these lucky selected ones will be given free tuition, room and board. However, all these come with a price and the students will have to leave their materialistic values and disconnect with the outside world for three years but they can earn points to "buy" the things they want and most of all, they're assured that in return they'll graduate from Catherine with a bright future of sublime power and prestige.
Our protagonist, Ines, enter Catherine with a hope that the school will reform her into a better person than what she was in the past. There, she meets her roommate, Barbara Pearce (a.k.a. Baby) and the two become friends quickly. Baby is the polar opposite of Ines; she's studious and she's also obsessed in getting into a specialty concentration class for their study of a certain material they called plasm. As Ines continues her life at Catherine with indifference, Baby's sudden death hit her and soon she learns that there's something more than meets the eye behind the school's strange protocols but what most intrigue her is the tightly knit group of pupils they called the concentrators and their mysterious curriculum. She knew that the concentrators are carefully selected pupils and their projects in their respective labs are kept under locks at all times. What lurks behind these closed doors and is Baby's death connected to them?
You are in the house and the house is in the woods.You are in the house and the house is in you . . .
I didn't know what to expect of Catherine House initially. It was a slow burn with a strong focus of the characters and their interactions amid the mysterious and atmospheric Catherine. Right from the start, the reader suspected that there's something off about Catherine but couldn't pinpoint what. I felt I was reading what's inside Ines's head and some teenage angst most of the time but that's fine since Ines was an intriguing character. I didn't like her, but I didn't hate her either and she simply has that kind of indifferent attitude which lead you into thinking that she's not bothered by anything but actually she keeps her thoughts to herself.
Catherine, on the other hand, was a great subject by itself and I was curious by its atmospheric setting. Viktória, the director who runs the school, was another mysterious character whom you know you should tread with care as she could be a formidable disciplinarian but at the same time she also left you in doubts of her agenda. In spite of the slow buildup of suspense and the unclear direction where the story is going, I actually find this tactic to be quite effective as it blends with the unsettling feeling and that atmospheric setting until the last quarter of the book in which things started to unravel real fast and leave your mind whirling. Although this is the first novel by the author, I loved the voice of this book and I'll be looking forward to her future releases.
© 2020 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
William Morrow | July 2019 | 352 pgs
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Having read two of Paul Tremblay's books (A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World) and enjoyed them, I knew I've to read this even though short stories are hardly my usual fare. Yes, this is a collection of nineteen short stories ranging from psychological suspense to literary horror all packed in this anthology and knowing the author's stories can be bizarre in some ways (I mean this in a good way) I read this book with a thrill of anticipation. Although I can't possibly write out the blurbs and thoughts of all the nineteen short stories, I can tell you a few which are my favourites.
Growing Things - This is an imaginative tale about the mysterious growing plants and two sisters from his previous novel, A Head Full of Ghosts.
Where We All Will Be - Zane was told his brain is different since young. Growing up with no major issues, he is astonished to find that one day his father seemed like another person and kept muttering about getting "There". This one has a bit of the apocalyptic vibe and that ending sent chills down my spine.
The Teacher - Mr. Sorent is one teacher you'll never forget and that's all I'm saying.
Notes from The Dog Walkers - Initially this read like ordinary notes from the day of a life of a dog walker but then it slowly spirals towards an array of madness when the topic changes as you go along.
Her Red Right Hand - This is a story about a girl called Gemma and her ailing mother and how her mother's death led her into sketching and creating a hero-like figure. Think Hellboy.
The Thirteenth Temple - I don't want to divulge too much of this since it read like a sequel to A Head Full of Ghosts. This is also the last short story of this collection and I liked how the author featured the two sisters in AHFOG in Growing Things as the beginning and finally ending it with The Thirteenth Temple.
I think short stories are hard to write and even harder to review. They don't often have the kind of details and well-defined developments like fictions do and the author has to input some extra "punch" to their stories or narrating them in various writing formats and I've to say Paul Tremblay did well in these two.
As in short stories collection, one may have some favourites and dislike a few others. There are also some which made you race through the pages, while some will make you think hard of the message behind it and still comes up with not much of a verdict (partly due to the ambiguity of it; which the author often does with his stories). That said, each story is unique and though I'm not really a fan of short stories I'm glad I read this because it's Paul Tremblay's.
© 2019 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.
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