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Reading: Excellent & Enlightening
There is an inordinate burden placed on own voices literature. Due to a lack of true representation in the market, these works are expected to portray an entire population accurately (which is of course, impossible). The demands own voices authors face are much higher and the pressure to present the perfect story greater. There There by Tommy Orange fulfills all those demands. That’s why it’s brilliant. Well, that’s one reason of many. Reading most quality novels is like observing a grand metropolis from a great height, you see it all unfold in a magnificent tapestry. Reading this work, however, is like observing that same metropolis from a great height with…
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Reading: Daughters & Mothers
This novel was another book club pick, and although it’s almost three times as long as the previous one, I tore through it in half the time. Tayari Jones’ prose forges compelling, realistic characters on a heartbreaking journey toward love in its many forms. The narrative in Silver Sparrow unfolds through the eyes of two teenage girls—Dana and Chaurisse—who have much more in common than they realize. Beyond sharing (unbeknownst to Chaurisse), a father, they also share the real and consuming desire to be seen. This is not a need for attention, but a need to be understood and loved in a way that recognizes who they are as people.…
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Reading: Devastating & Delightful
To read Chelsea Hodson’s essay collection, Tonight I’m Somone Else is to take up residence inside the author’s head. She doesn’t so much invite you in, instead, she pushes. And as you go careening forward you can’t help but enjoy the fall. If you’re a woman, you need to read this book. If you’re a writer, you need to read this book. If you’re currently breathing, you need to read this book. You need. To read. This book. Hodson posits we are not the mere sum of our experiences; we are not where we’ve been or what we’ve seen. Our selves are best summarized through our thoughts. The ones that…
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Reading: Suicide, Love, Incest
Grabby blog post title, right? These are all elements in Banana Yoshimoto’s NP, but they’re not what the book is about. Sorry for the bait and switch. The book is actually about welcoming a dark force into your life. Our narrator, Kazami, sidesteps a darkness bubbling from within to face one that comes crashing into her life in the form of the novel’s true protagonist—Sui. The title, NP refers to a fictional book of 97 short stories written in English by Sarao Takase, a fictional Japanese author. A cancer of sorts, the book infects all those who become emotionally invested in its language with an urge to take their lives.…
