This post is all about BOOKS. Again.
As I mentioned in my last book post, my goal for 2022 was to get back into reading for pleasure and for personal growth and knowledge-gathering. My goal for the year was to read at least 75 books. So far I am on track! I'm going to pick up where I left off after the last book post. Got a whole new batch of books I've finished! I'll let you know what I thought of them and what rating I gave them.
- The Hours - Michael Cunningham
I was having major dejavu with this book. I was like...either I've read this before or I saw a movie adaptation of this book. I looked it up and there was indeed a movie adaptation, and I'm pretty sure I must have seen it years ago because I don't think I read the book previously. I thought the book was well written but at the same time it didn't leave really any impression on me, nor did it leave me really wanting to continue reading. It was fine enough to continue reading but there was no internal urge to continue reading. This book was just fine. I rated this book 7.5/10.
- Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
Stranger reading this: I don't presume to know how you value your time or what your life is like, but I think I can justifiably make a broad assumption that it would be a waste of your time to engage with this book. This book was so painful to read--and it was a slow, drawn out pain. I selected it because it was a Pulitzer Prize winner, and I assumed that spoke in some sense to the book's quality. I am now no longer convinced that winning a Pulitzer Prize means anything. I truly cannot even speculate as to what criteria could have been relevant to awarding this book a prize. I really had to force myself to continue reading. I should have given up on it. It wasn't worth my time--not just that, honestly it detracted from my general mental well being just by how much it generally pissed me off and was such a disappointment. It was a huge disappointment despite the fact that I had no idea what it was even going to be about and only assumed that it would be at least adequate. Was I wrong to expect adequacy? Christ.
The main female character was made so horrifically unlikeable and such a stereotypical middle age woman. She was nagging, overbearing, insecure, inserting herself into other peoples' lives, doing whatever the fuck she wanted, over emotional, hypocritical, and in a questionable marriage where her husband was kind of harsh with her. I don't want to fucking hear it. I don't want to fucking read about it. I'm a woman and I don't want to fucking read about this unlikeable, pathetic, drama-seeking woman who managed to fuck up like four peoples' lives within the like 24-hour span in which this book took place. It paints women, and middle-age married women specifically, in such an embarrassing and ugly light and is so riddled with stereotypes. Shame on this author, honestly, for putting out this portrayal of women.
It literally drained me to finish this book. It mentally fatigued me, and not in like a fulfilling, euphoric way where you're like wow I'm mentally spent but it was worth it because this was deep, and meaningful, and emotional. Instead, it was mentally fatiguing in the sense of 'I have just been put through some bullshit and for what? For what? I got nothing out of this.' This book was toxic, and in a pitiful, shallow way. I would be grasping at straws to try and find some redeeming, likeable aspect of this book or the story.
I rated this book 3/10, which in hindsight I think is quite generous.
- People we Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry
- Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
I rated this book 8/10. This was my least favorite of Sally Rooney's novels so far, which is not to say that I disliked it or that it was bad. Her other novels were just great and they shined brighter for me. Sally Rooney's classic, recognizable writing style continued here. What was different for me with this novel compared to Normal People and Beautiful World, Where are You was that this book felt a bit more toxic. The main character is a bit immature and hypocritical, engaging in toxic behaviors, damaging her relationships, and damaging her own self of sense. It can be a little difficult to read at times, just in terms of like...being a downer. This book was darker than the other two novels--there is a potential trigger of self harm in this novel which is illustrative of that. I don't regret reading it, and still thought it was overall fairly good, but it wasn't my favorite by any means.
- The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai
I had no expectations for this book. I didn't even know what it was about, I must have selected it based on its cover, which of course is a classic no-no. But that strategy paid off here because this was one of the best books I've read in 2022 so far. I rated it 10/10 without hesitation.
This book is set in several different time periods, but what stuck with me most was the setting in the 80s and 90s in Chicago. A community of gay men is slowly and devastatingly being ravaged by the AIDs crisis. There is immense beauty and love in their relationships, in their support of each other before and after death, in the caring shown for friends who are being eaten from the inside out by AIDs. There is also fear and anxiety in medical uncertainty and a general ignorance and misunderstanding of the transmission of AIDs. There is hope, albeit not particularly strong, in the potential for a cure tomorrow, the next day, or next year. There is, overall, devastating grief as one by one friends, siblings, lovers, and sons waste away. Despite this, the main character Yale strives to make a difference and do right for the people around him, wanting to make a positive impact on the world.
I fear I've done a terribly inadequate job of describing the complexity of this novel, but let it suffice to say that I would not hesitate to recommend it. It was so beautifully written and so emotionally complex. Please read it.
- How Beautiful We Were - Imbolo Mbue
Right after one fantastic book was another. I rated this book 9.5/10. This was a story about existing in colonization, generation after generation after generation. The point of view throughout the book, chapter by chapter, switches between the different generations. At one point, it may be told from the perspective of a mother. At the next, it may be told through the perspective of the village children, collectively. At another point, it is told by a bedridden grandmother. I thought this was an awesome way of telling the story and giving everyone an authentic voice.
This was undoubtedly a devastating read. It's a story of an uphill battle, of injustice, of perseverence, of subjugation. I also want to draw attention to a potential trigger of sexual assault. This story is well worth reading, and it was another of my favorites of 2022 so far.
- Intimacies - Katie Kitamura
It's not clear to me what, if anything, I was meant to take away from this book. I found aspects of the story interesting. For example, the main character works at the International Criminal Court as a translator, which I thought was very interesting. But it's not clear to me what development/growth the main character experienced, or even what the main conflict of this book was. I don't really understand the other characters' roles in the story. If there was some deeper meaning to this book, I did not pick up on it. It all kind of culminated in...nothing in particular? This book left very little impression on me.
I rated this book 6.5/10. You could go either way with it. If you're on the fence, I would say pick something else that will leave a better impression on you.
- Ask Again, Yes - Mary Beth Keane
Again, this one didn't do too much for me. I really don't have too much to say about it. It was fine. It didn't really move me, but it was alright. I rated it 7/10.
- Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
This was written by a man, and it shows. It shared similarities with "How Beautiful We Were," but I liked "How Beautiful We Were" much better because that novel gave a voice to the women, to the children. We heard about their perspective of what was going on in the village and how the colonization and imposition of Christianity was affecting them. We heard their thoughts and their worries.
Instead, in Things Fall Apart, it's a very male-centric and patriarchal take on colonization. Lots of toxic masculinity in here. The main character is unlikeable, and maybe that's just more realistic. He is toxic, violent, insecure, and brash. His wives and children are, of course, mentioned and play small roles in the story, but they exist only to the extent that they relate to him--the main male character. They exist only through the male lens. They exist only for him. They have no voice of their own, so they appear so small, unimportant, and not deserving of attention or respect. Of course it's true that that's how it was--he was the leader of the house and his family existed to serve him. But that doesn't mean his wives and children are not people themselves with unique feelings and perspectives, and to omit all of that feels like an erasure of sorts. This purely male narrative and perspective is one I'm fairly tired of, which is why this novel didn't leave as good of an impression on me as "How Beautiful We Were" did. I created Things Fall Apart 7.5/10.
Despite my criticisms and scrutiny, I still think it's very worth reading, but I also think there is a lot to be gained from reading both this one and "How Beautiful We Were" to realize just how dominating the patriarchal lens in history can be.
- We are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
I rated this book 9.5/10. It was such a pleasant surprise. I had no idea what it was about. Imagine how pleased I was to discover this book, in large part, was about our relationships with animals and how horrific animal experimentation is. The perfect book for me. It made us, the readers, face the truth about how hypocritical we are when it comes to animals. We love them--something beyond fondness, oftentimes--and sometimes go so far as to treat them like children. Meanwhile, the same species or species with similar intellectual and emotional capabilities are brutalized for our vanity and our palate. And we allow this. We know of it, but we choose not to think of it too much, lest we become too aware of the dissonance and the hypocrisy.
This book really drew me in. There were strong emotional pulls. I became very invested in the story. It was actually the first (and so far, only) book of 2022 that made me cry. I shed more than just a few tears. This was a work of fiction, but there were so many important truths in it, and it felt so very real. It was quite emotionally devastating at times, and I think the ability of a book to make me genuinely heart broken is so incredibly impressive. It is, in my opinion, the sign of a truly well written and good book. Here, siblings are torn apart, and years and years are spent grieving but also experiencing debilitating guilt as one sibling tries to remember their role in things and whether they are to blame for the separation. I'm really grateful for what I took away from this book. I learned a bit about the Animal Liberation Front, which I found super interesting as I had only vaguely heard of them before.
- Red, White, and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
My sister in law lent me the paper copy of this book several years ago. I didn't get around to reading it until now. I rated it 8/10.
Like Emily Henry's books, this was a happy ending story. It's a romantic comedy in written form. I will give it to this author--parts of this book were actually quite funny. Like the comedy expressed by the characters really "hit" for me. It was sweet, it was fun, it was humorous, it was aspirational and progressive. No major complaints.
- 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea - Jonathan Franklin
Wow! Another 10/10. This was a fantastic work of non-fiction. I highly, highly recommend it. This is a true story about a man from El Salvador who is working on the Mexican coast as a fisherman. Due to overfishing, he and his fellow fishermen are forced to go farther and farther out for a decent catch--in this case, about 100 miles out. It is there--about 100 miles off the coast--when this fisherman and a first mate are caught in a historic storm. But it is not this storm that does them in. I will leave it at that, so as not to spoil the rest of this extraordinary story. Of course, given the title, we know generally how the story goes. But there are so many intricacies and turns in the story that are surprising.
One of my favorite books is Life of Pi, not even for the sea survival story, but for the emotional depth and intensity that comes out of a situation like that. This was basically the nonfiction version of that, spare the tiger. It was emotionally devastating (my favorite, if you haven't noticed). And it was all true. For the e-book version that I read, there was even a handful of photographs at the end, which helps remind you "holy shit. He really went through all that. This is a real dude."
I recall last summer or summer before that, I read Into Thin Air and really enjoyed that as well. That is a survival story from Everest. This has very similar themes of perseverence, exhaustion, at times hopelessness, and human ingenuity. Another difference is that Into Thin Air is written in the third person, whereas 438 days is written in the third person.
That's the end of this batch of books. Hope you enjoyed. I'm still reading, so another book post will appear in the future!
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