Well, this was a walk through an unusual genre for me. And I wasn't disappointed. It was good. It was a fun ride. It was harrowing. I liked it! Here's my review on instagram:
Showing posts with label 2016 book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2016 book review. Show all posts
15/11/2016
Book Review: Lily and The Octopus by Steven Rowley
Well, this was a walk through an unusual genre for me. And I wasn't disappointed. It was good. It was a fun ride. It was harrowing. I liked it! Here's my review on instagram:
31/10/2016
BookReview: The Secrets Of Happiness by Lucy Diamond
The Secrets of Happiness by Lucy Diamond was an absolute treat, raised me out of my reading slump tomb. I urge you all to go, read it!
28/09/2016
National Book Awards Review: Colson Whitehead, Underground Railroad
The National Book Awards Longlist is in! And well, yes, Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad. Going down as one of my Black Lives Matter novels, by me, this book is recommended for your reading! My review on Instagram:
27/09/2016
Manbooker Review: Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
OK, honestly, I was thrown when Eileen made the short-list. It wasn't disappointing, it was highly suspenseful, but I found the ending forced and highly anti-climaxed. Still, the writing was good, the anal imagery pervading the writing was unusual and interesting. Here's my review on Instagram, 'followed by my congratulations for making the short-list' photo:
25/09/2016
Manbooker Review: The Sellout by Paul Beatty
When the Manbooker shortlist, came out, I was unsurprised to see The Sellout on the list, although it was one of two books I'd read from the longlist. So, yes, I believed it would make the short-list because of its unusual style. And yes, I believe you should all read it. Here's my post about it on instagram.
06/09/2016
Killer Review: A Different Class by Joanne Harris
The King of DNFing thrillers because they are unoriginal is back! And in these times of the influx of Domestic/Psychological Thrillers, where you could read a hundred titles and still feel like you read one with a twitch here and a twitch there in the overall plot, THIS IS THE THRILLER YOU NEED TO READ! 😄 I'm all for discovering underrated books! And trust me, this a book that would get you saying 'Urethra, urethra, I've found the one book that has helped me gain mastery over my bladder!" 😜 I never intended to pick this book to read early! I just picked it because I was running for @brunchoverbooks (over @teabaagh) and it matched with what I was wearing (—you know, for us bookworms, a wrong book can nail your outfit in the coffin even more than a wrong purse!). 😝 Anyway, 'how's this thriller like, and why's it so special?' you'd ask. (Well, my answer wouldn't be 'You just have to read it and see', sadly). How many of us are Potter fans? (I mean, Harry Potter fans. You'd be surprised I'm African and have shockingly never set eyes on a potter before! Till recently, I believed pot was planted!) Imagine Professor Snape starring as lead in a thriller. His voice in first-person narrating a thriller to you. Yes, you're imagining now! That's exactly how this book's lead is! He's a sixty-year old latin master in a boy's school who has no clue what an email is, until, a new Head who happened to be one of his own boys takes over the reins, and decides to usher a school built on Old Guard traditions into the new age. The whole thriller part of this summary is: the new Head is dark, and he's back, to make someone pay for all the wrongs done to him as a student! GO GET THIS! GO GET THIS! IT'S HARRY POTTER WITHOUT THE PARONUM SPELL! (Oh, plus, she's the author of Chocolat, which became a movie starring Johnny Depp! So you can imagine how impeccable the writing would be) 😘 #thriller #bookstagram #differentclass #joanneHarris #bookish #bookporn #currentlyreading #malemodel #sipnswap #accra #teabaa #osu #smile #gorgeous #black #menwhoread #readingissexy #happysunday #goodmorning
03/09/2016
Book Review: Death by Water by Kenzaburo Oe
"I've noticed young women nowadays don't appear to have any regrets about anything, or any awareness of the possibility that their present actions might be sowing the seeds for future regrets. That's perfectly natural, of course, since they probably haven't had time to do anything they regret. They seem to feel completely fine about everything." 😤
This book! Literary in every sense of the word. Throw in haikus, past civil wars, military coups, a writer going back in time to write the "drowning novel" chronicling the life and 'death by water' of his father. Nobel Literature Prize Winners write with this ease! You're comfortable in their craft, and you're in no mood to finish early. The introduction to lots of traditional symbols of Japanese culture was insightful. And so are all the characters, though they are mostly developed in—wait for it—DIALOGUES! This book is a dialogue book, sometimes from start to finish of a scene. And all action, the plot actually happens in the dialogue. I do hope to read more from Kenzaburo Oe! 😊
25/08/2016
Killer Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Claudia's Review.
After weeks of futilely trying to find a book on my TBR that was actually readable, I finally pulled out Ruth Ware's "The Woman In Cabin 10"-best decision of my life (okay I'm exaggerating)—★
All I had to do was read the first page and I couldn't put it down. I loved the main character not only because of her claustrophobia which I can relate to but how she was portrayed. The fact that every single decision she made I understood,every step she took I took and how I felt her fear and anxiety—★★
This book was perfect in so many ways one of which was its use of future news articles to fortell impending doom yet being vague enough to leave the reader with so much uncertainty.—★★★
The woman in cabin 10 was a thriller in every sense of the word-from start to finish-there was never a dull moment.—★★★★
I finished this book feeling exhausted but in a good way,the kind that is exhilarating like the aftermath of a rollercoaster ride.—★★★★★
I give this book a ten star because I think it deserves more than a five star and I think Ruth Ware just raised the bar for every other book I'm going to read in the future and thanks to her I am never ever going on a cruise.
09/08/2016
Book Review: LaDivine by Marie Ndyiaye
Imagine This: All your life you've lied. Lied about your life. Lied that your parents have died. But you do believe in these lies. These lies that have suddenly become your new life. 😝
Your poor, Black, servant mother. In your old life. Only remembered when you have to make those dreaded visits. Those dreaded visits when you're not elegant Clarisse with a family so cultured! When you just become a Malinka! The daughter of a servant! 😤
You hide your mum from your husband and your daughter. So well-structured, these two lives, both worlds do not confluence. But the pressure to keep this up. All these lies and secrets. Soon is too overwhelming. And suddenly you're being transformed into something your daughter and your husband can't recognize. And have to abandon you. 😟
Nowhere else to be. No Clarrisse to be. You decide to retreat to Malinka. But it's written in the stars, fate, that the daughter of a poor, black servant, like her mother is bound to have a tragic end! Malinka! Malinka! Malinka! Oh, Malinka! 😭
Great. All that, whatever that up there was, over, you need to understand reading this book is a challenge! I am not kidding here! You need to be an advanced, advanced reader to be able to appreciate this piece of poignant literature! Because that's what it is, poignant literature with a complex writing style (multi-phrased sentences) that evokes powerful emotions. If you have a thing for dialogues, no this book is not for you! As its only 10% dialogue. You have to love very, well-written monologues to be able to appreciate it as the plot doesn't move. As the plot doesn't move as fast as the (complex) characters' monolgues! That said, so many times I wanted to shut this book, put it down! But it was the complex writing (which I even had a hate-love relationship with) that drew me in! Till the marvelous end! If I have to give this book a genre: It would be literary, literary, literary fiction! 😨
My rating: 4 stars [(just because so many times I'd given up on it, only to pick it up again because I couldn't imagine not knowing what happens to Malinka, Ladivine (her daughter) and the other Ladivine (her mother)] ⭐
18/07/2016
Book Review: My Last Continent by Midge Raymond
My Synopsis
Imagine This: You are a natural scientist. Specializing in the conservation of birds in Antarctica. Penguins.You love the Continent so much that every time you're departing you feel like you're leaving a great deal of yourself behind. But you'll come again. You're sure of it. Even though these days, your willingness to return, may be because of a little added incentive. A man. A good man. A kind man. Who loves you back. With whom your relationship begins and ends every time you depart. A cozy arrangement in a place so cold, warmth, company, body heat is very essential.
But this year, your love affair would face its biggest trial ever. When the continent attacks. After all the harm done to it by tourists, by cruise ships. In Titanic proportions.
Deb and Keller's impending disaster summed for your delight.
My Review.
I loved, loved this book!
Frankly, honestly, I only decided to read this book because I found it was set 'at the bottom of the world'. You don't get to read books like this all the time. So I snapped it up. Thinking, I really hope this author is going to make Antarctica like a third main character in this book. Except I hadn't expected to enjoy it so much! Everything I asked for was here in this book:
Amazing storyline with lots of info about penguins, and the planet (made like a main character!). I love highly informative fiction about different animal specie. And this book never lacked info. Well-researched. You will learn so much—★
Great writing. I didn't expect the writing to be that seamless and easy to read and enjoy, and still possessed a literary quality.—★★
Two main characters. DEB, was amazing. I loved reading from her point of view. A woman scientist made a loner because of her job. It's always nice to read titles about women with fascinating careers. Keller, was also quite the charmer. Except by the end, I found myself seething because of decisions he made. Stunning romance between the pair. And I said these days, I hate romance... pah!—★★★
Other characters were amazing as well. None lacking in development. Thom, Deb's research partner. Glenn, the cruise coordinator who's really a pain in the arse. Richard and Kate, a married couple on the cruise who are having more fights—there's a note that most marriages brought to the Antarctica never return the same.—★★★★
First, I found this book a lazy read. Something to sit back, relax and enjoy. But then it dawned on me that something disastrous was about to happen. And I could no longer read it like I would a lazy afternoon read. I was on the edge of my seat. Panting. And when it was all over, I was so down. A heartbreaking tale I would recommend to anyone who wants a tear-jerker. And more.—★★★★★
My rating: 5 stars.
14/07/2016
Book Review: The Paris Secret by Karen Swan
Blurb: Not every door should be opened . . .
With stunning locations and page-turning tension, The Paris Secret is an intense and gripping tale from bestselling author Karen Swan.
Somewhere along the cobbled streets of Paris, an apartment lies thick with dust and secrets: full of priceless artworks hidden away for decades.
High-flying fine art agent Flora from London, more comfortable with the tension of a million-pound auction than a cosy candlelit dinner for two, is called in to assess these suddenly discovered treasures. As an expert in her field, she must trace the history of each painting and discover who has concealed them for so long.
Thrown in amongst the glamorous Vermeil family as they move between Paris and Antibes, Flora begins to discover that things aren't all that they seem, while back at home her own family is recoiling from a seismic shock. The terse and brooding Xavier Vermeil seems intent on forcing Flora out of his family's affairs - but just what is he hiding?
My Review
This year debut authors are taking over the publishing scene than established authors. For me. Why? Every established author's book I read hasn't been as memorable as their previous title. A disappointment! Winter 2014 Karen Swan released Christmas in the Snow. And since then she's released two other books that were good. But they couldn't make me forget Christmas in the Snow. This year, the Paris Secret has made me forget how thrilling Christmas in the Snow was. Finally! Evidence that authors can write books so much better than their previous title if they put extreme effort! A fucking star to this!—★The storyline of this book is amazing! I watched Woman in Gold last year(?) and I was so intrigued by the art world and the looting of art by Nazis during the second world war! Now a book that can be compared to Woman in Gold! I can see this book with its edge-of-seat suspense being adapted into a movie!—★★
You'd also love the main character Flora Sykes. I don't need to tell you how great Karen Swan is good with developing sophisticated females in high-flying careers!—★★★
I must also add that books written in third-person do not draw my interest as much. But always, always, Karen Swan writes in third-person and makes me feel as though I'm not being locked out of the character. She's about one of the few authors that make third-person very personal and fun to read.—★★★★
Setting, suspense, romance! Vienna, Paris, London, Antibes. The mystery behind the secret apartment with lots of art by notable artists. The taut, tension-filled romance between Vermeil and Flora. God, I said I hate romance, but try as I did, I couldn't hate Flora and Vermeil! A remarkable, magnetic duo! Karen Swan's romances are worth reading for readers who've fallen out of love with the genre. Since I read Christmas in the Snow I asked Swan to give me mystery, suspense that isn't tied with the romantic plot, and finally, she has and I have enjoyed it! So much! I wouldn't naturally enjoy anything about WWII or anything historical, but the vibrancy Swan injected into this book made me sit up rather than read with one-eye closed.—★★★★★★
My rating is definitely six out of five stars!!
I recommend this novel to anyone who wants glamourous-lit with writing that isn't shallow but well-written! Some authors can do glamorous-lit and make you feel as though you're reading something you could have written at 12 or lower. (Won't give names but you mostly find this with old, established authors) Karen Swan is certainly not one of them! If you've always been looking for a book that injects the contemporary into WWII narratives, this book is so up your lane!
04/07/2016
Book Review: Someone New by Zoe Miller
My Synopsis.
Imagine This: You broke up with your long-term boyfriend a few weeks before Christmas. Because deep down, no matter how perfect your sister who hooked you two up thinks he is, no matter how perfect your parents think he is, no matter how perfect YOU think he is, you know he's not the one for you.Then a leather-wearing, jean-clad, biker walks into your life. He teaches you a lot about life—living in the moment, pursuing your dreams—that he feels so right than the boyfriend you've spent the longest time with. Even though, he tells you nothing. You know nothing about him. You let him into your life, your apartment, give him access to way more than your heart.
Then he dies.
You're in so much shock you can't believe he's gone. But what if, really, he isn't? What's the explanation for the bike that keeps following you around, the threatening mails you've been receiving? And why do the police and your family not believe that someone's on your tail?
My Review.
I liked this book. Good storyline. The blurb, a summary of all the above. Just reeled me in. A star to the storyline—★
Relatable characters. The characters in this title are the kind you'll find next-door, in your circle of friends, in you even.—★★
There's also the suspense. The questions you keep asking yourself about the strange Danny. Why is he hiding things, what's going on here?—★★★
And as always, Zoe Miller's good writing. Something about it. She makes the abstract take on the body of concrete. How she's so good at explaining emotions, personifying them, making them take the shape of people themselves! Another of the features of her writing that keeps me coming back.—★★★★
But sadly, my praises for this title ends here. I liked it. But it wasn't as good as he previous titles. A Husband's Confession and a Question of Betrayal. I just wanted so much more. Enough to make me forget how great her other unforgettable titles were.
I recommend this novel to fans of women's fiction with mystery elements. If you also want something with characters that are so true-to-life, pick this.
01/07/2016
Killer Review: I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
Claudia's Review
"We can't do whatever we want. There are ways we have to act. There are things we have to say. But we can think whatever we want. Thoughts are the only reality. It's true. I'm sure of it now. Thoughts are never faked or bluffed."—★
How does one describe a book like this? It's frustratingly confusing in a good way. If there was a what-the- hell-did-I-just-read genre, this book will fit perfectly. This is one of the shortest novels you'll ever read yet one that will stay on your mind the longest, no wonder there is a whole website dedicated to discussing it. (I did a bit of stal—ahem, 'research' on this) Might be the year's most outstanding Bookclub Fiction—★★
I'm Thinking Of Ending Things tells a story of a man and his girlfriend who go on a road trip to visit his weird parents. Most of the story centers around the road trip and the use of flashback was employed to give readers information about the characters. The whole story was told in first person-narrative so brilliant that you felt the main character was sitting across from you.—★★★
In between chapters, there were two nameless people having a conversation about someone who commited suicide.—★★★★
I give this book a five star because it had good writing style, unnervingly perfect story line and a cover that made you want to drop everything and read it (talk about judging a book by its cover).
I never read a book twice but this is a book I'll read over and over again if it will help me understand the ending. Recovery, what I needed after reading this piece of awesome literature!
29/06/2016
Killer Review: Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton
My Synopsis
Imagine This: You're the author of true-crime novels, and a lawyer. Every case you take on, a convicted murder is released from jail. This makes the public, as the police force, very antsy about you stepping up to lawyer a convicted serial killer who specializes in women-of-size.The thing about this serial killer is he's suave, as most of them are. He's also handsome. Very handsome. So handsome he can get away with anything.
You have firm belief if there's anyone he could use his handsomeness on, it wouldn't be you. You are so immune to his charms. But of course, you have no idea what Hamish Wolfe is capable of.
Maggie Rose's brush with a serial killer
with his own fan club summarized for your delight.
My Review.
OK! I love, love this novel! Great storyline! On the cover of the book there's a note: 'In her ninth mesmerizing Thriller, Sharon Bolton shines a light on the world of convicted killers—and the women who adore them.' How fascinating! A star to the storyline.—★
You'd love Maggie Rose, the female lawyer talked about in my synopsis. She's amazing! I almost wanted not to like her from the beginning, because Sharon Bolton wrote the book in third-person and it is really rare for me to enjoy a book in third-person, but from her blue hair, her unusual fashion sense, her perpetual coldness, what was not to like?—★★
Other characters who also acted as main characters and got their point-of-views are Hamish (which auto-correct adventurously spells 'HAMPSHIRE') Wolfe, the serial killer who's very unnervingly good-looking and charming. And Pete Weston, the detective who hates Hamish with passion and may have a thing for Maggie. I really took a liking to Pete because he was not a recurrence of the cliche running around in thrillers as detectives with their equally cliche 'past demons' to contend with.—★★★
This book is suspenseful! So! Leaps from the start! Find yourself vested in the world of fast-talking lawyers, tricky serial killers, their crazy fan clubs and suspicious detectives!—★★★★
Giving this book five stars because of the twist in the end. But it's nowhere as good as Sharon Bolton's previous Little Black Lies.
Daisy in Chains is available on Amazon.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a Psychological Thriller based on fascinating subjects (cold serial killers and their fan clubs). If you also need something to keep you awake, you should get this too.
27/06/2016
Book Review: The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish
My Synopsis
Imagine This: There's an opening of a new lido in your suburban neighborhood. And it's the place to be this summer. You have always loved to swim. But there's your 13year old daughter who wouldn't want to be anywhere near the pool. You'll do anything to make her deal with her phobia. But as a teacher, you've made plans this year—with an unshakable resolve—to live this summer like a normal citizen! So you go to the pool, partly with a hidden agenda in mind:
To see Lara Channing, the woman who single-handedly recommissioned the lido for the neighborhood.
A little brush with Lara Channing, neighborhood celebrity, and you're spending more time with her gatsby-like crowd, drinking, toasting and partying your summer away. By and by you're getting estranged from your husband who doesn't want you to hang out with Lara. But who cares? There's something about Lara that you can't just opt out of. And not surprisingly, Lara, the schemer that she is, has something under her belt of tricks for you.
Before the summer is over, you'll regret ever knowing Lara Channing.
My Review.
As always, I love Louise Candlish's storylines! She puts the 'Domestic' into the Domestic Thriller by writing about suburban neighbourhoods in which disasters have happened and one character has suddenly fallen from all-high grace, to all-low scandals. In this story played around the opening of a new lidobin a neighborhood, you wouldn't be able to have enough! A star to the storyline!—★ Her writing! I would always keep saying this! And sadly, only my Desperate Housewives junkies would get this reference! Imagine Mary Alice Young narrating a tragedy that had happened in Wisteria Lane with her intonation and her use of 'You see...', 'I remember...', 'I should have known...' depicting how irreversible the situation was...? That's how Candlish writes! You'll find your inner Mary Alice Young reading along with you! Extreme pleasur(e)! A star! Plus you know this sort of writing can only create suspense and too much of it! So two stars for Candlish here—★★★
The characters in this novel! I spent my nights dreaming about them. What will happen next? I should have probably woken up and quenched my curiousity. But I'm sure if I did, I wouldn't be able to get enough of intriguing Lara Channing! And her sultry tones! In Candlish's novels there's always that character that sticks and is mostly the neighbourhood queen bee, but how she manages to make new characters out of this stereotype, who are actually different and all the more intoxicating... it must take such excellence to pull this off!—★★★★
Now my praises end here. Because while I feel this book is a must-read... it hurts me to think I can't give it five stars because I feel Candlish's previous title (The Sudden Departure of the Frasers) which I urge you all to read too, is better than this! Of course, had I not read her previous title, I would have given this a five star!
So my rating: 4.5 stars.
Find The Swimming Pool on Amazon.
I recommend it to anyone who still craves a Desperate Housewives binge. Anyone who wants a Thriller about suburbia life they can and must relate to should also go get this! A perfect summer read!
22/06/2016
Killer Review: Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund
*Claudia's reviews are tailored for you US fans (with distinct tastes in fiction) for books sold in your territories*
Purchase|Goodreads
Claudia (@rocksclaudia)'s Review
Crazy.....crazy....crazy....that's what this book made me.I had such an unusual emotional connection to this book. So that when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it,when I wasn't thinking about it, I was dreaming about it.
This book gave me nightmares to the point that I was convinced I had psychological problems. To all the books out there so believable it puts your sanity on the line—★
Crow girl tells a story of a detective (Jeanette Kihlberg)who joins forces with a psychologist (Sofia Zetterlund) to solve the unexplained rampant murders of illegal immigrant children. Brilliant Storyline—★★
This book spirals mainly between the perspectives of Jeanette, Sofia, an unknown psychopath and a character who identifies herself as crowgirl. I guess it was for books like this that the term plot twist was coined because there is going to be a huge one that will make you question everything you've read.—★★★
Crow girl also touches on the subject of child abuse and its gory details probably making it the most disturbing book you'll read this year. Don't you just love a Thriller with a cause!—★★★★
This is probably the easiest 5 star I have given and I would have given it more if
I could because this book was everything-it had a little bit of murder, mystery, romance and tons and tons of thrilling darkness.—★★★★★
Crow Girl available for purchase at Amazon. Just go get it you fans of unsettling books!
09/06/2016
Man Booker Nominees Review: Mend The Living by Maylis De Kerangal
PURCHASE~GOODREADS
Imagine This: Your heart. Beating out of your chest.
Slowly being carried into someone else’s body.
All your
life, you’ve loved to surf, loved to welcome adrenalin-junkie fun. Except one
day you go out to surf with friends to catch a wave. And you never return
alive.
Your body.
Your parents have to decide if you would have wanted them to loan out your
organs to people who’ll be needing them badly when you never talked of this
event, because well, you’re a nineteen year old, and who in their right adult
minds have even contemplated that possibility?
Meanwhile,
somewhere on the other side of the country, someone needs a heart.
Someone
who’s led a risk-free life, who’s not caught a wave before or might not even
have seen one needs your heart to live a few more years.
Simon Limbeau’s heart under
discussion here.
MY REVIEW
Well, I
think if you’ve not read this book go get it because when I start talking
lengthily about it I might be showering spittle onto your face as well.
Great book!
Amazing storyline! A heart transplant surgery captured so dramatically with
excellence you shouldn’t find on an author who’s up to their sophomore novel,
but Maylis De Kerangal gets this. A star to the storyline.—★
Literary Fiction
at its finest. It’s one of the reasons I love this genre. Every author attacks
it with their own style, deviating against norms, creating new trends, setting
paces for new writers to follow. Again, Maylis De Kerangal gets this! Her
writing is nothing short of beautiful, and shines with literary excellence.—★★
You’ll love
the cast of characters in this. Surprisingly, the main character you’ll find,
is not a person, but a heart! How genius! So, yes, you’d be awed by the innings
and outings of Simon Limbeau’s heart. But of course, you’d find Simon Limbeau a
bit of a tragic hero. You’ll love his mother, Marianne and his father Sean,
watching them break down is like watching a beautiful flower being
disintegrated petal by petal. There’s also Juliette, Simon Limbeau’s
girlfriend. There’s Thomas Remige, the doctor who can sing his lungs out and
has a thing for goldfinches. You’ll love Cordelia Owl, the nurse who is waiting
patiently for her on-and-off ex to contact after a ‘last night’s incident’.
There’s also Renol, something off the ICU doctor who takes care of bodies in a
coma. Claire, the woman in need of Simon Limbeau’s heart would be much loved too.
And the intriguing Harfangs who make up that dynasty with an awesome pedigree
in medicine. A star to all these characters. How Maylis captured all their
lives beautifully in relation to Simon Limbeau’s heart! So many other
characters I can’t mention.
Suspense. I
never thought heart-transplant surgeries could be portrayed to read like some
kind of thriller.
I feel for
Kenragal, I really do. It’s easy to write a well-researched book and have your
audience feel you’re rather throwing your knowledge in medicine at them rather
than weaving it beautifully into your story. So Kerangal deserves a star for a
well-researched novel that bleeds with information that isn’t forced down the
throat of the reader.
My rating is
definitely a five out of five stars for this long-listed Man Booker
International Prize title. Surprised it didn’t win. But grateful it went on
that list so I find out how wonderful Maylis De Kerangal writes, and how I can
naturally be head of her fan club! Get this title on Amazon
I recommend
this book to anyone who wants a title that reads like a thriller but it isn’t a
thriller. If you’ve become a literature snob like I have become and can’t stand
anything that’s not Literary Fiction and excellent, you’d find this book hard
to hate! It’s Heart-Transplant Surgery made enjoyable, what more are you
waiting for to get it?
My work not
done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
08/05/2016
Mother's Day Review Special: After Birth by Elisa Albert
MY SYNOPSIS
Imagine
This:
You are the mother of a bouncing baby boy. Except you are not all so happy and
really thrilled about this motherhood thing because it’s not happening the way
they sold it out to be. Because
a)
You had him under a knife.
b)
You are going through the world’s worst
Post-partum disorder.
Your husband cannot help
because, he has no clue as always. He rather expects you to bounce back and go
on living like you didn’t go through any mean feat, like your life could ever
be the same with a baby yelling you up awake and screeching before your alarm
clock goes.
You are really pissed at
the world, the co-op of mothers for not voicing how they really feel and
pretending all is roses and soft cheeks. Fuck them all! While at cussing at
them, let’s begin to hate TV Commercials, Doctors that speak against
breast-feeding the child and opting for formula. Let’s talk about how medical
practitioners prescribe unhealthy ‘miracle’ fertility drugs to aid fecundation.
Let’s fucking talk about how women are just supposed to pretend all is well,
and never fathom any thoughts this could all go wrong. And while at that too,
let’s talk about all the fucked up things that have happened in your childhood,
your mum who’s moods were unpredictable, all the female friends in your life
who’ve been nothing but friends and a lot like females.
Let’s talk about Mina who’s
moved a couple of blocks nearby, who’s had a rough past and is as
femininely-opinionated as you. Mina you plan to help get around the ropes of
this new birth thing. Mina who happens to be strong and made out of the fire
she’s experienced throughout her life. Mina who offers some silver-lining in
the hostile terrain called motherhood.
There’s also that
dissertation you have to write for you doctorate degree in women studies. And
the hot carpenter who if your stupid, ancient house doesn’t stop falling apart
you might just have to fuck…
Ari’s
hellish life summarized for your delight…
MY REVIEW
What a book!
Elisa Alberts has moved
into my ranks of authors who do not give a fuck the sensitivity of her topic
and isn’t afraid to lay it bare as it is. A beautiful book about giving birth
and c-sections, breastfeeding and respecting your body as a pregnant woman,
Post-partum depression, and all the other insides about birth you are never, ever told. A star to
this amazing storyline.
I love the language. It’s
literary fiction at its finest. I’ve decided when I begin writing anything
(serious) I want to write like Elisa Albert! She doesn’t quite consider the
huge barrier separating poetry from prose
(much like how she doesn’t care about laying on her subject matter and
her themes easily). She criscrosses between the two to achieve this rhythmic,
pulsating composition that astounds and is very highly literary. Yet she
infuses a commercial spin to this writing by injecting blasts of humour. What amazing
writing!
The main character, Ari,
is fucking adorable! She’s smart, she’s feminist, she’s strong, she’s peculiar.
She’s well-developed! Her voice is breath-taking. A character to contend with.
Her opinions are enlightening and very… controversial! She’s the embodiment of
a true feminist, although in this book she states what kind of feminist she is
(the smart one who’s not an activist in a group of women that are going to
breakdown anyway because you can’t have all such toxicity in one group). A
star.
Other characters I loved
are Mina, the ex-drummer of a band that didn’t quite make it who’s been a
prostitute, a writer and everything in between. There’s Paul, Ari’s husband who
does tolerate her too much. There’s Wil, the hot carpenter who listens and understands
our lead. There’s Molly, there’s Jess, there’s a whole cast of all Ari’s old
friends who are fascinating because our lead wouldn’t go for the ordinary.
There’s Sheryl, our lead’s stepmother who she blanks out most of the time
because of her stern Jewish values (“You really have to circumcise this child!”).
A star to all these characters.
(I FEEL I NEED TO ADD
THIS :) I had this book since last year, and I was afraid to dive into it
because of the reviews on Goodreads. But come on, which reader who actually
loved a book ever had time to go put up their reviews on Goodreads. I’ve come
to realize Goodreads is the biggest anti-feminist review-site out there so
please if you’d go get a brilliant feminism book like this, don’t you dare be
influenced by all that happens on that site. It would be nice to form your own
opinions. (If you don’t believe me, see Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette, see
Dietland by Sarai Walker, all great books really). I’m really learning, thanks
to Elisa Albert, to say fuck you Goodreads, never ever would you influence my
choice of reading!
My rating is definitely a five out of five stars.
Elisa Albert’s After Birth is available on Amazon.
I recommend this book to
anybody who wants to think as well as laugh. Anyone who wants something on the
subject of feminism. You want something literary? Well, this is high, high form
of literary. This book is highly recommended to all (young) mothers and all
plain adults. Books like this mould!
My work not done here.
Off to post my review on Amazon as well as Goodreads.
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