Early on in The Lifestyle, main character Georgina admits that she wanted to be a lawyer because of Ally McBeal, and that is the observation that ringEarly on in The Lifestyle, main character Georgina admits that she wanted to be a lawyer because of Ally McBeal, and that is the observation that rings truest in this entire book. This novel is such an oddity, in that I think it's intended to appeal to elder millenials like me but it has this sort of late 90s/early 2000s retrograde sexual conservatism that feels very dated. 50 Shades of Grey was written 11 years ago and looks downright racy compared to Georgina's experiences at swingers' clubs.
For example: early in this book, when Georgina walks in on her fellow law partner husband, Nathan, performing oral sex on her hot 20-something mentee associate Meredith, Georgina deduces that this is not their first encounter because the room is well lit and either they've done it before or Meredith is "the bravest woman in the world." A line that would read clever in an episode of Sex and the City in 1999, sure, but not any story set in 2022.
Aside from its weirdly tight-buttoned approach to sex in a book partially set in sex clubs (!), The Lifestyle is super ridiculous. Right before Georgina walked in on her husband, she had a restaurant meeting with a female client who got way TMI with her after a few drinks about how she is now a swinger (or, in "the lifestyle," as hip, modern swingers say). I do client work too at my job and imagining this happening is...something else. But I guess partners in a private law firm might have different conversations with their clients.
So, within 48 hours of Georgina catching her husband cheating, she actually reflects on her client's swinger soliloquy. Rather than cringing in secondhand embarrassment and trying to forget the poor judgment of talking about your sex life as a business woman to your attorney, she decides that partner swapping is the thing that will save her relationship, too. Then she approaches her best friends from law school about it and decides, without ever actually attending a swingers' event herself, that roping them all into "the lifestyle" with her will solve THEIR problems. Especially her best friend Norah needs her problems solved, because Norah has kids you see and not a career, so she is HAPLESS and Georgina is clearly on a PEDESTAL for this woman.
At the point where Georgina tells Norah she found Nathan cheating on her and Norah responds with "only you would turn your husband cheating into a woman's rights issue," I found a piece of scrap paper and started to record all of the Gen Xisms. The only way this book makes sense to me is if it's not set in the present day. This is straight up 90s historical fiction.
And even THEN it would be totally eye-roll worthy that Georgina,of course, happens to join the swingers' group that her hot and heavy college fling, The One Who Got Away, is also a part of. That's right: she just happened to run into her ex-boyfriend in a small sex group in NEW YORK CITY. Give. Me. A. Break.
I don't need to tell you what happens, because, you know. Plot lines resolve in corny, improbably ways. There's very little actual sex for a book that purports to be all about exploring sexual non-monogamy - which is fine for me. In truth, I only read this book out of curiosity how the subject would be approached. I'm disappointed but not surprised that the answer is "barely," and that it mostly consists of the main characters talking about being in "the lifestyle" and going to clubs and saying "this is it, we are in the lifestyle" and then most of them going on to have very limited interaction within "the lifestyle" as if it is still, deep down, something that's a little shameful....more
A short but wholly original take on horror tropes we've seen before ((view spoiler)[sex kills, a husband and wife haunted as a result of infidelity wiA short but wholly original take on horror tropes we've seen before ((view spoiler)[sex kills, a husband and wife haunted as a result of infidelity with the resolution to the horror rooted in the wronged partner choosing to forgive or not forgive, and BODY SNATCHERS (hide spoiler)]). I recommend going into the story unspoiled and letting it carry you along.
My boyfriend and I just watched "Significant Other" tonight and I found that it was the perfect compliment to this novella, for *many* reasons which would be obvious were you familiar with both but perhaps most importantly for the way that once you find out what is going on you're inclined to laugh and say "wait, what?!" and that instinct never goes away, but it's not a bad thing and the story still manages to be unsettling....more
I cannot be alone in noticing and loving the absolute fierceness with which women are writing lately. Maybe it's just because I happened to read MotheI cannot be alone in noticing and loving the absolute fierceness with which women are writing lately. Maybe it's just because I happened to read Motherthing, A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers, and Vladimir by Julia May Jonas all in the same year, the year Roe v. Wade was overturned here in the U.S., the year after I read Milkman by Anna Burns, year 7? 8? of MAGAism terrorizing our collective consciousness as women and as a world, but goddamn. Ladies, keep. it. coming.
(All three of the books mentioned are almost certainly in my top 5 for the year.)...more
To kick off my Halloween month reading, I picked up this YA vampire anthology based mostly on pure nostalgia. As a kid I read all of the horror I coulTo kick off my Halloween month reading, I picked up this YA vampire anthology based mostly on pure nostalgia. As a kid I read all of the horror I could get my hands on (naturally), but two of my most well-loved favorites were the Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike and a vampire anthology for teens from the 90s edited by Jane Yolen. When I learned about this new collection, it just felt right.
Vampires Never Get Old opened with a lot of promise, but it unfortunately became clear that all of the problems I currently have with YA lit would be present here as well. Notably, there's a fair bit of romance, including more than one slayer/vampire relationship. I guess that I was hoping for something more original than Buffy retreading from these stories.
I also find that representation in YA continues to feel a bit like tokenizing at times, and that really sticks out in short story format - for example, why note that a minor character is bisexual in a 15 page short story where their sexuality comes up not at all?
But one thing the three stories I loved in this collection had in common is that they created a great story from identity:
* "The Boys from Blood River" by Rebecca Roanhorse is about a skinny, gay, Native guy who gets bullied for who he is but who may or may not find salvation in a troupe of Lost Boy-style vampire outlaws who get summoned by a song.
* "The Boy and the Bell" by Heidi Heilig is about a trans grave digger who digs up a body that's not quite dead for his medical college.
* "The House of Black Sapphires" by Dhonielle Clayton mingles a family of Black female vampires with loa from Haitian vodou in a sumptuous, eternal New Orleans that I could have read an entire book about. The romance in this one was fine because it was SO well imagined.
Those three stories are exactly what I hoped to find in this collection, and although I found it just OK overall, they made me glad I had read it....more
I've read reviews for Vita Nostra that suggest it is an accurate depiction of what it's like to be in a masters program. I think that is the best way I've read reviews for Vita Nostra that suggest it is an accurate depiction of what it's like to be in a masters program. I think that is the best way to read this book, with an eye to the torturous circularity and absurity sometimes involved in academia, for the sense that you are being kept in the dark as to what the point is of it all. Flavors of Kafka and - per Tatiana's review - an accurate depiction of post-Soviet Russia help to set the mood. These aspects of the book I really enjoyed.
What didn't work for me: either the writing or the translation was clunky. In the beginning, the story elements that led up to Sasha heading to the Institute were so intriguing that I didn't have time to care about the writing. But once we got to the meat of the book, the hundreds of pages of studying and interactions among the students and professors, I wished for something a bit more elegant.
I also did not really care for the solution to the mystery of why the kids were there and what they were studying to become, either. Much credit to the authors for trying to execute on such an ambitious idea, but a novel that is so high concept/cerebral will resonate a lot with some readers and probably fall very flat for others. I am in the latter camp. 2.5 stars for the ambition and mood, though....more
My second Sally Rooney. Even better than the first (!).
Like Normal People, I had an impression of the book before starting that it might be very consMy second Sally Rooney. Even better than the first (!).
Like Normal People, I had an impression of the book before starting that it might be very consciously millenial and sort of irritating. Yet once again, this book turned out not to be a window read but a full-length mirror for me. There is no way to explain my 5 star rating without explaining this: Rooney, like some awful Ghost of Christmas Past, took me right back to a particular time, a singular experience that was really tumultuous as a twentysomething, and made it raw again.
When the book came around to the recognition that (view spoiler)[Nick and Melissa's relationship was always the core, and Frances was the triangulation point for their codependency to play out (hide spoiler)], I gasped, because that is the insight that someone gave me that made me finally step away from my own Frances/Nick/Melissa permissive affair dynamic. If this is not something Rooney has ever been through, props to her for getting it so very right.
The only thing that felt disappointing was the ending. Maybe Frances' conclusions and my own were a little different; maybe humans are just messy and vulnerable, I don't know. (view spoiler)[When the call came out of nowhere - like it always does - I was hoping she'd leave him hanging. (hide spoiler)]...more
To call this book a thriller - as I have heard many do - sort of does it an injustice. Yes, there is some intrigue while you try to figure out what’s To call this book a thriller - as I have heard many do - sort of does it an injustice. Yes, there is some intrigue while you try to figure out what’s going on, but it does become fully apparent with at least 100 pages to go, and people hoping for twists and turns as the main draw of this read will be disappointed.
Which is unfortunate, because this is a very creative and well written bit of social commentary that served, for me, as a window into the sort of career pressures black women may face (and how they may respond as well). I am purposely trying not to say too much, as I feel that the comparisons to other films/books give a lot away....more
The Paris Apartment, for most of its length, is a cut above the dime-a-dozen domestic thrillers released every week these days.
Yes, there are the expThe Paris Apartment, for most of its length, is a cut above the dime-a-dozen domestic thrillers released every week these days.
Yes, there are the expected cliffhanger chapter endings that toss out red herrings galore and - one of my least favorite mystery tropes - first person chapters where characters refer to and think about people they actually know very well in vague, distant terms so as to obscure their relationships to the reader. At the same time, there was a nice balance of little twisty reveals I didn't see coming, a sort of European and less farcical Only Murders in the Building vibe, and (the best part!) logical reveals that had a solid foundation in clues given by the author.
That being said, the end chapters are absolutely overloaded with twist after twist. It was way too much crammed into such a short space (even though I had a sense that it would turn out that (view spoiler)[Ben was still alive (hide spoiler)], I also kind of hoped to be wrong, because that feels played out these days in the genre) and brought down the quality of the book a bit for me.
My first Lucy Foley, and I'd say I enjoyed it only slightly less than the Ruth Ware books I've read (with the exception of In a Dark, Dark Wood, which is awful). But not as much as early Tana French or Gillian Flynn?...more
Ling Ma's Severance is one of my favorite Book of the Month discoveries from years past, and I was so looking forward to her first collection of shortLing Ma's Severance is one of my favorite Book of the Month discoveries from years past, and I was so looking forward to her first collection of short stories. Although I truly enjoyed that novel, I found that this collection was a lot of the same: a dry, melancholic, perceptive female narrator living with speculative elements that either are or are not intriguing - YMMV from story to story. In longform in Severance, it all seemed a lot more consequential; here, only the last three stories felt emotionally resonant ("Office Hours" may only have hit me for personal reasons). "Peking Duck" is the best story in the collection by far and I'm wondering if the fact that it is also the least fantastical is relevant. ...more
2.5 stars rounded up, because I loved the main character Eva’s very Gen Z tween daughter (named for Audre Lorde) and because the parts about Eva’s car2.5 stars rounded up, because I loved the main character Eva’s very Gen Z tween daughter (named for Audre Lorde) and because the parts about Eva’s career as the author of a 14 book series about sexy vampires and witches were truly entertaining.
The problem is that Seven Days in June features some of my least favorite romance tropes: insta-love (which I was initially willing to let slide because I liked Eva so much as a character), a brooding hero in Shane (it’s an annoying cliche to have a man of few words at this point, and I never warmed to him as a character), and a breakup that would never have happened if Eva and Shane had had one conversation (this is THE WORST).
There are plenty of readers who are much more forgiving than me when it comes to the romance genre, and I would recommend it to romance readers in general because it’s mostly a fun read that keeps the pages turning. The book does take a tragic turn briefly towards the end, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about those events being the “act of god” that determines Eva and Shane’s relationship - no spoilers, but you’ll know what I mean....more
We drove the southern route when I moved coasts last fall. Taking in the miles of hay bales in Oklahoma and the open fields of the Texas panhandle madWe drove the southern route when I moved coasts last fall. Taking in the miles of hay bales in Oklahoma and the open fields of the Texas panhandle made me want to read some prairie & plains lit in the worst way. I am finally getting around to addressing this desire.
My Antonia is a quiet book about life in rural Nebraska, farm life vs. town life, longtime friendship, and how the paths not taken have otherwise shaped our lives. The setting is almost a character in its own right, as Cather spends paragraphs painting the grasslands scenery before placing her characters in motion in it. Some readers will love the slow build and attention to detail of this book, while others will find it boring. I fell into the first category, and found that it heightened the feeling of romance and nostalgia.
Indeed, Cather made me swoon once or twice, looking at Antonia through Jim's eyes. This is very much a book that creeps up on you without you recognizing its effect until you're deep in it. The end of part four felt like a punch to the gut in the best way - bravo....more
When I was in college about 15 years ago, I discovered Dead Like Me. For those who've never seen it, it's an early 2000s show about a teenager named GWhen I was in college about 15 years ago, I discovered Dead Like Me. For those who've never seen it, it's an early 2000s show about a teenager named George who dies in a freak accident and becomes a reaper who helps other souls move on. At the end of the first episode, George is given the tough assignment of helping a little girl much younger than herself cross over; to the sounds of "Que Sera Sera" we see this little girl running towards a ghostly carnival (her heaven) and watch her soul be taken up to the sky as cynical George reckons with the unfairness of death.
That scene is, to this day, maybe the strongest emotional response I've ever had to something on TV.
So, because Dead Like Me S1E1 is my TV core memory, you'd think Under the Whispering Door would have worked for me. Because I loved the big gay blanketness of The House on the Cerulean Sea, you'd think Under the Whispering Door would have worked for me.
Unfortunately...you would be wrong.
I could tell from the opening chapters that this was going to be a different read from TJ Klune's last book, and not in a good way. The main character, Wallace, is cartoonishly terrible when he is living and has thoughts that most accurately are described as "dastardly". As a consequence, when he suddenly drops dead, barely anyone shows up to his funeral - those who do, like his law partners and his ex wife, disrespect his death openly in all sorts of ways by talking amongst themselves about how awful he was. Well.
Anyway, Wallace sees this because he's somewhere between life and death. A reaper attends his funeral and takes him to the waystation house where he will meet his ferryman, Hugo, who will help him cross over. Because this is TJ Klune, Wallace and Hugo are of course going to fall in love and Wallace will presumably learn the value of life. This is predictable enough I think that it doesn't deserve a spoiler tag.
The book is nearly 400 pages long and the majority of that is spent in the house talking. This book is just bubbling over with emotions and it pains me to say it, but platitudes about death that anyone who's really waded in grief or thought about what it means to live and die has probably considered. The emotions are all about healing from making mistakes during your life and being loyal and accepting yourself for who you are and learning to let go. This is well-trod material and it's bound to appear in a lot of fiction, of course. For me, it needs a lighter touch and more subtlety to be successful.
Another major point of contention for me in this book is that Wallace's character changes very quickly after death and there's really little justification for it. (Was the peppermint tea that magical??) I didn't buy him as a curmudgeon, as a fully-fleshed out character, as anything more than a straw man for Klune to build his message around. There was a point where this was firmly a two star book for me due to the intrigue of the Manager as a character, and the fun of Nelson (the only characters with any interest imo), but the end where (view spoiler)[Wallace is restored to life to be a reaper because through his transformation he's helped other troubled souls cross, and now he gets to live in love with Hugo (hide spoiler)] dropped it back down. Sickly sweet.
Klune is so well-intentioned that to dislike one of his books so much brings me no joy. But this is a slog to get through if it's clearly not working for you, as it did not work for me.
Also? It was missing the humor of The House on the Cerulean Sea, which is no small chunk of what made that book delightful....more
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