Many of my CBR friends have read this book and raved about it, and the mini-series has brought Big Little Lies into a new cultural forefront. I decided to watch the mini-series, but because I am a by-the-book person, I decided to read the book first. This was actually quite a slow read for me, and there are lots of elements I’d like to unpack. This is the story of three women: Madeline, Celeste, and Jane. Each of them has a child in a new […]
A lovely and devastating debut novel
I was library-shopping after a LONG week at school, when I stumbled upon Hala Alyan’s novel Salt Houses. I read the blurb and was instantly intrigued. I’ve been trying to read more works about Muslims from a variety of ethnic and national backgrounds, and reading about Palestine presented a double interest to me. This is a well-written and engaging novel, with a historical scope that reminds me a little of Homegoing. On her wedding weekend, Alia’s mother reads her fortune and predicts a life of […]
Not quite a key party, but close.
One of my projects this year was to make a dent in the Atwood canon, and I seem to have done so in the latter half of 2017. I had heard very little about Life Before Man, but I thought it would be intriguing to see some of her earlier work, since I had never read any books published prior to The Handmaid’s Tale. You can see her sly humor and nascent feminism here, even if there are some heavily domestic tropes in the novel. […]
Sad story, annoying envelope
My friend S was going through books and passed on her copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to me. I had heard it referenced before in many cultural contexts (including a Gilmore Girls episode, if memory serves) but had never read it. The only Dave Eggers I had read was The Circle which I found quite interesting (if some parts a little frustrating). I was eager to see how this work stacked up. The premise of the story is eye-catching. Dave Eggers’ parents […]