The Woman Upstairs – 2/5 Stars I found this book because of a list listing “Famous angry women in books” or something. And it’s true that the lead character and narrator of this book is very angry. I was hoping she’d be angrier and less articulate about her anger in this book. What’s this book about? It’s about a woman in her early 40s who was an artist who is also an elementary school teacher. She becomes friends with the mom of one her students. […]
Blooming good read
Due late January/early February, Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Savanna Ganucheau is another in the First Second graphic novels dealing with growing up and with sexuality and gender themes. This time, Ari and Hector are exploring what they want now that school is over. And part of that learning is they realize they want each other. The interesting thing about this book, compared to the others, is the simplicity in the sexual and identity exploration. This time there is “only” a gay couple. The other […]
There are only three things to be done with a woman. You can love her, suffer for her, or turn her into literature.
It’s kind of hard to explain the experience of reading these books. As I write this statement, I’ve read the first two, and it’s entirely possible that further reading will change based on how each book presents the story. But for the first two books, the experience is fractured. For one thing, it’s fractured because the narrative perspective is rather subjective and impressionistic in their methods. That’s not to say they’re like reading Ulysses, though a little, but more so the experience is connected directly […]
When a complicated writer finds their audience
Andrea Gibson is a complicated person and that shows in their poetry collection, Lord of the Butterflies. They have several collections, this being their newest for Button Poetry. Winner of awards, writer of almost any liberal subject Gibson has a mix of poems about their personal journey, depression, lovers, current events and life in general. Personally, I prefer the poems where Gibson is not the “main character” of the story. Not to say, I did not like the other poems, I just prefer the ones […]