Sarah Kay, along with illustrator Sophia Janowitz, created her debut collection of poetry back in 2014. And in 2018 No Matter the Wreckage came on my radar. Kay’s poems celebrate family, love, travel, as well as the oddness, beauty and darkness of the world. She is powerful and soft. Bold and quiet. She hits you over the head and whispers in your ear. To hear her read her works (so far only on YouTube) would be a grand treat. Her voice is the perfect vessel […]
“Everything Here Is Beautiful” is beautiful
If you want to cleanse your… brain? palate? brain-palate? of the hellstorm that was 2017, this book is an excellent way to kick off the new year. Everything Here Is Beautiful is the story of two sisters, Miranda and Lucia. Since childhood, Miranda has been the careful and responsible big sister, Jie, while Lucia has been the cheerful and impulsive little sister, Mei. But Lucia occasionally has episodes where she has violent mood swings, hears voices, and becomes increasingly paranoid. Miranda, frightened at what could happen to her […]
A Study of Grief and Dysfunction
Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet. At first glance, Everything I Never Told You looks like a classic thriller. There’s a missing girl, a family with secrets, a lake, and a bad boy who knows more than he’s willing to say. It’s easy to think it’s a familiar story about catching a killer. That’s the first curve ball author Celeste Ng throws at you, but not the last. It turns out discovering who killed Lydia (and did anyone actually kill Lydia?) is […]
Constantly movin while makin millions
I sometimes have trouble writing reviews of autobiographies. Especially when the author is still very much alive and active and online. I feel like I can’t be honest. I don’t have that problem with writing about Eddie Huang’s “Fresh Off the Boat” though because he seems like the kind of guy who appreciates honesty over careful wording. There were times when this book was incomprehensible to me. I’m not up on basketball or hip-hop so I was grateful for the footnotes that show up occasionally. […]