I read Tortilla Curtain previously and thought it was a solid novel, so was excited to pick up another book by Boyle, and one that was recommended from my favorite podcast, Literary Disco. If I had to describe Boyle’s writing in one word it would be “unrelenting.” His style can feel like a bit of a slog, but he is a compelling storyteller who shines a light on sub-groups that I don’t often read about, so for me it has felt like I learned a lot […]
Growing up (in the north of Sweden) is hard to do
Matti grows up in a tiny town in the remote north of Sweden in the 1960s and 70s. The chapters in this book are more like little short stories about different aspects of his childhood and adolescence, chronicled with humour and the occasional forays into strange, magical realism-inspired fantasy sequences. The inhabitants of his town and the surrounding areas seem to be either deeply puritanically religious or Communists, not caring for the trappings of religion at all. The gruff and peculiar inhabitants are set in […]
“Questions arose. Like, what in the f*ck was going on here, basically.”
It seemed like a good point in the Cannonball to dip my toe back into the elite Infinity Pool of highbrow reading — you know, capital L Literature — and Pynchon seemed like as good of a candidate for Respected Contemporary Author as any of them. But then of course I end up reading the book of his where the protagonist is altered on one of the many favorite substances of the sixties for most of the book and it’s generally about crime and hippies […]
The Awakening. But in Hollywood.
“…the book is very…sordid, isn’t it? And tough – by which they mean not a tough read, but hard-hearted.” Not being a fan of book intros (spoilers, love) I generally wait until the end of a novel to see what has been illuminated. In my version, the introduction by David Thomason eloquently summarized the complicated appeal of this book. It is compelling, complex, and has unyielding momentum. The question is, what is it, and thus the protagonist Maria, moving toward? The answer? Nothing. Estranged from […]
Growing up motherless is hard to do
3. 5 stars Lily Owens grows up isolated, neglected by her father and lonely on a peach farm in Georgia in the 1960s. Her only friend is the woman who acts as her nanny, Rosaleen, a former field hand who’s taken care of her since Lily’s mother died in a tragic accident when Lily was little more than a toddler. When Rosaleen is forced to flee town after accidentally insulting some white men while on her way to registering to vote, Lily insists on coming […]