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horourke's reviews
76 reviews
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
4.5
one of the saddest books I’ve ever read. the way she intellectualizes her grief is so heartbreaking and so human. a deeply personal account of her life and loss
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
slow-paced
3.5
SO much more incest than I expected. Like way more.
I really wish the book focused more on Cal’s life and journey with gender than his complex family dynamics. Still very interesting and well-written, but my favorite parts were when Cal was experimenting with gender and sexuality. I also wish he wasn’t so black and white about it all and became more involved with other queer and intersex people, but I guess his fear of joining the community is one of his flaws. Overall enjoyed but wouldn’t re-read.
I really wish the book focused more on Cal’s life and journey with gender than his complex family dynamics. Still very interesting and well-written, but my favorite parts were when Cal was experimenting with gender and sexuality. I also wish he wasn’t so black and white about it all and became more involved with other queer and intersex people, but I guess his fear of joining the community is one of his flaws. Overall enjoyed but wouldn’t re-read.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
3.0
beautifully written but painfully slow. was a slog at times since they’re in the same place for nearly the entire novel. a tale about beauty, love, music, talent, tragedy, and coincidence. ending was wonderful but could’ve come 150 pages earlier.
Valencia by Michelle Tea
3.0
There’s nowhere to go :/
Interesting piece of (fictionalized) queer history. Though it was hard to tell how much of the story was emblematic of SF’s queer punk scene in the ‘90s and how much of it was due to the narrator and her friends being shitty. While a wild ride, I can’t help but think it’s not wholly representative of the environment in which it’s set. I do envy the abundant, shameless dyke culture, but I fear I would not thrive in that environment. I don’t envy the narrator nor her lifestyle of reckless love affairs, drunken nights and hard drugs. Not sure I loved the writing style either. Overall pretty OK. My copy was also set in an ugly sans serif font and that detracted from my reading experience.
Interesting piece of (fictionalized) queer history. Though it was hard to tell how much of the story was emblematic of SF’s queer punk scene in the ‘90s and how much of it was due to the narrator and her friends being shitty. While a wild ride, I can’t help but think it’s not wholly representative of the environment in which it’s set. I do envy the abundant, shameless dyke culture, but I fear I would not thrive in that environment. I don’t envy the narrator nor her lifestyle of reckless love affairs, drunken nights and hard drugs. Not sure I loved the writing style either. Overall pretty OK. My copy was also set in an ugly sans serif font and that detracted from my reading experience.
They by Kay Dick
3.0
I read each narrator as an individual connected, somehow, to the village. I imagined each short story taking place in the same vicinity, over the course of years. All the narrators are similar yet different. Shows that even in a dystopia where art and individuality are punished, there is joy and love. Deeply confused by the prose and most of the storyline, but enjoyed the concept. First story reminded me of “The Memory Police.” Interesting commentary on what is remembered of art when it’s destroyed. My version did not have the Carmen Maria Machado intro and I wish it did! Will definitely need to read up on this novella to understand it.
Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval
3.0
The story of Eden reimagined as a queer awakening. Adam is a closeted, codependent roommate in a flat share and the garden is a damp, moldy converted brewery. I liked the metaphor of the apple as the vulva, eating the apple as losing innocence, etc. Imagery was beautiful but gross at the same time. It’s also the story of what happens if you never clean your house. Author was way too into piss for my liking.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
3.0
Lucy is such a loser and I oscillated between pitying her and despising her. Her selfishness knows no bounds, and it culminated in her destroying her one responsibility and the thing her sister loves the most. The dichotomy between man/woman she feels with Theo was interesting, as was his existence as a mirror of her own. In him, she saw all of her worst qualities but also a magnetic, erotic pull. Her reluctance to change was incredibly frustrating. At times it seemed she would rather destroy herself than make any effort to actually improve her life.
Not sure she even learned her lesson at the end, but hopefully she’ll keep going to the Broken Women group and eventually get better. Also the descriptions of sex and bodily fluids were so gross. Broder must’ve taken inspiration from Otessa Moshfegh in that regard.
Not sure she even learned her lesson at the end, but hopefully she’ll keep going to the Broken Women group and eventually get better. Also the descriptions of sex and bodily fluids were so gross. Broder must’ve taken inspiration from Otessa Moshfegh in that regard.
The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai
5.0
One of the most beautiful novels I’ve read. Details fit together delicately and perfectly through the decades covered, leaving easter eggs for the reader to slowly uncover. Returned back to previous chapters as my read deepened, finding new bits to highlight, new connections to make. Each piece fitting together to complete a gorgeous, intricate puzzle. A book I want to immediately return to in order to flesh out all the connections I missed during the first read.
Appreciate representation of queer people throughout the 20th century - reminder that we’ve always been here.
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
3.5
The tale of a completely passive woman, floating through life merely allowing things to happen to her. She trudges through her job, friendships, and relationships as though she doesn’t care about any of them. Even her engagement comes about almost like an accident. Any time she comes close to discovering her own desires, she runs away - literally - and nothing is solved. Every character in this novel is unbelievably selfish, especially Duncan, the loser grad student she chooses (somewhat bafflingly) to have an affair with. She has the worst roommate in the world and even her married friends only care about themselves. It’s a wonder it took her so long to completely lose her mind, and even then she can’t muster up the nerve to do anything to change her circumstances.
In some ways, her friends represent the choices she has as a woman. She could be married and overrun with children, as Clara is; single, chaotic and pregnant like Ainsley; or single, virginal, and gainfully employed as her office-mates are. She outwardly despises all three options, and thus struggles with her engagement and the implications of becoming a wife. All this is further complicated by Ainsley’s obsession with femininity and the rejection of it. Her morals are complicated (and largely nonsensical), yet she pushes them on to Marian nonetheless.
Only in the final pages do we see Marian making decisions for herself, though at first they are largely symbolic. However, that is the style of Margaret Atwood - she excels in the symbolic, using fiction as a vehicle for her second-wave feminism.
Overall, an interesting read, with some points still salient in the 21st century. Mostly left me feeling glad I did not have to suffer through life as a woman in the ‘60s.