meredith_w's reviews
635 reviews

My Friends: A Novel by Hisham Matar

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

A deep character study of someone living in exile and processing a traumatic event. My reading experience with 'My Friends' was similar to when I read 'A Gentleman in Moscow' - I knew the writing was excellent, but the novel felt very, very long.

All Fours by Miranda July

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

This read like one long intrusive thought. I couldn't stop reading - I think I became obsessed with the narrator and the choices she made. I enjoyed this book waaaaay more than I expected. It was also waaaaaay more cringe than I expected, lol. 

Held by Anne Michaels

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

2.5

Too 'literary' for me.  Reads like a collection of connected short stories, and written almost entirely of pretty and beautiful sentences (albeit very quotable sentences).  I was confused through most of this book due the tediously frustrating lyrical writing.  It was an effort trying to follow the character arcs and the familial connections.  I did really enjoy the first third, but then I started to lose steam.  It became very tiresome to keep engaged at about the two-thirds point, when a whole new group of characters were introduced.  This just wasn't for me.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

A fascinating and topical read in 2024, one month before the US presidential election where immigration is a top issue.  This felt like a very real immigration story - it was neither the worst or best case scenario (but that probably depends on who you ask).  Imbolo Mbue is a fantastic writer, her character development is so great.  I listened along with the audio as I read the words on the page - the audiobook is amazing.  Prentice Onayemi was a wonderful narrator, his performance is a major reason why I really, really enjoyed this book.

Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

I hate this book.  But it was also a good book in the sense that I understand its purpose, and why it was written. This ‘nonfiction’ book is incredibly sobering. And despairing, maddening, upsetting. There were some really frustrating narrative details (Russia never suspected that North Korea might be the target??  really???), but I can look past that and appreciate the big picture of the book – to demonstrate the ‘razor’s edge’ we all sit on regarding the potential realities of nuclear war. This book helped me visualize “…how fast global nuclear war unfolds. How tragic and ironic it is that human beings developed slow and steady over hundreds of thousands of years, culminating in the creation of vast and complex civilizations, only to get zeroed out in a war that takes less than a few hours from beginning to end.” 

 

Jacobsen loves a military acronym and seems obsessed with measurements - the size of various bombs and explosions, depth of bunkers, speed of missiles. Her depth of knowledge and research into these topics was … a lot. The focus of this book is (unsurprisingly) very America-centric, with some of the global impacts only discussed at the very end, and leaving out so many countries (i.e. ALL the countries of Africa, and others in the global south). I get it, not all books can be everything. This book was plenty terrifying as is, without describing the horrifying impact to every corner of the earth. 

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.5

Cool story, I appreciated the unexpected casual education about Neanderthals.  The main character was unlikeable, but in an intriguing way, which is a combo that really works for me in literary fiction.  I found it difficult to stay focused on the story due to the writing structure – the storyline frequently bounced between the real time events and the main character’s research into the commune and its mentor.  Overall an interesting read, but I had to work for it (and more than I wanted to). 

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

funny reflective fast-paced

4.0

Smart and funny.  I really like the social commentary on race.  I laughed out loud reading the part about the Kardashians.

A Well Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

4.5

Heartbreaking, informative, and infuriating.  I really hope Tia writes more about the impact of Christian Fundamentalism in the US.  The chokehold these people have on the country is mind-boggling.

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam

reflective medium-paced

2.5

I liked the premise, but not the execution.  There's something about the writing style and sentence structure that I really didn't like.  I was constantly working to stay engaged in the story, often having to stop to reread a line or paragraph.  It also took awhile to get things going - at least two thirds of this book felt like groundwork, for a premise that really didn't feel like it needed that much buildup. 

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

This read like a book in three parts.  The first part was as advertised, and the story evolved from there - in expected and unexpected ways.  I really liked the writing the style - simple prose, very immersive and absorbing.  The house itself was a major character, which I tend to really enjoy in books. I wish it ended differently.