January Reading Wrap-up

1. We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

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3☆ - not the target audience

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Summary: Merricat lives with her sister and ailing uncle in a large vacuous home, shunned by neighbors. Their rote life is interrupted by a man who arrives at the doorbell claiming to be their cousin.

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This book was moderately OK - I find that the “creepiness” presented by the book just wasn’t hitting; maybe I am just raised by too much superstition in the typical Southeast Asian environment that magic is commonplace to me? The fear just wasn’t there. Merricat just seemed like an incorrigible child…

2. Celestial Monsters - Adrian Thomas

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4☆ - fun in a childlike way

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Summary: Sequel of Sunbearer Trials; Teo returns with his two friends in tow to restore sunlight to a world of perpetual night. Gifts from Gods, a recent betrayal, and budding feelings accompany his journey through this Mexican mythology inspired land.

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It’s a typical fantasy in the vein of Percy Jackson. One might even say it’s too similar; I saw a review that said so. It’s juvenile, it’s fun, it’s refreshing, but none too amazing. It delivers what it says. It’s a good adventure for younger readers but not much else. The characters occasionally felt too caricature-like for my liking.

3. The Death of Jane Lawrence - Caitlin Starling

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4☆ - fun but confusing

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Summary: Jane Shoringfield proposes a marriage to a traumatised surgeon not knowing he hides a magical secret.

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First few pages - is this Jane Eyre? It’s not. It’s as if the magic in Jane Eyre was actually real and there were real ghosts (or not-ghosts?). This book was fun the first few pages, but got sluggish at the last few. I could tolerate them introducing actual magic, but when the creatures appeared my brain -isn’t following. I feel like the book is trying too much. The prose is engaging but the plot is just everywhere.

4. A Dark and Drowning Tide - Allison Saft

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4☆ - for kids… 2☆ for adults

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Summary: Lorelei Kaskel must team up with her academic rival, the naturalist Sylvia, to solve the closed-room murder that is her mentor’s death. Not everything is what it seems, every suspect had a political motive, every suspect with expertise of their own, and ties to land of their own.

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This book is a victim of false marketing. One could assume it would be more intriguing than the cover implies, but it’s not. It’s perfectly juvenile, in the sense that if you wanted characters who are clinically designed to be made fanfiction of. Sylvia is the perfectly beguiling manic pixie dream girl of a love interest. Lorelei is the perfectly brooding stereotype to contrast. The evil characters are typically evil. The magic is interesting though and so is the worldbuilding, although one could say it’s just a perverted version of Europe. There’s a literal real-world counterpart to most of the countries and regions.

Don’t think too much when reading this book. If you do, there’s going to be too much to nitpick (in a sense, it’s like Harry Potter in that way). Was the author promoting colonisation with the unity of all regions? Or are they just promoting zero-boundaries liberalism? Well, the author’s usually for YA, so really, don’t think too much.

5. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

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5☆ - a classic for a reason

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Summary: Billy Pilgrim has been abducted to Tralfamadore, and ever since then, he’s existed on a different plane of time, jumping from his adolescence in the war, his marriage to his wife and subsequent inheritance of optometrist business, and his days as an alien captive with a movie star.

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There’s a reason why classic books are classic books, and this reminds again why it is so. It’s so well written, though slightly confusing, but wholly engaging. It becomes quite obvious his so-called alien abduction is just a manifestation of his own PTSD, which is depicted so well and vividly. It’s a really great book. So it goes.

6. Tin Man - Sarah Winman

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5☆ - cry and smile all over again

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Summary: This book revolves around three people - Ellis, Michael, and Annie. The book starts off in the perspective of Ellis, who begins to reminisce about the days he spent with Michael and Ellis.

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This book will tear you apart and put you back together. There’s a quote I liked from the book that didn’t actually come from any of the main 3 characters: “She said, We’re like a couple of dogs, you and me. And we’ll have to sniff around each other until we’re sure of each other. But I love you. And that’s a good start. And I’m very glad you’re here.”

This book is so good at depicting a type of love that transcends romantic love. There’s romantic love, for sure, but there’s also deep platonic bonds, there’s reconciling with people you hate, reconnecting with people you’ve missed. It’s a very good perspective on relationships that would sit with you and make you feel happy and sad at the same time, but most of all, grateful for all the bonds you have because really, it’s the one thing that defines all of you.

7. From the Belly - Emmett Nahil

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4☆ - more of a screenplay than a book

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Summary: Isaiah is part of a whaling boat in which every member of the crew is indebted to the company. Everything starts to be in disarray when they find a man within the belly of a whale they caught.

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I feel like this book is alright and would make a great screenplay, not so much as a book. It was sort of: this thing happened and then this thing happened. There’s some interesting parts like there’s a disease but then I feel like the descriptions weren’t really scary and rather clinical. They keep saying the crew had it coming but like aren’t some of them just a victim of unfortunate circumstance? Seems like overkill. And I still don’t understand the main relationship. It feels one-sided in both ways. Isaiah had some infatuation that was mostly physical. Essex’s infatuation was based on how Isaiah helped him once, ergo, emotional. It just felt unnatural and not fleshed out proper. But it was fun.

8. The Dove in the Belly - Jim Grimsley

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4☆ - A24 movie in a book

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Summary: Ronny is kicked out from home and needs a job. In this trying time, his situationship Ben keeps coming in and out of his life.

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This book literally thrusts you into the thick of it. You don’t see their relationship building - suddenly there’s Ronny, midway through a situationship, somehow keeping his sanity, somehow the most flat faced guy you’ve ever seen as a protagonist. It felt like someone’s actual real life story the way it’s sad in a realistic way. I did get engaged by the book and sped through the entire thing, but the book is too realistic that every character acted in a way you could understand but is frustrated about. If I wanted to be this frustrated, I probably would have read the news. There’s no satisfying catharsis. It’s like… Marriage Story? That one movie where Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver just yell at each other. Like damn.

9. When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamín Labatut

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4☆ - Enlightening except it’s not real

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Summary: Collection of Stories. Mostly about scientists. Sometimes about madness.

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I like the first story, Prussian Blue. I learned later it was the most historically accurate. The titular story, not so much. I find that it drags the madness theme a little too long, and it’s not even historically accurate! Hilarious. The last story felt like it was going somewhere until it didn’t. The Prussian Blue one was great - I like the transition from talking about dyes to actually dying and talking about the war and then fertiliser. Interesting stuff.