Horror Mini Reviews Pt. II: The Haar by David Sodergren & Small Horrors by Darcy Coates

Happy Halloween! Today I have two more mini horror reviews for you all to celebrate the holiday: The Haar by David Sodergren and Small Horrors by Darcy Coates!

The Haar by David Sodergren

Paperbacks and Pugs
Publication: May 17th, 2022

Paperback. 212 pages.

About The Haar:

"'I don’t fear death... but they do.'

Muriel McAuley has lived in the Scottish fishing village of Witchaven all her life. She was born there, and she intends to die there.

But when an overseas property developer threatens to evict the residents from their homes and raze Witchaven to the ground in the name of progress, all seems lost… until the day a mysterious fog bank creeps inland.

The Haar.

To some it brings redemption… to others, it brings only madness and death. What macabre secrets lie within… The Haar.

Romantic and deranged, The Haar is a gore-soaked folk horror fairy tale from David Sodergren, author of The Forgotten Island and Maggie’s Grave."

In a small town in Scotland, a large American company has begun buying out inhabitants in order to build their own private endeavor. Muriel has lived in this town her entire life and refuses to give in to this horrible, which makes her a huge problem for the company. One day, amidst rising drama pertaining to the company and various buyouts, Muriel happens upon something that has the potential to change the course of her life... and perhaps the lives of a few others. 

The blurb for The Haar describes it as "a gore-soaked folk horror fairy tale," and I'm not sure I could describe it any better than that. However, it's also a book with some really carefully written explorations of grief and loneliness that made this much sadder and more touching I expected. Muriel is living alone in her small town, her husband having died years prior, and this book really focuses in on much of her grief and her desire to simply be with her husband and have love in her life again. This is honestly a surprisingly sentimental horror and is one that really made me feel for our protagonist, who is also an incredibly bold, witty, and full of attitude, which means she refuses to let anyone tell her what to do.

I really did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did, but I'm so glad I happened across it on my library's online app and had a chance to read it. I listened to the audiobook version of this one and thought it was incredibly well done with a fantastic narrator. If you're looking for something delightfully gory, with a great protagonist, and with some incredible otherworldly folktale elements, then be sure to give The Haar a read. Overall, this ended up being a four star read!

Small Horrors: A Collection of Fifty Creepy Stories by Darcy Coates

Poisoned Pen press
Publication: April 5th, 2022

Paperback. 272 pages.

About Small Horrors:

"Push past the curtains of your rational, safe world and explore the un-nameable horrors living in the darkest corners of our consciousness. This is the realm of monsters and shifting shadows, where a single wrong step can plunge you into a terrifying fight for your life, where...

Something mimics human voices as it lures you into the woods.
A corpse had gone missing from its drawer in the morgue.
A friend's eyes are unnaturally bright as they approach you in the dark.

Whatever your choice, these fifty small bites of horror are sure to leave you haunted."

If you like your scary stories short, ominous, and to the point, then this is the collection for you. Small Horrors has fifty (fifty!) unique short stories and range across all types of horror, from murder to the supernatural to the alien and monstrous and everything in between. With fifty stories in just 272 pages, these are all fairly short and don't have a lot of time to set up a scene, but they were able to pack a lot into each story. Some were a bit hit or miss, but I didn't honestly expect to love all fifty, and I think I enjoyed far more than I didn't, so it felt like a very worthwhile read. I had a lot of fun with these and really enjoyed getting such a variety of scary stories to pass the time with--it very much felt like a nice sampler of horror and it made it incredibly entertaining to read.

A lot of these stories had a very flash fiction feel to them where the story ends in a very open-ended manner and leaves you to imagine all sorts of horrible things that could happen, though most were just slightly longer than traditional flash fiction. My only criticism I have for some of these is that I often felt like I'd read a similar story or they just felt as though the author was really trying to hit that fifty mark and was creating stories that didn't really work. I would really love to see some of these stories drawn out in a larger story or book, and I do appreciate when a story leaves me excited for more (although perhaps also a bit disappointed that there's not more when there's so much potential). Overall, this is a really solid collection of horror stories that I think is perfect for when you want to pick something up that can give you a short and sweet scary story fix. 

Horror Mini Reviews Pt. I: The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim & Pyramidia by Stephanie Sanders-Jacob

This week I have a number of horror books to share with you all that I've been reading throughout the month of October! Ideally, I would've had horror reviews for you throughout the month of October, but I think Halloween week is just as fitting. Today, I have mini reviews up for Monika Kim's The Eyes are the Best Part and Stephanie Sanders-Jacob's Pyramidia. 

The Eyes are the Best Part by Monika Kim

Erewhon Books
Publication: June 25th, 2024

Hardcover. 278 pages.

About The Eyes are the Best Part:

"Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying… yet enticing.

In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.

For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated."

I wanted creepy  and shocking from this book and I may have wished too hard, because it completely delivered on being incredibly disturbing and flat out gross at times–but I still loved every second of it. This story follows Ji-won as she struggles to adapt to life after her appa leaves and her mother is left heartbroken and clinging to a new, abhorrent boyfriend. This book tackles some difficult topics and I really admired how the author approached them; things like Asian stereotypes and fetishization, racism, misogyny, and more are tackled head-on and with some intense consequences. This book isn't super scary so much as fueled by dread and some strong gore-tastic elements, most of which involve eyeballs in one form or another (which you could probably guess at based on the title).

The Eyes are the Best Part is a slow burn and does not rush through any part of the story it wants to tell. It's extremely unhinged in ways that were both predictable and also entirely unpredictable, which I really appreciated. I had suspicions of where this book may go, but it really took those ideas and flipped them on their heads. The ending is one that I think will be a bit hit or miss for some, but honestly fit the story perfectly and will leave a large impact. This book is raw and unfiltered and admittedly a bit bizarre, but I think it's certainly worth the read. Obviously huge warnings for gore involving eyes–which was rough because I hate gore with eyes–but the experience is worth it. Overall, I've given The Eyes are the Best Part four stars.

Pyramidia by Stephanie Sanders-Jacob

Slashic Horror Press
Publication: February 15th, 2024

Paperback. 361 pages.

About Pyramidia:

"When Harriet moves to Bentwood to teach gifted students, her new life doesn’t go as planned. Between her haunted rental and her oddball neighbor, Lucy—who literally won’t go away—Harriet is left questioning her own sanity. The beautiful Kelsey, whom she meets at the farmers market, offers the distraction she needs.

Well, that, and the town’s Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)—or pyramid—scheme.

The enigmatic group of women selling wellness in the form of Serenitea, with their perfect hair, flawless skin, and piercing eyes. She is drawn to the tea, the wellness, the tranquility… So what if she has to sell a few bags of tea?

You have a new descendant.

Sinking deeper into Serenitea, Harriet can’t stop drinking the tea. She keeps getting emails about new descendants—whatever the hell that means—and the gym teacher, Harold, is giving serious pervy vibes. Even Lucy joins the MLM despite claiming the women are vampires. None of that matters, though, because Serenitea makes her feel…well. Tranquil.

Are you well?"

Just in case you didn't already think MLMs were a bad thing, Pyramidia is here to turn them into a whole new level of horrifying. Harriet moves to the town of Bentwood (which certainly makes me think of similar-sounding city...) for a teaching position, and once there she finds that the town seems to have a high number of MLM schemes. Harriet is very much not into pyramid schemes, but after trying some Serenitea, she finds she just can't get enough and in order to get more, she may need to start selling some tea.

I just loved this concept of taking a pyramid scheme and suburbia and adding horror/thriller elements to it, turning this into an entirely new and fun concept–I mean, what's a better fit for some extra horror and supernatural than the horrors of MLMs and suburbia? There are some great little twists in here and a really colorful array of unique characters to meet along the way–some a bit crazier than others. This book was so witty and had so many relatable moments of humor and commentary that made it a really enjoyable experience. It's one of those premises and plots that feels a bit outlandish and absurd, but completely works and ends up making the perfect mix of genres and ideas. I do think this could have been slightly shorter and suffered a bit from being dragged on just a little too long to where the novelty aspects began to wear off, and the ending itself felt slightly off to me, but overall it was a really entertaining read. I've given Pyramidia four stars!

 

Mini-Review: The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Zando/Gillian Flynn Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023

Hardcover. 288 pages.

About The Centre:

"Anisa Ellahi dreams of being a translator of ‘great works of literature’, but instead mostly spends her days subtitling Bollywood films in her flat in London while living off her parents’ generous allowance and discussing the ‘underside of life’ with her best friend, Naima. Then she meets Adam, who has successfully leveraged his savant-level aptitude for languages into an enviable career. At first, this only adds to her sense of inadequacy, but when Adam learns to speak Urdu with native fluency practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret.

Adam tells Anisa about the Centre, an elite, invite-only program that guarantees absolute fluency in any language in just ten days. Sceptical but intrigued, Anisa enrols. Stripped of her belongings and all contact with the outside world, she undergoes the Centre's strange and rigorous processes. But as she enmeshes herself further within the organisation, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the disturbing, hidden cost of its services."

The Centre is fascinating story of language and identity that pulls readers in to a mysterious method of language learning. We follow translator Anisa Ellahi as she aspires to become a great translator, but currently feels stuck in her role translating Bollywood films... until she meets Adam, who seems to be able to pick up languages to the point of native fluency in shockingly short time. 

What I liked: I love languages and learning languages (though I don't spend nearly as much time studying as I'd like to), so this entire story and concept centered around language was something I found myself really drawn to and enjoying. I was also completely fascinated by the Centre itself and their secretive and unique methods of teaching people in their elite language intensives. This aspect of the story is what I liked the most, probably. I was also intrigued to learn about Anisa's background with languages and how she viewed translation, and I think the author did a great job of providing some complex commentary on language and translation in the modern age. There is also a bit of a dark twist at the end of this book that I thought actually fit the story really well, though it could be hit or miss for some people. 

What I didn't like: It felt as though there was a lot of extraneous... stuff (?) in this book. There were sections where I found my attention completely drifting away from the story, and then when it returned I realized I hadn't really missed anything. I also, unfortunately, really disliked Anisa for most of the story. I found her pretty annoying and her attitude towards a lot of people and things was really frustrating. I appreciated her general curiosity and I can understand where some of her reactions to things originate due to her background, but she was just not the greatest narrator and is probably what prevented this story from getting a higher rating from me. 

Overall, I've given The Centre 3 stars.

Amazon | Bookshop

Double Mini-Reviews: The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas, Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout

I have a little bit of catching up to do on reviews, so today I have two mini reviews to share with you all, and there will probably be more coming in the future. Let me know if you've read any of these books and what your thoughts are!

The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas

Atria Books
Publication: October 31st, 2023

Paperback. 356 pages.

About The Paleontologist:

"Curator of paleontology Dr. Simon Nealy never expected to return to his Pennsylvania hometown, let alone the Hawthorne Museum of Natural History. He was just a boy when his six-year-old sister, Morgan, was abducted from the museum under his watch, and the guilt has haunted Simon ever since. After a recent break-up and the death of the aunt who raised him, Simon feels drawn back to the place where Morgan vanished, in search of the bones they never found.

But from the moment he arrives, things aren’t what he expected. The Hawthorne is a crumbling ruin, still closed amid the ongoing pandemic, and plummeting toward financial catastrophe. Worse, Simon begins seeing and hearing things he can’t explain. Strange animal sounds. Bloody footprints that no living creature could have left. A prehistoric killer looming in the shadows of the museum. Terrified he’s losing his grasp on reality, Simon turns to the handwritten research diaries of his predecessor and uncovers a blood-soaked mystery 150 million years in the making that could be the answer to everything.

Are these the ravings of a madman? Or is there something supernatural at play? And what does this have to do with Morgan’s disappearance?"

The Paleontologist centers around a haunted museum and a man on the hunt to find out just why and how his sister disappeared when they were just kids. There are some supernatural and ghostly elements, some mystery, and plenty of unpredictability to keep readers riveted. 

What I liked: I love dinosaurs, ghost stories, and museums, so this was sort of the perfect mix of all of those. Much like in Dumas' A History of Fear, the atmosphere in The Paleontologist was absolutely on target and captured the vibe of a creepy mildly abandoned (currently empty due to COVID) museum full of dinosaur bones and dark basements. I definitely felt this book's setting and was immediately transported to it. I also think Dumas managed to craft a mystery around Simon's sister's disappearance that really quite gripping and complex, and provided a variety of twists that kept me hooked. I also appreciated that the author definitely seemed to do his dinosaur research for this book and I enjoyed all the different times when we got some history lessons about various dinosaur related things.

What I didn't like: The haunting and ghost elements felt a bit underdeveloped and under-executed. I feel like there was a lot of build up about the museum being haunted and we got some pretty intense glimpses into things that happens with some, uh, bones of the dinosaurs... and then it feels like that all just was ignored? There was some mention of it at the end with a general "let's wrap this up" vibe, but it felt very underwhelming in general to me. This book didn't really end up being quite what I expected it to be based on the premise provided and the push towards making this sound like scary haunted museum/dinosaur ghost story, but it was a bit more of a mystery/thriller about a man trying to find out what happened to his sister and all the different emotions and struggles that come from that. This wasn't bad, and Dumas wrote this really well, but it just wasn't quite what I expected. 

Overall, I've given The Paleontologist 3.75 stars.

Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout
HarperVia
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2023

Hardcover. 320 pages.

About Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein:

"Switzerland, 1816. A volcanic eruption in Indonesia envelopes the whole of Europe in ash and cloud. Amid this “year without a summer,” eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley and her lover Percy Bysshe Shelley arrive at Lake Geneva to visit Lord Byron and his companion John Polidori. Anguished by the recent loss of her child, Mary spends her days in strife. But come nightfall, the friends while away rainy wine-soaked evenings gathered around the fireplace, exchanging stories. One famous evening, Byron issues a challenge to write the best ghost story. Contemplating what to write, Mary recalls another summer, when she was fourteen…

Scotland, 1812. A guest of the Baxter family, Mary arrives in Dundee, befriending young Isabella Baxter. The girls soon spend hours together wandering through fields and forests, concocting tales about mythical Scottish creatures, ghosts and monsters roaming the lowlands. As their bond deepens, Mary and Isabella’s feelings for each other intensify. But someone has been watching them—the charismatic and vaguely sinister Mr. Booth, Isabella's older brother-in-law, who may not be as benevolent as he purports to be…"

Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein reimagines the life of Mary Shelley up until her creation of the well-loved Gothic classic, Frankenstein. This is a character-driven and slower paced story that is full of complex relationships and beautiful writing. 

What I liked: I liked getting to meet this reimagined version of Mary Shelley and experience some of what her life may have been like. I also enjoyed meeting a variety of the different figures (literary and otherwise) in Mary's life and seeing their different interactions, as there was a lot of complexity to many of the relationships in this book and I think the author conveyed that aspect extraordinarily well. Additionally, this is a translated work so I can't speak to the original prose itself, but the translation is really beautiful. It appears to me as though the translator managed to capture the style and mood of the author extremely well, and I thought it was written really beautifully. This was one of those novels that, even if the plot wasn't always really strong, the writing was lovely enough that I found myself captivated anyway. 

What I didn't like: Not all that much really seems to happen in this book, and I did find some of it the slightest bit hard to follow at times. Much of the story does seem to drag on, so I found that you really had to be either invested in the characters or enjoy the prose itself to really feel compelled to keep reading. I also didn't find many of the characters overly engaging, but fortunately their interactions with one another were a bit more compelling than the characters themselves, if that makes sense.

Overall, I've given Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein 3.5 stars. 

Amazon | Bookshop.org

Horror Mini-Review Pt. IV: We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory

Welcome to part four of my mini horror review series, featuring We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory! Previous mini horror reviews can be found below: 

Part I: Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
Part II: We Can Never Leave this Place by Eric LaRocca
Pt. III: Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham

We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory

Tachyon Publications
Publication: July 21st, 2014

Paperback. 182 pages.

About We Are All Completely Fine:

"Harrison is the Monster Detective, a storybook hero. Now he’s in his mid-thirties and spends most of his time not sleeping. 

Stan became a minor celebrity after being partially eaten by cannibals. Barbara is haunted by the messages carved upon her bones. Greta may or may not be a mass-murdering arsonist. And for some reason, Martin never takes off his sunglasses. 

Unsurprisingly, no one believes their horrific tales until they are sought out by psychotherapist Dr. Jan Sayer. What happens when these likely-insane outcasts join a support group? Together they must discover which monsters they face are within and which are lurking in plain sight."

We Are All Completely Fine follows a group of people through their time in a therapy support group together. However, this is no ordinary group of people, but rather is composed of people who have survived their own horror story and have been living their life dealing with the aftereffects ever since. I’ve read a few books with this similar set up and have really enjoyed them, so I was pretty excited about this one.

What I liked: I really liked getting to know each character and their backstory since they all come from very different circumstances with some very unique, tragic history, and it was fascinating to see them come together and share these experiences with one another. It was particularly interesting to see how they all chose to deal with their experiences; for instance, some embrace it and are public with their experiences, whereas other try to hide from it and embrace as much invisibility as possible. Throughout the story, we visit each group member’s POV and get to see everything from their perspective, which I appreciated and I think allowed for a more well-rounded and compelling narrative to see how each perceived the rest of the group. I also liked Daryl Gregory’s writing style overall, and it definitely makes me want to read more books from him.

What I didn't like: There is a bigger overall plot that comes to light more near the end of the book, and although this plot was really interesting to explore, I did feel that things were just a little rushed and out of place at times for me. I liked seeing how individual characters ended up at the end, but I just didn’t necessarily love the pacing and I did find my focus wavering a bit in the latter portions of the book.

Overall, this is a very solid horror story following some intriguing characters straight from their own horror stories. It wasn’t as spooky as some horror novels are, but it will definitely still hit the spot for anything in the horror realm.

 

Mini Contemporary Reviews Pt. II: Birds of California by Katie Cotugno

Birds of California by Katie Cotugno
Harper Perennial
Publication: April 26th, 2022

Paperback. 288 pages.

About Birds of California:

"Former child actor Fiona St. James dropped out of the spotlight after a spectacularly public crash and burn. The tabloids called her crazy and self-destructive and said she'd lost her mind. Now in her late twenties, Fiona believes her humiliating past is firmly behind her. She's finally regained a modicum of privacy, and she won't let anything--or anyone--mess it up. 

Unlike Fiona, Sam Fox, who played her older brother on the popular television show Birds of California, loves the perks that come with being a successful Hollywood actor: fame, women, parties, money. When his current show gets cancelled and his agent starts to avoid his calls, the desperate actor enthusiastically signs on for a Birds of California revival. But to make it happen, he needs Fiona St. James. 

Against her better judgment, Fiona agrees to have lunch with Sam. What happens next takes them both by surprise. Sam is enthralled by Fiona's take-no-prisoners attitude, and Fiona discovers a lovable goofball behind Sam's close-up-ready face. Long drives to the beach, late nights at dive bars... theirs is the kind of kitschy romance Hollywood sells. But just like in the rom-coms Fiona despises, there's a twist that threatens her new love. Sam doesn't know the full story behind her breakdown. What happens when she reveals the truth?"

Birds of California is a vast departure from the types of books I usually read, and I found it to be a really compelling contemporary story with some romance, self-discovery, and all-around good times. This story follows Fiona St. James, former child star whose life went a bit off the rails near the end of her TV show's run, as she continues to navigate her post-stardom life as off the grid as possible (while still living in LA areas) and the sudden reintroduction of her former co-star and friend Sam Fox–who is still acting, though struggling to make it big–into her life. 

What I liked: Birds of California was a really endearing contemporary romance that hit a lot of heavier notes than I expected, and I actually really appreciated that this book explored some of these topics, such as feeling lost in your own life and where you're going, past traumas, and more. I actually didn't realize that this was going to have a romance when I picked it up (maybe I didn't read the blurb enough??), but I thought it was a really endearing and compelling one between two very passionate people with very different personalities. I had a lot of fun going on this ride with Fiona and Sam, including all of the ups and downs and discoveries that took place along the way. This was a really easy to read story that I sped through and found myself entertained the entire time. 

What I didn't like: This book's pacing was all over the place. It starts off pretty consistent and steady, but as you near the midway point and especially at the end, things just sort of take off and some really serious and complex topics are discussed in only a couple pages near the end. Maybe they weren't supposed to be the main focus of the story, but I think it did a bit of a disservice to the characters and their development. And speaking of development, I'd say I found the growth of Fiona in particular to be pretty lacking, and by the end of the book I didn't necessarily think she'd grown all that much. She definitely had some important realizations and discoveries about herself, but I would've liked to maybe see a bit more development. Lastly, I felt the relationship between Fiona and Sam was a bit abrupt at times and sort of threw me with its sort of whiplash changes. 

Overall, this is a really fulfilling contemporary romance that I think would be a perfect book to relax poolside with this summer. 

*I received a copy of Birds of California courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mini Contemporary Reviews Pt. I: Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore

I had two contemporary reads show up at my house some months ago, and although I don't tend to read a lot of contemporary, I decided to give them a go and had a lot of fun with them! The first of my mini reviews will be for Vacationland, below, and I'll be sharing the second one sometime in the next couple weeks. These are perfect summer reads!

 

Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore
William Morrow & Company
Publication: June 14th, 2022

Hardcover. 384 pages.

About Vacationland:

"Louisa has come to her parents' house in Maine this summer with all three of her kids, a barely written book, and a trunkful of resentment. Left behind in Brooklyn is her husband, who has promised that after this final round of fundraising at his startup he will once again pick up his share of the household responsibilities. Louisa is hoping that the crisp breeze off Penobscot Bay will blow away the irritation she is feeling with her life choices and replace it with enthusiasm for both her family and her work. 

But all isn't well in Maine. Louisa's father, a retired judge and pillar of the community, is suffering from Alzheimer's. Louisa's mother is alternately pretending everything is fine and not pretending at all. And one of Louisa's children happens upon a very confusing and heartfelt letter referring to something Louisa doesn't think her father could possibly have done. 

Louisa's not the only one searching for something in Maine this summer. Kristie took the Greyhound bus from Pennsylvania with one small suitcase, $761, and a lot of baggage. She's got a past she's trying to outrun, a secret she's trying to unpack, and a new boyfriend who's so impossibly kind she can't figure out what she did to deserve him. But she can't keep her various lives from colliding forever. 

As June turns to July turns to August, secrets will be unearthed, betrayals will come to light, and both Louisa and Kristie will ask themselves what they are owed and what they owe others."

Vacationland is a great summer read full of family dramas, secrets, and people who are just trying to live their lives as best as they can. In Vacationland, we follow Louisa, a stressed mother of three and Professor currently on sabbatical, and Kristie, a young woman trying to leave her past behind while also uncovering some secrets of her own, as they both arrive in Maine for the summer. The two woman have vastly different lives and reasons for being in Maine, but both will find their lives intersect in surprising ways. 

What I liked: This book splits POVs between Louisa and Kristie, and I really appreciated getting a glimpse into two vastly different lives and two people who are as similar as they are dissimilar. Moore really dives deep into her characters thoughts, emotions, motivation, hopes, grief, ands o much more, to the extent that by the end of the story I felt as though I could really connect with them. Additionally, Moore's descriptions of Maine were so vivid and through Louisa's familiar memories and Kristie's new discoveries of the area I was instantly transported to this relaxed summer setting and enjoyed myself quite a lot. Everything felt so peaceful as a backdrop to the private struggles of each of our main characters, and I appreciated how Moore balanced all of this into a compelling family drama that was full of surprises, but also full of heart and made for a thoughtful and engaging story. 

What I didn't like: As with a lot of these family drama stories, I found quite a few of the major plot points a bit predictable overall, but in all honestly this didn't make too much of a negative impact since I was still engaged with the characters. I also found some aspects of Louisa's relationships with her husband and family (particularly her parents) a bit disjointed at times and didn't feel as resolved as I might've expected at the end of the book. Outside of these things, I really didn't have any major dislikes. This was a great relaxing read to wind down from the day with. (Also, this affects the plot in no way at all, but where was the dog for most of this book that we were introduced to in the beginning? I always want offhand comments about what the dog is doing.)

Overall, this was a very satisfying and thoughtful, well-written family drama that kept me hooked and would be a great choice to lounge around with this summer. 

*I received a copy of Vacationland courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mini-Review: The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
Riverhead Books
Publication: August 2nd, 2022

Hardcover. 192 pages.

About The Last White Man:

"One morning, Anders wakes to find that his skin has turned dark, his reflection a stranger to him. At first he tells only Oona, an old friend, newly a lover. Soon, reports of similar occurrences surface across the land. Some see in the transformations the long-dreaded overturning of an established order, to be resisted to a bitter end. In many, like Anders's father and Oona's mother, a sense of profound loss wars with profound love. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different shading: a chance to see one another, face to face, anew. 

Hamid's The Last White Man invites us to envision a future - our future - that dares to reimagine who we think we are, and how we might yet be together."

I've read and enjoying both The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid and I was so excited to receive an ARC of his latest upcoming release about a world in which people with light skin are suddenly–and randomly–waking up to find that their skin has turned dark. I was really excited to see what this concept would do in the hands of a talented writer like Mohsin Hamid, and I'm a bit mixed on the result. 

What I liked: This was such a fascinating concept to explore and I appreciated the Hamid took a more unique and unexpected approach to it. It had a very literary style that very much focused on the characters more prominently than the big event going on, and this did let us get to know the main characters Anders quite well. Hamid really allowed both Anders and Oona to dive deeply into exploring their own identities, both in relation to their sudden onset of dark skin and with the world around them. I really liked what Hamid was trying to do, and his literary style always grabs me. His excessive use of commas and long sentences should be annoying, but for some reason works really well for me. 

What I didn't like: A lot of the things I liked are also things I didn't care for, which is a little conflicting. Because of Hamid's more unique and character-focused approach, I don't feel like I really got to explore what this new world looked like with people having their skin randomly transformed from light to dark. We get a lot of general and vague ideas of the chaos that erupts as a result of this, but nothing very concrete and it doesn't seem to take center stage at any point. It was very much about Anders and Oona, their relationship with one another, their relationship with their parents, and their own personal understanding of themselves and what's going on around them. While this worked well, it left me wishing I had gotten more of the actually skin changing plot and how that affected society in a manner that explored it a bit more deeply. 

Overall, I've given The Last White Man three stars. This was a really fascinating concept to explore and I appreciated Hamid's deep character study of our two main characters and their identity, but I do wish we had gotten to explore the main concept and how it affected the rest of the world a bit more. 

*I received a copy of The Last White Man courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mini-Review: A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables #2) by Alix E. Harrow

*This was meant to be a mini review, so it's set up in my usual mini review format, but it went a bit longer than I anticipated. Whoops!

A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables #2) by Alix E. Harrow
Tordotcom
Publication: June 14th, 2022

Hardcover. 144 pages.

About A Mirror Mended:

"Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty, is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues. 

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can't handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White's Evil Queen has found out how her story ends, and she's desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone. Will Zinnia accept the Queen's poisonous request and save them both from the hot-iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?"

A Mirror Mended is the second book in Alix E. Harrow's Fractured Fables that follows Zinnia Gray as she travels throughout fairy tale worlds saving princesses (only when they need saving, of course) and making sure everyone gets a safe and fair story. This time, however, things go a bit haywire when Zinnia is sucked into a mirror after seeing a face staring back at her–and falls right into the lair of an actual Evil Queen. 

What I liked: Zinnia's narrative tone has easily been and remained one of the highlights of these novellas. She has a very dry, witty, and biting humor that could not work better for the story, and I consistently find her voice impossible to ignore. I found Zinnia a surprisingly endearing character and someone whose adventures and struggles I empathize with and really enjoy following. All of Harrow's characters are fully fleshed out and manage to both embody stereotypes while subverting them at the same time. You really never know what you're going to get! I have also loved Harrow's exploration of agency in this series and the pre-ordained roles characters are often typecast into without hope for change. 

What I didn't like: There really weren't too many things I didn't like about A Mirror Mended, which is always a great thing to be able to say. My biggest "complaints" (if you can even call them that) were that there were a few elements here and there that felt a bit too rehashed from the plot of the first book, or that just didn't fully feel as though they offered much in the way of new ideas. There were also times when moments of the plot felt a little too convenient or "easy," as if the author had a very specific story and message to tell and wanted to make sure to get that done without too much trouble. I wouldn't say there's anything really wrong with this, especially in a shorter book, but it just gave the story a bit of a different vibe with slightly lower stakes. Neither of these issues took that much away from me being able to enjoy my reading experience, but they are things I wanted to point out anyway. 

Overall, I've given A Mirror Mended four stars! I've really liked this duology of novellas and think anyone who enjoyed restructured fairy tales and an exploration of their foundational components would enjoy this as well!

*I received a copy of A Mirror Mended courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

(Not-So)-Mini-Review: We Had to Remove this Post by Hanna Bervoets, trans. Emma Rault

*This was meant to be a mini review, so it's set up in my usual mini review format, but it went a bit longer than I anticipated. Whoops!

We Had to Remove this Post by Hanna Bervoets, trans. Emma Rault
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication: May 24th, 2022

Hardcover. 160 pages.

About We Had to Remove this Post:

"Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a job as a content moderator for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention. Her job: reviewing offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and deciding which need to be removed. It’s grueling work. Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens, evaluating them with the platform’s ever-changing terms of service while a supervisor sits behind them, timing and scoring their assessments. Yet Kayleigh finds a group of friends, even a new love—and, somehow, the job starts to feel okay. 

But when her colleagues begin to break down; when Sigrid, her new girlfriend, grows increasingly distant and fragile; when her friends start espousing the very conspiracy theories they’re meant to be evaluating; Kayleigh begins to wonder if the job may be too much for them. She’s still totally fine, though—or is she?"

We Had to Remove this Post initially grabbed my eye because the main character, Kayleigh, works as a content moderator for a major social media, a job that I have also (unfortunately?) had. Kayleigh's job as a content moderator is to review content that has been flagged as potentially offensive or inappropriate and determine whether or not that is the case. At Kayleigh's job, she is inundated with constant hate, violence, and other terrible content, and it always seems to take its toll on the people working there. We Had to Remove this Post follows a snapshot of Kayleigh's life and relationships with her colleagues and how things seem to slowly devolve.

What I liked: We Had to Remove this Post was written in a very compelling way and I appreciated how the author explored this work experience via the format of Kayleigh writing to someone who wants her to join a class action lawsuit about the company. I also appreciated that although she discussed what the content moderation consisted of and mentioned a few examples, she never went into unnecessary detail or shared anything horrifying just for the shock value–there was always a purpose. This book provides a really fascinating and important look at the psychological pressures that are placed on the moderations from consistently viewing the horrible content that can be found online, and how those working to "protect" the rest of the world from it as moderators take on the burden of ingesting this content every day. As a previous content moderator, I think Bervoets captured this experience extremely well and the way the horror on the screen becomes its own sort of traumatic monotony. Bervoets depictions of the characters coping with what they see also felt very authentic and I think captured the relationships between each friend really well, and I think this really helped make this novella feel cohesive and compelling. 

What I didn't like: There's nothing that I truly disliked about this book. It has a rather low rating on Goodreads, which I noticed after finishing it, and while I would expect this not to be a book for everyone, I'm a bit perplexed as to why it's quite so low. I think the book leaves a little to be desired in the vein of closure and exploration of some characters, but I don't think it suffered from that, either. The only thing I probably would have appreciated is if this book was longer. I would've really liked to see more of Kayleigh's character arc and interactions with friends. That being said, I'm not really mad about the 160-page size of this novella because I think everything worked perfectly. You get just enough information and content that you need, and any more might just mess up that balance. 

Overall, I've given We Had to Remove this Post four stars! As you might have guessed, there is some difficult and disturbing content, so please do be aware of that going into. This was a really interesting and thoughtful look into social media, what we ingest daily, and how people are affected by the things they see–particular those who have to see the worst of it. 

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mini-Review: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: November 12th, 2022

Hardcover. 256 pages.

About Leave the World Behind:

"A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong 

Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe. 

Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?"

When Amanda, Clay, and their two children embark on a short family getaway, they hope to have a nice time to reconnect and relax. Unfortunately, as tends to happen to plans with the best intentions, things do not go according to plan and the owners of the house they are renting for the trip show up unannounced–and the reason why only creates more problems. Leave the World Behind is a slow-paced, creeping sort of thriller that builds up much of its dread-induced atmosphere through the writing and small actions of the characters that leave you feeling uneasy. This is not an overt horror or fast-paced thriller, but rather one of those leaves you feeling unsettled without really knowing exactly why, and also relies on poking at your imagination to make things more ominous. 

What I liked: This is not an overt horror or fast-paced thriller, but rather one of those that leaves you feeling unsettled without really knowing exactly why and also relies on poking at your imagination to make things more ominous. This narrative style worked perfectly for this book and had me absolutely captivated. I think a lot of the criticisms of this book are a result of misleading marketing where readers may have expected something a bit more “page-turning” and exciting, when in reality it’s only page-turning if you find yourself invested in this manner of storytelling. Nothing major really happens for a lot of this book, but the implications and actions and thoughts of the characters are what made it so compelling and ominous for me and I just loved it. I don't think this will be for everyone (and based on reviews, it's clearly not!), but if you click with it I think you'll really love it as well. 

 
What I didn't like: As much as I enjoyed how the writing built up the tension in the plot and between characters, I can easily admit that this book is a tad overwritten at times. The prose borders on being too 'purple' at times and inputs some odd, heavy-handed word choices that sort of stick out as the author trying to sound a bit too deep or dramatic. Perhaps this is meant to reflect the characters, but I'm not sure it worked. Similarly, there's a weird oversexualization of characters and actions at times, and some questionable sex-related things in general, such as a grown woman having weirdly sexual thoughts about a grocery bag boy who may be a teenager. There were definitely some weird writing choices in this book that threw me out of it every once in a while. 

 

Overall, I ended up giving Leave the World Behind 4.5 stars! Despite my quibbles with the writing, I actually enjoyed this book way too much to give it something lower. It's not a book for everyone, but if it sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend you give it shot–but maybe get it from your library first, just in case. 

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Double Mini-Reviews, Murakami Edition: Ft. After Dark & What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

 

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

 Vintage
Publication: April 29th, 2008

Paperback. 244 pages.

About After Dark:

"The midnight hour approaches in an almost empty all-night diner. Mari sips her coffee and glances up from a book as a young man, a musician, intrudes on her solitude. Both have missed the last train home. 

Later, Mari is interrupted again by a girl from the Alphaville Hotel; a Chinese prostitute has been hurt by a client, and she needs Mari's help. 

Meanwhile Mari's beautiful sister Eri sleeps a deep, heavy sleep that is 'to perfect, too pure' to be normal; she has lain asleep for two months. But tonight a the digital clock displays 00:00, a hint of life flickers across the TV screen, though the television's plug has been pulled out. Strange nocturnal happenings, or a trick of the night?"

After Dark is one of the few full length novels from Murakami that I still hadn't read, and I'm sorry I didn't get to it sooner because it's definitely become one of my favorites. This novel takes place over the course of a single night in Tokyo and follows a few rather charmingly eccentric characters, as one might expect from any Murakami novel. 

The story's overarching narrative follows two sisters, Eri and Mari, though we spend most of time exploring from Mari's perspective as she encounters a variety of interesting people and takes part in some different activities over the course of the night. Each and every person mentioned in this book has some sort of connection to one or more characters, some expected and some entirely unexpected, and it is these connections that really allow the narrative to flow and tell of this night in Tokyo. We encounter a variety of stories and experiences shared by individual characters, tidbits from unique lives, pleasant (and unpleasant) conversations, musings on life, and some occasional chapters focusing on Eri's life that take things to a much more abstract and difficult to explain level. I wouldn't necessarily call it magical realism in this book, but there are certainly some odd observations in those chapters that added some incredibly complexity and depth to the overarching narrative. 

After Dark is not a fast-paced story by any means, but it reads incredibly quickly and I found it as engaging to read as many of Murakami's other novels. There is something beautifully simplistic about the translation and writing while also maintaining the ability to convey some incredible philosophical insights and insightful comments. The ending was perfect to me in the sense that it was exactly what I would've expected and wanted from Murakami. It's very much a more open-ended conclusion, so I can see why some people may not like it, but I think it worked and matched the tone perfectly for this story. 

Overall, it was an easy five stars from me for After Dark. 

Amazon | IndieBound

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
Vintage
Publication Date: August 11th, 2009

Paperback. 190 pages.

About What I Talk About When I Talk About Running:

"An intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible way they intersect, from the incomparable, bestselling author Haruki Murakami. While simply training for New York City Marathon would be enough for most people, Haruki Murakami's decided to write about it as well. The result is a beautiful memoir about his intertwined obsessions with running and writing, full of vivid memories and insights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in athletic pursuit."

I'd been meaning to pick up this book for a number of years, but for some reason only recently got around to it. This is different from Murakami's other work that I've read largely in the fact that it is a nonfiction piece with some heavy autobiographical notes. This book was written on the premise of Murakami keeping a journal of his thoughts and musings while training for a marathon (which, in case you didn't know–Murakami has completed numerous marathons and other competitions over the course of his life!). However, I would say that this book is so much more than that and truly stood out to me as a piece of writing that I will come back to over and over again in the future. 

You don't have to be a runner or a writer to read this book or take away some truly thoughtful ideas and insightful musings on life from it. For Murakami, running is a part of his writing process, and the idea of training for marathons and working on his running was vital to his ability to stay focused on his writing and meet regular deadlines. Because of this, we get a glimpse into his writing process and what it is that he thinks makes him a successful, steady writer. Murakami is one of the most honest voices I've read, and in doing so he is both humble and confident in his abilities. Everything he says is very much matter-of-fact, neither bragging nor denying accomplishments, and it is this voice that makes him such a compelling and admirable figure. It was affirming in a sense to read about his own struggle and how he has overcome the obstacles that pop into his life with dedication and determination. He has an incredibly frank view of life, and one that is full of wonder and respect, all of which really stood out to me. 

One theme that I didn't expect from this book was that of aging and Murakami's gradual acceptance of growing older and learning how his body and mind change. Many of the things he discusses are topics that I myself have worried about in regards to getting older, despite the fact that I am still in my twenties, and it was reassuring to see that I'm not nearly alone in dealing with these thoughts. His meditations on growing older, and on life in general, were very eye-opening and meaningful from me, and I really can't emphasize enough how much I appreciated and loved every page of this book. Although it is a translation, his writing is smooth, easy to read, and draws in readers easily with plain language and a voice that is friendly and approachable. 

It's another five stars from me for this book--what can I say, Murakami remains one of my favorite writers! What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a book that I still think about since finishing and that I think I will continue to think back on and revisit whenever I need a bit of a palate cleanser for my brain. Murakami is always the perfect reset for my mind!

Amazon | IndieBound