her-bookshelf

[her-bookshelf]

these are a few of my favourite books

Everybody’s Son - Thrity Umbriga

The Alice Network - Kate Quinn

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Normal People - Sally Rooney

Girl Woman Other - Bernadine Everisto

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls

The Nest - Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

The Mothers - Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

Atonement - Ian McEwan

Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult 

North of Normal - Cea Pearson

The Perfect Girl - Gilly MacMillan

The Home for Unwanted Girls - Joanna Goodman

The Best Kind of People - Zoe Whittall

The Children Act - Ian McEwan

[her-bookshelf]

The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

Stella and Desiree are twin sisters living in small town Louisiana. As the twins grow older, Desiree feels trapped in a life she hopes to avoid, and Stella is haunted by memories of their dead father. At 16, the twins seize their chance to flee Mallard and start a new life in New Orleans. The girls struggle as they try to adapt to life in the big city, finding solidarity in each other, but not without secrets. One day, Desiree finds that she is no longer the one running away, but the one left behind. Stella becomes untraceable, and leaves Desiree to navigate the world alone. 

As their lives continue, fleeing persists - Desiree, from an abusive marriage, and Stella from her past. Although their adult lives could not be more different, they intersect through their daughters, who are both trying to uncover Stella’s secrets as fast as she can deny them. As the mothers try and fail to escape their roots, the daughters journey through self-discovery. To me, this book was about identity: the identity of a place, how we are perceived by others, what our identity is comprised of, and how it changes or remains stagnant.

Favourite Quotes:

‘A place was not solid... A town was jelly, forever moulding around your memories.’

‘A body could be labeled but a person couldn’t, and the difference between the two depended on that muscle in your chest. That beloved organ, not sentient, not aware, not feeling, just pumping along, keeping you alive.’

Review (spoilers)!!

I love Brit Bennett - prior to this I read The Mothers and was very eager to read another one of her books. I find that she really nails the multiple perspectives, and is able to (seemingly) effortlessly slip in and out of different voices and genuinely capture the person. I (almost) read this in one night because I couldn’t wait to find out what became of Stella and whether or not she would be found out. Also the concept of cousins who were raised as entirely different races was very interesting. Circling back to identity, I also thought it was interesting how that was discovered / unpacked in the daughters late teens / early 20′s when identity is already ever-changing and fragile. I also love that Bennett constantly made me reconsider my perspective on a character - she is great at laying down a scene objectively if you will and then describing the inner thoughts and rationale of different characters. All and all I loved this book. 

[her-bookshelf]

intro

hello! probably no one will read this but this is now a space for me to review books i’m reading. disclaimer i am not a professional critic and this is one person’s opinion although i have logged many hours reading over the years so consider me maybe in the minor leagues.