Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi- (5/5)
The debut novel from the author of Transcendent Kingdom, Homegoing is an incredibly heart wrenching and interwoven generational story of a family split globally spanning through the slave trade in Ghana to the US Civil War to contemporary California back through to contemporary Ghana. Personally, I read Transcendent Kingdom first and was not a huge fan but the complexity of Gyasi’s narrative in her debut novel blew me away (I am too big of a fan of generational novels to pass up reading one). a MUST READ!!
Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen- (3/5)
Though I could read a dense slavic novel until it was ripped from my hands, I’m generally not a fan of traditional gothic novels. What appeals to me about Northanger Abbey—at least what appealed to me on reading it the first time for my Literature Degree—was its satirical structure. Essentially, a young marriageable girl in England gets invited to a wealthy family’s estate and reads enough gothic novels of her time to scare herself into thinking her stay on the estate is part of an equally insidious plot, à la Jane Eyre. Good for a quick read and to look smart and tortured on the subway but objectively there’s no real plot, so pursue as you wish.
Deacon King Kong, James McBride- (5/5)
Have you ever wanted to read Requiem for a Dream (Hubert Selby Jr.- also a MUST read, or watch, which I admittedly still have not seen) and be able to crack a soft smile, maybe even a LAUGH? McBride’s novel spans a very similar setting to that of Selby; however, unlike Requiem’s psychological weight, which I still think about semi-regularly two years later, McBride’s narrative allows for moments fresh air and genuine comedy. This book was one of those in which I started late at night, not expecting to breeze through the pages so quickly and addictively (it’s a relatively long novel at 386 pages), and I ended up finishing it the next day. McBride certainly belongs in the canon of extraordinary, contemporary American Authors.
The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides- (3.5/5 **a contextual 4 given the genre**)
This book is particularly easy to sum up in plot, sentiment, and quality review. As a psychological thriller that sat at the #1 slot of NYT best sellers for around a year, did I expect Booker Prize level prose? No. Was the plot twist relatively lame and way too circumstantial in hindsight to the rest of the plot? Yes. That being said, was I not able to put it down and did I finish it in one 2 1/2 hour sitting before bed one night? Yes. The characters possess no tangible depth so though there are seemingly many layers to the mystery it’s not super important to remember who’s who or what’s what. The Silent Patient is the literary equivalent to binging a few episodes of Criminal Minds before bed—not disappointed, not surprised.
Currently Reading: I, Claudius (Graves)