Josh Krysak
*4.5 stars. This series is so expertly crafted with deeply drawn characters and immersive stand alone plots. This was another excellent offering.
Boyle is a master. He is such a powerful writer - a craftsman of language and a robust storyteller. This book hums with life.
*4.5 stars A meditation on madness, obsession, belonging, intimacy, and much more. Bizarrely brilliant, darkly funny, and often surprisingly moving. I was enthralled throughout. A biting rebuke of the pomposity of the learned and a character study of the fine line between genius and insanity. What Coe is able to capture kept me eager to turn pages, even if the “twist” is obvious quite early.
Stilted, disjointed and pretentious. It kept me wondering but more out of dumb curiosity than actual investment in the story or the various weakly drawn characters. Goon Squad is on my “to read” list, as is her latest, Manhattan Beach. Hoping for better things, much better things.
“...but I shall never sleep calmly again when I think of the horrors that lurk ceaselessly behind life in time and in space, and of those unhallowed blasphemies from elder stars which dream beneath the sea, known and favoured by a nightmare cult ready and eager to loose them on the world...”
This. Writing like this. Yes, please.
This was a reread for me. A formative novel of my youth and one that captures all the wonder and awkwardness and beauty and closeness of childhood and growing up in a small town and then wraps those in a fantastic and epic horror tale. I do love this book. It was as good as I had remembered, and that is saying something.
Another time through, always exceptional.
A wonderful, tidy little mystery filled with Christmas cheer and murder. Perfect fun for the season.
This was a disappointment. Too much shock value for shock value-sake, an incoherent story line that was riddled with repetition and the word “cherry” - just not for me. Still looking forward to trying the The Fireman, though.
With The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has accomplished quite the magic trick. He has written an action-packed, character-driven gem filled with unique and relatable characters much like he did with Deacon King Kong. And, much like Deacon King Kong, while the narrative drives hard at all that divides us around race and class, the trick comes when he ultimately circles all that unites us and makes us human. The insights around Jewish life and customs and black life and customs at the time this story takes place are vivid and incredible. I want to know Chona. I want to go to Moshe's theater. I want to visit Fatty's jook joint. I want to walk up Chicken Hill and see it all for myself and thanks to McBride, I almost can.
A very good, if a bit formulaic prequel to the incredible Legends and Lattes. I'm hopeful for a third book that advances Viv's story and pulls readers back to the inviting confines of the best high-fantasy, low stakes coffee shop I've ever visited.
This is a soft 3 stars because the novel is just so understated. But the writing is so superb and smooth that despite the lack of big intrigue or action, it is compulsively readable. Cameron writes simple, yet skillful dialogue to advance stories and characters and this talent makes his works sing.
So much of this was enjoyable but the final pages just left so much to be desired. I loved the well-drawn characters, the good dialogue, the relatable experiences and the multiple arks - the Osprey, the minivan, etc. All great. The pretentious closing was disappointing but for all the previously mentioned strengths, it merits 4 stars.
*4.5 stars. What to say, Ann Patchett is a master and this is an excellent book about what makes a life and the stories we remember and the ones we forget and how the moments that truly shape and make our lives are often captured in the stories that just become a part of the act of living - not the big moments that take on a life of their own.
Great book for October days when the nights come sooner and the air grows cool. Moody, mysterious, atmospheric. Henry James and Carol Goodman vibes.
*2.5 stars. WKK is a great writer, but the depth of character here was lacking and the repetition did little to flesh out the story or to add any depth characters.
*2.5 stars This started out compulsively readable and had a setting and trope I enjoy, so I was quickly in and thought it would coast easily to at least a 3.5-star rating and maybe a 4. But the book comes off the rails in the later half with too many twists to even stay invested and a closing act that I was just annoyed by. Sager writes good popcorn novels, but you have to find that sweet spot with twists and their plausibility to avoid too many suspensions of disbelief or you end up just not caring.