val

one of the most niche books i've ever read but also one of the realest. it's one of those books that's extremely hard to sell to other people because of its framing but i've never related more to someone's verbalised anxieties and terrible breakup coping mechanisms.

the music is also fantastic.

So good and I'm just getting started.

edit: Okay so I thought Invincible Summer was amazing, but Gone, Gone, Gone is a whole new level. It feels more intense and wonderful and ohhh. I love it crazy, I love it sane. I can't even be coherent right now.

Thanks Simon & Schuster for having the amazing Galley Grab program that let me read this and be awed.

there are echoes of the plot of spanglish by the end of this, just in the barest of bones.

The cover is incredibly misleading.

Still, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, despite its predictability.

The antagonist was pretty easy to guess lulz.

a lovely little pocket of magical realism that takes place in a future barely five minutes away. also gave me an intense craving for sourdough bread.

Probably would have never touched this book had it not been for school. Still find it an okay read so far, although my version's about 436 pages and most of it is scientific description. Meh.

this is one of those books that i instinctively felt repulsed by during and immediately after my initial read, but has stuck to me months after reading. a unique perspective on the chinese diaspora and on the coming-of-age genre which broaches explicit subjects usually avoided by other middle grade and young adult perspectives. i appreciated how every story tied together, and the glimpses of each story protagonist's opinion of another.

this book left me with so many mixed feelings, but yet it's one i keep revisiting in my mind over and over again. there's so much about it to be appreciated.

although published in 2017, difficult women reads like something from a different era and it is a quality about it that i appreciate.

while reading this i couldn't help but think of it as ‘avatar meets inception'

I liked it better than I thought I would. I wish the book emphasized on Will a bit more because the synopsis on the back gave me the impression that he was a more important character.

Isn't this part of an already published anthology?

i put off reading this book for a long time because of all that i've heard of it, but ultimately it was beautiful and heart-rending. although it was long, it felt like the kind of story that i never wanted to end — and when it finally did, i still found myself yearning that “the happy years” had been longer. the prose was gorgeous, and while the subject matter was difficult it was never as graphic as i thought it would be.

a bookstore owner and i discussed how this was a truly niche collection: too local to be completely understood by westerners, written in a way that's too flowery to appeal to most malaysians.

exactly the kind of stories i crave to write. ‘house of the aunts', which i stumbled upon before the book's release, was what made me realise how much appeal there is in writing and reading about things closer to home.

Sometimes it's really nice to be able to dive into a book that you can clasp your hand to your mouth about and go, “oh my god, I understand what you mean.” Culture-wise, anyway. The Hokkien references made me go !!! as did a lot of the other stuff, really. ALSO LOGAN AND STACEY MADE ME THINK OF SOME ALTERNATE BABY-SITTER'S CLUB TIMELINE.

It's such an adorable read uuuuughhh.

really confused me when the deathless companion's entry on goodreads was changed to this, which sounds amazing and is still a must-read, but i don't get how the two were merged rather than making a new entry and getting the shelved one removed...?

This is probably the only book I've ever been so nitpicky about, probably because it takes on a subject I love but doesn't deliver as expected.

I might write a more detailed review later.

I listened to the audiobook of this, and it made the reading - or rather, listening - experience a really memorable one. Perhaps if I had just read the text, I would have enjoyed it less but right now I truly can't give it anything less than 4 1/2 at least! The book was a real treat. :)

need to find this again because nostalgia.

All I can think right now is what happens to her PARENTS. She had amazingly supportive parents and that's the real tragedy in this, I think. In a way, I actually really liked how Jessica Verday built their relationship up (even though I didn't realise Abbey's dad was in the picture at first) because I've never felt parent pity before and now it's hitting hard.

The kind of book that gives you frustrations and squeals and warm fuzzies. Lovely.

read this pretending the characters are in their 20s rather than teens and it's infinitely better tbh

Fascinating and thought-provoking concept, but the tell-don't-show style of writing gets tedious.

Seeing as this is one of the two Chuck Palahniuk books I actually own (the other being Pygmy) and the only one I ever read and finished, I liked this immensely.