The New Moon's Arms

Great book! I was expecting more to the fantasy element and was a little let down by it not being so prominent. But that's prob my fault for misinterpreting “magical realism.” Interesting, relatable, and flawed characters, family drama, motherhood and parenting insights, made shimmery by the sea people.

Hm.
So, I really liked this book. I love how abrasive Calamity is. She's mighty flawed, and it's really great to follow the narrative from her perspective. That is, until she gets all homophobic. And she doesn't appear to be on her way to learning a lesson by the end either. While I love that there's more than one queer person in this book (and a bisexual man! rare in media!), and their portrayal is nothing but positive, we only see them through Calamity's eyes, and she's NOT into it. I keep wavering about this...I might have given this 4 stars if not for the the homophobia, and I keep thinking that it's just the character who is homophobic because the queer people were happy and proud and lovely and fed right up with Calamity, and that tension did add something to the story and the character development...but it also took away from that by being too much of a focal point.

Other than that, Calamity is a fabulous character. I know a lot of reviewers didn't like her style, but I thought she was great. Vain, self-centered, yet caring and regretful. She's been hurt and has hurt and she feels shitty about all of it, but she doesn't necessarily deal with it well.

I love all the subtle magic as well. I love the Caribbean selkie fairy tale, and Calamity's menopause magic that I suppose she gets from her water-mom!. I look forward to reading more from Nalo Hopkinson!