July 2023
Kudos to me for remembering about day 2.
July was a boring and normal month. I worked ridiculous hours, ran ridiculous errands, went to ridiculous(ly good) book events. I made my own pizza. I think I was dizzy on baclofen for approximately half of the month. (If my doctor is reading this, that’s a joke). Between the intense back pain and the stupid working hours, I only read 3 books.
Thank you to my friends for leaving comments on my last post. Please leave more x
The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
I love Taylor’s writing. I think he is exceptional at capturing the slow moments of life, the simultaneous dreariness and dreaminess of being in further education, the painful complexities of relationships. You spend the entire novel wishing people could talk to each other.
The Late Americans is a book revolving through the points of views of various interlinked characters. They all have some baggage, some kind of dirty secret, some kind of emotional pain that keeps them where they are. For gods sake, they’re artists! You learn them from the inside (their own point of view) and from the outside (how the others see them), and Taylor executes this well. Taylor also captures that dread and foreboding of not knowing what your future holds and how deeply the fear of the unknown can shake you.
I wish I possessed even half of the mastery Taylor has of writing complicated, moody characters and long, long days. I read this during a 2 hour wait for medication and those 2 hours FLEW by. If you’re waiting in a hospital of sick people, you can understand how big this is.
And for what this novel is, I enjoyed it. It’s artsy, it’s intense, Taylor writes beautifully. I don’t anticipate that everyone I know will LOVE this book, but for what it’s worth, I do think it is one to read.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
This book is so excellent I purchased this in hardback, and then almost purchased this in a floppy paperback copy in September. I say almost, thank god for my bookshelves.
Hello Beautiful is one of those books I love. A wide range of complex, difficult characters we get to follow through life, gaining an intimate understanding of their motivations, struggles and successes. It makes them all the more loveable. We start with William and Julia. Julia meets William in college, and she decides (yes, decides) that William will be it for her. But what happens when your life cannot and will not follow the path you have so carefully crafted for it?
There’s a trick in making difficult characters loveable, and Napolitano cracks it. She makes it so easy to love these characters and she makes it so easy to hate them too. I read in 2 sittings across 24 hours, which, given my stupid working hours and back pain, felt HUGE. It’s a testament to the good writing and good character crafting. This book is primarily about family, but perhaps more poignantly (to me, at least), it’s about sisterhood. I would encourage anyone with a close-knit family, but particularly anyone with sisters, to read this.
Rating: ★★★★★
Late In The Day by Tessa Hadley
This was my first Hadley, and I wasn’t… particularly struck by it.
We start with Alexandr and Christine, seemingly enjoying an ordinary night together. But they learn their closest friend, Zachary, has suddenly passed away. He leaves behind their other closest friend, Lydia. We delve into the past of the 4 characters, and how they ended up together. We see how Alexandr, Christine and Lydia cope with the grief. We also see the boundaries of friendship being tested as Lydia moves in with Alexandr and Christine.
I’ve said before that it takes a certain something to make unlikeable characteers loveable. Hadley did not manage to crack it. Lydia and Alexandr ruined this book for me. If we could’ve solely focused on Zac and Christine, I think this would’ve been more enjoyable. In fact, the chapters that focused solely on Christine were my favourite! But I will say - Zac and Christine made this book for me. I love kind characters, I love characters that seem larger than life, I love characters with a principle. I love depictions of close friendships and how fiercely a group of people can stick together.
There isn’t much to say to this. I read it, I enjoyed it for what it is. It didn’t stick with me, the writing didn’t stand out to me but I’m not worse off for reading this. I’m not so upset I won’t ever pick up a Hadley again, I’m not so enamoured that I’ll keep this book.
Rating: ★★★☆☆