Recent Reads

64. The Clay Girl
I haven't felt this way about a book in a long time. I loved everything about it and will re-read it, and I say that as someone who isn't a re-reader. I'm not sure I can put all my emotions into any coherent words, so this is the best I can do at this time.

Let me first start by saying that the Goodreads blurb and some reviews of this book give too much away. The slow reveal is part of what makes this such an amazing read.

This is the story of Ari, an eight year old girl who lives in Canada. She is the youngest of six sisters, and her home life is horrible. When we meet her, she is being shipped off to stay with an Aunt because of a devastating family event, and it is not the first time she has been farmed out. The story is told from Ari's POV (1st person), and we follow her from age 8 to about about 16.

The voice in this book is fantastic. Ari's life is dark, very dark, so she spends much time in her imagination, and we get to see the world through her eyes as she learns more about herself and the people around her. I loved the writing, especially the first third of the book, which was magically poetic. The writing in the later sections while still luminous sounds different, and that makes sense as Ari gets older. There are many characters in this story and they all felt real and well fleshed out. There are people I wanted to hug close, and others I wanted to hit with a saucepan. Horrible things happen both off page and on, and yet the author infused so much light and joy into this dark tale that I never felt suffocated. The juxtaposition of the hurt and love that family inflict and the kindness of teachers had me reaching for my box of Kleenex oh so many times. I loved and really cared about the people in this story, and I kept putting the book down so as to not get to the end too fast. I smiled and cried, my heart was broken and then mended. This one will stay with me for a long time.

That this is a debut novel is astonishing, and I've found a new author and publishing house to keep my eye on. Highly recommended. Rating: 5 stars.

65. The Best We Could Do
3.5 stars.

At what point in our lives do we realize that our parents are people in their own rights that have nothing to do with us? In this graphic memoir, the author fully appreciates this when she gives birth to her son.

This is the story of her parents lives in Vietnam before they met each other, their early years together, and the family's escape from Vietnam in the 1970s, finally ending up in America. While it's technically true that refugees are immigrants, the specifics can be sobering. I really appreciated how the author explored themes of family, home, and the cultural challenges of being a stranger in a strange land. I also liked the perspective that different generations of her family had about Vietnam. This is a memoir though, and I do think that the author shied away from certain topics which resulted in some disjointed sections, and left rather large gaps in the story. Maybe this was done out of respect for her parent's feelings, but there are huge elephant sized issues that either get glossed over or aren't addressed at all. I really liked the art and despite my complaints I'm delighted to see more diversity in this genre. A timely read for our times indeed. Rating: rounded up to 4 stars.

66. I'm Not Scared
“Stop all this talk about monsters, Michele. Monsters don’t exist. It’s men you should be afraid of, not monsters.”

This coming of age story is translated from the Italian by Jonathan Hunt.

A bunch of kids are out riding their bikes in a tiny village in Southern Italy. On a dare one of them enters an abandoned farmhouse and stumbles upon something horrible.

The protagonist of this story is a nine year old boy, and themes explored include the loss of childhood innocence, and the confusion of trying to make sense of the adult world. I really liked the setting, and the sense of place in this story. Much of the confusion for the reader makes a certain amount of sense as we only know what the nine year old knows - though there are some things we, the adult reader, understand that he does not. While I liked it, it didn't get a higher rating because I wasn't really sucked into the story and things seemed to happen at an emotional distance, though maybe that's because the character is only nine. The buildup is slow which made the rushed ending seem out of place. I for one did like that final scene, a tad predictable yes, but it was good nonetheless. Rating: 3 stars.