If I survive you by Jonathan Escoffery

This collection of short stories that tie together to tell a story about being a third culture kid.

I really appreciated the athors musings on the experience of trying to be put into a box different from the one you know. How you try to fit in in different environments by trying to bend your language, looks and feelings. These are emotions I think few people think of or have, so they may be hard to relate to, but if you do, it feels like home. One that is very difficult for third culture kids or half kids with identity crises to find. I definitely found it, and at the perfect time. As I was being pointed out as too white to be able to understand the brown struggle. As if white people accept me into their white midst without a sideeye. Discrimination against third culture kids come from both side of the fence. If you ask me, it’s twice the price to get to know two cultures intimately, but also twice to struggle to be chewed up and spit out by them both. I liked that this book felt like a solid place to hang out in the middle.

Aside from that, short story collections will always have some stories that are five stars and some that don’t connect with you at all. This one was no different. So I landed on a four. I’d definitely read more from this author. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

If you know me you know my least favorite type of book is a young protagonist. And here we are with an 11 year old who has just lost their mother and plays squash with her dad and sisters.

The wrtiting is just straightforward without any particularly interesting prose. I personally can tell if I like the book from the first few sentences – so here goes:

“𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵, 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 T 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵, 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦 2, 3, 4 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘺.”

It didn’t really sound like a book I wanted to read, and I only picked it up because it was a booker nominee. Alas, I could have skipped this one because it didn’t really give me anything. ⭐⭐

Pearl by Siân Hughes

Another dead mother in the line up of booker nominees.

A collection of random thoughts about grief, I would call this.
The only structure I found was that every chapter begins with a children rhyme I had never heard before. (Made up or no?)

It was too hard for me to get into because there was no real storyline to follow. I kept losing track of what was going on (nothing) so it just became a collection of scrambled words.

Also I tried listening to this on audible and I just had the hardest time with the accent and thought the narrators voice was a bit too sharp.
I would rather read this than listen, then maybe I would have gotten more out of the parts I found interesting. But they got lost in annoyances.⭐⭐⭐

How to build a boat by Elaine Feeney

Another. Dead. Mother. I can’t with these books. I love the cover and the premise, but it ended there. I started listening to it, but the irish narration (sorry) is too difficult for me to follow. It’s worth nothing, if you like to listen. And this is the third booker book I have struggled with because of a heavy accent. I can’t even give this a star rating, because I gave up too fast.

Old God’s time by Sebastian Barry

Another dead mother! (And wife) Hey booker, are you okay?

The narrators voice (Yes I tried another audiobook) is better than the last three, but still it’s hard for me.

Again, I give up.