Belletrist: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Peter and Ivan’s father just died and the brothers are thrust into a new period in their lives. As I started reading I found Ivan’s chapters more intriguing, and Peters more of the same Rooney-ish character. A third-person omniscient narrator has a much more analytical view with Ivan, which reflects his assumed autistic behaviour. He’s a pro chess player and ten years Peters junior. And yet, it almost feels like Ivan has his life more together than Peter who keeps hanging out with a young woman who treats him like a sugardaddy. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Reese’s book club: Society of lies by Lauren Ling Brown

A wrong turn around the halfway mark led me down a dead end and there was no turning back.

In fairness, I listened to the audio of this, which was great because I could hear which voice belonged to which sister. If I had read it myself, I doubt I would be able to tell who’s chapter I was in. Switching between Maya and Naomi, two sisters, and their past experiences at Sterling house, it laid the groundwork for a good dark acadamia novel. (I’ve loved this genre since “The skulls” ca 1999).

Unfortunately I got lost in the jumble of who’s who and dating boys and professors and I never really got invested in the main storylines – Who killed babysiter Naomi – and who killed Leila 10 years ago when Maya went there? And why on earth would big sister Maja let her little sister Naomi rush a sorority where her friend was murdered?

I gave up halfway when I discovered that I didn’t really care who killed them and why. ⭐⭐

Read with Jenna: The mighty red by Louise Erdrich

Hugo likes Kismet, Gary is set to inherit two farms, where Kismet’s mother hauls sugar beets and he’s desperate to marry Kismet. Kismet kind of likes spending time with Hugo, but she follows the currents of her surroundings. 

A love triangle of heart, head and greater forces –  climate change and an economic meltdown. And while the earth does its turning, the kids are growing up. 

I love Erdrich’s writing, the words flow so smoothly off the pages, but at the same time there wasn’t much in the story for me to sink my teeth into. With that I mean that I never really bonded with any of the characters. So following along their journey wasn’t very engaging for me. 

I wish I could put my finger on what it was, but I just didn’t feel a connection. 

The characters however were deeply connected to each other, their community, their environment and the land. They came alive as one, and I just felt like an outsider not able to grasp it all and why it all mattered. ⭐⭐⭐

We used to live here by Marcus Kliewer

I’ve closed the book, but I have no closure!

It’s funny how this book reads eerie and uncomfortable, when nothing really happens in the first half. I’d say it’s a great feat of the writer to be able to bring that feeling out of the reader. 

We meet Eve and Charlie who have just bought a big house out in the boondocks and one day Thomas and his family come knocking saying he used to live there and asks if he can show his family where he grew up. Eve being home alone at the time wants to say no, but her people pleasing self can’t help but let them in.

An unpleasant time ensues and I as a reader was sitting there waiting for Charlie to come home and lighten the mood. Charlie does this, has this effect that when she’s around, everything feels a little easier and less scary. 

In between the chapters are writings that pull you out of the story, and it’s not always easy to see how it fits into the story. It can be an article, a reddit post, a police report etc. Always something different, but it’s tied to something about to come later or that has happened.

After about the 70% mark, it goes off course for me. Don’t get me wrong, I was flipping the pages FAST but I was not understanding what was going on. It felt like a real M!ndf***, and then it ended. And I am left with a hundred questions unanswered! So I have to split the review here –

5 stars for the writing, this was spot on! Couldn’t be more exciting! But 2 stars for storyline, because it leaves so many unanswered questions.

I think I’ll land on a 4, because the psychology that is mentioned in the book was factual, even though it was very clear to me that the Norwegian doctor was made up. There were a lot of interesting articles about psychological diseases tied to what was happening, which made me wonder if the events in the story were psychological or supernatural. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hum by Helen Phillips

This book made me want to put my phone away and go outside and touch grass.

“Their time here was brief, yes, slipping through their fingers: but it occurred to her that every day was not twenty-four hours, it was actually ninety-six, each of the four of them living their own twenty-four hours side by side.”

I didn’t realize that this was a dystopian novel when I started it, but I started getting the feeling quickly. The future, it seems, can be quite bleak if we let the robots take over. People are replaced by AI, everything costs money and enjoying nature becomes something most people can’t afford, like going to Disney world.

I liked how Phillips highlighted how addicted we are to our phones that even when we try to escape it, we still feel the need to bring our phones and document everything. It’s become second nature to us and it gives a new meaning to Maslows hierarchy of needs. I personally know people with no place to live that would rather spend money on an iphone than housing. 

And when it comes to our basic need for safety and security, we can add privacy to this step in the pyramid. In Hum’s world (and maybe even ours?) AI sees your every step, recognizes you and can target you. The book felt like sci-fi and yet eerily close to reality. I can only hope we don’t take it as far in real life.

While I thought it was quite slow, it also felt very real and I enjoyed the concept very much. It sparked a lot of thought around privacy that has never really concerned be before. Like, what if your DNA is leaked? Which really happened with 23&me. Food for thought, if you like that, this will feed you. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The last house on Needless Street

I saw a few tiktokers and bookstagrammers read this, this month and I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

This book is like a little puzzle, and I would put it in the same category as “Piranesi” or “This is how you lose the time war” – it gives you little pieces of information that doesn’t really mean anything until you put it together as a whole picture. Which is, let’s be honest an amazing feat.

For me personally though, I can’t read books that way. I just haven’t developed this kind of reading comprehension, and my attention span will not allow me to read things I don’t understand and can’t put into context. My mind drifts or I fall asleep. I envy those who can, because it sounds really fun, I just am not able to enjoy it. ⭐⭐

Bunny by Mona Awad

I tried, I really wanted to like this, but I didn’t get it.
I liked the writing, and found it very well written, which is why I gave it three stars instead of anything lower, but the content just didn’t speak to me.
I’ve read many a reddit threads trying to decode it, but I’m still not sure I fully get it.

If it’s love it or hate it, I guess I fall in the latter. ⭐⭐

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden

By now, after reading the housemaid series, I know what to expect from McFadden. And this is just what I would expect, but at the same time I didn’t find it her best. This is probably because of the multiple pov’s and multiple timelines. It steers you down a certain path only to pull the rug out from under you. This is what McFadden is best at, and she did it again, I was in fact surprised by whodunnit, but for some reason, this wasn’t as enjoyable as the previous ones and I wasn’t as invested. Still a good and entertaining book if you’re looking for books with twists. ⭐⭐⭐