Kiss Her Once for Me seems to me to be a more ambitious project than The Charm Offensive. The stakes are higher and the angst is greater—and the diffiKiss Her Once for Me seems to me to be a more ambitious project than The Charm Offensive. The stakes are higher and the angst is greater—and the difficult emotions are explored in more detail. Ellie isn’t 100% likable all the time; she is funny and amazing at finding extremely expressive metaphors, but she is also whiny, gloomy, and self-obsessed.
But that’s why I think the book is ambitious. Cochrun proved with The Charm Offensive that she can interweave a sweet cast of characters with their own heartaches and issues into a charming and fulfilling story; she probably could have done something similar with Kiss Her Once for Me, so it seems like she is trying to move into a different space a bit. I feel like it’s a less “pleasant” space. All of the major characters have major flaws, and instead of glossing over them, Cochrun does a story where things might not work out, where successes and personal growth are all too recognizably hard to come by, and people’s problems have large consequences for themselves and others.
But that’s what I like about it: that she takes Ellie’a sort of difficult, problem-ridden narrative voice and tells her story so well that we end up loving her, and the whole main cast, like we would love our actual friends—not because they are perfect or easy, but because they are good, and interesting, and real....more
Dashed through Something to Talk About in a day, and did the same for Mistakes Were Made—I want to commend the author, first, for writing some awesomeDashed through Something to Talk About in a day, and did the same for Mistakes Were Made—I want to commend the author, first, for writing some awesome w4w relationship-centered material, and second, for leveling up their writing from the first to second book. I enjoyed the first book a lot, but Mistakes Were Made has really engaging characters who show their personalities through what they say, how they act, and how they react to each other. It has hot sex scenes. It has a plot that exists both outside of and inside of the characters’ relationships, in which every moment feels like it is contributing to the overall story arc. It doesn’t move too quickly to be a romance novel, or too slowly to take away from the fact that the stakes are high for the individuals involved. In short, I appreciated this book a lot. ...more
Just reviewing to say, if you wait it out this book gets good. Like I found the first two stories shallow, but then things heated up, and the stories Just reviewing to say, if you wait it out this book gets good. Like I found the first two stories shallow, but then things heated up, and the stories veered back and forth between extremely detailed, intimately recognizable observation and extremely detailed, intimately recognizable nastiness, both of which aspects were thought-provoking and enjoyable. (Also I personally thought a new folk hero was identified in “Biter.”)...more
It was incredible and so sad. I feel like the best horror books work more on an emotional level than an events-based level, and this one did that in sIt was incredible and so sad. I feel like the best horror books work more on an emotional level than an events-based level, and this one did that in such an extraordinary way. And then on a sort of meta-kind of level, you know exactly what the author is talking about AND you can think and think about what the story means at the same time. It just really works. And I cared so much about the narrator—in a short little novella, I think that’s a particularly impressive achievement....more
**spoiler alert** So. Here’s the thing. I love Shirley Jackson’s work sometimes and like it very often. And this book is definitely worth reading if y**spoiler alert** So. Here’s the thing. I love Shirley Jackson’s work sometimes and like it very often. And this book is definitely worth reading if you are a fan of this kind of thing—that is, scary or troubling stories told by a masterful author. And I like the end of the book a lot, especially because I feel like the force that haunts Hill House “alone” does NOT include Eleanor (I feel that the house has seduced her into sacrificing herself to stay in it, but it’s been lying, and she dies without coming back to haunt it [the story thereby exhibiting a chilling, Shirley Jackson-y nihilism]).
But. Oof. I feel like this novel shares a trait with those of Jackson’s stories I like least, which is a basic sort of lack of sympathy (possibly empathy) for the protagonist. Eleanor has had a hard life, living as sole caretaker for her unpleasant and unforgiving mother for eleven years, now relegated to her bullying sister’s nursery without even a space of her own; as a result, she’s repressed, emotionally “underdeveloped,” gets “hysterical” fairly easily, and drops into fantasy whenever life gets too complicated or awful. Fine; great; sure. These responses to life’s challenges and realities are definitely not ideal. But they’re understandable. And Jackson’s treatment of Eleanor as if she’s weak and ill and stunted and wrong for descending further into her patterns of instability instead of somehow pulling herself out of them (I assume by the bootstraps?) is…frustrating.
Anyway. Hopefully I’ll read it again some other time and like all of it better, because there is a lot that I already do like so much: Jackson’s prose is great, her characters are interesting, and she observes and describes feelings in a very wonderful and recognizable way. ...more
I loved this because, like the other books of Forsman’s I’ve read, it’s spare. And it’s spare despite the refulgence of the graphic violence it depictI loved this because, like the other books of Forsman’s I’ve read, it’s spare. And it’s spare despite the refulgence of the graphic violence it depicts. Like, for example, he indicates that his characters live in an apocalyptic alternate 70’s by having cereal cost way more than it should in, like, one frame. The information is all there, and it’s detailed, but these explanatory moments are whispers, so the story feels like a nihilistic haiku about emotional landscapes rather than an enjoyable and/or titillatingly disgusting journey into corruption and violence.
Sort of pointing this out because I read some other reviews that said the story is basically a shock value gorefest in the vein of other shock value gorefests, but I think that’s missing the point—I think Revenger is about emotions and relationships, and that it depicts their tenderness, twistedness, and horror with stillness, empathy, depth and accuracy....more
I loved this book because it made me feel like I was participating in, witnessing, a magical, complicated, sad, beautiful, funny living thing…like a wI loved this book because it made me feel like I was participating in, witnessing, a magical, complicated, sad, beautiful, funny living thing…like a whole bunch of parts, each described with incredible creativity and facility, being witnessed in the same place, which is really reflective (for me) of experience—of the process of experience. I feel like Wo Chan (or the speaker, I guess) has made their complicated, magical, sad, funny, gorgeous life feel very true—Togetherness feels like an invitation into the being of an amazing observer, one who is watching themself live and creating what they see into such immediacy and such tangibility. Really grateful for the experience of reading it. Sorry to get flowery. It’s hard to describe....more