eightieth (2023-07-07)
apoptosis is natural death, brought about by the tiredness and exhaustion of matter. in greek this word means “the dropping of petals.” the world has dropped its petals - olga tokarczuk
photo of me in chambers island by steph byce
apologies to my zero paid subscribers for my absence! over the past two weeks i spent time with my beloved mother after surgery and then with my wonderful in-laws on an island in northern wisconsin. unfortunately for you all i read a million books over the last few weeks so giddy-up
poem (click here for my full list of poems on the docket for 2023)
Langston Hughes, “Harlem”
i am not going to pretend i can add anything new by discussing one of the most influential poems of the 20th century on my bootleg blog. instead i’ll suggest listening to hughes read it and reading this writeup.
books
monsters: a fan’s dilemma by claire dederer, 2023
i saw the author speak with jessica hopper in the spring and was fascinated by this topic of this book. it’s not a method to weigh whether the art can outshine the artist’s misdeeds, but instead an examination of the tension behind the dual poles of cancellation and the trope of ‘separating the art from the artist.’ dederer is a memoirist so there’s plenty of tangents and personal asides, but don’t let that distract from the poignant impossibility of this ambitious work.
i who have never known men by jacqueline harpman, 1995
this was a gripping, intensely dystopic tale of a society in which an unnamed event led to a hell in which all women were primitively caged. the narrator was a baby at this time and spent the next 15 years in the dehumanizing, loveless confines, until another unknown event caused a small group to escape and find that there is nothing left of the world they knew. harpman writes seriously yet longingly and austerely shies away from cheap tricks.
drive your plow over the bones of the dead by olga tokarczuk, 2019
i read another book by this author that made me feel like i took some bad acid but my friend shana recommended this one and it was indeed a reprieve. an isolated teacher stumbles across strange deaths in wintry rural poland and inserts herself into the investigations. her unreliable narration and explicit preference for animals over people is satisfyingly dark and affecting, as are the motley crew of oddballs that have her back.
all this could be different by sarah thankam mathews, 2022
this is a similar coming-of-age story to maame but gayer and pricklier. mathews captures the intensity of one’s first gay relationship and the dollhouse feeling of getting a job and trying to be an adult after college, especially with the pressures of being a first-generation american dreamer mired in family trauma. the writing was impressively textured, clipped, restrained - better than i can put into words here. mathews did not fall into the sheen of simplicity so many bildungsromans fall back on which impresses me more the longer i sit with it.
palace of the drowned by christine mangan, 2021
i liked tangerine by this author but this fell a bit flat. the premise of a competitive female friendship (one of my favorite literary tropes) on an extended holiday (italy this time instead of morocco) was similar to tangerine, but the execution was middling and anti-climatic.
the furrows by namwali serpell, 2022
this was a devastating tale of loss, multiple truths, and family ties. a young girl’s brother died swimming at the beach but his body was never recovered, leading to a lifetime of what-ifs and full-blown delusions of survival from her mother. the book twists around implausible scenarios so successfully that you find yourself getting caught up in fantasies and grieving all over again. the last third of the book takes a chance by with shifts in perspective and narration which was bold if slightly clumsy, but i loved the range.
the verifiers by jane pek, 2022
this was fun and another great recommendation from my friend caroline. there’s a mysterious death, stolen identities, a gay subplot, a family’s love and dysfunction after a complex immigration, and it’s all under the umbrella of a critique of modern dating via apps and algorithms. it’s hard to write more without spoilers so i’ll say it’s a fast, gliding, crowd-pleasing (without being saccharine) read.
thanks for reading - more to come -
bria
Monsters: a fan’s dilemma high on my want-to-read list. A subject oft debated — I have already formulated my own opinion on it. Glad to hear it's good.
I liked Tangerine, but didn't really touch upon Patrica Highsmith or Paul Bowles, masters of unreliable narrator *and* friend