Jawbone Written by Meghan Greeley 2023 (Radiant Press)
4 STAR
The cover of this novella, drew me right in, and I already knew I wanted to read it. The synopsis had me intrigued, and in my opinion, fulfilled all the promises of a character driven emotional story. In 150 pages or so I was left with full-length novel feelings. The author takes big topics like Queer love, loneliness, and self-reflection and gives it grace in the main character. Oh, and did I mention her jaw has been wired shut, and she is trying to film a one minute video on why she wants to win a one-way trip to Mars. It’s a short read, but you will need some moments to resurface.
<i>***I received a complimentary copy of this trade paperback from the publisher. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***</i>
It is amazing how much a human can bury in their body, cramming them into the nooks where the darkness makes us think it’s hidden. The cracks will show eventually. Yet, we still don’t let the awareness even creep in. At least that has, and is, true for me. I let the burdens enlarge. To spread out more than I can even let myself take up space. As my insides burn, my stomach recoils and curdles till I can taste invisible bile. I am shaking, vibrating, my hands lose all warmth. I feel like I am dying, but visually I am calm. Scary calm. Like a mantra I am chanting, “I don’t want to be here anymore. I just want to rest and not wake up. I cannot take one more loss of some sort. I don’t want to feel.”
I was ten when I remember first feeling that way. In my 20s, I remember reading an old diary of mine. I had been expecting to read the ramblings of a drama teen, and there was some, but it was mostly the sadness I absorbed. Talking about my childhood self in therapy, I start to see myself with compassion instead of disgust. I blame my childhood self for not being smart enough, strong enough, warm enough — just enough. I would blame all my ages for not being enough to be someone’s bestest friend, successful family member, love of someone’s life, a mother, etc. Sure, I could blame my parents, generational trauma, etc but honestly, just as I am figuring stuff out, so were they. With what they knew, they did the best they could for me emotionally and mentally. Even with all that has happened I would never want any other parents. I would just wish for better circumstances. There is so much that goes into not being seen or heard by people you admire, love and/or your teachers. I started to think maybe I was invisible. I thought I would die before I was 16, 21, 30. Maybe I was not meant for this world. Each year that seemed to ring louder in my ears, and I would accept less than what I was worth. Nibbling on the crumbs I was given.
Validation from others is tricky. It’s sometimes a bargaining chip, or smoke that vanishes quickly. I wish I could say “then my life changed…”. It hasn’t. I am just as aware of my flaws and still bury them so I can get out of bed. I keep forgiving and forgetting. I’m still in a day job I could care so less about, and not doing anything of worth when someone asks “what’s new?” I am a lot to take. I feel a lot. I have a lot of eccentricities. When I care about someone I will care till physically my body cannot take the pain and then I let go to never feel any warmth again. And in love, I am a hopeless romantic with high cynicism. Wait, I am just getting to the writing part. I keeping opening my eyes because of three things:
I’m not religious but do not care to fuck with bad omens, and want to some day see my Bibi again. I try to stay heaven bound.
My parents. I don’t have kids, but I am a caregiver to my mom. I could not leave her to fend for herself or have both my parents go through that pain. I am the only child so I am sure guilt is high there.
finally, the less macabre, art. Mostly, writing, but just the beauty of art existing is enough.
It is in writing, I can let my body breathe in releasing all it feels on the page. I can be angry in my words. In my words I can live a life that is seen and heard. It’s not about being famous or rich. It is that someone can read my words and find some relatability in not feeling alone with scary thoughts. It is that someone feels compassion I sometimes find hard to find for myself. It’s so I don’t have to fight for anyone’s attention to see me. I am lucky that I grew up with a few cousins that made me feel like I was the whole world. They encouraged me and showed me love when we were so little (them even younger). And it is probably because of them I have a taste for it and so I keep wanting it.
Writing is possibilities. Living lives I won’t, can’t and wanted. Letting the real me, flawed, scary, kind, imaginative spill out. This first week of January, I have written with truth and my body. I have attended workshops with all of me, distractions around me dimming down, so I can get my words out. I feel like I am getting stronger in what I want to express.
I put myself in this post, more than I had wanted to. It’s a bit intense, just like me, so I will leave it here. Let you and I both breathe. The function of writing for me is to let down my walls, find my community, and feel compassion for my mistakes.
Please feel free to let me know what you think about art and it’s function in life, or more specifically your life. Or please use it for a free write, journalling or a poem/fiction.
Written by Nora Roberts 2023; St. Martin’s Press (Macmillan Audio)
4.25 STARS
Inheritance ended with a cliffhanger that had me checking my audiobook to make sure it had not just cut off. Of course, then I had to check to see when the next book was out (November 2024). Sigh, just as the action started too.
Inheritance reminded me of a bit of Roberts’ previous series The Bride Quartet and The Sign of Seven – a mix of paranormal with romance and friends forever. I find it best to go into Roberts’ novels expecting a good romance and there will be a plot that keeps you going. I don’t even like calling them romantic suspense, as I find them more heavy on the romance than mystery. (I would classify Karen Rose and Allison Brennan more in that genre). In saying that, I am not saying Roberts is inferior in any way, but just to describe how I rate her novels. I am a romance reader. My go-to for romance novels are the small town, cowboys and historical fiction…and some of Nora Roberts books. I am a sucker for her latter standalone novels with a bit of suspense, and some of her latter series. I cannot say I am the usual Nora Roberts fan, in that I haven’t read all of her books, and have DNF some of them.
After that ramble, here is what I enjoyed about this one: -I loved the relationship between Sonya (the main character) and her college roommate and best friend, as well as Sonya’s relationship with her mother. -the endearing friends are family and small town vibe -dogs are big characters in the book -that Sonya inherits a haunted house with many ghosts (and most are nice and helpful!) -that second arc of an evil witch, who is bitter af with brides -that this book is ultimate fantasy that will take you away from everything realistic (everything works out for Sonya and money is not an object, or much of anything else, other than the witch of course) -oh and the food they talk about in this book will make you hungry and looking up recipes on Pinterest right after -while a lot of the book is formulaic NR, so far there are only two characters, and sounds like the second book will take off from the first character’s POV. I am interested to see how it plays out…(and will let you know when I get my hands on the second book)
If you are looking for an escape this is a great book for early dark nights and weekend in. Let me know what you think…about any of this…I can take it 😉
***I received a complimentary copy of the audiobook and eBook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***
For 2023 I had lofty goals, many that I have borrowed from previous years, to not meet them again. My could was to read 325 books this year, and I did not meet my goal. I read 313 books – from picture books to poetry to novellas to graphic novels to children’s books to fiction to nonfiction. Those that have followed my reading journey for awhile and those that know me are probably scoffing a bit at this. I could have finished it, but decided this December I am a bit over that part of me that wants to be an overachiever. I would be fine with the “reach beyond the stars” thing I have going on, IF I also didn’t have a part of me that gets devastated when I fail. That devastation goes through the anxiety and depression that comes with not meeting a goal I think is so doable for me. I decided to let myself fail, before self-sabotage decides to butt in. This year has been about letting myself fail and then asking my fear “what now?” Slowly in the summer I turned more to books I wanted to read rather than keeping up with the newest books. I also let go of domestic suspense genre unless it was an author I loved. I have even gotten better at DNF (Did not finish). I have learned to be more critical of my enjoyment. If I am not enjoying the book, why am I still reading it? I am not in school anymore so there is no good reason to keep reading what is not serving me. I am at or getting close to half of my life and I have less time. I am reading the fluffy romance I will not remember after a few months and putting down the classic must-read book that is taking me years to come back to. This is the attitude I am taking to the new year.
While I will still be recording what I am reading on Goodreads, I have decided to separate with the site after seeing the disaster it is becoming. To be fair, I have never really liked GR. I was from the Shelfari crowd that cried when Amazon bought it just to shut it down to boost GR. I was forced to move to GR, and unfortunately lost a lot of the community that Shelfari seemed to foster more of.
The two things that finally pushed me over to not engage (ie: rate and review, and participate in GR awards):
-they removed poetry from the GR award category…because that wasn’t as important to the community. If poetry is not worthy of a category, I am not sure that is a community that I want to belong to. Obviously as a poet myself, this seems pretty predictable. It was more than that. They also removed picture books, which was another category I loved. It seems to be more isolating in categories, and letting the “popular” genres kind of get mean girl status
-this leads to my second reason being the reviewing chaos. People rating and reviewing books that aren’t even being sent out as ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) is a bit ridiculous. Liking or disliking an author should not be a reason to review/rate a book you have not read. Comments in reviewing should not be bullying readers, or authors. And when authors strike out, that just makes me so uneasy. Reviews by critics and publications are meant for the author, but reviews from readers are meant for other readers. I already see some reviewers giving only 4 or 5 stars to every single book they read and that makes me wonder if it’s to keep getting ARCs and author kudos. I will always be honest in my review, without trying to be mean. I will even be honest when I am being biased in my review. My goal is to tell you what I loved, liked or hated and let the reader of my review decide if that book is for them.
I have not left GR as most of my book friends are on there so it’s a way for me to see what they are reading. However, I have moved over to StoryGraph which I am quite liking so far. It is not perfect by any means. I am not finding as many people in the community yet, and lot of the info on the site needs to me added or corrected. I have sent in an application to help with the Librarian tasks (like I have done on GR) so that I can get those series at least in order!
-how it breaks down the reviewing into writing your review, but also having specific criteria that you can mark off (ex: slow, medium or fast speed, character or plot driven, diversity of characters)
-that you can rate it .25, .5 and .75! Which my heart loves especially at the 3 star rating specificity
-that it has stats! (ex: it will tell you what percentage of genres you have read)
-another factor that sets them apart (other than NOT being owned by Amazon) is that it has great recommendations. I already have too many TBRs so I don’t use this feature as much.
Sooooo what were my stats for 2023?
-I read 313 books, which in pages comes out to be 81, 320 pages (many of those are hours on audio – StoryGraph does keep track of hours if you choose that challenge and select audiobook for the edition)
-I discover Victor LaValle and S.A Cosby this year and have read most of their backlist this year. LaValle writes more horror/fantasy/speculative fiction; Cosby writes Southern gothic/suspense/thrillers.
Even though Stephen King didn’t make the 5 Star list, I really enjoyed the books. I find that while I love his characters and the world he builds, sometimes the plot and the extra few chapters leave me more to the 4 stars.
This year I read poetry as a poet working on my own manuscript, and so many collections inspired me. I have been dabbling with line breaks, white space, forms, etc and found a lot to experiment with. I am looking forward to more poetry collections…and other books that inspire the content of my poems.
As always, I am going to attempt to review more often, but no promises. It has helped that I’ve talked myself into just writing the review and not worrying about how much better to could have been. That idea of “perfection” is my greatest blocking in writing. I want to give justice to writer, but ended up disappointing with not even reviewing. This year I am going to write something even if it’s the lame “Loved it, recommend it!”
It has been 2.5 years since I started writing poetry again. It wasn’t my intention to write poetry or even write stories. I was looking into journalling workshops, to see how I could use it to express my emotions while my therapist was on maternity leave. I came to realize that it was poetry that allowed me to be honest, bold and vulnerable. As I started to take more writing workshops, volunteering, and soaking up all I could poetry started to become something fun. In school, I always felt inferior to all my classmate as they could interpret images that I saw as something different. It was my creative writing instructor in college, that first called me a poet. After a few assignments, he took me aside and said maybe poetry was something I should explore more. At that time, I still wanted to be the next Alice Munro, and short stories seemed more my jam. My next instructor, encouraged my storytelling, telling me I should submit to journals. Back in 1999/2000 when you submitted a story it was through snail mail. Receiving rejections in print seemed to sting deeper and I began to talk myself out of being a writer. I would also give up theatre around this time, and tried bury my creativity. I would still write, but toss most of it away. In 2018 and 2020 I did have a creative nonfiction piece and some poems published but the latter did not always feel authentic to me. As I have questioned and reflected on why I want to write, I came to the realization of why my work was not “good”. I was so entrenched in wanting to like Alice Munro and in Canadian fiction I was writing lives I did not live. I was writing what I thought others wanted, and what I read in stories, but they weren’t what I knew and necessary cared about.
I started writing in 2021 again, but did not start to submit till 2022. I have not been submitting as much as I should. I want to research the publications I submit to as I don’t just want to be published for the sake of having my name in print – although, that still gives me a high each time. Writing has always been a way to express myself, and I have leaned heavily into that vulnerability. Submitting my work has allowed me to be seen and heard and also hopefully reached someone that has needed to know they are not alone. I read to learn and to feel less alone with my feelings. In 2022, I submitted to places that I felt a connection to in some way. This year, I submitted to places I looked up, and to more than just publications. I am a self-taught poet/writer so I had to look at what I was missing that students with a BA or Masters would be taught. It’s always difficult as you don’t know what you don’t know. I am so lucky to have met some amazing poets/writers and found communities that are so encouraging and share in their knowledge. I came to discover that my next step should be finding a mentor. I needed advice, and someone that I could turn to with questions. I applied to three mentorships, and was lucky enough to be selected as one of three emerging writers for the Writers’ Trust Canada mentorship program (in poetry). This mentorship has been more than just a saving grace for my writing. Metis/Icelandic poet, Jonina Kirton has been wonderful for my soul. As I work on the poems and this manuscript I get excited and proud of myself for what will come in 2024.
created through Canva
Let’s get into the stats part of this recap…
At the start of 2023, I still had three submissions outstanding from 2022.
-Two of the submissions, 5 poems, were accepted.
-One submission, 3 poems, were published in 2023 in an online zine.
-The other submission, 2 poems, will be published in an anthology, date still to come.
-The third submission, I did have to withdraw after 10 months (I reached out once for an update after 6 months)
A published poem from 2022 was accepted for reprint in a Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English for 2022.
-My poem, “This Poem is Queer” was not only accepted by Maza Arts Collective, but I received payment for it!
-As mentioned above, in August my manuscript draft (poetry) was selected by Writers’ Trust of Canada (by Jonina Kirton, poet and judge for poetry). Not only did I receive a fabulous mentor, but I also received a grant to work on my manuscript. (Side note: I really really wanted this mentorship with Jonina after reading her collection, The Honest Woman and taking a workshop. It was beyond my wildest dreams that I was selected).
-I was published in:
2 zines (themes of mental health and folklore)
4 anthologies (themes of LGBTQIA+, gun violence)
Some goals reached:
-mentorship
-paid for my writing
-in October to submit to 10 places a month at least
-submit flash pieces
-had a poem shortlisted (acknowledgment that my poem, “Bearing Witness”, was a strong piece but did not get chosen to be published)
-a publication declined my submission but made a personal note on my poem “Baddi Chachi ji’s Antam Sanskar” being impressive.
And finally the rejections that made me stronger:
-2 flash fiction pieces
-2 prose poems and 1 flash fiction submissions in a 24 hour window
-1 residency
-2 mentorships
-1 contest
-12 publications
I still need to hear back from…
-5 contests
-6 publications
And the biggest win for 2023
From Kelsey Bryan-Zwick IG
-being nominated for a Pushcart Prize (by a poet I greatly admire) for my poem “This Poem is Queer”
Goals for 2024
-finish my manuscript and find 5 publishers to submit to
-submit to at least 10 things a month
-continue to build community and pass on what I know
-accept rejections with grace
-make room to write poems, flash and longer fiction
Ahhhh, it’s my favourite time of the year, when the sweltering summer slowly crisps to a fresh autumn air. The gorgeous colours of green, orange, red, yellow and the darkness of night. I know, as usual, I have not been around but as always have been reading. My reading has changed and yet stayed pretty much the same. I have been reading with a different eye. Instead of being just a reader looking for an escape, I have been looking at it as a writer. Taking in all that stands out, resonates and things I know I don’t work for me. I used to do this before even without knowing what it was I was doing. Then the fears and doubts set roots.
I am not sure why but the thought of putting all my effort in something and it not working out scares me. It’s not only the failure, but that I wanted something and was not able to achieve it. My confidence in myself died the longer I was in school. It seemed like no one believed in me. They wanted me to be smart in a certain way and when I proved not to be, I was left to drift. Things were not all that pessimistic though. In grade seven to my second year of college, I did get that little shove that maybe I was meant to be a writer. It was my grade seven teacher that believed in me, and even now as I submit something I think of her. I have been very lucky to have people in my life that always see the best in me, especially when I don’t see it. I don’t need naysayers to hurt my feelings as my intrusive thoughts have the vicious bullies spot all covered.
All of that baggage still sits in my chest like a lump in my throat. I now just refuse to choke on it. I don’t want to be a write anymore, I am a writer. Maybe my grammar isn’t always proper, I trip on my words verbally, and my voice is not everyone’s cup of tea, but storytelling is in my blood. I used to wonder where my obsession with words, storytelling and reading came from. I would make up stories about my late grandfathers being connoisseurs of literature. Honestly though, I don’t even know if they could read or write in Punjabi. I was free writing for a prompt, and I wrote down how my Bibi was a great storyteller. She would often tell us bedtime tales, ghost stories, etc. There it was. That was my origin story of sorts. I am sure being an only child that was allergic to the outside helped a lot with my imagination too.
Right now I am embracing my poet voice where a lot my heart and some of the festering rot lies. I want to see more than my words in print, but reach those that need to feel less alone and feel seen and heard. So basically, I will probably be continuing this MIA shit for awhile. Although it might be nice to spill myself into this blog as a way to clean out my brain.
On September 30, in Canada we will be observing Truth and Reconciliation Day. I am lucky to get the day off and get to take time to educate and reflect. If you are interested in learning more about Indigenous (so-called) “Canada” poets, please take a look at my latest article, 5 Poems to “Read on Truth and Reconciliation Day“, for The Poetry Lab. If you like the article, I have several more that I have written about poetry. One is my own journey to doing a do-it-yourself MFA.
And in this amazing journey, this August I was selected as a mentee (developing writer) to work with a poet that I greatly admire, Jónína Kirton for the Writer’s Trust of Canada Mentorship program. (More on this later). Being selected in the poetry category was a great honour but to then read Jónína’s words, really blew me away:
“There is tender tension in Kris Kaila’s poetry. We feel the pull and the love of her Ancestors as she awakens to a new vision for herself as queer woman of colour. Her poetry speaks of skin scorched by the white male gaze and all that follows when their ‘desire’ supersedes her longing for autonomy. Kaila’s words linger just as the aftereffects of sexual violence do. She is not afraid to ask the questions many women hold in their bodies. In a world where gaslighting and disinformation are a daily occurrence, I felt held by the power of her words and her honesty.”
The past two years of learning, and year of submitting to programs and publications, I am happy how far I have come. I am going to try and get back into my book reviews, but if I fall off again, please know it’s because I’m in another realm of my imagination.
“Not a Cavendish shoreline in sight, just shadows yawning tall as angels in the garden”
I was lucky enough to attend a virtual talk with Hollay and hear about her writing process, works and story. Her vulnerability and openness about mental health and many other important issues really resonated with me. As someone who tries to be authentic in everything I do, I recognized that in Hollay as well. The talk was conversational, and when she read an excerpt from her memoir Fuse, the writing had a strong voice and poetic language. Finding out Hollay was a poet was just the cherry on top. I have been following Hollay on Instagram since, and was kind enough to follow back and commenting on my comments. Since then I have loved her humour, kindness, and overall authentic vibe. I have come to know her as a friend who is generous and an inspiration. I say all of this because I have given Rebellion Box a 5-star review and I stand by it even though I “know” Hollay. When it comes to reading, I always give honest reviews. It’s a bit of a warning I give anyone that asks me to read or review their works.
Rebellion Box is Hollay’s debut collection of poetry, and many of the poems have been published in various publications. While each poem stands alone as a great piece of write, as a collection this book touches on many issues you can tell mean the world to the author. There is the mix of vulnerability, defiance and rawness as a whole. As a reader, and even as a poet myself, I really resonated with the mental health aspects of the book. It is so hard to explain what you go through as someone with certain mental illness, and for me poetry is one place that I can put it into words using poetic devices. Reading this collection, it feels like Hollay does as well. Anyone that knows me, knows I am a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery. As soon as I picked up that novel as a kid, it just dropped into my heart and never left. There is a quote that Anne says, “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.” I have really started to believe this as I spend more time in the writing community, but seeing it someone’s work I already admire is a weird but great spark. Hollay writes a few poems with LMM running through them, and yes, those are my favourites.
I am not doing justice to this book, as I am getting to be a bit rambling, lol. I would recommend this poetry collection to anyone. It is accessible, relatable and most important had me highlighting lines I loved and marking poems I will need to read later slower. Much like An Honest Woman by Jonina Kirton, this one has me thinking about a poem long after I have left the book behind on the shelf.
I received a complimentary eARC of this from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
I loved Hail, the Invisible Watchman! This collection of poetry begs to be read slowly and reread some poems more than once…or twice. I have to say my love of Alexandra Oliver’s poetry grew when I saw her live the summer of 2022. When I read Let the Empire Down I was a bit unsure of the poems as I did not get the tone (or at least, that is what I discovered after Oliver’s reading). When I heard Oliver read and talk about her poems, and something clicked. I read Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway and I could not wait to read this book (which I had requested before I even went to the reading). Oliver’s dry wit, humour and observations are just so lovely and at the same time have me saying “Ha!” and “Ah!” out loud. I will also add that I would classify this as (so called) “Canadian writing” in that there is tone, that maybe only I see that just screams Canadian writer. I am (im)patiently waiting for Oliver’s next book.
I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
I really debated on whether to update my review, leave it as is or delete it. Anytime I update a review it is when I do a reread of a book, which is not something I have done with It Ends with Us. After I read this novel, it was definitely not a reread contender, but at that time, I had been glad I read it. I am not a huge follower of #BookTok as most are about steamy books, domestic suspense or YA fantasy – which are not any of my go-to genres. I was a huge domestic suspense fan till they started to get too cookie cutter. I have had a few friends recommend Colleen Hoover, and especially suggest I read her historical fiction, Verity. I always hesitated as they seem to be just general romance and new adult romances. When an older friend recommended it, I was eager to read it. I had just gotten out of an abusive relationship, so at the time, I felt like I was reading a book about what happens when someone with low self-esteem (and oodles of other issues) dates a narcissist. I saw this as a general fiction book about the pitfalls of dating, I would never say this is a romance, or a romantic story. I debated about writing this review on the blog as certain CoHo fans can be a bit ruthless. I am no where big enough of an “influencer” and reviewer where I think they will read this review anyway. I am writing this here, as I do want readers to be careful in how they go about reading this book. I agree with some readers who label this as trauma porn, in that it romanticize cruel men, abuse and just sadness. There is a new book out in this series, in case you do want to read this series/duology.
A good book friend recommended this novel to me after she finished. I literally checked out this book right away and read it (we rarely lead one another astray). I had heard of Colleen Hoover but I don’t read a lot of New Adult books, so she wasn’t on my radar. While I wasn’t that into the romance part later in the book as it seemed forced, the relationship between Ryle and Lily really hit home. The sudden romance, to controlling behaviour, insecurities and not learning from the past. I found this part of the book most interesting and realistic.
Update:(January 31, 2023) I was super naive when I read this novel. I didn’t know this was a romance book, and part of the trauma porn she normally writes. I read it as a novel about domestic violence, how sometimes low self-esteem and wanting to find someone to love you can allow you “justify” dangerous and horrible behaviour as not so bad. I read it as a survivor of DV myself. Relationships are complicated and I can name several good times with my ex-partner, but I am not confused in thinking it was romance or telling my story as such. I don’t see Ryle as a romantic hero, or even an anti-hero.
I did change my rating from 3.5 stars to nothing, because I don’t want to rate this novel or bring it attention that it does not deserve. It would be one thing if it was a beautifully written book, or if it had a message. But upon hearing what CoHo fans coo over this novel, and love the other books for the same reason, I am removing the books from my backlist to read. I really wanted to read Verity, but now my interest level has vanished. There is an army of CoHo fans so I am sure she will get by without me being a fan. I was happy to hear that the “colouring book” for this book was scraped as I am not sure what they would have from this book. The positivity that Lily Bloom totes in this book was like a victim, wanting to see the good in the abuser. There will be a movie with Blake Lively, and I am super disappointed. Maybe they change the tone…but with CoHo fans I doubt it.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars 2022; Tin House/Recorded Books
I really hate to rate Night of the Living Rez so low, as I found the writing compelling. I read many of the 4 and 5 star reviews, and I agree how well this story has been written. Talty brings to life what it is like for these characters to be Indigenous (Penobscot) in a “Native community in Maine.” Now this is just my opinion as a reader, that this book would have worked better as a novel than stories. These stories were interconnected (having the same characters) but were also moving in time. I, personally, could not say that any of the stories could be read as a standalone. They work together to bring in the context. I did listen to this one on audio, so maybe I lost some of what was happening and did confuse some characters in the beginning, as I was not sure if this was a continuing story or something new. I would definitely read something else by Morgan Talty, but may pass if it is a short story collection.
I received a complimentary copy of this ebook and audiobook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
I have seen A Minor Chorus all over my Bookstagram feed last year, and just based on the cover alone I added it my TBR list. First of all, what a great packaging of this book! The small hardcover has some author blurbs inside the front and back cover which made it seem more personal, somehow. After the first few chapters, I had to look up Billy-Ray Belcourt’s backlist to see if he was a poet. And, he is a poet (as well)! Belcourt’s writing is lyrical, evocative and compelling. I could read just about anything he could write. I loved the story, the characters, the quotes peppered in from different authors on writing and Mary just fell into my heart. It’s one of those novels that will break your heart and then leave it with hope. Ugh, I was so sad when it ended…but now I have put Belcourt’s backlist on hold!
My Novelesque Life 