Review: Exit West, Mohsin Hamid

Housekeeping: I’m going to start including a very brief description of the book with each review. I hesitated to do this at first because I hate reading reviews that tell me about the book. I’m looking for the reviewer’s opinion; if I want to know what the book contains, I’ll read the back cover copy (BCC) or, even better, the book! Anyway, I decided to include a short description so as to give you some context for my review. Where the BCC is good, I’ll use that, but if I find it to be misleading, I’ll write a couple sentences myself. 🙂

From the back cover copy: In a country on the brink of civil war, Nadia and Saeed meet. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When the conflict explodes, they begin to hear whispers about doors that can whisk people far away. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. Exit West follows them as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are.

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: Heartbreaking, magical, and realistic. Mohsin Hamid writes in a lyrical, meandering sort of way that never wastes a word. You’ll read it quickly, and read it you absolutely should.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: Exit West is full of the kind of tension that makes you desperate to turn pages. It’s not overbearing, just a sort of uncomfortable-ness of which you aren’t fully aware. It’s similar to when you hear a weird noise in your home and listen really hard but don’t notice you’re holding your breath until you inhale. Readers are focused on the budding relationship between Nadia and Saeed but they are never allowed to forget about the developing military conflict. Readers are intent on Nadia and Saeed escaping their war-torn country, but reminded that these two people are held together by circumstance as much as their feelings for each other. It was this underlying tension that drove me through the book so quickly, not necessarily demanding a happy ending, but hoping that these characters can, at last, find comfort and peace.

As I’ve said already, Hamid’s writing style is meandering but not verbose. Consider the following, which is actually only the second half of the sentence:

…in a gesture so beautiful that Saeed was filled with love, and reminded of his parents, for whom he suddenly felt such gratitude, and a desire for peace, that peace should come for them all, for everyone, for everything, for we are so fragile, and so beautiful, and surely conflicts could be healed if I others had experiences like this, and then he regarded Nadia and saw that she was regarding him and her eyes were like worlds.

Even when repetitive, there is no instance where paring down the word count is desirable. These long sentences work really well to fold the reader into the emotions of the characters.

When I first read the BCC for Exit West, I thought the doors it referred to were metaphorical; I still imagined their emigration process would be practical (ie. a ship if they escaped by sea, or on foot if they escaped over land). You quickly learn that these are random, ordinary doorways that people walk through and end up somewhere else on Earth. I found it interesting that Hamid did not include the actual act of emigrating. This forces the reader to focus exclusively on what happens when the travelers arrive. Leaving is difficult, travelling can be perilous, but, for Nadia and Saeed, what is important is what they must do next to be safe.

Exit West was not at all what I was expecting, in style and plot, in pacing and character development, and in how it made me feel. It’s a quick read but it’s the sort of book that stays with you long after you finish the last page.

Review: Red Clocks, Leni Zumas

I tend to resist buying hardcovers, mostly because I’m cheap, but it can be a real struggle. I was an only child for 18 years so I’m all about immediate gratification. As an adult, I deny myself nothing. Hardcover books create a sort of perfect storm in me; I want to read this book, but I would like to do it for about 15 bucks cheaper. When I buy a hardcover, it’s because the premise is just too enticing. Pro tip: hardcovers are always cheaper online 😀

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: The premise of Red Clocks frightens me because of its possibility but it comforts me by illustrating how we would resist such a future. Leni Zumas’s writing style is unique and enveloping and her story will hold onto you until the very end.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: Each chapter begins with the title of one of the women, such as The Biographer or The Mender (with the exception of Eivør; her chapters are differentiated from the others by font). I noticed right away that the women were referred to by title rather than name (ex: “The daughter knew…” or “the wife’s jaw tenses”). It is not until later chapters that the women indirectly introduce each other by using another woman’s name in the context of her story (ex: the biographer might call on the daughter in class by name, or the wife might address the biographer and invite her for dinner).  I think this is a really compelling way of connecting the women and unifying their cause. They do not have the same agenda (one wants an abortion, one wants to be pregnant, etc.), but they want the same thing: autonomy over their own bodies and lives. By having the characters name each other, it brings them, and all women, together in the struggle for their basic human rights.

With a couple exceptions, the men in Red Clocks are pretty obnoxious. Susan’s (the wife) husband actually made me want to punch him when she comes home with the kids and he whines about having to make his own lunch. While that’s irritating, Ro’s (the biographer) fertility doctor is almost negligent in that he doesn’t think of testing her for a disease of which she exhibits symptoms until she asks him too. It is Gin (the mender) that brings this to Ro’s attention. These examples are not to say that men are entirely useless, but it does illustrate how often and in how many insidious ways a patriarchal system works against the best interests of women.

Perhaps most importantly, Zumas does not end her book with a happy little bow. SPOILERS AHEAD IN 3… 2… 1… Ro realizes she can’t be selfish and instead must support her frightened student carry out the choice Ro believes she has the right to make; Susan, after much agonizing, leaves her husband (who has the nerve to act shocked. Seriously want to punch that guy). This is not to say that the book ends on a negative note. The dust jacket copy asks the question, “what is a woman for?” The book quietly answers that question in the end, responding with: women are for a cause that will ensure it is no longer acceptable to ask that question.

Week 5: Red Clocks, Exit West, The Boat People

I refuse to admit defeat but this three books a week business is kicking my ass. Last week was pretty busy for me though so I’m hoping this week, which sees nothing more exciting than the crochet class I’m taking with my mother, will be more successful. I didn’t manage to finish The Power of Habit last week and while I’m surely going to continue listening to it while I complete my crochet homework, I’m going to turn my attention to three new books.

Red Clocks, Leni Zumas: I’m ever the sucker for a good cover! This book’s back cover copy asks the question, “what is a woman for?” It takes place in an future where abortion is illegal and in vitro fertilization is banned. The copy compares it to The Handmaid’s Tale which I really enjoyed so here’s hoping it has a better ending than anything Atwood herself as written (tangent: I hate Atwood’s endings. I almost always love the book but the end feels so rushed to me, as if she got bored and wanted to move on to something else. So frustrating).

Exit West, Mohsin Hamid: Fun story: I have a friend who is a very practical gift-giver. He will only get you something that you will actually use. Even if it’s totally superfluous, he’ll get it, but it has to have a function. He knows exactly how bad my book shopping addiction is and he also knows that I haven’t read even half the books I own, so when he asked what I wanted for Christmas, and I said books, he said, “hahahahaha NO.” I promised that the book would go into immediate rotation for the blog, skipping past all others, and he finally agreed. I gave him a list of a few to choose from and so I present to you, the Adam-approved selection, which will likely be the only mandatory reading on my book list. 😀

The Boat People, Sharon Bala: This book is on the Canada Reads 2018 longlist and, while I’m waiting to order the shortlist (it’s being announced tomorrow!!), I didn’t want to wait for this one. Whether it makes the shortlist or not, I’m using it to get ready for Canada Reads, which I always want to participate in but then don’t read fast enough and forget when the debates are. Anyway, this book is about a father and son who are refugees from Sri Lanka landing in British Columbia. Instead of asylum, they find themselves imprisoned as government officials suspect terrorists were aboard their ship. I chose this book as part of my desire to expand my reading selection to perspectives I have not read before.

Housekeeping: I want to start paying attention to where I hear about books. When I sit down to write, I’m like, “duuuhhhhhh…. Instagram told me too?” This might sound strange but I’m not a big browser. I don’t trust random books on the shelves or in the “you might also like this” recommendations on Indigo/Amazon. I need a trusted source to say, “Hey, here’s a 35 dollar shredded and bound tree, you should take this home.” What I’m saying is, I want to cite my sources so you know that I’ve properly vetted this recommendation and it’s not some sloppy algorithm spitting out nonsense. 🙂

More housekeeping: I finally got my social media connected here (buttons on the right side of the page) so come say hello on Twitter or Instagram! I think I’m funny there too 🙂

Review: We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Samantha Irby

I didn’t know anything about Samantha Irby before reading this book. I knew only that I loved the cover, and a bibliophile friend said it was hilarious.

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: I laughed so often that I was compelled to read snippets to my boyfriend, who does NOT share my sense of humour. Read this book, but not on public transit if you don’t care to snicker in front of strangers.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: Samantha Irby is hilarious, vulgar, and honest. She writes about the messy details of life that we usually try to hide behind a more polished façade (like what happens when you introduce certain foods to your inflammatory bowel disease, or what you really do when you’re alone in your apartment). We Are Never Meeting in Real Life is a biography of broad strokes, giving you snapshots, but a clear picture of the writer, who, like the rest of us, is just trying to get through this big dumb world in one piece.

This is usually the point where I would want to quote the book a couple times but I feel like that will do a disservice to her humour. Either that or I would need to quote a whole paragraph and give you a 5-minute lead-in explanation. Instead, I will just leave you the pleasure of discovering her wit on your own.

I also quite enjoy her writing style, perhaps because I think it is somewhat similar to mine in that we both tend to write incredibly long sentences that occasionally need bread crumbs to make sure the reader makes it all the way through to the end. She also uses a lot of ALL-CAPS PHRASES and various punctuation to apply her intonation patterns to her writing so you really “hear” her as you read. The basic words on the page seem to have more personality in her sentences, only adding to the overall experience of the book.

Weird tangent that will totally make sense in a minute: I freaking love my cat. His name is Phoenix, he is the most beautiful boy in the world, and yes, I will take you down with extreme prejudice if you dare defy that statement. He has blue eyes, and he’s the cuddliest, friendliest, most loving little creature I’ve ever been so lucky to have to clean up shit after on a daily basis. So it was with genuine mirth that I read about Helen, a feline that lives with Samantha. I don’t say “Irby’s cat” because she makes it abundantly clear that she hates the furry beast from minute one. She ends the chapter on Helen with a sort of online ad to get rid of her and that paragraph is so funny that I’ve had to flip back and read it to the people who have the audacity to speak to me when I have a book in my hands. Irby personifies her cat the same way I do, giving a snarky and judgmental voice to Helen that makes me glad we will never know what our pets actually think about us.

This book was uproariously funny, authentic, and heartfelt. Now, please excuse me, I need to go add her other book to my shopping cart.

Review: The Unnoticeables, Robert Brockway

The first line of the back cover copy for The Unnoticeables is, “There are angels, and they are not beneficent or loving.” This premise, along with the humour of the rest of the blurb, is what made me buy this book. The first line of the actual story is, “I met my guardian angel today. She shot me in the face.” I read this and thought, yup, I’m totally in.

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: an intriguing and well-executed premise, The Unnoticeables is funny, subversive, and unique. Great pacing that never really slows down, you’ll read this book fast because you won’t be able to do anything else until it’s finished.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: I was surprised how quickly this book got its hooks into me. Usually it takes a few chapters for me to say whether I’m interested enough to finish it, but from the first line I was committed. The characters were interesting and three dimensional, the plot was compelling and well-paced, and it was generally well-written, if a bit vulgar (I say that more as a disclaimer than a criticism. Vulgarity doesn’t bother me but there’s a lot of dick jokes and more than a few f-bombs so head’s up, in case that’s not your thing).

One of the best things about this book, other than the unique premise, is how much it subverts the reader’s expectations. Unlike The Invisible Library where I saw every twist coming with an overwrought twirl of the villain’s mustache, The Unnoticeables tells you what’s about to happen and then pulls the rug out from under you. For example, when the main character and his friends are about the engage in a high speed motorcycle chase, the severity and urgency of this moment is wholly ruined but the fact that he can’t actually operate the bike and they end up sort of chugging along after their target. This sort of bait-and-switch storytelling is so much more compelling to me than the paint-by-numbers style of writing.

To make matters even better, the book is funny. As in, I laughed out loud several times, funny. Robert Brockway uses this humour to subvert a lot of the seriousness of the novel but not in a way that gets annoying. You know how, in movies/TV, the characters are a little too funny, a little too witty? We all know no one talks like that in real life. Or how every situation is super serious… JOKE. Serious… JOKE. Over and over and over. This is not the case in The Unnoticeables. Brockway knows when to undercut the scene or dialogue with humour, but he also knows when not to; when to let the characters react the way you would expect them to, or when to let every gruesome, terrifying moment of a scene play out.

Random tangent: without giving any spoilers, one of the antagonists is very obviously based on an 90s heartthrob. I am embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realize exactly who it is but when I did, I almost cried laughing.

The best review I can give this book is to tell you that I was ordering the sequel before I finished the first one. This book is strange, intense, and hilarious and you should read it. 🙂

Week 4: The Unnoticeables, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, and The Power of Habit

Holy aggressively yellow book covers, Batman!

The Unnoticeables, Robert Brockway: I was so looking forward to this book last week but I just couldn’t get to it. As soon as I hit “publish” on this post, I am going to get comfy and start reading this!

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Samantha Irby: I have been thinking about getting this book for a while. I probably would have bought it for the title and cover alone, but then a fellow bibliomaniac recommended it. Also, looking at the cover again, there are endorsement quotes from both Roxane Gay and Lindy West. What the hell took me so long to get on board here?

The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg: I have a ton of habits that I’d like to change. I want to read faster, I want to spend less time screwing around on the internet, I want to be more productive, et cetera, et cetera. I’m hoping this book will help me understand how habits are formed and how to change them so I can develop more effective, healthy ones. I’m reading this one in audio format because I promised people handmade gifts for Christmas (mainly knit socks) and I still haven’t finished them, so audio means I can multitask. Man, it’s almost February; this is ridiculous. Another habit for the list: start making Christmas presents in June, not October.

Housekeeping: I am thinking of buying a book stand so I can read print books while knitting. Any recommendations? If you have one you like, I would love to hear where you got it. 🙂

Review: Sex Object, Jessica Valenti

I am the sort of person that can read a book, cover to cover, without damaging it. I do not dog-ear pages, I always tuck my book carefully into my bag, and I NEVER break spines. Everyone I know thinks this behaviour diminishes my enjoyment of a book because I’m too worried about putting a mark on it, but that’s not the case at all. I’m sure you will understand the gravity of the situation when I tell you that I accidentally banged the hell out of Sex Object. I was getting in the car and my bag got caught between the seat and a box and bent the crap out of the bottom of the cover. You want to know what diminishes my enjoyment of a book? Looking at the easily avoidable damage every time I pick it up. I’m sorry, book; I promise to fix you as best I can!

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: More biography than social commentary. Not a problem with the book, just not what I was expecting. Looking for biography? Read this. Looking for social commentary? Read Bad Feminist.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: The reviews I read for Sex Object, as well as the back of the book, told me it would explore “the toll that sexism takes on women’s lives, from the everyday to the existential.” This concept is why I bought the book. Unfortunately, I feel like it didn’t quite deliver. I knew it was a memoir but I feel like the social commentary fell to the wayside, especially in the last half of the book. That’s not a failing with the book but rather with how it was marketed.

While this book did not have an impact on me in the same way that something like The Beauty Myth did, I would still recommend it because of how Jessica Valenti speaks frankly about things women experience. For example, she talks about having multiple abortions and the difference between how she is supposed to feel and what she’s really thinking. She talks about having sex with men she’s not really interested in and why. She talks about pregnancy and motherhood and how she doesn’t feel the way women should feel after experiencing the miracle of life. It’s all very candid and I think that is absolutely necessary in feminist discourse. My issue is that I thought she would lend her experiences to the larger commentary and that never really happens.

Random musing: Most of the feminist books I’ve read lately make mention of militant feminists: women who tell you that you’re not doing feminism right. Roxane Gay talks about being intimidated by the sisterhood and Jessica Valenti talks about being relieved of her position at a website she founded when she got pregnant. Does anyone know any of these sorts of feminists? I feel like I hear about them a lot but I don’t know any of their names. I’d like to. I’d like to read a book by one of them. If you know of a feminist that would be described as “militant”, please comment below.

Review: The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman

This three-books-a-week deal is kicking my ass! I’ve always been a terrible procrastinator; on Monday, I think, “oh I have TONS of time,” but come Thursday, I’m ignoring everyone I know (including, no, especially the man I live with) and “going to bed” at 7pm so I can read. In fact, I should probably stop writing right now so I can go read. 😉

TL;DR, spoiler-free review: an uncomfortable mess of literary tropes and clichés that aren’t subverted in any interesting or unique ways. Like a bad soap opera, it’s unnecessarily complicated and silly.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: This book was so all over the place that I am scatterbrained trying to write about it. I feel like the author had too many ideas and didn’t know when to stop (for the following, please read in Bill Hader’s Stefon voice). This book has everything: vampires, a Sherlock Holmes rip off, robot alligators, and don’t worry, we didn’t forget, full body skin removal.

Seriously though (you should probably stop thinking in that voice), I feel like Genevieve Cogman couldn’t decide which ideas to include so she kept everything. It’s unfortunate because I feel like there are some good ideas here but it comes off as a bunch of mishandled tropes and clichés with nothing original to hold it together. Almost every character has a secret identity or motive, there’s like, six secret societies, and who is controlling the robot centipede again? One of the secondary antagonists embodies every vaudevillian behaviour except the moustache twirl. It’s all just so convoluted that I don’t want to bother keeping up.

The problem with stories that have way too much going on is that it becomes difficult to move from set piece to plot point. In this case, that results in deus ex machina EVERYTHING. For example, toward the end of the book, the main characters end up on a zeppelin and in need of weapons and Sherlo – I mean, Vale – just happens to know where guns are stored on the airship. There’s a flimsy excuse as to how he knows that but it’s a testament to how ridiculous this book is that I’m too bored to bother giving a real spoiler.

Those good ideas I mentioned are, unfortunately, being buried in a book that is always trying to be clever, and fails. For example, instead of just writing a Sherlock clone, Cogman actually comments on the fact that Vale is so much like the Great Detective. Also, instead of a bit more world building, the presence of supernatural creatures is written off by the dimension being corrupted with “chaos.” Rather than thinking a particular plot point was interesting or a misdirect was clever, I was so ready for this book to be over that I responded to every development in the last 75 pages with a verbal shrug: “ok, sure.”

I feel like I should probably circle back to that skin removal comment from earlier. I won’t go into detail because it’s actually pretty gruesome. It should tell you how nuts this book is when I tell you, after running down the basic plot to my friend, he responded with, “removing another human being’s skin sounds like the least crazy part of this plan.”

Weird, tangential complaint: the spacing of the font changes CONSTANTLY. Publishers do this for a variety of reasons (usually to fit words onto individual lines better) but it doesn’t usually happen in such a way that the reader sees it, let alone gets annoyed by it.

In conclusion, the story was a confusing collection of clichés, the font spacing was frustrating in its fluctuation, and I became bored of being browbeaten with banality.

For quirky science fiction/fantasy, read instead: Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips or The Humans, Matt Haig.

Week 3: The Invisible Library, Sex Object, and The Unnoticeables

I’m so excited for this week’s reading! I’m looking forward to some more science fiction, especially since the last one I read was disappointing. I’m also keen to read another memoir, which is a genre I’ve only recently come to enjoy. And so, without further ado, I present: Week 3! *dramatic arm flourish followed by self-deprecating eye roll*

The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman: a sci-fi about a spy who works for the Library (don’t know what that means yet) and has to travel to what sounds like an alternate dimension to retrieve a dangerous book. Basically, I want to read a book about books for my book blog. 😀

Sex Object, Jessica Valenti: continuing with the feminist theme of the last two weeks, I’m keen to read this book because the blurb says it “explores the toll that sexism takes on women’s lives.” The books I’ve read lately consider the larger Women’s Movement or feminism in pop culture; I’m interested in narrowing that view down into one woman’s story.

The Unnoticeables, Robert Brockway: written by one of the editors at Cracked, this book is set in 70s New York. Angels are real, but they aren’t benevolent. The premise sounds cool so I’m interested, even more so since Cracked disabled their YouTube channel by laying off all their best writers and personalities. I imagine books and Twitter is how I’ll absorb content from them now.

Housekeeping: I’m going to start including a new section at the end of book reviews creatively and ingeniously called “Read also.” I may not do this with every book but when I think of something similar or related that I think is worthwhile, I’ll let you know. 🙂

Review: Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay

TL;DR spoiler-free review: a collection of essays analyzing (pop) culture and what it means to be a feminist. Roxane Gay is insightful, funny, and brutally honest. Read also: Hunger.

You’re-verbose-and-I-like-it review: I think the best compliment I could give an author is to say that reading their book makes me want to seek out more of their work. I read Roxane Gay’s Hunger last year, which led me to Bad Feminist, which will soon lead me to one of her novels.

Writing style is something to which I always pay attention because it can give the reader a lot of insight. For example, Gay occasionally writes in short blunt sentences, which I find works well to convey her frustration. She also has this interesting way of doubling back on herself to emphasize her point. Consider the following from the chapter, “How to Be Friends with Another Woman”:

Don’t flirt, have sex, or engage in emotional affairs with your friends’ significant others. This shouldn’t need to be said, but it needs to be said. That significant other is an asshole, and you don’t want to be involved with an asshole who’s used goods. If you want to be with an asshole, get a fresh asshole of your very own. They are abundant.

It is obvious, toward the end of the paragraph, that she’s frustrated, not only because this has to be said, but also because there is an abundance of assholes with which to deal. I chose this quote because it is an excellent example of how she repeats herself, but not in a redundant way. “This shouldn’t need to be said, but it needs to be said” is a poetic way of saying “things should be one way but they are another.” This stylistic choice shows up a bit in this book and a lot in Hunger and I find it so compelling how she is able to say two things while using the words to say only one.

These essays were written for a variety of sources over time and later compiled into Bad Feminist. Structurally, Gay gathers her articles under several subject headings (Gender & Sexuality, Race & Entertainment, Politics, Gender & Race, and Me). I’m always a bit torn on compilations like this. On one hand, I like that the essays are relatively short and give me a brief look into her opinion on an array of issues, but on the other hand, I would have really enjoyed a deep dive into a few specific topics. Regardless, I enjoyed this book because she is always insightful, her wit is razor-sharp, and her humour is my kind of dry.

What stays with me most is the concept of what it means to be a feminist. Gay says that she used to believe that feminists were man-hating. bra-burning, sexless, angry women and turned away from the label because she didn’t want to be identified with those characteristics. This is such a clever trick of the patriarchy; turn the movement meant to liberate women against them. Gay goes on to say things like “Pink is my favorite color”, “I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically”, and “I know nothing about cars.” Do these things make her a bad feminist? Lately I have wondered what kind of feminist I am. I do not participate in community events and I have never been to a protest. This is not to say that I never would or that I am unwilling, I’ve just never sought out those opportunities. I read a lot and I have opinions. I suppose I’m a feminist but I’m not an activist. Can I be the former without being the latter? Gay says “the idea of a sisterhood menaces me, quietly, reminding me of how bad a feminist I am.” Perhaps this is another trick that we are about to fall for; if women don’t identify as feminists because they think they aren’t good enough, or they think other feminists with judge them, then they will not add their voice to the cause. Divided, we are weak, sort of thing.

All this self-reflection is to say that Roxane Gay brought me to the conclusion that she herself landed on: “I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.”