What I read: April
This is a very, very late collection of reviews for everything I read in April. I'm not sure why I included Little Weirds in the cover photo, I read that last month, so sorry about that, but if you do want to read my review for it - https://www.beccaknight.co.uk/words/what-i-read-february-march
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
I first read On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous a few years ago, but it's one of those novels I've thought about over and over again since. I was really feeling like re-reading it this month and falling back into Vuong’s writing is always such a treat. Layered and melodic, you can tell these are the words of a poet - he has such a talent for capturing the tiny, easily missable fragments of his character's world and it is this impeccable detail that lingers with you as a reader. OEWBG is the story of Vietnamese-American, Little Dog. Through a letter to his mother Rose, Little Dog lays bare his childhood and adolescence. Amongst other things, he explores the isolation he felt due to his Vietnamese heritage, the tragedies that reverberate through both his family and his personal life and his relationship with the uncontrollable Trevor. This collection of moments build up as he details his life to his mother, a woman unable to read his words - stretching out to communicate in a way that is ultimately futile. OEWBG is of course a tale of race and immigration - of identity, both national and personal. It is also about love and how to grow and continue on after so much pain, loss and trauma. Such a beautiful, unmissable novel.
Asylum road - Olivia Sudjic
Anya is a phd student in London, living with her successful boyfriend Luke, who is prone to wildly shifting moods and suddenly disappearing. Anya seems to be constantly teetering on the boundary of their relationship and the threat of suddenly pushing them over the edge lies heavy in the air. On top of this, Anya is a child of Sarajevo, a traumatic past she remembers in brief, sharp stabs. This history is another boundary Anya balances across - she is pushing aside what happened, constantly trying not to dwell on something still too raw to unpick. Keen for some sense of a happy ending, Anya accepts Luke's proposal and they travel to Split to visit her family - a journey that undermines all the barriers Anya has been working to keep up. It took me a while to get my teeth into this one, maybe because what Anya left behind isn't explicitly spoken about, but this is sharp and precise writing and Sudjic is excellent at instilling that sense of incoming collapse.
Real Life - Brandon Taylor
This novel took me completely by surprise - the synopsis really doesn't do it justice - Real Life is perfectly paced, elegant and accomplished. Wallace is completing his biochemistry postgrad - a black gay man from the deep south, he constantly has to deal with a host of prejudices, and, as the book opens, is still processing the death of his father, and the complicated relationship he has with his dad and his passing. A sudden shift changes his relationship with a friend from platonic to sexual, just as his work in the lab seems to be falling apart and his sense of isolation deepening. So much of the power of Real Life lies in what isn't said- in what is trapped beneath the surface, a bruise that keeps getting caught, its pain flashing up again, deep and tender. Taylor instils the novel with Wallace's intense, bodily exhaustion, a weariness to the world and its constant need to consider the sensitivities of his white friends, whilst no one steps in to defend him. Taylor's writing is exquisite, his characterisation incredibly strong, I'm so glad I picked this up this month.
Creatures - Crissy Van Meter
I loved Creatures so much - it’s a novel that hit so much deeper than I was expecting. It opens on the days before Evie's wedding - her groom is missing, perhaps lost at sea, whilst a dead whale has washed up on the shore, a rotting hulk that looms over the island where she has spent her life. This is the central point of the novel, jumping forward to her marriage, and then back to explore Evie's childhood - her difficult relationship to a mother that left her and a father who prioritised his own desires. And Creatures is, ultimately, about bonds - the ties we form to other people and the places we are from. Evie is connected to the island, to the sea and life beneath beneath the waves. She feels moored to this piece of rock and its ecosystem of drug deals and small town people. The narrative matches her links to this landscape, with chapters named after the weather and seasons. It is a really interesting discussion of relationships, of learning to love and how to cope with being hurt by someone you love - it really reminded me of Jenny Offill’s The Department of Speculation and reading it felt like slipping into a bath.
Fen - Daisy Johnson
After reading Sisters last month, I wanted to get my hands on everything Johnson has written. Fen is her short story collection. Written with the same twisty, gothic undertones as Sisters, it is a myriad of tales, sometimes overlapping, but all rooted in the fen. This is where girls change into eels and great, feral foxes haunt the land. I have to admit, I'm not usually a huge short story reader so this didn't grab me the way Sisters did, but there are some elegantly unsettling stories in here. I particularly enjoyed the first story that begins like the typical tale of teenage pain and quickly shifts into a more mythical, boundary blurring event. There are other highlights - a house that falls in love with its female occupant, a clan of women who devour local men, all set in the eerie unknown of the fenland.
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
This is a short, weird burst of greatness. Strange, deadpan and ever so slightly surreal, it follows Keiko, a Japanese convenience store worker who seems to be unable to decode the world and culture she is a part of. The only thing that makes sense to her are the rigid rules and codes of conduct of the convenience store. So, she makes this the routine of her life, living by its rhythms and promotions, for 18 years, unable to understand why anyone would want anything else. I don't want to go into it in too much detail and give anything away but this is so enjoyable to read, different, quirky and perfectly put together, worth all the rave reviews.
Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters
Reese has always wanted to be a mother, but, as a trans woman, believes this dream is something she will always struggle to achieve. That is, until a call comes from Ames. Ames used to be Amy and used to date Reese, before their relationship fell apart and Amy de-transitioned. Ames is now in a relationship with his boss Katrina, and has had to tell her about his past after Katrina unexpectedly falls pregnant. Here is the opportunity Reese has dreamed about, as Ames offers her the chance to mother a child, to parent alongside Ames and Katrina - but can the three of them work as a unit, and is this what they all really want?
Peters' characterisation is impeccable - these are complex characters with hidden depths, who felt blisteringly real. I felt I knew each of the central characters so completely by the novels end. Detransition, Baby pushes back and forwards, the moment of conception becoming the central pin that holds Reese and Ames’ past and future together. Once I had my head in this novel, I was gripped - it is such a thorough exploration of motherhood, in its many forms and a really beautiful depiction of the trans community. I can see why this book has been topping the must read lists for summer.
Hot little hands - Abigail Ulman
Hot Little Hands is a series of stories, each built around different characters, (except for Claire, who we return to over 3 stories at different moments in her life). What connects these narratives is their female protagonists, they are different ages, from different countries, but each story confronts that complicated period of adolescence and young adulthood. There is a young gymnast leaving Russia for the first time for a competition in the US, then there is Amelia, who at 22 can't face writing her book, so has a baby instead. The book is charged with sex - sometimes it is overt, other times more sinister, a darker look at lust and desire. Ulman really effectively explores the confusion over where you fit in at that age, on the boundary between adult and girlhood. Something that one moment feels thrilling can immediately transform into something much more unnerving and scary and it is these moments of swift change that are the book’s strong points.