Reading Recap: November '25

 

Clockers by Richard Price

This is the reason why books should be 600 pages. The reader is immersed in Price's world and understands the thought process behind each characters' choices, even if they know from the start that it isn't going to work. A big part of that is striking a balance between omniscience and the characters' points of view. We spend most of the story in the dark about the inciting incident, and somehow it isn't frustrating. I thought 50 different things were happening behind the scenes. I think I was right about 10% of the time.

    Price's strength is blurring the line between sadness and anger and apathy until there isn't a difference. Strike thinks he's in this haze, when he really feels things too much to be sustainable. Strike thinks Victor is perfect and feeling and compassionate, but Victor lets his apathy sit and congeal into a point that brings him to the edge of reason. It was still his choice, though. A million little things could've changed what happened, but would Strike get out if it did? Is it always a life for a life? / ★★★★½

 

Unsteady by Peyton Corinne

The book club took on heterosexuality and heterosexuality won. It's definitely a thinker in a way Peyton Corinne didn't intend because we are not the target audience. To be honest, you could probably be an NHL fan and enjoy this, but you can't know anything about the OHL or USNTDP. More than that, you can't know anything about high quality writing.

    There's no pacing whatsoever, and while Corinne presents interesting ideas, she doesn't have the skill or the guts to follow through. Rhys' injury should've gone one of two ways: demonstrate his physical symptoms, or double down on the fact that he had a low-level concussion and it's a purely mental problem holding him back. Instead, she mentions that he's been having symptoms throughout the novel only in retrospect. If you want to write an angsty romance, you have to add the angst! I want gory descriptions and panic attacks that don't lead to sex. It tried to be a "slowburn enemies-to-lovers," but they liked each other in the first 30 pages. Sadie's characterization was inconsistent at best, and while I'm sure a lot of this genre is written worse, that isn't an excuse. / ★

 

Heaven by V.C. Andrews

V.C. Andrews is one of the few authors I'll keep reading no matter how few books I actually enjoy. I need the high of Flowers in the Attic like a hole in the head. This was passable, but with like the later Dollanganger novels, it suffers with the absence of Cathy. Heaven will never have the inner complexities Cathy had. For a little bit, it seemed like Andrews was going to go down the eldest sibling incest/pseudo parents route again, and while I'm glad this story had unique elements, it was too similar to FitA for me to stop wishing they were the same.

    Kitty had the most potential out of the book's cast. Her crossed wires surrounding escaping to the city and cleanliness has the possibility of a great story, I just wish Andrews was better at writing compelling antagonists. She seems to come from a child's point of view, with everyone opposing the protagonist becoming cartoonishly evil. It's clear Heaven knows where Kitty is coming from, but it get lost in translation somewhere between the intent and the narration. / ★★½

 

Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim

I feel like I have the same criticisms about every book; it presented cool ideas, I just wish there was more to it. I want to know everything about the insides about Brian and Neil's heads, not just snapshots. It does feel like a movie, so I'm excited to watch it when I finally get around to it in probably five years.

    The relationship between Neil and his coach was written very well. The further into the story I got, the more I could see the cracks in Neil's point of view. His series of events is as biased as Brian's. Blame is never placed on him, but he's never directly absolved of it because that's not what he believes. I'm glad Heim didn't try to sugarcoat anything, and the ending is exactly as satisfying as I wanted it to be. / ★★★½

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

I really enjoyed how Lawrence was able to meander through the characters' lives without ever feeling like he didn't know what was going to happen next. The cast is small and the story is really about Paul, letting Lawrence spend a lot of time fleshing out everyone and their motivations. It was the perfect amount of plausible deniability, and the entire plot played out beautifully.

    'Why can't a man have a young mother? What is the old for?' / 'Well,' his mother laughed, 'she can scarcely help it.' / 'And why wasn't I the oldest son? Look — they say the young ones have the advantage — but look, they had the young mother. You should have had me for your eldest son.' / 'I didn't arrange it,' she remonstrated. 'Come to consider, you're as much to blame as me.' / He turned on her, white, his eyes furious. / 'What are you old for?' he said, mad with his impotence. 'Why can't you walk? Why can't you come with me to places?' / 'At one time,' she replied, 'I could have run up that hill a good deal better than you.' / 'What's the good of that to me?' / ★★★★½

 

Cruddy by Lynda Barry

I've been looking for a copy of this for a while, since my local libraries didn't have it and the illustrations messed up the formatting on my kindle. When I found it used on a random day out, I immediately picked it up and tore through it withing 24 hours. It may be unfair to compare every counterculture piece of writing to Blood and Guts in High School, but there is an obvious thread between the two. Cruddy expands on Acker's grimy feminist ideology, structuring it into more of a cohesive story than a series of vignettes.

    That doesn't mean you should go into this expecting a straightforward book. I think the best way to enjoy Cruddy is like a graphic novel, with the language expanding into visual ideas and themes, implying as much as it tells. It's originality and deceptive sincerity means it's finding a place on my shelf. / ★★½

 

Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow

There were hints of interesting power dynamics between Billy and Dutch, but a lot less happened than I would've liked. I wanted Billy to be in the middle of things, not stuck wandering the town as everyone does their best impression of sitting ducks. His collection of Dutch's fortune is another thread that I wish was taken further. To be honest, I don't care about a fifteen-year-old fucking an orphan that he grew up with. Maybe not my smartest move to read it at the family Thanksgiving get together. This was meant to be a fun, mindless, pulpy read, and for that kind of book I want action. I will probably keep this on my shelf just for the cover. The cutouts are beautiful, and the inside cover. Yeah. At least that didn't completely let me down. In the future, I'll be sticking with John Grisham to deliver that satisfying nothing. / ★★★

 

7 books — 2501 pages — avg 3.21 ★