reading wrap-up: On the Savage Side
(02) february/march 2024 books: Ghosts, The Little Friend, The List, and On the Savage Side
My love for sharing books has evolved from the intimate setting of my home (and my mum reading to me) to the vast online. Still, sharing what books we read and like is, and will remain, a special and personal act to me. These newsletters outline the books I’ve read for the month and I would love it if you shared yours in the comments. Let’s have a conversation.
It’s already April and I’m questioning where time has gone. Since February was a bit of a slower reading month, I decided to merge it with March, so I have some more content to share with you all. I feel like I read some quite provocative stuff, and I’m ready for a few lighter pieces now haha.
So without further ado, here are the books I read in the months of February and March. Have you read any of these? And what did you read recently? I’d love it if you commented below!
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton | Contemporary Fiction/Romance | Really Liked it
As I said in my recent simple pleasure newsletter, Ghosts is “like a Bridget Jones’, life as a woman in your thirties kind of book, with the trials and tribulations of love, online dating, family and friendship.” And yes, I quoted myself here. But since I don’t want to repeat myself too much (you can read my previous review here), I’ll just leave it at this: Dolly Alderton is a genius.
quotes:
“I would make a strong case for the argument that every adult on this earth is sitting on a bench waiting for their parents to pick them up, whether they know it or not. I think we wait until the day we die.”
“(…) I think we stopped seeing each other as gateways to a place for excitement or stimulation. We became each other’s portal to comfort, familiarity and security, and nothing else.”
“I wondered how much of his behaviour this evening had been dictated by a pressure to perform his gender in such a demonstrative way. But then again, what was I doing? Why was I wearing a pair of four-inch heels that gave me blisters?”
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt | Contemporary Fiction/Thriller | Really liked it
Wrote about this one in my previous newsletter too but I do want to divulge a bit more because I feel like there’s a lot to say here, as the book is ubiquitously seen as Tartt’s worst.
The death of nine-year-old Robin haunts his little sister, Harriet, even though she was barely born at the time of his mysterious passing. Twelve years later, it leads her to follow disjointed clues to the possible murderer.
This is definitely the slowest and least plot-driven of Tartt’s novels, which accounts for the lower Goodreads score, but this slowness allows Tartt to give more attention to the details that add a realness to the setting and story; from the characters to the furniture and buildings - they are all written with excruciating accuracy. And I find this such an important aspect of the book because as a mere child, Harriet’s trauma also manifests itself not as a straightforward story but as a disjointed mess of dislodged memories, nightmares, anxiety-induced impulses, and images she can’t seem to forget about. Tartt’s prose haunts me and I find myself thinking about Harriet now and again, just like I frequently think of Theo from The Goldfinch and the whole cast of characters in The Secret History.
quotes:
“Harriet felt as though one of the gruesome transparencies of “Your Developing Body” - all womb, and tubes, and mammaries - had been projected over her poor dumb body; as if all anybody saw when they looked at her - even with her clothes on - were organs and genitalia and hair in unseemly places. Knowing that it was inevitable (“just a natural part of growing up!”) was no better than knowing that someday she would die.”
“Alexandria: flat and desolate, a circuit of repeating street signs, a giant train set. The sense of unreality was what got you after a while. Airless streets, colorless skies. Buildings empty, only pasteboard and sham. And if you drive long enough, he thought, you always end up right back where you started.”
This was our Fable bookclub pick for the month of January/February. Anyone is welcome to join! We read literary fiction, classics, and truthfully, some emotionally evocative books. Join our conversation here.
The List by Yomi Adegoke | Contemporary Fiction | It was okay
A month before their wedding, Ola and Michael’s lives get uprooted when a list of names of alleged sex offenders is anonymously published online, and Michael’s name is on it. Now if there ever was a contemporary and utterly relevant premise, this would be it.
In times when fake news and deepfakes saturate the internet, and when the ease with which we can weaponise anonymity is growing, The List offers us a mirrored look at the sometimes nefarious implications of online presence. It’s current, it’s critical, and it’s incredibly frustrating.
It took The List some time to hit its emotional climax but when it did, I was about ready to punch a wall. When a novel evokes such a visceral reaction in me, it does deserve its praise.
And yet I did feel like something was lacking. BookOfCinz writes in her review that it wasn’t entirely believable and I think I agree - I didn’t believe Ola and Michael were insta-famous, for example. It's still a good debut novel in my opinion and I am excited for the screen adaptation - as I truly feel like this will slay as a TV show.
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel | Contemporary Fiction / Thriller | Loved it
Inspired by the unresolved murder of six women in Ohio, On the Savage Side is the story of twin sisters Arc and Daffy, born into a life of abuse, violence and addiction. We follow their story from childhood as they try to escape the horrors that pervade their life and imagine a new world full of powerful women slaying their demons. However, as dead bodies start turning up in the river, it becomes harder and harder for the girls to break free from the same predicament.
For all its savageness, to me it felt like a story about love; about sisterly love and the love of a sisterhood of friends. These female bonds are what bring the novel its beauty and magic. They are daughters, sisters and mothers, women who loved in the face of evil, whose humanity was brutally taken but whose imagination and defiance persevere.
Chef’s kiss to McDaniel for delivering the missing woman’s testament in such a beautiful and memorable way.
quotes:
“When a woman disappears, how is she remembered? By her beautiful smile? Her pretty face? The drugs in her system? Or by the johns who all have dope breath and graceless desires?”
“You disappeared, Mamaw Milkweed?” I asked.
”All women do, my dear, from time to time,” she said. “It’s not that we disappear, it’s how we find ourselves that matters.”
“Probably cause of death: Being a woman.”
“I touched the water with my bare hands, and the river touched me back with hers (…) I knew then that the migration of us was tied to the migration of the ripples.”
“I call you Arc but not with a c but with a k. Like the ark that saved everyone from the flood. You’re my ark, you always have been. There to save me when the flood has come.”
TW: suicide, rape, domestic abuse, drug abuse, murder, prostitution.
This was our Fable bookclub pick for the month of March. Anyone is welcome to join! We read literary fiction, classics, and truthfully, some emotionally evocative books. Join our conversation here.
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